We arrived in Massachusetts anxious for our niece’s wedding. We started things off with a haircut and a bit of shopping. I needed to get a new pair of pants since my dress pants shrunk while being stored in the RV for the past year. Then, the following day we arrived at my daughter’s house to see 3 of our grandkids again and to babysit while my daughter, who is my niece’s maid of honor, attended the wedding rehearsal and dinner. Jon, at almost 5 greeted us as expected, with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. It took 3 year old Grace about 5 minutes to warm up but then she wouldn’t leave our sides. Oh how we missed her hugs. When we last saw our youngest, Thomas, he was about 2 weeks old and now, at 8 months old, he’s such a sweet kid and he acted like we have been around every day. Finally the day of the wedding arrived. The wedding was awesome and my niece was beautiful. It was a brief ceremony followed by a full blown party. What else could you ask for? We were also able to see most of our family at the wedding which of course was great.
The following day we packed up the motor home and took the drive over to our second home, the home of my sister and her husband in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. We refer to this place as Camp Sawash. It includes water, electricity, a large yard and full access to their beautiful home and pool. This is the third year we have camped here for a lengthy period and we definitely realize how fortunate we are to have this option while we stay in the area to visit our family and friends. We were immediately kept busy with doctor appointments, dentist appointments and some RV maintenance. Then, one week after our arrival we surprised Claudia with a party to celebrate her 65th birthday. All of our kids and grandkids made it as well as just about everyone in my sister’s family. Claudia was totally surprised and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed some pool time.
It was then time to deal with our storage unit which we’ve had since we hit the road full time 3 years ago. I was able to sell a couple of larger items on Craig’s List and we emptied out a lot of the stuff in preparation for a yard sale that Claudia planned. That yard sale turned out to be very successful and we were able to get rid of a lot of items that we just didn’t need anymore. What we didn’t sell went to Goodwill or was picked up from the front yard as “free stuff”. Best of all, we believed that everything remaining would fit nicely in the pod that we were having shipped to Texas in late July.
Next it was time to relax and just spend time with family and friends. We took a nice hike to a beautiful overlook just down the street from Camp Sawash. Stella loved running in the woods and it was nice to be out hiking again. We headed down to Cape Cod for a very nice 2 day visit with my mom. Next we began a series of 3 camping trips. We started things off with a 4 day weekend with my sister and her husband at a nice little campground in the Berkshire Mountains. Prospect Mountain Campground was a perfect place to put our feet up, relax by the pool and to enjoy some hiking in the woods. Our next trip took us back to Sun Ridge, the campground that was home to us for 10 summers. We visited over the 4th of July weekend and were thrilled to see so many of our very dear friends. Our final camping trip was to Saco River in New Hampshire. There we took over 4 sites as our family got together for a week of river rafting, swimming, campfires, community meals and best of all, time to enjoy each other’s company.
Our time in Massachusetts was coming to a close. We loaded up our pod as scheduled on July 27th and watched it get picked up and begin its trip to Texas. With the storage unit empty, all of our appointments and most of our final visits with family behind us, we completed final preparations for our 8 day trip to Texas. As much as we would have loved to meander our way down to Texas, the waiting pod required a more direct route. We headed out as planned and took an alternate route this year in order to avoid the mountains and all the bridges under construction along route 81, south of Scranton. Even though it was a bit longer, it turns out we made a good decision. We made the 8 day drive with very little traffic and very little construction. Mid-way back to Texas we took a day off from driving when we arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas. We stayed at a very nice campground with a beautiful campsite that sat about a hundred feet from the Mississippi River and the view from our front window was gorgeous. We had lots of grass around us so Stella had a great play area as well.
Finally, on August 8th we arrived at our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. The temperatures had increased each day as we headed south and have stayed near 100 degrees every day since we arrived in Edinburg. Once “home” we emptied the RV of most of our stuff so that we could go through everything. Now that we have a home base we’ll only need to pack essentials when we travel from this point forward. We also emptied the pod that was waiting here for us with all our stuff from Massachusetts. Emptying the pod turned out to be the easy job. Finding a home for everything proved to be more of a challenge but we’re having a lot of fun personalizing our new home. It already feels like our home now, not someone else’s. We had satellite TV, including the NFL Package installed so I’ve been able to watch the Pats pre-season games and more importantly will be able to watch every Pats game this season without having to run out to Buffalo Wild Wings. Now that we have the mobile we decided to purchase a golf cart for ourselves. We love walking and riding our bikes around here but when it comes time to carry our chairs and beverages to happy hour each night or a crock pot full of food over to the next potluck, the cart will be invaluable. Now it’s time to keep making improvements to our new home as we look forward to our friends returning. Some folks do stay all year and we’ve enjoyed their company as we play water volleyball and enjoy the occasional pot luck. It’s also time to get back to some serious guitar practicing so I’ll be ready when the rest of the Jam Band returns. That’s it for this blog entry. We hope our family and friends back in Massachusetts know how much we miss them. Everyone take care, stay healthy and happy!!
