This morning Kevin woke up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the bathroom. Since we had originally panned on getting up at 5:30, Kevin decided to go ahead and hit the road. By the time we were moving along on I-70 towards Columbus, Jed was wide awake and sitting in the front seat keeping Kevin company. It was a different story, however, for Branic and I, who had awoke only to get off our beds so Kevin could close the expandable compartment of the RV. Once that was closed, Branic collapsed on his bed and I sank into the blankets of the queen size bed in the back. Two hours later, we awoke for breakfast at Waffle House about an hour out of our destination city of Columbus, Ohio.

You wouldn’t think anything of the town we were in. We struggled to look around and find a sign declaring the name of the place, but one could not be found. So, for the sake of this Journal entry, I’m going to name this place Nowhere. As we walked up into the seedy Waffle House in the middle of Nowhere, everything was still in a daze for me and Branic, who still hadn’t fully awoke. All of a sudden, a woman came up to us and signed, “You on DeafNation Roadtrip?” The four of us were shocked and delighted that we had bumped into other Deaf people on the road, especially when we were in Nowhere. She was thrilled when we confirmed that we were on the Roadtrip, and said she had heard about us and that she was following our tour. It was nice bumping into people in Nowhere who know us and have heard about us. Once she left, we all enjoyed our breakfast, and resumed driving. Our destination was the Columbus Colony, a Deaf nursing home which was founded by the Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association in 1896.

When we first walked into the Columbus Colony main building, the first thing you notice are the walls. Every single wall was beautifully decorated with murals and different paintings all over each corridor. While two chefs bake pizza inside an Italian pizzeria kitchen, birds are perched on doorknobs and dogs sit near the living room where residents watch pizza. The paintings allow people to escape the white walls and institutionalized feel of many nursing home. While we were there, we met many interesting residents. I enjoyed talking with Stanley Scott who said that he used to work in a restaurant on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center. He stopped working there in 1998 and was extremely affected by the September 11th attacks. He drives around in his wheel chair with an American flag attached to a small pole in the back of the chair. His patriotism was remarkable.

The home was surprisingly high tech. They had a brand new thin flat screen plasma TV adorning their community living room in addition to three computers with internet access and every resident’s favorite game, Solitaire. Krystin Eck, the Director of Social Services at the Columbus colony, also explained to us the facility’s method of using animals for therapeutic purposes. Dogs and cats regularly visit patients and they are very useful in helping combat depression or loneliness. Birds and fish are also a part of the treatment processes. We enjoyed seeing all that the Columbus Colony had to offer, and meeting and chatting with the many different Deaf residents that were there.

It was only 1 p.m. when we finished at the CC, and since we did not have too far to drive that night before arriving in Pittsburgh, we decided to stop at a Super Wal-Mart so we could stock up on food and some supplies. We had a good time deciding what foods we wanted to buy and trying to convince Jed to buy an X-Box so we could play games while on the road since he had forgotten his at home. Unfortunately, we ended up just getting the food and not the box. We finished out the drive to Pittsburgh and stopped just outside the city at a KOA campground. Branic and I cooked our first full meal here in the RV, spaghetti and garlic bread, and we all had a good night at the campground finishing up the day’s work and watching TV.

Until tomorrow…