Closing the loop, riding the emotional roller coaster back to Florida

As we close in on our winter digs in Florida, Jan and I experience a lot of different emotions pulling us in different ways.  It's similar to times long ago when we still lived in NH and would take extended motorhome trips with Jan's parents, Vern and Viv, and good friends Ray and April, as we got closer and closer to home, we would get anxious and didn't want the trip to end.  Not that we didn't love living in NH, it was the fact the travel called to us.  And as the time went by, even after our move to Atlanta, the road called more and more until we both knew we would be full-timing somewhere in our future.  This December marks 14 1/2 years of full-timing, and I will admit, we both have had little itches of maybe slowing down and finding a stationary spot somewhere for a bit.

As I've said in the past, there are many loves and advantages to this life style but also, as with anything, a few disadvantages, no garden, no place for people to come visit, a creeping desire for a bit more room, hobby room, maybe, a place to experience the seasons from a fixed place.

So back to Florida, as we approach and anticipate, we think of all the good things, the many friends, activities, the nice winter weather, the familiarity of a place that we enjoy that offers so much.  But, there is the other side, our absolute love of the west, the openness and spectacular views, the lack of humidity, the call of the trout streams, the ruggedness, the sparse population, no traffic, etc.

We do love our time in Florida, but after several months that call of the west resonates and beckons us to return, and who knows, perhaps as the call of full-timing drew us before, maybe here in a couple years, we'll be on a slightly different path.

Anyway, enough of that.  We had a very nice time in Atlanta, even with our dentist and doctor visits:-)  We were able to get together with good friends, enjoyed fantastic meals, good drinks, and wonderful conversations.  First we saw Brett and Sandra in their gorgeous new house and had the pleasure of meeting Sandra's aunt, Marie, enjoyed a delicious dinner and company.

Brett and Sandra with Zoe and Mischief, and us
in their beautiful new home!

Brett, Sandra, Jan, and me

Then we had several visits with old friends John and Diane, enjoyed some nice bourbon, meals, and always great conversation.

John and Diane, and moi
at their beautiful lake house

John, Jan, and me

John and I "enjoying" a game of chess

So after a nice visit albeit with lousy weather, we headed south to Florida with a few detours along the way.  Fall is the time we do our oil and filter change, chassis lube etc, so we stopped at Speedco in south GA to get that done.  Speedco is like a Jiffy Lube for trucks, no appointments, quick, affordable service, and they let you watch (monitor) the whole operation, and unlike trucks which are pretty standard, it allows you to point out the items unique to your own coach.  We made it to south Georgia to be in place to get to Speedco early when they opened to hopefully not have to wait, and it worked as we were the first to arrive and were out in less than an hour!  I should mention to be honest since Love's bought Speedco last year they are not as welcoming to motorhomes as they were.  It was still a good experience, but you can definitely feel the love, NOT, for RV's.  It's too bad, as where Speedco did a lot to attract motorhomes, Love's seems to want to only cater to trucks, both at their truck stops and now Speedco, JMHO.

Pretty sunrise through our windshield:-)

Then on to our biggie appointment to replace our poor broken windshield.  Luckily it held together all these miles to get us to RV Glass Solutions in Lakeland, FL.

The cracks have moved quite a bit since the initial rock
PS: it's hard to take a picture of a windshield:)

We got settled into a nice spot with 50 amp electric to wait for our appointment the next morning.

So as I am writing this as our windshield is being replaced bright and early.  After replacement we'll sit here for several hours to allow the sealant to set then on to RCR, our home for the winter.