“These are the days when anything goes: everyday is a winding road, I get a little bit closer…”

The best laid plans of mice and men…(cue Pam here for the rest – and Pam, this is a family blog – so don’t add in OUR version!)….
Everything is well, all is fine, but we are not in Virginia, as planned. We are in Highland Park. As in New Jersey. As in, home. Here’s how it all happened (now cue weird music, and fade to blur):
When I last blogged, we were in Greensboro, North Carolina. And the answer to last night’s trivia: The Biltmore, in Ashville(good job, Marsha G!). We had to cut our campfire short, and return to our air conditioning, due to the heat and the bugs. There was no cable, as I am sure you remember, and the internet connection we had was not good at all. So, at about 11 pm, it was lights out. At about 10 pm, we each wanted to take a shower. Now, there’s a very important part of our camping experience that I just haven’t included in the blog. So here’s a laugh. The water heaters that are found in many RVs are flawed, at best. They hold 6 gallons of water when working optimally. Ours is far from optimal. (What’s the opposite of optimal? Pesimal? There’s your trivia!!) In fact, this entire trip, I believe we have had no more than 10 minutes of hot water. Total. When traveling in the south, in July, the water was always warm. And since we were so warm, a cool shower was not a big deal. Last night, however, we both took ICE COLD showers. And that was NOT our choice. So, no entertainment, ice cold showers – and then, this morning, Rich had some issues with the sewer. It was tolerable, but could adequately be entitled, “Yuch”. We were on the road by 9 a.m. We were targeting to be at our last RV park by 1 pm. At about 10:30, Rich turned to me and said, “Hey, what if we just blow off the last stop? We can be home by a reasonable time tonight.” I was very confused. We don’t often deviate from the itinerary we set for ourselves. He went on to explain that camping in this weather is impossible. So, we spend the entire time inside. That’s fine, in and of itself. However, at our last stop, there was no cable, and internet is always questionable, and another cold shower-not so much, and a campfire or sitting outside was going to be impossible. Plus, we had a 5+ hour drive to get home on Friday. So, I gave it some thought, and considered the offer. IF we drove straight home, after a RIDICULOUSLY LONG DRIVE, I could have air conditioning, cable, internet, a warm, even hot shower- and no real driving on Friday. Rich really wanted to just get home, and since he was driving every single mile (not to mention the fact that he is Mr. Sewer-emptier), it wasn’t really up to me to say no. Thursday’s new destination: New Jersey.
We got in the car at 9 am. We arrived at our house…at 8:15 p.m. Oy vey, was it a long drive. Almost 12 hours in the car – with several short breaks along the way. We hit traffic, as expected, around the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. An important note: visitor centers and rest stops in Virginia were spotless and welcoming. And somewhere in the midst of the traffic, we got a phone call from son Judah, telling us that we lost power at our house. What? Are you kidding? We are driving ALL DAY to get home to a sauna???? I must be honest – I freaked out. I was brainstorming alternate plans, places to plug in the trailer, places to crash for the night. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t a fun passenger. Here, however, is a POSITIVE to 12 hours of travel…some time over the Delaware, the power returned. Thank you, Lord!
And so it is, a quarter past 8, we shlepped up to our home. Our overgrown weeds and limp flowers greeted us with a weak smile. Our hometown looks just as it looked when we left it. Hmmm. And so, we have completed another summer journey. The jury is still out as to whether we will make one last run before the summer is through. We’ll let you know. We want to again thank our family in Florida and Georgia for their entertainment and unbelievable hospitality. I also want to thank everyone who read, commented, and laughed along with us on the blog. I truly love writing it; wish it could be my full time job. And that’s for real. So, for now, we will see you – around town, around Facebook, or just around.
And it’s back to life, back to reality. Enjoy every day. Laugh every day. And smile.
Marla and Rich

So funny!

Just smile.

At that face.

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