Crossroads
It’s been a month since my last entry, and I’ve crammed
quite a bit into that time. Lots of quilt
creating and planning – baby quilt completed and will be on its way to the mama-to-be. Lots of love stitched into that one! I also have a preliminary few blocks planned
out for a new quilt for us, which, surprisingly, I’ve never done before. I’ve made quilts for lots of others, but
never for us. That’s definitely
changing! Of course, another couple
projects are planned for the fall for the little ones, and I can’t wait to get
them started! All in good time………..
We had a great family visit with everyone but Louie (who couldn’t
make it but was missed). Cathi came up
from Brooklyn and spent 5 nights; Lauren, Josh, and Penny were camped out on
the site next to us in a tent for 3 nights; and of course, Tim Jr., Katy, Lucy,
and Abe joined us for meals and playing in the grass. We’ve also had visits from our friends, Mark
and Nancy Beddoe, as well as Pete and Debbie Morse-Ackley. It’s nice to share our guest room with
guests!
We’ve had a few side trips (Saint Gaudens in Cornish, NH, Shelburne
Museum in Shelburne, VT, Cabot Cheese Factory in Cabot, VT, the beer hall at
the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, and Sand Bar State Park in South Hero,
VT), but nothing like last summer’s galivanting about. We’ve also made a few trips to visit Lauren
and Josh for the purpose of babysitting of Penny, so they could have a few
hours of alone time. (The time spent
with Penny is the real reason, but they like the alone time, so it’s a
win-win!) Of course, Tim’s part-time job has also eaten into a few days each
week, but that’s ok because it gives me more sewing time! (Having to share a
small space means we have to take turns using the area in the garage where his
computer and my sewing machine are, not to mention the entertainment center in
the living room, which doubles as my space for cutting out fabric but means he
can’t kick back and watch the big screen tv.)
Health-wise, it’s a slow but steady improvement. I just started month 2 (of 3) on the steroid
inhaler. I do find that I need the
rescue inhaler a bit more, but just slightly.
I’ve also stopped being cheap about it and am using the full 2 puffs, so
I guess that’s a help, too. (It’s a
strong consideration, since we pay for all our meds out of pocket, and this
stuff is wicked expensive. But, I like
breathing better, so we bite the bullet on that expense.)
Now that everything has settled down for the most part, I
guess it’s as good a time as any to discuss future plans. Going back to when we were still on the road,
making our way East (and before the really serious health issues cropped up),
we sort of came to a crossroads about our travel plans. Tim had spent quite a lot of time searching
out and planning our travel route/campgrounds for the original itinerary, which
is necessary when pulling a 45 foot long, 13 feet 6 inches tall beast such is
our home on wheels. Far too many
campgrounds can’t accommodate something as long as this, and far too many
campgrounds have tree canopies that are so low that they scrape and tear the
roof. (As we discovered the hard way.
Twice.) He really had to scramble
and work hard to find new campgrounds for our altered travel plans, which was
extremely frustrating.
One of the other problems with having to be incredibly
selective about where we stay has meant that we either have to go where we fit
and then drive a distance to see the sights we were interested in, or find
another place to go and change or eliminate what we wanted to visit. It’s not so much of a problem out West, but east
of the Mississippi, the campgrounds are mostly geared to smaller RVs (35 feet
or less, and definitely shorter than 13 feet).
Another consideration now, unfortunately, is my breathing
issues. We’re not sure how I’ll do with the
higher elevations after my scare in Colorado at 7200 feet, and the dry climate in
the desert/high desert areas doesn’t help me even when I’m 100% healthy. We’ll take it slow and easy figuring this one
out, but for the foreseeable future, no mountain vistas over about 2000 feet,
and no deserts.
Also putting a damper on travel days is the stress that the
cats go through being packed up and cooped up in the truck. And their stress, in turn, stresses me
out. I don’t sleep well the night before
we travel because I worry about one of them slipping out or getting stuck
somewhere that I can’t get her out.
And, one other thing that has been a concern is that I am
not driving. I really am uncomfortable
driving Mongo (Ram 5500 diesel, for anyone new here). I’ve driven it 3 times since we picked it up
in December 2016, the last time being December 2017. It’s been a challenge because any time I need
or want to go somewhere (shopping, doctor’s appointment, etc.), I have to wait
for Tim to drive me and then he has to wait around for me. I’ll be the first one to admit when it’s time
to hang up the keys and stop driving.
Now is not that time, and I really miss my independence.
So………….all that said, we had an epiphany. We had thought about wintering in Arizona or New
Mexico but realize that’s out of the question now. We both really liked central Florida,
surprisingly, as a winter landing spot.
And, we both like the idea of a permanent winter location. We also both thought that, because we no
longer have the motorcycle which eliminates the need for the toy hauler/garage,
it would make life infinitely easier if we bought a smaller (36-ish foot) Class
A motorhome and towed a small sedan behind us.
No stress about packing up and transferring the cats, more options about
where we can camp, and a car that I can drive.
We also thought that as a permanent base, we could find a small mobile
home in the many 55+ communities in the Orlando/Kissimmee area. It would be a good winter base for us for 6
months, the Class A would be great for travel the other 6 months, and, when the
time comes for us to give up our traveling due to age/infirmity, we would have
an actual home.
We still have great plans on traveling once we make the
switch in RVs. We should be able to do a
little more than we have thus far, especially since we’ll have more flexibility
in our summer months. We can spend time
in Vermont (near Tim Jr., Katy and the kids), time in western MA (near Lauren,
Josh, and Penny), time in the Catskills (near Cathi and Louie), travel over to
Maine – something we’ve wanted to do but never really got to do much of except
for a few trips in the pop-up years ago, a trip to the Adirondacks, maybe up to
Canada……… And our shoulder season travel
will definitely be more flexible.
Yes, we are at a crossroads, and we are looking forward to
forging a new and different path. It’s
definitely not the place we thought we’d be heading when we hit the road last
May, but it’s going to be exciting! We
can’t wait! The really amazing thing is
that we both independently thought about these options just dwelling on things
in quiet moments, and then kind of got into a conversation about it. It’s not too obvious we’ve been married for
close to 40 years, is it?
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