It’s hard to put into words the feeling we have at the moment at the conclusion of this amazing 3-month trip. The planning that goes into a journey such as this is intense, and because of our schedule and our finances, we had little leeway for issues, delays and the like.
This trip meant having an opportunity to take some places out of our bucket list like a few of the National Parks we had never visited and other cool places we had wanted to visit. It also gave us the good fortune of spending important time with our family and friends throughout the Northwest, San Diego and in Arizona with our Wiegenstein family. Being so far away in Florida makes it difficult to have a lot of quality time with all of them, and this was one solution to allow that to happen. Our time with our daughter Valerie and her family in Washington was so very important to us, and the chance to reconnect with our little grandsons Hadden and Logan was amazing and very fun! I have never left Valerie’s house without tears in my eyes, and so it went this time also.
We also visited with old friends in Wenatchee, WA and in the Seattle, Whidbey Island and Gig Harbor area, and renewing and building new friendships in Oklahoma and Tennessee, for which we will always be very grateful! Seeing our son Chris on Whidbey Island was a plus as we can never seem to get our schedules worked out, and this time, we did it! Sadly, a visit with our son Tony in San Francisco didn’t work out, but we are so happy that we had some really fun quality time with him when we were camp hosting. We appreciate him and his girlfriend Amanda taking the time to make the trip up to visit with us while we were in WA. Another very special highlight for us was our reunion with our daughter Meghan and her husband Mat with their new 5 day old baby Owen, just in time for our arrival in San Diego! What a joy that was, and we look forward to seeing them again in February when we head to Phoenix for a family wedding. (I did tear up when I left San Diego as well of course!)
Thankfully, as it turned out, we had no issues with the car and trailer (Lucy and Desi) (other than a dead battery in Gettysburg), no drama, no breakdowns, no tire blowouts (which is amazing after 12,000 miles).
We did have a bit of health scare with Bob in Seattle which in the end resulted in a retinal tear that was repaired when we returned. Doctors in Seattle felt he would be OK to drive with this “blob” (as Bob calls it) in his eye resulting from PVD (see the details on that in the Snoqualmie post). Despite the blob and black spots in his left eye, Bob did really well getting us home safe and sound.
Coco turned 14 on this journey, and his resilience and willingness to enjoy this time with us was pretty extraordinary. He is losing his hearing, most of his teeth, has challenged vision, and yet there were many moments that he behaved as though he was a puppy. He endured multiple “homes” each night, different family and friends’ houses, strange and new dogs, changing food, a month in a park with hundreds of kids, bikes, scooters, skateboards and lots of noise, and hours upon end sitting in the back seat of our van without once complaining! There is NO better dog on this earth and we are so grateful he hung in there with us.
And then there’s my amazing husband Bob ….. I could not conclude this blog without a sincere and very loving shout out to Bob. My guy was steady and strong, patient and perseverent as we muddled through some challenging conditions (mostly in big cities and high mountains). He taught me so many little ways that I could be helpful and useful as we set up and took down. If he was ever at all concerned, I never knew it. He took amazing care of Coco and me across this great country, and I could not love him or appreciate him any more than I do today … but tomorrow and in days and years to come, my admiration and respect for him will grow and grow as it has for the past 35 years. I am so very grateful for Bob in my life, and thank him beyond words for his willingness to partner with me as I suggested this trip last December.
Bob talking here…..my wife, Adrianne, gave me too much credit for merely doing the driving. Let’s discuss her contribution for just a minute….. She was the glue that made the entire journey click. She was the cook, dishwasher, doer of the laundry, planner, helped set up camp and take down camp every day fed, watered and walked Coco…and above all was the best companion and navigator (NOT nag-a-gator!) I could have possibly had with me. I am sooo lucky to have her in my life to share these adventures and I love her more every day!
It has been melancholic, kind of sad, and motivates us to work hard to be able to do another fun journey at some point, probably not in the RV, but another type of adventure. We have no idea what that is yet, but we will now work on replenishing our savings account and paying off some bills in the meantime!
So many of you have offered many words of encouragement and support, and we hope you have enjoyed sharing our journey with us! We will continue to blog as we experience new adventures, and we thank you for caring to share all this with us!
Your comments as always are very welcome and add great value to our memoirs!