American Gam

“No matter the deviation, all things come full circle. You begin and end your journey in the same place, but with a different set of eyes. ~ Abram

It’s been a few months since I last posted and it’s been six months since my triple bypass surgery. All is well. The recovery is as slow as a sloth but I’m well over that mountain and feeling stronger every day.

A life-changing event like heart surgery changes your perspective about the future. You start asking “What if…?” questions. The biggest ones being “What if one of us were to die? Where would that leave the other one?” Would they be stuck alone in a twenty-three foot travel trailer in the middle of who-knows-where? We all have an expiration date, there’s no escaping that. Treva and I both have a half a dozen decades behind us, so we decided we should have a home base for the other person to land should they find themself alone in the middle of a desolate prairie.

Treva did find us a home. It’s in a very nice mobile home resort in Clearwater, Florida. She flew there and secured the deal. All we had to do now was get there, so we said goodbye to friends and family in the Malibu area, filled up the gas tank (at $6.19 a gallon!) and headed back east. Being August, we knew we would need air conditioning in the camper so we lined up a series of reservations at KOA’s like we were connecting dots across the country. At the KOA in Needles, California it was 116°! In Flagstaff, Arizona, because of the higher elevation, it was much cooler. Then in Albuquerque, New Mexico it was back into the oven. At the KOA in Tucumcari, New Mexico they delivered a hot breakfast right to our camper!

We stopped at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas…

Then we stayed a few days in Arlington, Texas. Kodi and I stayed there while Treva flew down to Florida for the closing on our new home.

Once Treva returned from Florida we headed northeast, visiting a friend in Memphis and camping in Bowling Green. We spent a weekend at a nice marina/campground on the shores of Lake Erie…

…and then a few days with Treva’s family in the Albany area before setting up shop in my mother’s/brother’s driveway in Massachusetts.

This is where we started a year ago and where we came full circle and reached the milestone of 20,000 miles on our epic journey around America!

We stayed there a few weeks, which gave me some family time and some recovery time; the drive across America was necessary but difficult on my post-surgical body. The bumpy roads were not kind to me.

Everyday we were there, Kodi and his cousin, Maisley, wore each other out.

Also while we were there we changed the bearings on the camper, went to Beavertail Lighthouse, rode some ATV’s, ate a lot of lobster rolls, and had a small family reunion.

Before heading south to our new home in Florida we went up to our old haunt in New Hampshire where we camped on a pond for five days. We saw some old friends there, visited a few of our old doctors for check-ups and, of course, relaxed amidst the pond-side foliage. 🍁

The real reason we came back here was to meet the moving company at our storage unit where they proceeded to load up our belongings into their truck for relocating to Florida. After they finished loading the truck they mentioned that it “might” be delivered in just a few days. With that knowledge we decided that Treva should fly down to Florida to meet them and Kodi and I would drive the truck and camper down at a much slower pace.

It ended up taking them a week to complete the delivery on the following Saturday. Kodi and I arrived the next day, on Sunday, after a series of Cracker Barrel boondocking adventures.

Our new home…

Yes, it’s been a couple of months now and we’re mostly settled in down here in Clearwater. I’m writing this while we’re enjoying our first Thanksgiving Day here. We had food and football, the parade and the dog show, all while putting up Christmas decorations.

We’ll be heading back out on the road in February for another Great American Road Trip. Until then, we’ll be here in the Sunshine State enjoying our new home.

I hope you had a pleasant Thanksgiving and enjoy the upcoming holidays.

The gam continues…