Thu - 23 Apr/15

Sunshine this morning; however, tonight will be below freezing....brrrr!

Our neighbours from Ontario, (two on each side) were gone by early morning before we got up. Due to our late arrival we went to the office this morning to pay for our stay. This is the second "Cash or Cheque" only park on our trip. The other was in Tupelo.

Miriam was in the office today. She was a great help sharing useful information for today's adventure.

Breakfast today, courtesy of Miriam's guidance, is where the "Locals" eat. The Boyd and Wurthmann Restaurant is a local institution. Berlin’s oldest continuously operating restaurant, where Coffee is still 75 cents (w/unlimited refills), remains a destination for both locals and tourists in search of a good meal.

Originally a grocery store, Boyd and Wurthmann opened in 1938. In 1940, the green counter that still exists today, was built to serve lunches and homemade pie. As the demand continued to grow for seating, tables were added and the grocery store got smaller, until the entire establishment became a restaurant. The priorities remain the same for the dedicated staff that begins serving breakfast at 5:30 am-8 pm. Naturally, like most local businesses in "Amish Country", it is closed Sunday.

We ordered the standard BW Breakfast. We both chose scrambled eggs, sausage and gravy on the home fries. As usual, Charlotte had the brown and I the white bread. Look closely: the thick cut fresh made bread makes "Texas Toast" look skinny!

Next stop, across the road, at the Helping Hands Quilt Shop.

Quilt shops for Charlotte are akin to me visiting a Home Depot. I bought a ticket on a charity quilt and Charlotte found a nice wall hanging quilt kit that had everything needed (except the hard work) included.

Next door Charlotte did some exploring while I flattened a few pennies to add to our collection.

We then got in the car and travelled back a bit through town (Berlin) to Zincks Outlet. Despite a huge selection Charlotte found nothing of interest.

Behind Zincks is the Holmes County Flea Market. We had a free (one use) pass for parking compliments of Scenic Hills RV Park (and Miriam). A large, mostly indoors (this time of year), flea market it had a variety of booths. I found a neat Route 66 item. I also bought a mat for kneeling on when doing the RV hook-ups. Soft, foam like most mats, this had the bonus of a hard rubber bottom making it more durable. My knees thank me! (grin).

Then we were off exploring on the country roads. To say the area had rolling hills would be an understatement. It had roller coaster hills! At 55 mph, as you crested a hill which you couldn't see over, then dropped suddenly, it almost required gravol. The drops were really steep as where the following hills. Then there were the sharp curves!

We made our next stop, along with a tour bus load of folks, at the Wendell August Forge.

Forge (v.) – to shape (as metal) by heating and hammering; one of the oldest working techniques of mankind.
Forge (n.) – a place where objects are made by heating and shaping metal.
Wendell August Forge (proper n.) – America’s oldest and largest forge, where hand-wrought, functional art is created. The marks of both the artist and the craftsman can be found on each piece – the artist’s mark is ‘hidden’ in the design, and the craftsman’s mark can be found on the back of every piece.

For a small fee I got to experience making a keepsake out of a thin aluminum sheet that I hammered over a template. Neat! It was all for a very reasonable price which include a frame.

Charlotte looked around the displays and found a small item she liked. We also picked up a nice gift courtesy of a coupon given to us by Miriam.

They had the World's Largest Amish Buggy on display. Bonus: I finally learned how to drive the Amish Buggy - - tickle their toes (grin).

Our next venture was to visit the only J.M. Smucker Company Store and Café anywhere!

In the early 19th century, John Chapman, or “Johnny Appleseed,” wandered the Ohio countryside, sowing apple seeds and securing a place in American history. It was from the fruit of Johnny Appleseed's trees that Orrville, Ohio, resident J.M. (Jerome Monroe) Smucker first pressed cider at a mill he opened in 1897. Later, he also prepared apple butter, which he sold from the back of a horse-drawn wagon. Each crock bore a hand-signed seal as his personal guarantee of quality.

Before long, J.M. Smucker’s name became well known in its own right, as residents throughout the region — and eventually the nation — came to associate the Smucker’s® brand name with wholesome, high-quality fruit products. Much like Johnny Appleseed's trees, The J.M. Smucker Company has strong roots that started here, in Orrville, over 115 years ago. Today, their products can be found in households throughout the world.

We enjoyed our visit, tasting samples, viewing displays and eventually making several purchases. We would have liked to have indulged in a "Make it yourself" Sundae; however, we were still full from breakfast.

We were about 7 miles from our RV park when everything "went south", again. Being 7 miles from our RV park seems to be a bad omen. The Del Sol just "died". The radio died first then everything shut off. All that bumping around last week on top of the levee might have loosened something, somewhere? Since there was no power I could not turn on the 4 -way flashers, so I raised the hood.
Charlotte steered as I pushed the car a few feet more off the edge of the road.

I called my roadside service provider. They indicated that the closest towing operator would not be to us for 3 hours as all their trucks were out on calls. As we waited a State Highway Patrol car passed, found a spot to turn around, and came back to check on our well-being. Trooper Bryan was helpful and concerned for our safety. He was called away to an accident; however, he indicated he would check back later in case we needed more assistance. Thank You, Bryan.

Not long after Bryan went on to assist others Lori noticed we were in distress and stopped to ask if we needed assistance. I explained the situation and she offered to give us "a boost".  I gratefully accepted. I took out my "Jumper" cables and was soon connected and started. I was quite impressed with this young woman's automotive knowledge - she even knew the proper cable hook-up sequence. This beats a 3 hour wait for a tow.

After it started I offered to pay for her time and help. Lori would have none of that, instead she gave me her phone number with  instructions to call her if we didn't make it back to the RV park. If needed, she would pick us up. We made it back to the park and I phoned Lori to thank her for the much appreciated help. She really did give us "a boost", literally!

Three nice folks helped make our day a little brighter!

As we were returning to the RV the towing service called to check on our status. We indicated we had been given a "Jump Start" and hoped to make it back to the park. We would call back if we didn't make it. We didn't need to make that call.

Back at the RV I put the battery on my 10 amp charger. Wow! No wonder it quit! It was showing only 13% of a total charge. My guess is that the alternator is not working. Things took quite a shake last week on the levee. Might just be a loose or broken wire? That's a job for when we get home.

After the battery was partially charged (up to 70%) we headed for the closest Walmart (Millersburg, 10 miles away) to pick up a (Top Rated) "Schumacher 6-in-1 Jump Starter". This unit has 1200 peak Amps for jump starting vehicles in emergencies,  two 12 Volt (cigarette lighter) outlets, a 12 volt USB outlet, two inverter powered 120 volt electric outlets, a work light and a 120 PSI inflator. I checked on-line and indications were they had what I wanted in stock. We drove there with our fingers crossed.

Charlotte remained in the car so I could leave it running. I went as quickly as I could and soon returned to the car with a unit. I will bring it up to full charge overnight. I will carry it with us so I can start the car if it "Dies"again.

I will also bring the car battery up to full charge overnight. On return the battery was down to 50% after a 20 mile trip. Seems to be 1% per mile discharge.

I have a 50 amp "Car Starter" to get it going in the morning. We can then decide if we will "take a chance" and venture out.

Well, that was an interesting day!