The following day we packed up the motor home and took the drive over to our second home, the home of my sister and her husband in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. We refer to this place as Camp Sawash. It includes water, electricity, a large yard and full access to their beautiful home and pool. This is the third year we have camped here for a lengthy period and we definitely realize how fortunate we are to have this option while we stay in the area to visit our family and friends. We were immediately kept busy with doctor appointments, dentist appointments and some RV maintenance. Then, one week after our arrival we surprised Claudia with a party to celebrate her 65th birthday. All of our kids and grandkids made it as well as just about everyone in my sister’s family. Claudia was totally surprised and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed some pool time.
It was then time to deal with our storage unit which we’ve had since we hit the road full time 3 years ago. I was able to sell a couple of larger items on Craig’s List and we emptied out a lot of the stuff in preparation for a yard sale that Claudia planned. That yard sale turned out to be very successful and we were able to get rid of a lot of items that we just didn’t need anymore. What we didn’t sell went to Goodwill or was picked up from the front yard as “free stuff”. Best of all, we believed that everything remaining would fit nicely in the pod that we were having shipped to Texas in late July.
Next it was time to relax and just spend time with family and friends. We took a nice hike to a beautiful overlook just down the street from Camp Sawash. Stella loved running in the woods and it was nice to be out hiking again. We headed down to Cape Cod for a very nice 2 day visit with my mom. Next we began a series of 3 camping trips. We started things off with a 4 day weekend with my sister and her husband at a nice little campground in the Berkshire Mountains. Prospect Mountain Campground was a perfect place to put our feet up, relax by the pool and to enjoy some hiking in the woods. Our next trip took us back to Sun Ridge, the campground that was home to us for 10 summers. We visited over the 4th of July weekend and were thrilled to see so many of our very dear friends. Our final camping trip was to Saco River in New Hampshire. There we took over 4 sites as our family got together for a week of river rafting, swimming, campfires, community meals and best of all, time to enjoy each other’s company.
Our time in Massachusetts was coming to a close. We loaded up our pod as scheduled on July 27th and watched it get picked up and begin its trip to Texas. With the storage unit empty, all of our appointments and most of our final visits with family behind us, we completed final preparations for our 8 day trip to Texas. As much as we would have loved to meander our way down to Texas, the waiting pod required a more direct route. We headed out as planned and took an alternate route this year in order to avoid the mountains and all the bridges under construction along route 81, south of Scranton. Even though it was a bit longer, it turns out we made a good decision. We made the 8 day drive with very little traffic and very little construction. Mid-way back to Texas we took a day off from driving when we arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas. We stayed at a very nice campground with a beautiful campsite that sat about a hundred feet from the Mississippi River and the view from our front window was gorgeous. We had lots of grass around us so Stella had a great play area as well.
Finally, on August 8th we arrived at our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. The temperatures had increased each day as we headed south and have stayed near 100 degrees every day since we arrived in Edinburg. Once “home” we emptied the RV of most of our stuff so that we could go through everything. Now that we have a home base we’ll only need to pack essentials when we travel from this point forward. We also emptied the pod that was waiting here for us with all our stuff from Massachusetts. Emptying the pod turned out to be the easy job. Finding a home for everything proved to be more of a challenge but we’re having a lot of fun personalizing our new home. It already feels like our home now, not someone else’s. We had satellite TV, including the NFL Package installed so I’ve been able to watch the Pats pre-season games and more importantly will be able to watch every Pats game this season without having to run out to Buffalo Wild Wings. Now that we have the mobile we decided to purchase a golf cart for ourselves. We love walking and riding our bikes around here but when it comes time to carry our chairs and beverages to happy hour each night or a crock pot full of food over to the next potluck, the cart will be invaluable. Now it’s time to keep making improvements to our new home as we look forward to our friends returning. Some folks do stay all year and we’ve enjoyed their company as we play water volleyball and enjoy the occasional pot luck. It’s also time to get back to some serious guitar practicing so I’ll be ready when the rest of the Jam Band returns. That’s it for this blog entry. We hope our family and friends back in Massachusetts know how much we miss them. Everyone take care, stay healthy and happy!!
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