Two Boon-docking Nights

We made it to Florida and warmer temperatures.  It has been 75º F since we arrived outside Savannah, GA yesterday at the Sam's Club above in the picture.  We left Horntown, VA on Sunday morning and settled in Waldo, FL on Tuesday afternoon.  The first night, we spent parked in a Cummins-Onan repair facility parking lot in North Carolina waiting for staff to arrive on Monday morning in hopes we could get our furnace fixed.  That was not to be, so we wasted no time and rolled into Savannah late Monday afternoon. It was an easy ride into Florida on Tuesday morning.  The non-functional furnace doesn't seem so important anymore...

I Graduated..... Early!!

I completed my last visit to the PRMC Cardiac Rehabilitation Program last week. I will miss this awesome program, but not more than the fantastic people I got to meet there.  The medical staff is great, they are serious and knowledgeable and at the same time know how to have a lot of fun.  Then there are the other "students" in the class, in one way they are just like me, recovering from some cardiac related event.  It was amazing to me how that significant and common thread some how made for a feeling of closer connection with a bunch of regular everyday people like myself.  What I'm trying to say is that this is an awesome program.... oh, I already said that!  On my graduation diploma I received images of rockets for my service to NASA and you just can't beat that!

Some of the awesome nurses awarding me a completion diploma.  Thank you ladies!  I will miss you and the program very much.

We finally Pulled some Chocks!

The last day of January we made our attempt to cross the soft ground of the Meadows and return to the asphalt.  With 9 degree temperatures the ground was frozen hard.  In fact pullin chocks was more like hammering the darn things out of the frozen earth!  Without Choppy's help, we never would have made it up the small hill because the snow was slick as a hockey rink.  The pictures below are from a day after we departed the Meadows.  The snow is melting and the ground is returning to its soft self.  We are going to miss the Meadows very much, and will miss our friends there more.

Looking past our outdoor table and chairs out to the highway where we departed...

Predicted Path for Pullin' Chocks Maiden 2014 Trail

The time is getting very close and we are spending more time thinking about how and where our first year travels will take us.  We also get a lot of questions about where we are planning to go and why.  So we started to capture some of our ideas in Google maps.  By clicking on the map below, it will open up another browser at the interactive map.  Each major stopping point has a little information as well as the roads in-between stops.

 

Should've Left for Florida Last Month...

January has had a few ccccccold days!  We are sitting inside today, too cold for much fun outside.  Lots of Wind too.  The Eastern Shore of Maryland is not the most comfortable place in late January.... but it is beautiful looking out the window.

January 7, 2014

and...                                January 22, 2014



                                     

Thank goodness for....

We plan to attempt a departure late next week.  We are thinking this cold dry weather will aid in firming up the ground we are parked on.  We have to cross about 80 feet of grass to make it to a firm blacktop surface.  If the ground is too soft it might as well be 10,000 miles!  Time will tell.

Starting to Say Good-Bye...

Our dear friends organized a retirement congratulations and send off lunch for Gari & I.  We had a fine meal and fantastic company at the Riverside Grille in Pocomoke City, MD today.  As our small town would have it, our waitress Abbey, who was just as sweet and helpful as could be, was the daughter of another one of our work colleagues (who was not in attendance with us today).  We shared a bunch of stories at the lunch party, that I know I had not thought about for a long time.  It was very fun reminiscing, and also reminded us of how much history we have with our friends and all of the fun and exciting times.  That made the reminder of our departure bittersweet.  It may be a few years before we see many of our dear friends again, and that is difficult to accept.  The picture is all beautiful and handsome smiles, but believe me there were tears and some were mine.

Still in the Meadows but not for much longer...

The last days on the Eastern Shore are going by very quickly.  It won't be long before we are stowing our gear and preparing to depart the Shore.  This is not going to be easy and that has already become abundantly apparent.  We have enjoyed a fantastic quality of life on the Shore with many friends just like family.  Yesterday we watched a Red Tailed Hawk pair rest in the branches of the Sweetgum tree behind our rig.  It was a good day, a very good day.