So This Is A First . . .

Five and 3/4 years.

One campground.

The ONLY campground we've left early due to abysmal conditions.

 About a week ago, we arrived at Cedar Trail RV Park in Fort Mitchell, GA. The purpose was to visit with our oldest daughter, Kristen and her boyfriend, plus see a long-time friend of mine I hadn't seen in 4 years. It was also to fill up the space between Memorial Day and our arrival in North Georgia before picking up our grandson, Jace for his summer vacation with us.

It was basically the only park outside of our usual stop in Red Bay, AL where we could find a spot over Memorial Day. And it was inexpensive, averaging $21 per night for a 9-night stay.

It's an older park with largely full-time residents, and the condition of the other RV's while older, seemed to be a bit better than the usual lots filled with junk that hadn't been moved in decades, so that wasn't too bad. But once on site, it was apparent that not a lot of effort was given towards keeping the campground and sites in good condition.

The grass was more like weeds, which was good for the bees and other flying critters, but more like ankle-high. Clearly hadn't been cut in over a month. Ants all around, both fire ants and the usual kind. Utilities were to the rear of each site, which is always a pain. The sewer connection was an extra-large pipe you basically just dropped your sewer hose into without making a secure connection. And the only amenity was a laundry room. It's really a let-down, especially given our stay two weeks ago at the resort in Baton Rouge.

They don't even have an office. You check in online, and if you have an issue, you call the number on the website.

All this to say, it is BY FAR the worst campground we've ever stayed in after five and 3/4 years of RV-ing. So even though we still have 2 nights prepaid for this stay, we're leaving tomorrow for a couple of nights in Gainesville, GA at Duckett Mill before our reservations take effect at Bolding Mill next week.

 And we don't even care to try to get a refund. We just want OUT.

Laissez les bons moments rouler!

Translation: Let The Good Times Roll!

Five and a half years into traveling the roads and bridges of America, and one notable state has managed to elude us. Despite staying in every other state surrounding the Gulf of Mexi – er, America – we've always managed to skip or just plain pass-through Louisiana. COVID kept us from visiting in 2020 on our way back from Arizona. Other scheduled travel ran us through the state without any spare time to hit the obvious spots like New Orleans and Baton Rouge. We had managed to stay overnight in the Shreveport area, but it was just a one-night stop on our way to Texas, and one night stops don't count as an official Parental Parolees “visit”.

So following our 1 year-old grandson William's birthday early in May, we found ourselves with about a month in which to kill some time. Strangely enough, we hadn't planned for any travel at all. Unusual enough in previous years, but given the past year of non-travel I had gotten out of the habit of making reservations and planning for stops and stays. More on that little problem coming later in the blog.

We had looked at Maryland as a possible check-off on our travel map, as it is the only Mid-Atlantic state left to visit, but except for Assateague National Seashore to visit with the wild horses there, nothing really was motivating us there, and a dearth of campgrounds with either decent reviews or reasonable rates didn't make Maryland a particular draw.

Ohio was another possibility, as it would plug a hole in the map in our Rust Belt travels, but more research was needed on good places to stay there that couldn't be done in a week or two of prep. Rhode Island and Connecticut were simply put in the “let's hit them on our way to and from New England next time” category.

So given it was May, and the hot and sticky weather the Gulf coast is known for had not yet arrived, Louisiana beckoned. Barbara had never visited there, while my earlier travels to that city were back when I worked for Xerox 30 years in the past. It wasn't going to be a long stay, as at our age there's only so much drinking and eating you can do and still function enough to sight see the next day!

We're pretty frugal when it comes to campground fees. If we can get by on $50-$60 a night, we're very happy. Not gonna happen in the New Orleans area. Could have stayed outside the city and shuttled in, but for just a couple of days it would have wasted a lot of travel time, so we opted to spend some serious fees at French Quarter RV Resort, a 52-site oasis just a short walking distance to the fabled French Quarter. This was all about location – location – location, as the term “resort” is a bit overblown. Nice, but small pool and hot tub, streets and sites made of pavers with good modern hookups. Gated, so safe from the seedier side of New Orleans. But that's the entirety of the “resort”.

All for $125 per night before taxes (and Louisiana and New Orleans have a LOT of taxes!).

But, you're a 10-15 minute walk to Bourbon Street.

We opted for a 3-night stay.

