We arrived home Monday April 25th with big smiles and great relief! Although we thoroughly enjoyed our month-long trip home - expanded our world just a little bit more seeing friends, family and many sites along the way - we were glad to be back in Stoughton. We had driven over 2800 miles since we left Bandera during our 30 days on the road.
Unfortunately, we also arrived home to a sick house; our son-in-law was recovering from a mild case of Covid, my daughter and the littles all had the flu. It was a total miracle Charlie and I, didn't get sick! (I've been trying to build up my immunity the last couple of years - apparently so far, so good!) It was so good to see them all but was a little while before we could give lots of hugs and kisses.
I was thrilled to find our apartment in the pristine condition I had left it. I am very fussy about my little place and thought I might need to do a thorough cleaning before we brought anything in - but it was just perfect! It took me about 3 days to move our things out of the trailer; I still have some stuff I need to clean out of the under storage and reorganize but the bulk of the work is done. Next month we have an appointment to bring our trailer in for regular maintenance.
My kids very thoughtfully had my little Honda Fit detailed; it looks beautiful - I missed driving it!
Charlie has been busy, busy with his shed - cleaning it after a squirrel moved in during the winter and building new antennas for his HAM radio - I see him only in passing these days! (I'm not complaining- LOL)
It is wonderful to be home. To be with family, start to see our friends. Both Charlie and I have a renewed sense of excitement - we can't wait to get up every morning - start a new day - work on home projects, visit people and places we have missed! We have a new and positive outlook! I joined our local senior center (after my great experience with Silver Sage in Bandera) and am looking forward to participating in many of the different classes offered! I joined Planet Fitness, I played scrabble last week with the group at our local library and met a friend to go walking. I have been watching the grandkids quite frequently and it feels a little easier now that they are both more like little people - 4-1/2 and 2-1/2. We've had some fun time together! I've been busy working on the gardens - cleaning, weeding, mulching - whenever the weather permits - which hasn't been very often - but it looks like we are in for a good stretch from today on! And I've been baking a lot and using my crockpot - which I didn't take with us last winter, but definitely will this coming trip. We've been seeing all our doctors and taking care of all our medical needs during our hiatus. We will be all set before we begin our travels again. And Charlie started going into work a day or two a week for a few hours. He seems to enjoy it and the extra money is great. Needless to say - we have a lot going on!
With all this renewed excitement... we also had a moment of insanity. Charlie and I discussed and agreed - maybe we wouldn't go away this winter, perhaps skip a year? Five months at home just didn't seem like nearly enough time to be with our people and accomplish everything we wanted to do. Still, the beautiful white sandy beaches of Biloxi beckon...did we really want to be here during the cold months? After being home for two weeks - I can honestly say - the answer is a big NO!
So yesterday, I started work on my preliminary route to Bay St. Louis, based on sights I want to see. (I say "I" want to see" because if you ask Charlie - he has nothing" ) We have also shortened our travel to 18 days from a month. It will save us money with less overnights and shorter distance overall then if we returned to Texas. I have no idea what the gas situation will be like in October - it's a bit scary to think about.
I've been watching a lot of RV YouTube videos as well Really puts me in the RV state of mind! But, I'm not going to think about or do anything with our trailer until maintenance is completed and we bring it back home. Then, I will start cleaning and preparing it gradually for our next big adventure!
