You all remember reading about our summer vacation with our grandson, Jace. While extremely fun, entertaining and educational, it was also tiring. When you're both nearly 10 times older than the kid you're taking care of, you can expend a LOT of energy, even if it's just a simple trip to the campground pool for a few hours.
So afterwards, it's nice to have some decompression time, where all you have to do is enjoy retirement by doing as little as possible. In our case, we also get to enjoy that decompression time surrounded by nature due to the lifestyle we have chosen.
So it's a couple of weeks each in two of our favorite US Corps of Engineer parks in Georgia, both because they're inexpensive, and because they sit on two big lakes in Georgia - Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona, respectively. They're also close by to where Jace lives, just in case we need to step in for a day or so before his school year began in earnest.
First order of business is ordering of another kind; that being parts I'll need to fix some of the things that broke or just need replacement after 2 solid months on the road with more than 3,000 driving miles on the motor home. There's also monthly maintenance items that just take a few minutes, like checking fluids and topping them off, resetting tire pressures, and checking the water levels in the four 6-volt batteries that power our coach. We're nearly 4 years into this journey, and due to proper maintenance, the batteries still test out as almost new. I figure another 3-4 years before we'll need to replace them.
It's also a time for me to get my left hand rechecked by a VA orthopedic specialist in Atlanta. First checkup looked good, and another just one month later shows both breaks completely healed. The downside is the recurring swelling in the left hand, which the specialist tells me can stay for 6 months to a year! But now that the hand is no longer immobilized, the more I move it and use it, the quicker the swelling should go down (or so he says . . .).
Our final destination before heading back out on the road again is a new RV campground for us - Yonah Mountain Campground in Cleveland, GA. We've stayed in the Cleveland area for many months during our first few years of RV ownership, but the campground we always stayed at (Leisure Acres) has instituted a very cumbersome application process if you want to stay with them for more than 2 weeks, and it's frankly not very customer-friendly. So it was time to look elsewhere. This was one of those cases where change is good. Not only is Yonah Mountain Campground better in most respects to Leisure Acres (more wooded lots, social activities every Friday and Saturday, and being closer to the town of Helen, GA by 15 minutes or so), it has no process to stay for any extended time, and is less expensive by more than $50 per month!
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
And it's here that we get to celebrate out 4-year anniversary of living in an RV. It's a cliche, but time really does fly when you're having fun. It brings back a memory Barbara and I had one time at the Florida RV show the January before we were going to order our Tiffin. We had been sitting in the exact model coach for more than an hour, changing seats from the dining area to the living area, imagining what life might be like living in this coach full-time, speaking to and answering questions from other folks looking to purchase a Tiffin. At one point we both looked at each other and said, "Yeah, this is home. We can do this".
So four years after picking up our new home on wheels at Marlin Ingram's in Montgomery, AL, we're still immensely enjoying the decision, and still looking forward to more travel and adventures. Has it been perfect? Of course not. Nothing in life is. But it's been far more trouble-free than many folks suggested it might be, which just solidifies our choice of manufacturers and model of our coach. The homework of 3 1/2 years has paid off, as has the ongoing preventive maintenance and upkeep we've stuck to religiously during and in-between trips.
RV living isn't for everyone, but it's certainly worked out for us. Here's to four more years!
