Apricity West 2

Farewells, Maine, On the Road Again

 

October 4, 2021, Monday 

Phat Five plus 1 crew - Paula, Terry, Debbie, Carole (is the plus one who joins us for Christmas dinner and other dates when she can), me and Nancy - are class of 1965 girls who have been staying in touch regularly over these 55 years, mostly the past 3 decades. We had a nice lunch at Greenock Country Club catching up on each other’s lives, travels, and medical status. Love them all...

Taken in 2017 - forgot to get a picture at our luncheon. 

October 8, 2021, Friday

Theater crew - Amy, Melissa, Donna - enjoyed dinner at Mario’s just as we did in the Spring. It is always fun times, lots of laughs, and delicious food when you get together with this group. Karl is usually present but had last minute work issues.  

October 9, 2021, Saturday

Nora Blohm, Rich’s oldest granddaughter, was home from her first semester at Wells College so we went to Glens Falls to visit. She took a gap year (Covid) after high school and loves college. She shared her theater presentation with us which was very impressive. 

Nora, sister Kieran, Fuzzy, and cousin Kegan

October 11, 2021, Tuesday

The Big Y Crew (Pat, Tony, and Kim) went to Munich Haus for our quarterly dinner. It was wonderful to see them and catch up on past events. The food was great too - haven’t been there in quite awhile.

 

October 12, 2021, Wednesday

In May I bought tickets to see Post Modern Jukebox (PMJ) at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA. 

Awesomeness!

October 13-15, 2021, Thursday 

Closing the camp in Maine is a time to spend with sisters and brothers-in-law sharing fond memories of the good old days over delicious meals/beverages, and doing sporadic work projects to button the place up for the winter. Each year we look at the routine and evaluate/update the process to be most efficient and effective. The deVries contributions to the meals were sorely missed due to some health events that were not serious but need not endure the trip up and routine closing chores. Cindy and Jimmy had done some of the work while they were here for the month of August which really lightened the load. 

Colorful Maine ride…

October 17, 2021, Sunday

There was a Bye for the boys' football game today, so I had reserved the day for a family spaghetti dinner with Shannon’s hot corn & cheese dip and Kristie’s banana cream pie in honor of Bob’s birthday, Randy & Kristie’s Anniversary, Shannon & Dave’s Anniversary, and our six month road trip to the Wild West. It was a wonderful gathering with the 2 families of four and, of course, my Gramma Dee (my mom). I gave each of the kids a bracelet to remind them that Mimi is with them always, and a slate name plate for each family.

When we were saying our goodbye’s, Jacob said, “You’re like one of the family, Rich!” followed by a big bear hug. Be still my heart! 

October 18, 2021, Monday

Today was a day spent depersonalizing the house for Marie, the renter, and loading 6 months of supplies in the camper (wardrobe is the hardest). I thought 4 months was hard! Rich reminded that there are stores and laundromats along the way… Can’t imagine what the weight of this vehicle is! 

 

October 19, 2021, Tuesday

Left Lee at 10am headed for Rich’s daughter, Nora’s in Glens Falls, to have one last visit. It was a gorgeous Fall day and we visited on her porch and when the cloud cover cooled it down too much, we went in and had homemade bruschetta. Kieran also graced us with her presence. Young Nora is at Wells College and we talked with her between classes. Rich’s son, Perry and his family (minus Kegan who we saw last week) stopped by and we had tons of reminiscing and lots of laughs. Perry is quite the comedian and was on a roll. 

October 20, 2021, Wednesday (NY, Pennsylvania)

Hooked up Gracie behind the bikes and on the road by 8am. Another glorious Fall day with partly sunny skies and enough wind to make you hold on tight to steering wheel. We had to stop before hitting Interstate 90 to remove the transponder from the bug so we won’t get double charged for highway tolls. Somehow misplaced the mylar bag that you are supposed to store it in, so I called E-Z Pass Customer Support to deactivate it. Angelica told us that it would cost $16 and could not be reactivated. So she shared with us that we could wrap it in aluminum foil. Who knew? Stopped for the night in Erie, PA. Went for a short walk around the RV park and ate fairly healthy today - my new mission!

 

October 21 - 24, 2021, Thursday - Sunday (Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico)

We are each driving about 3 hours before stopping to gas up, switch drivers, and take care of biological needs. I am still amazed at the number of trucks on the road. A big shout out to the drivers who deliver the goods (#ccrwrider - Cindy Wassell) 

On to Cloverdale, Indiana for one night’s stay. Rich made a new friend…

Joplin, MO 

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO (so glad this was Rich’s shift!!) The traffic was crazy!!

HIGHWAY ROAD KILL EVERYWHERE! Mostly deer although sometimes it is hard to tell what it is - just a big blob of red, black flesh… 

Gorgeous day with blue skies and warm breeze followed by thunderstorms throughout the night. Billboards are the main source of advertising as they are constant and often repetitive as you approach a venue. We have entered the Central Time Zone! 

Amarillo, TX (Oklahoma, Texas) 

White-knuckle-steeringwheel-gripping wind and hundreds of wind mills dot the horizon.

There is a little door at the base of each turbine for technicians to enter and climb 300 ft. (The length of a football field) ladder to get to the top. There are 3 platforms to rest, or observe other technicians. If you see a little dark speck on a blade, it is probably one of the 4,400 technicians in America doing maintenance work on the turbine. Here is short video with a fascinating story about a woman who took on this job! 

https://youtu.be/xUjCD-fFU9k

Billboards boasting of 72 OUNCE STEAK FREE at the Big Texan Restaurant. The catch is that you have to eat every bit of it and the meal that comes with it! 

88 degrees at Cadillac RV Park 

Albuquerque, NM 

Left Amarillo at sunrise

Arriving in Albuquerque via I-40 right about lunch time (now Mountain Time), our mission before even checking in at the RV park was to find a good Mexican restaurant. I Googled it and said to Rich, “Get off at this exit. El Charritos is rated at 4.5 stars and is only 10 minutes from here.” We didn’t know if there would be room to park the rig with Gracie in tow, but pursued it anyway. It was a small parking lot so we had to ask the gas station across the street if it was OK to park there - it was fine with them. When we entered this rather small building, there were signs stating that you would order the meal before being seated because they are so low on staff. Meals were served in “to go” boxes (no dishes to be washed), and the only staff were the mother, the daughter and the father of this family owned establishment. They apologized for the way things are and for not having proper plates and tableware. A bold sign stated, “Everyone is short staffed, so please be patient with those that showed up!” We decided to take it to-go and sat outside in the sun to wait. The father, Greg Pacheco, came out to chat with us. He is a Vietnam vet so is all set with medical coverage. It turns out that he is retired, but comes in 5 hours a day to help out. He says that now that his kids are grown and out of the house - it is no longer a home, just a big house. He wants to downsize and has actually had RVing on his mind if the family can sell the place. We told him to keep his eye on the prize!

 

El Charritos Restaurant - excellent food and huge portions, plus 2 Sopoipillas each with honey…

72 degrees, breezy blue skies… all set up for four days. Old Town today, Santa Fe tomorrow, Air Balloon Museum Wednesday, then on to Congress, AZ for 3 months.  Stay tuned!

The black ink pen is our route so far.

 

The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun, Christopher McCandless