Barbara booked us for a 2-hour river cruise on the Natchez Queen, an old-style paddle-wheeler, for our last day there, so our first couple of days were spent sight seeing, eating and drinking. One morning we enjoyed beignets and cafe au lait and Cafe du Monde right on the river.

 

Nothing like a powdered sugar high on fried dough to start the day!

After beignets, we needed a walk on the river!

We used the sugar-induced high to walk around Jackson Square looking at street artists. Struck up a conversation with a couple of law enforcement folks who were covering a commercial being shot in the square. Hit the hot tub back at the resort to work out the kinks and muscles from the walk, then hit Pat O'Brien's for some bar food, music, and their famous Hurricane drink.

The Hurricane was tasty, but pretty strong for someone who doesn't drink much alcohol!

 

Always making sure we were back behind the walls and gate of the resort before dark, because New Orleans is a pretty dangerous city outside of the restaurants and shops of the French Quarter.

Our second day found us heading to the dock for our much-anticipated riverboat cruise, only to find out that it had been canceled due to a mechanical problem. Since we were nearby, we decided to walk through the French Market that Barbara had read about during her research. While it didn't turn out to be the variety of vendors she had hoped it was, we did meet a wonderful man named Charles Garrison, A P.O.E.T of New Orleans, who will recite his own original verses for you, speak to his ministry in the area and his life history (he's a fellow Air Force vet like me) and will sell you his poems with a personal greeting on them for a marginal price. He's a charming, likable fellow and we spent almost a half hour speaking with him. If you're visiting New Orleans, stop by his table at the French Market; it will be worth your time.

A P.O.E.T. and Pastor Charles Garrison

Leaving New Orleans in our rear view mirror, we headed a bit west and north to the capital city of Louisiana, Baton Rouge. We had reservations in a fairly new (2023) campground, Tiger's Run RV Resort, which appeared to be a combined venue with the Lauberge Hotel and Casino across the street. The RV resort encircles a good-sized pond on very level ground. Sites are cement with attached patios. Typical pool, hot tub and pickle ball courts, with a very nice addition of a lazy river and a pool bar guests can enjoy, and you can even bill your drinks to your site! Another mark of a true resort is trash pickup at your site.

Visited one of the local Southern plantations nearby. Houmas Plantation is still an active home where the owner spends each evening, but it's also a museum which highlights pre-Civil War Southern living. The gardens and trees on the grounds are absolutely spectacular, as is the home. The front grounds are somewhat truncated after the levee system was built following the Great Flood of 1927, but you can still imagine looking out on the front porch to the Mississippi River a few dozen yards away.

Besides a typical Southern look, the Houmas Plantation had a beautiful Oriental garden

Barbara standing where the barges and boats would have been picking up and delivering commerce to the Houmas Plantation back in the day.

The Mighty Mississippi. Too thin to walk on; too thick to drink!

To close out our Louisiana adventure, it was never, ever not windy during out stay in that state. Every day greeted us with 15 MPH winds and minimum 20 MPH gusts. Our drive day back up to Montgomery, Alabama had 15-25 MPH winds. Fortunately, for more than half our drive day it was a gas-saving tail wind, but hitting those long bridges and roadways over Lake Ponchartrain with that crosswind was a chore. I have no idea if windy is the norm for that area, or if we just caught some unusual weather, but dang, was it ever windy!

Anyway, state #28 is in the bag, and now it's time to get down to some serious travel planning for Jace's summer vacation. We are seriously behind the 8-ball on that.

Could I possibly be in love with my new tires?

Well, stranger things have happened . . .

So our Florida winter has ended (I've got a great tan!), and we're back in North Georgia just in time for grandson William's all-important first birthday. Our arrival back to where we started a year ago caps off the strangest 12 months of RV living we've encountered since beginning our retirement back in September of 2019. In short, it was a year of almost stationary living, which is something we never expected to do living full-time in a motor home.

We arrived here at Bolding Mill COE campground almost exactly a year ago with the intention of seeing the birth of a new grandchild, and through various means ended up moving the RV a grand total of 8 times in 12 months, and only 5 of those to new destinations.

We ended up staying at Bolding Mill as camp hosts for 9 months, only moving the RV twice – once to clear out of the park when Hurricane Helene came roaring through and the Corps of Engineers closed it for everyone, and once to get our propane refilled; a disastrous trip that was detailed in a previous blog post.

