Thanksgiving and Headed South!

Hope Everyone Had a GREAT Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful few days with Brenda and her family.  We left a day earlier than usual, on Monday instead of Tuesday.  We had great traveling weather - it was like a miracle!  Sunshine, no wind, no rain, no accidents - everything was terrific.  We pulled into Buck Creek State Park at about 4:00 and got all set up.  As usual we were the ONLY camper in the entire park.  And it is SUCH a beautiful park, right on the edge of this gorgeous reservoir.  After we got set up, we drove about 20 minutes to get to Brenda's house and we all just had pizza together and then dropped off my old Christmas tree at Tessa's apartment.  I haven't set up the tree for about 3 years now and, honestly, probably never will again, so I was more than happy to "gift" it to Tessa.  On Tuesday, Dave and I took Brandi for a two hour walk in the park - it was probably close to 60 degrees, sunny and the water was absolutely calm and flat - really pretty!  After we got her worn out a little, we left her on the couch in the RV and Dave and I headed into Westerville to Brenda's bakery.  I hung out until about 6:00- and of course she put me to work making batches of sugar cookie dough! - while Dave rode his bike around town - what a treat for him to be able to spend time outside on such a mild day.  Arnie, Tessa and Chelsey all came to the bakery at various times throughout the afternoon, so all of us went to dinner together at the Westerville Grill.  I had the old "truckdriver special" - meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy on bread - boy, am I going to have to get out and start running again!


Wednesday was a great day for
me.  The weather was beautiful - I think it hit 70 - so Dave decided to stay in the park.  He went for a long, long bike ride and then put his kayak into the lake for a few hours and did some fishing.  He told me he had a really nice day just spending time outside and enjoying the weather.  While he played outside, I went in and played at Brenda's bakery for the day.  Yep, she put me to work again and I loved it.  We made pumpkin and apple pies for our dinner, and she had me make a whole bunch of "ganache" (I have absolutely no idea how it's spelled, but basically it's semi-sweet chocolate chips melted into heavy cream - delicious!).  I also ran a bunch of errands for her and then (being the accountant in the family!) got all of her books caught up to date.  But mostly it was just great spending the day with her.  I left the bakery about 6:00 or so and headed over to Tessa's apartment to help her and Chelsey (with a little extra help from Emma) decorate the tree.  It looks terrific in Tessa's apartment and I'm so happy I was there to be part of her setting up her first Christmas tree.

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving and we all had a wonderful day together - great meal, great company, such special family time together.  It was so special to see Tessa and Chelsey multiple times over the three days we spent in Columbus, and of course our little Emma is just so cute and sweet and funny.  She's at that fun age where she's just learning to walk so she takes about 10 or 12 steps then falls onto her little bottom.  But, actually, I was surprised to see how well she IS walking - and oh my gosh, does she have a lot of energy.  She is, at least in Ohio, the center of the universe for all intents and purposes.  (And that's as it should be!)  Her mother, her "auntie", and of course her Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Arnie all just love the pieces out of her.  She's a very lucky little girl, surrounded by all the love in the world!

Friday morning we took off for parts south.  It's always sad for me to be leaving the family behind, but it's also exciting to know we're starting off on our next adventure.  This year we plan to be on the road until late April or early May.  We plan to spend the trip entirely on the Gulf side this year, ending up in New Orleans.  I'm very fortunate because I have the opportunity to keep working for Kerkstra this year, even while I'm on the road.  It's good for my brain and good for my pocketbook, and hopefully I'm able to provide a certain amount of value to the team back at Kerkstra even though I'm not physically on-site with them.  (This is where any of my blog followers who happen to also be Kerkstra employees can join in with a big "A-MEN" if you'd like.)  Anyway, we got as far as Knoxville Friday night and pulled over to stay in a Walmart overnight.  Dave had noticed that our back tire on the car seemed soft....AGAIN!  I just had it fixed on my last Friday at work, and now it was soft again - frustrating!  Anyway, the Walmart we parked in was adjoined to a Sam's Club so we took the car there and sure enough they found a small puncture that the kid in the Holland Sam's Club apparently missed.  It was a relief to have a specific answer to our problem, especially since we also somehow lost our backup camera about halfway down to Knoxville.  This is very frustrating because we sort of feel like we're flying blind without being able to see the car behind us.  We've decided to wait until we're settled in on Pine Island before we deal with it, but we feel better knowing we probably aren't dragging a car with a flat tire behind us!  So, anyway, we got settled into the Walmart parking lot, got dinner and went to bed about 9:00 (unreal!) - but I don't think either of us slept very well because it was COLD COLD COLD in the rig.  Poor Brandi - I think she almost froze to death.  But we all made it through OK and today (Saturday) we got through Atlanta, which is always a HUGE relief - we HATE driving through Atlanta! - and we decided to pull into High Falls State Park for a few days.  High Falls is located about halfway between Atlanta and Macon.  We have LOTS of time before we have to be down in the Fort Meyers area - our reservation isn't until December 1, so we've got a whole week.  We stayed at this park 2-1/2 years ago and really enjoyed it.  The weather is pretty good - about 60 today and tomorrow, but it's supposed to be in the low 70's by Monday, so we decided to pull in here and stay until Tuesday.  I'll take pictures tomorrow and Monday and post some - it's very very pretty here - but in the meanwhile we are just happy to be on the road, eating the fantastic cheese cake that Brenda sent with us, and getting another wonderful trip started. 

(PS-I also saw on the Weather Channel on my I-Phone that it's supposed to SNOW in Michigan on Saturday and Sunday, so it looks like we made it out JUST in time again - sorry, all you guys up in Michigan - don't hate us, OK?!)