On Day 38, my (James) girlfriend Claudia (who also runs the blog) drove down to Columbus with Ethan and Isabelle (her brother and sister) to visit me. We went to the Park of Roses and then to Topiary Park, where the plants are cut into shapes resembling people. We also went to IKEA, which is always a fun place to look around. Later on, we checked into the hotel we would be staying at. A close family friend of Claudia nicknamed P.M. Dawn also came to meet us at the hotel. Meanwhile that day, Sam spent some time with the Bull family and went shopping for new boots with Dave Bull. That night, we had the honor of attending pizza night at the Bull‘s home. Maggie Bull’s brother and sister and their families also came, and many of them were avid followers of the blog and had many questions for us. On Day 39, I said goodbye to Claudia around 11am. I returned to my room in the Bull home to find Sam fast asleep in the bed. I also fell asleep for several hours. While I was asleep, Dave took Sam grocery shopping and gave him a quick tour of Columbus. That afternoon, Ian (Dave and Maggie’s son) and I played a game of chess, as it turned out we are both around the same rating on Chess.com. The game lasted nearly two hours (we were using a 30|30 clock setting), and we ended up in a rook endgame where I was up a pawn with the white pieces. However, Ian’s rook was positioned behind my extra pawn on the second rank, making it nearly impossible to promote for a queen. The game was likely a theoretical draw, and that’s exactly what happened. For dinner that night, we went to Cuco’s Taqueria with the same crew from pizza night. Mrs. Murray (Maggie’s mother) gave us some banana bread and cookies for the road, which will be a nice comfort when times get tough again. On Day 40, we were planning to depart, and Dave had walked 7 miles the day before in preparation to walk with us for a bit. However, at 2:30pm that day, we were still lounging around the couch watching Mad Men. Maggie asked us if we wanted to stay another day, which was an offer too good to refuse. We enjoyed a nice home cooked meal and then went out for ice cream, where Ian and I continued to discuss chess. He mentioned that he often plays the Sicilian with black against e4, which I plan to start trying after our discussion. Sam also joined the conversation for a bit, displaying impressive knowledge on the King’s Pawn Opening - Knight Variation. Later that night, we watched The Conjuring in the basement.
7/24-26/22
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