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Pat after back surgery
Pat finally got the back surgery she needed. It was a
painful 4 days in the hospital, but she is doing well now and glad she went
under the knife. We stayed in the RV while Pat recovered, since everything was
on one level. But later in the month a long cold spell hit and the waste tanks
discharge lines froze solid. The temps never got above freezing for 10 days.
This forced us to move out of the RV. We moved in with Julie and Tom,
fortunately by then Pat was able to do steps. Even with a heat tape wrap, it
was twelve days before we could free up the drain lines and dump the waste
tanks.
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| Don's Family at Christmas |
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Jenn and Patrick
We did a side trip to
Philly and visited Jenn and Patrick, Floyd and Lauren and Yanjin’s family. Pat
had cataract surgery on both eyes over a two-week period. This improved her
vision so much she only needs readers now. With all the surgeries and follow up
out of the way, we headed south. We spent a few days on Jekyll Island in GA before heading
into FL. Our RV problems started to accumulate faster than we could fix them.
We had problems with our levelers, the charging system for the RV batteries,
but the most annoying problem was the door to the RV was stuck in the closed
position and we had to go in and out through the cab. Getting RV work done in
Florida in the winter is nearly impossible. It took a month before we got all
these issues resolved.
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| Whitehall* |
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Julie, Sue. Pat, and Don*
We spent a week at our timeshare on the beach in Jupiter.
Julie, Tom, Susan and Windsor rented a unit near us and we had a good week
exploring and hiking. We all went to Art Fest and then to Palm Beach to tour
Whitehall, the former home of Henry Flagler. Henry was critical to the
development of Florida, among his other achievements. After Jupiter, we visited with Randy for a
couple days before heading to Ft. Lauderdale. We visited with my Aunt Bernie
for four days. We really enjoyed the time we spent with her. Less than 2 weeks
after we left, she suffered a stroke, and passed a few days later. Such a kind
and gentle lady, we will miss her dearly.
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| My Aunt Bernie |
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| Ibis* |
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| Minnihaha Falls |
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| Trillium |
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| Glen Falls |
On the Gulf side, we toured the local beaches with Jean and
Gordon, before heading up to a timeshare in the mountains of GA. I managed to
tear the meniscus on my left knee while hiking. We moved on to Boone, NC for
another week in a timeshare, then we spent a few days working on our property
in Lewisburg, WV. We were camped next to the Greenbrier River and watched it
rise from a peaceful river to a raging torrent as it rose 10 feet and threaten
to flood our campsite due to 3 days of rain. We stayed with Shirley and Bill on
our way back to MD where we had lots of doctor visits to catch up on.
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| Greenbrier River in flood |
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We visited with many
of our friends and family in the area, before starting our 6-month trip north. In
York, we met the newest member of the Topper family, Lilly, a companion dog for
Sadie. We spent a week at a timeshare in NH getting ready for our trip to
Iceland, Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada. We have been chasing Spring north,
from GA to ME. In addition to enjoying the black flies from PA to ME, we also
caught the first flowers of Spring, and some interesting wildlife. In northern
PA, we were excited to see our first wolverine (it was not Hugh Jackman). In NH
we saw a family of four black bears. Sorry, they didn’t stop for pictures.
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Crawford Notch, NH
You are probably asking yourself, are we full time RVers or
full time timesharers? A timeshare is a nice break from an RV, plus it’s
cheaper than paying camping fees! Our next blog will cover our month in
Iceland. Do something fun this summer and share it with us.
* Photos by Tom Gingrich
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