Jan- Aug 2017 MD to British Columbia

Neptune and friends guarding Va Beach

After we returned from Antarctica we settled in at Tom and Julies. Pat was back to driving to Asbury, almost every day, to attend to Bob’s needs and provide companionship. In late Jan. Pat’s dad was put in the hospital and later released to the nursing care unit at Sprenkle. When Pat needed a break, we traveled to Hilton Head and Va. Beach. 

Old Glory still flying over Fort McHenry

Camping in the snow in York, PA

When we returned, we helped move Bob’s stuff to an adjacent building that could provide nursing care. It took two more moves before we got him back in a private room.   With warmer temperatures in Feb, we felt we could safely move back into our RV in March. Of course, March turned out be worse than Feb, and we got snowed in while camping in York, PA. Pat’s father’s decline accelerated in mid-March and he passed away a few days later. A week earlier, Pat brought her father’s two sisters up to see him. He was delighted to see them; it was his last good day.

Nelson with his sisters Anne and Janice

Pat had foot surgery, her first of three surgeries this year. Pat had been using Bob’s car to run back and forth to see him, but due to various problems, we realized we needed to get our own car. Except for rentals, we had been without a car for about 10 years. We bought a 2014 Honda CRV which we could tow behind the RV. We would find out later how this would significantly change our future travels. Our friend Cornelia flew in from WA to see DC and the cherry blossoms and we spent some time with her. Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms were several weeks early this year.

Island Lake, Fernie, BC

In April, we moved to Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg, MD so we would be close to Bob in Gaithersburg. Bob’s decline was more gradual than his father’s. We spent about 3 weeks cleaning out Bob’s townhouse. We tried to sell as much as we could through e-Bay, bike stores and record shops. Even after all that, there were two donation truck pick-ups, three dump truck-loads of stuff to the landfill plus countless trips we made to Montgomery County recycling depot and Salvation Army. It was hard to believe how much one person could collect over a 30-year period. The townhouse got listed for sale. Of course, Bob had another house in DE. We managed to get this cleaned out in 4 days, with some assistance from Linda and Rick. We had a “Benefit for Bob” and managed to sell most of his nearly new stuff to his neighbors. Now his house was ready to sell. Tom, as Power of Attorney, handled all the financial and real estate transactions for Bob.

Pat, Julie, Tom and Don at the Fernie Alpine Resort

We had scheduled a five week stay in Fernie, B.C. but reduced it to a two week stay in June and the first week in July, so Pat could get back to Bob.  We expected cool and wet weather in June in B.C., instead we had near perfect weather. Tom and Julie stayed with us two weeks in June. 

Cow Moose at Waterton Lake.

In addition to getting some good hiking done, one day we took a day trip to Waterton National Park in Alberta. We got there in time to take the tour boat down Waterton Lake to Goat Haunt. Since Goat Haunt is in Glacier NP in the US, we had to pass through US Immigration. Their “office” was in the field at the trailhead. On the boat trip over we watched a moose walk along the shore line. Later, we saw four grizzlies in the park. On the 2-hour trip to and from Fernie, we also saw Big Horn Sheep, a Mountain Goat, and a group of Elk. Just a spectacular wildlife viewing day!

Hiking through the Bear Grass in Glacier NP

Cameron Falls, Waterton NP

Grizzle Bear roaming Waterton NP

Waterton National Park

On the Friday before we flew back, we decided to go exploring in our all-wheel drive small SUV. Mid-afternoon, while driving down a remote gravel road, we get a flat tire on our rental car. Our road service was no help and the closest service truck was 90 min away. With the help of a game warden, we got the donut installed. We knew we couldn’t rely on the donut to get us 90 miles back to the airport, so we drove back to Fernie to find a tire shop. Of course, the workers left for the weekend about 5 minutes before I arrived. I drove another 30 min to Sparwood and found a tire place there.  They were able to replace the donut with a real tire, and we made it to the airport on time the next day.

Bob and Houng

Prior to our camping trip to PA State Parks, Pat had thumb surgery. A few days later, Bob passed away in the middle of the night. His funeral was August 1. A week later, we went to Ocean City for a few days, then we joined Chris and Jocelyn who were camping at Greenbrier SP. In Timonium, we celebrated Sharon, Trish and Barb’s birthdays. This was number 70 for Barb.

Sharon, Barb and Trish celebrating birthdays