After the holidays, we moved to Red Bay, Alabama to repair the damage caused by the trip to get propane, a quick stop to get our heat pump replaced in Montgomery, Alabama and a week later found ourselves in our winter quarters in Chiefland, Florida for a 4-month winter stay, then a day trip to get our aging Michelin tires replaced and finally a short trip to Keystone Heights for a week that ended up a full year of non-travel. To put it in perspective, we now have approximately 55,000 miles on the motor home since we first picked it up from the dealer, and we only put 1,400 miles on it in the past 12 months! That's less than 15% of the usual miles we average in a year's time.

Conversely, we did a LOT of driving in our Jeep to short-term stays for paperwork, and for family and friends. 3,200 miles round trip to South Dakota to renew our residency there, three trips of 2400 miles each to Massachusetts for funerals and a high school reunion, and a couple of trips to Georgia encompassing 1,300 miles total. Long-distance miles in the Jeep in the past 12 months = 11,700 miles. That's as many miles as we averaged in the motor home in previous years! And we basically did that because of time constraints, seasonal issues and short turnarounds that taking the RV would not have allowed us to do.

But getting back to the title of this piece; our new Toyo tires on the motor home.

As they say in the industry, it's not the miles on the tires, but the age of the tires. Our original Michelin tires had given us 5 ½ years of great service, with plenty of tread still left on them even after more than 50,000 miles, but heading into our 6^th year of RVing, I knew that dry rot was going to become an issue if I didn't get them replaced, and a blowout on the road is NOT something I ever want to experience in the RV.

Michelin has been the go-to tire for the RV industry for decades. It's a good, solid tire built for the truck chassis upon which these motor homes are built. But lately, Toyo has been making inroads in the RV world by manufacturing a tire that is designed for an RV instead of a truck. They are alleged to be a “softer” ride, and more quiet from a road noise perspective. In addition, they contain a UV protectant in their formula which is supposed to combat the dry-rot issues that come with tire aging.

They are also less than HALF the price of equivalent Michelin tires - $320 vs $750 – EACH.

A local truck tire store in Gainesville, Florida, Dale's Truck Tire, was able to get our new tires in 24 hours and had them installed in about 4 hours, but except for the drive back to our RV resort, I hadn't had much time on the road to evaluate the new Toyos compared to our old Michelins.

All that changed on the drive back to North Georgia this past week. The new Toyos need about 5 PSI more than the older Michelins based on their inflation tables, so I was approaching the dreaded 100 PSI mark on the new tires. That is when the Michelins felt like you were driving on rocks. Every bridge transition or pothole felt like a hard hit, so keeping them at their appropriate PSI was important. Not so with the new Toyos. Even though they started out at 90 PSI for the fronts and 95 PSI for the rears, as the pavement heat and friction raised their PSI's to over 100, the ride was still incredibly soft. And talk about QUIET! No road hum at all from these new Toyos. One of the best purchases we've made since starting life on the road thus far. If they give us the same life and wear as the Michelins did, I'll be ecstatic.

While it was a relatively short trip from Florida to Georgia, I can't wait to see what our summer travels with Jace across the country are like on these new tires! Love 'em!

Not Much Going On, But Grover Is Really Happy!

So, sitting around for 3 months in the Florida (mostly) sun is nice, but there is a lot of routine here. Afternoons in the pool or hot tub, socializing with neighbors, a occasional trip to Orlando or Tampa.

But what remains constant is keeping Grover happy! And nothing says happiness like a trip to the local Dunkin / Baskin Robbins for a scoop of ice cream for us, and the all-important "Pup Cup" of whipped cream for Grover! Enjoy!

 

Winter 2024/2025 Update

Well, winter has been upon us for a couple of months, and it's created some “challenges” to the Parental Parolee family – as expected given the lifestyle we've chosen for the past 5 ½ years.

As always, and given who I married more than 40 years ago, keeping warm is a priority. Fairly easy to do in a sticks and bricks home; not so easy in any kind of RV – especially when you can't move the motor home until after the first of the year due to family commitments.

