Finding Relatives, Not Sick, & Hamvention, Ohio

I think maybe Thousand Trails Wilmington in Wilmington, Ohio, is our favorite Thousand Trails campground we have been in. They have pushed back the trees so there is a lot of open wild grassy areas. After getting set up, Kevin just wanted to go to Walmart to get more cold medicine. Sad he doesn’t feel well. Went the few miles to Wilmington and got what he needed. We saw a lot of farmers in there. Then drove through the town – it is a long and narrow town. 

Lawn Service; Guy Sitting On Mower Looking At His Phone Going Down Campground Road, HA, Wilmington, OH 05/25

We had this huge grassy area behind HOWE (footnote 1) with a good fire pit but it is too wet and/or raining to even sit outside, let alone have a fire or cook. Our new neighbors brought a regular sized gas grill, like what we use to have on our deck. Soon they ran out of the RV and shut it down and closed up the doors because of the rain. 

Sugar Grove Cemetery, Charla’s Cousins Through Cape Cod, Mass, Wilmington, OH, 05/25

One morning we went to Sugar Grove Cemetery. We found and fulfilled a photo request for Find A Grave (footnote 2). I got a sweet thank you email from the family. Everything was so wet so I wore my crocs. Kevin is now calling them, “grave hunting shoes” and that is a great description. Don’t want regular shoes all wet. Plus, two guys were trimming and so grass clippings turned my feet and bottom of pants green. HAHA Through research, I learned that the John Doane that is my 9th great grandpa in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, (we visited his grave when we were there last year) had a descendant that moved here, to this small town! What a small world! The ones here shortened the last name to Doan. The famous person listed in this cemetery is my 1st cousin 6 times removed – Azariah Doan. He was the one that got the group together to fight in the Civil War. Just so fun to see this come together. And, these are on my side of the family, not Kevin’s Dolan family. He is only related to them through me, even though last names are similar. Fascinating!!

Nope, No Cold! HA Wilmington, OH 05/25

On a photo I took, you see part of the living area in HOWE. I wrote on the photo the story: I am sitting in my recliner reading. Kevin comes over and signs, “sick?” No, I sign. And then he laughs and I see where he is looking. This picture shows some tissues I have thrown towards the trash can. Nope, not sick at all! HAHA Thanks for sharing your cold with me, Honey. 🙂 

Just A Few Of the 36, 814 People At Hamvention 2025, Dayton, OH 05/25

Kevin went to Hamvention – the huge, granddaddy convention of ham radio. It is just up the road about 15 minutes. He was concerned about parking because he knew over 35,000 people attend so left at 6:00 a.m. He got next to the handicap parking at the fairgrounds so that was great. He really enjoyed the convention. It goes Fri-Sun but he only wanted to do Saturday. It broke the attendance record and had 36, 814 people He said he saw 3 women, haha. He went to a seminar about antennas. The other one he wanted, about Parks On The Air, he missed because he was looking in the vendor hall. He sat at a bench outside and soon a guy came over and sat down. Kevin didn’t say a word, not even a hi, but the guy started talking to him and told his life stories. Not anything about ham radio…and it lasted an hour! He bought a hat and had his name and call sign embroidered on it. So neat! He also got some things to wrap the cords around.

I made sure to communicate with Kevin for plans after Hamvention, haha, and said he didn’t need to “cook” tonight, which means he brings dinner home or we got out to eat. Besides no places close by, I planned to make pizza with Rhodes bread dough, ham, pineapple, green peppers, green onions, olives and mushrooms. He texted as he left the convention and the pizza was done a few minutes after he got home. (footnote 3) 😃

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/about
3. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.