Rejoining part of the extended family

This was the shortest travel day of the trip. We slept in and missed breakfast. We went to the area at what we thought to be 9 but was actually 10. The items had been available until 9:30. Not that we needed food, but we had muffins, granola and yogurt from previous motels for our breakfast. We packed up and headed south. There is no direct minor highway across to Xenia, so we had to drive down to Cincinnati to catch I-71 north. We drove to Mason, OH and stopped at a local Pizza Tower restaurant to have a Calzone, salad and soup. The waitress told us they served diet Pepsi, but I suspected she had been misleading when I tasted it. I was right; it was Coke. We traveled on and arrived at the Beeli’s around 2. It happened to be Emily and Pieder’s 20th anniversary, and Rosalie and Stephen had set up a special table with candles in their bedroom for seclusion. The rest of us ate pizza from Aldi. We began to speak Italian. It was an extreme blessing to be with them for perhaps the final time in the Midwest since Pieder is seeking employment and will have to go wherever he finds it. But this family is incredible. They work together, the children are by and large cooperative, and sing while involved in almost any task. They each have regular responsibilities and seldom argue about who is to do what. They are joys to be with and are genuinely thrilled to have us visit. The neighbors, once again, allowed us to use their motor home, so we don’t have to stay 10+ miles away in motel. We park right in the Beeli’s circle drive. Noah took a heater to the coach so we would have heat. The big downside is that the neighbors don’t want us to use the bathrooms, so we have to take a bucket rather than run to the house several times each night.