I detailed our first big heating issue back on December 5^th, when on a trip to get our propane tank refilled (we were down to 12% - a number we have NEVER been before on propane), I damaged the back end of our home on wheels. Follow up to that incident, Progressive took care of everything, even the (expected) additional costs once Red Bay Body Shop took a good look at the damage. I can't speak highly enough about the people I have dealt with at Progressive, and their no-hassle approach to taking care of this insurance issue. It also helps that their ability to pay off claims is easy for me, the customer, to get paid quickly so that I can pay the body shop as the work is completed.

Once again, Jeff and Jeff at Red Bay Body Shop did their usual excellent job and our home is looking as spiffy as always.

Speaking of Red Bay, Alabama, we left Bolding Mill COE Campground early on Friday, January 3^rd for our semi-annual pilgrimage to get little things that broke in the past 6 months fixed. It's usually better to get to Red Bay in the off months, as you can get into one of their Express bays in a couple of days instead of weeks during the spring and fall snowbird travel season.

No so this time.

Our repair list was received by Tiffin schedulers on Monday morning , and even though we were ready to get into a bay by Thursday late morning after our body work was done, no call from Tiffin ever ensued. A major winter storm was set to come in early Friday and go through Saturday, so we decided to head out of town early before having to deal with 6-8 inches of snow and ice, and a potentially closed service center for 2 working days. That being said, as I write this, we STILL haven't received a call from Tiffin, even though we never had the opportunity to cancel our place in the service line. It appears that our next trip to Red bay will be fully scheduled with third-party repair shop appointments, and that our time with Tiffin service direct is over.

But back to keeping Barbara warm.

Our RV came with a Furrion fireplace which is supposed to be capable of keeping 500 sq feet of motor home warm, and for the most part it has done that for the past 5+ years when needed. But all of a sudden, Dave's Law of RV Components has reared it's ugly head again. You see, I contend that RV's and their components are built and sized for the 2-4 week per year user, NOT for full-timers like us. I mentioned this a couple of years ago when our rinky-dink electric slide for our bedroom failed and needed to be replaced. That system wasn't designed or sized for being brought in and out 30-60 (or more) times per year.

So after 5 years, the fireplace stops heating. Still looks pretty with it's glowing crystals, but doesn't make Barbara happy in the least. Good news is that I found another Furrion fireplace with the fake logs and coals, which is much better looking than the glowing crystals for ambiance, and got that ordered to be delivered to our winter quarters in Chiefland, Florida. Installed and running in an hour or so, and it's very nice.

But also during this time, our Coleman Mach 7 combination AC/heat pump also decided to give up the ghost. The heat pump has done yeoman's duty for the past 5 ½ years in saving us propane, as long as the outside temps stay above 40 degrees. Now, it dies at a time when we don't have the fireplace working either! And in the middle of winter!

Fortunately, we had moved to our favorite campground just outside of Montgomery, AL – Gunter Hill COE – and just down the road is the dealer who ordered and sold us our motor home back in June of 2019, the former Marlin Ingram RV. He retired and sold the business to Blue Compass RV (a national company) but many of the former Ingram employees are still there, and still treat the business as personal and not corporate. I call on a late Friday afternoon with our problem, and the service guy thinks he can have a new unit on site by Monday morning, and installed by 3 PM that day. True to his word, our 4^th generation Coleman Mach 15 is up and running by 3:30, and we head back to Gunter Hill for the next 2 days. Thank goodness for the small space heaters that pulled us through these sub-freezing times!

All this to say that it's been a trying winter of 2024/2025 thus far, but we're back in North Central Florida through April 14^th, an 80-degree pool and 101-degree heated hot tub awaits, as well as the warmer temperatures Barbara and I both enjoy. And more importantly, a working RV full of heating devices!

Coming up next, a report on the largest RV show in the world plus Florida's annual Strawberry Festival, with some new RV tires thrown into the mix.

Filling Propane Can Cause Damage to Your RV!

Who knew, right?

I wasn't thinking of this as I packed up the motor home at Bolding Mill for a relatively short drive to Cleveland, GA and Yonah Mountain Campground, where one of the few propane filling stations in North Georgia resides. We've stayed with them a few times over the past couple of years, and likely would have been there now if the camp hosting gig hadn't opened up for us. They actually don't make any money off of the service, but do it as a convenience for their campers and residents.

