Seetheworld2: Nov '14 -Feb '15 MD to NM

At Linville Falls Park, NC

Pat with her father

After returning from Greece, we moved into Tom and Julie’s house for several months. Their hospitality is remarkable and much appreciated. We thank Susan and Windsor for storing our RV in their driveway for almost 2 months. We enjoyed a pre-Thanksgivings dinner at Mimi’s with our friends and later Pat’s family gathered at Linda and Rick’s for Thanksgiving dinner.

We took a break from winter in MD and headed down to a timeshare in Boone, NC. From here we could do hikes from the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went down as far as Linville Falls. We also did a day trip to the Biltmore in Asheville. We went down to see the mansion decorated for Christmas, but taking pictures inside was not allowed, and it was only modestly decorated on the outside. We returned to MD in time for Carol and Cordale’s annual Christmas dinner and party. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my family at a Baltimore restaurant. On Christmas morning, Jenn fixed us breakfast and later that day, Pat’s family had dinner at Linda and Rick’s. We were all delighted when Jenn and Patrick became engaged in January.

Patrick and Jenn

Jocelyn and Chris

One weekend we went up to York to visit with Pat’s father. First I caught the flu, the next day Pat came down with a cold. We settled in at our pre-paid hotel room and kept our distance from Pat’s father. I had to cancel my prostate biopsy. (I guess having the flu wasn't all bad). Later that week, we attended the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA with my sister Barb. We saw a performance of “Moses”. It’s quite a spectacle with all the live animals.

One problem with RVs is that they have to be level when parked so the refrigerator doesn't overheat and self destruct. The big RVs have automatic levelers; we just have leveling blocks. Believe me, leveling the RV several times a day gets old real quick. Some ingenious engineer created a device to monitor the boiler temperature of the RV refrigerator; shut it down before it overheats, and restart it when it cools down. I convinced Eldon to help me install it. We didn't set any speed record for installation, but after 2 short days of tinkering, we got it done. Meanwhile, Lois kept our bellies full of homemade goodies. Now, no more leveling-Hallelujah!

Happy to be heading South

Pat spent a good deal of the winter dealing with her back problems. This included getting an MRI, 6 weeks of PT, and three epidural shots. On the plus side, now she needs less pain meds. That’s a good thing for obvious reasons, but also because the DEA expanded the list of what they consider controlled substances and have cracked down on their distribution. Now they are much more difficult or even impossible to get while traveling. At one point, we thought we would have to fly back to MD every three months to get a refill. It might still come to that.

View from Jekyll Island, GA

Sunset at Jekyll Island

I spent (believe me, “spent” is the correct term) a lot of time on the computer planning our trip to Hawaii and Australia. We planned to drive the RV to Albuquerque, NM and fly from there. Since airfare was involved, the travel dates were set in concrete. The initial plan was to leave MD in early January and slowly work our way south and then west. Pat’s PT schedule required another month in MD. So Pat stayed in MD, and I did a solo RV trip on a compressed schedule. I picked Pat up at the Dallas airport and we enjoyed a few days camping in West Texas. Pat developed a severe tooth ache, so we hurried to Albuquerque, where Pat found a dentist to perform a root canal and install a crown done before we leave. We spent several frustrating days trying to get stuff done before our trip; it seemed we kept running into incompetent employees. On our last weekend in NM, we explored El Malpais and El Morro National Monuments. Next stop, Maui.