I have been very remiss in keeping up with our blog, so no better way to catch up then just jump in and tell you what we have been up to!
We just got home after 6 months over the winter living in our RV. The end of last October (2022) we left Cashiers for our RV lot in Hilton Head. Several years ago we purchased a lot at the Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort. I call it "my happy place" The resorts calls it "paradise" and I have to agree. We stayed in Hilton Head for 6 weeks. While there we enjoyed Owners Week, a fun time of activities planned by the resort for the owners to enjoy. This included a pirate themed halloween party.
Our time in Hilton Head is filled with fun things like riding bikes, golf, kayaking and going to the beach.
We also spent time improving our lot and this visit did a lot of landscaping.
In November we took a side trip to Winston Salem to enjoy watching Ted Budd win his bid for the US Senate seat. Our daughter, Elizabeth has been working for Ted in the Congress but has now transitioned with him over to the Senate. Elizabeth and Tyler are still enjoying living in the DC area and getting ready to move from an apartment to a house. A move I know their dog, Chipper, is really going to enjoy.
For Thanksgiving we flew out to Boise to spend the holiday with Mary and Ty. While there we enjoyed the excitement of the "reveal party" where we found out Mary was carrying a girl! We also had fun helping them cut down their Christmas tree on US Forest Service land. And loved spending time with Ty's mom, Lori. And of course had to wear our Christmas Vacation sweatshirts!
After getting back from our Thanksgiving trip we drove the RV south to Titusville, FL where we stayed for the next 3 months. We have a second RV lot at a place called The Great Outdoors RV Resort. The weather here is so nice all winter and we sure enjoyed being out of the cold NC mountains.
Our time in Florida is spent doing pretty much the same things as Hilton Head. We enjoyed meeting new friends in the community and exploring the area. One favorite thing was to watch the many rockets taking off from Cape Canaveral. We could see them right from our site. Elon Musk is staying pretty busy sending up all those satellites! And when Jackie came to visit we went on an airboat ride on the St. Johns River!
Sad times did come in December when my 92 year old mother passed away. Thankfully, I was able to fly to San Diego and be with her. I miss her so much but rejoice in the amazing life she had and grateful for all the time over the years that I was able to spend with her.
For Christmas we flew to the Dominican Republic for a one week all inclusive vacation with Elizabeth and Tyler. So much fun and very relaxing. I loved not having to put up and take down all the decorations.
In February we spent 3 weeks near Crystal River, FL with a group called NOMADS. It's a short term mission organization that serves various groups in need. Everyone in the group travels in their RV. We spent our time there mainly helping people that had been impacted by 2 different hurricanes that had come through the area.
From Crystal River we returned back to Hilton Head for 6 more weeks. During this time I did fly to Boise for Mary's baby shower. It was a beautiful event and so happy I could be there to help with it.
At the end of March, Bob flew to Costa Rica to help a friend working on a large scale water feature. He loved his time there! The highlights of our stay in Hilton Head was volunteering at the RBC Heritage PGA Golf tournament and then the following week having my brother and sister in law come visit. We also had a visit from Roger and Joell.. Right behind our site, we loved watching baby woodpeckers grown and finally leave the nest!
Beginning of May was our turn north for home. We did make a 2 week stop at Lake Keowee, a trip we have done for the past several years. We stay at an amazing county park called Mile Creek Campground that has amazing views of the lake all for $25 per night! Good friends from Florida, Reenie and Dave joined us for most of the time and we had a quick visit from Cashiers friends including the Bates, Cothran and Wards.
While at Mile Creek we found out we were grandparents! Mary delivered a healthy baby girl on Mothers Day. Her name is Pyper Elizabeth and I must say she is beautiful!
We are now back home for a few weeks before we fly out to meet our new granddaughter. Our next big RV trip will be mid-summer when we head to the Finger Lakes region of NY. More about that trip later.
I hope I did a good job of summarizing our life this past winter and promise not to wait so long to blog again!