If 150 is Good, then….

We left the Cleveland area this morning about mid morning.  The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, about 72 degrees.  After a bit of jockeying to get out of the Streetsboro KOA, we were on the road.

Climbing out of the Cuyahoga River Valley, we topped a ridge and started a long descent into the Ohio River Valley.  The Cuyahoga is the the river that caught on fire in 1969, beginning a nationwide movement to rescue our natural resources from pollution.  The river was so polluted with trash, chemical, and petroleum products that it caught fire, putting fire personnel in the awkward position of pumping water out of the river to put out the fire on the river (?!).

We're heading south, with fall colors just starting to appear.

One hundred and fifty one miles later, we pulled into the Alton RV Park.  The park is small enough that the sites aren't numbered, and the single office lady walks you to your site and guides you in.  Full hookups and a quiet environment make up for any inconvenience getting in or out, however.  The price is a bit high, but it's just about the only RV park in the Columbus, Ohio, area that can accommodate large rigs.  We plan to "collect" the Ohio State Capitol before moving on, so we'll only be here two nights.  There are literally hundreds of things to do, as you would expect, in Columbus, from art events to museums of every sort, even the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

As we were eating a late lunch, wondering what to do with the rest of the afternoon, because it was only 3:00 pm, we hit upon a familiar name.  Our sister-in-law has been collecting Longaberger baskets for years, and has been kind enough to share several of them with Donna.  When we saw that Longabergers home is in a little town called Frazeysburg, Ohio, about seventy five miles east of Columbus.  So after driving one hundred and fifty miles in the motorhome, we jumped into the car and added another one hundred and fifty.  Plus or minus.

At the Homestead,

the first thing you see in the entry is a stylized Longaberger Basket under construction

The warm wood floor and the neutral Fall colors throughout provide a great backdrop to the wood baskets.

And there are baskets! Thousands of baskets! Red ones, blue ones, black ones and natural ones!

Am I wrong? But wait there's more.

And more.

Did I mention that they also have fabric and clothing?  A complete line of table linens is available to complement their line of ceramic tableware.  Bulk fabric yardage is available for custom projects.  The clothing line has a number of complementary pieces.

As we reluctantly left the showroom (everything 50% off, you know), two things caught our eye:

And, a reproduction of the original Apple Basket that John Longaberger made for apple farmers.  This basket is 20 feet high at the rim, and contains some beautiful apples!

A few miles away, we spotted the Longaberger headquarters building.  Built as a precise replica of a Longaberger apple basket, it houses the office staff. Wow!

So, there you have it.  One hundred fifty miles in Nessie and one hundred fifty in Gus equals two tired travelers. Dinner was at Mariscos 7 Mares, a local Mexican restaurant that caters to a large mexican population in the area.  The food was delicious, steak and shrimp for Donna and steak and stuffed Poblano pepper for me.  We enjoyed a somewhat disjointed conversation with the server and the cook, as we were the only customers at eight o'clock at night.  We managed to convey our appreciation and thanks, and left full and ready for a good nights sleep!