We've had this issue before, because unless you have a permanent residence in the area (we don't), you cannot become a propane customer in most locations across the country. A few exceptions exist, such as our winter home in Chiefland, Florida (Strawberry Fields for RVers), works with the local propane provider to allow propane trucks to deliver to you ON SITE with no contract. It came in very handy last year when we arrived in Florida with low propane after a particularly cold snap in Red Bay, AL during our semi-annual maintenance visit. Propane isn't normally needed in big quantities in Florida in the winter, but our Truma continuous water heater only runs on propane with no electric backup as a tanked water system can do. And since no hot showers = no bueno, a decent supply of propane is a must.

But I digress.

Back to the present. Our propane supply had dropped into the low 20%, and the forecast was calling for at least 10 days where something more than a heat pump was going to be needed, so it was off to Yonah Mountain for a friendly fill-up. As is usual, I mapped out a route with my Co-Pilot GPS RV app that would take me on approved roads to and from my destinations, packed up everything and disconnected from water, sewer and power for the first time in about 3 months, and headed out on the road. Grover was very nervous, as Barbara was taking care of our newest grandson, William, and she wasn't there to provide a lap for Grover to occupy, but he got over his nervous shaking after about 5 minutes on the road.

Everything was going fine on one of the connecting roads from one state route to another, when a “Road Work in Progress” sign showed up. As I crest a hill, there is a power truck and picker blocking 2/3rds of the two-lane road. Enough room for a car to squeeze on thru by going off the side of the road by a foot or two, but not nearly enough for a 38-foot long, 9-foot wide motor home to accomplish. And while they had set up their lane closure near a right-turn intersection, it wasn't your usual 90-degree right turn. No, this was a 130-degree right turn in the OPPOSITE direction (think of the bottom half of a capital “R” to understand the turn I had to make on a narrow road)!

As is usual for two-lane country roads in North Georgia, there isn't a lot of room on the side of the road which stays level. In fact, many roads have a pretty serious drop-off if you get your wheels more than a foot off the pavement. So I really had to worry about both my front and back tires staying on some semblance of flat surface to make this impossible turn, and there would be no chance to back up once I started the turn.

So my front wheels are getting pretty close to the opposite side of the new road, but it looks as if I am going to be all right. Suddenly, the rear passenger tires drop into one of those drop-offs I mentioned earlier, and the RV tips precipitously to the right. Fortunately, the left rear tires remained on level pavement, or this story might have had a much worse ending. The right rear bottomed out on the pavement of the original road I had been on, to the point where my basement bay doors and chassis were the only things keeping me from overturning the RV! The left wheels stayed on pavement all the way, allowing me to continue the turn to complete my journey. Thank goodness my GPS app found an alternate route without my having to reverse course, or this story could have gone from bad to worse.

I had heard some scraping from the rear end as I bottomed out on that right side, so I was pretty mad at the power company for not picking a better spot for an alternative route a bit earlier, but I couldn't stop and inspect any damage until I got to Yonah Mountain. I did keep looking in the side view mirror to see if my basement bay doors were still closed and latched.

Once at Yonah Mountain, I was able to see the three bay doors crunched in various stages, but it could have been far worse. I could have lost or damaged the rear leveling jack, but it didn't touch at all. Didn't even lose the Snap-Pad installed on it.

Last bay door right before the end cap. This will be the second time this door will need to be replaced!

As you can see, no more straight lines moving forward.

 

When I got back to Bolding Mill, I contacted my insurance company to start the repair process. We've had Progressive insurance since day one, and had only engaged them once before – for repairs in the same exact area, btw! I pay considerably more for my insurance than many RV-ers do since I have a policy which covers virtually everything (including replacement cost in case of total loss) because it's our home. No deductibles on anything, and lots of extra perks that cover things such as places to stay in case we can't use the motor home while it's being repaired. It's worth every penny I pay for the coverage. It also helps that Progressive has been inordinately responsive when needed, and doesn't nickel and dime you or take their time in getting back to you when needed.

It also helps that their rates have only gone up $40 per month in the five years we've been covered by them, and they didn't raise our rates after the first claim we made more than 3 years ago.

So now we have yet another repair to be made in our trip to Red Bay next month. It's our semi-annual trip to the mothership to take care of whatever punch list of items have been generated in the previous 6 months of traveling on the road that I haven't been able to fix on my own. On the bay door repairs, they can be removed and worked on without the motor home being kept in the body shop, so we can still get other service done. Well worth it to keep our home in tip-top condition.

However, that trip will be covered in our next report. But for now, you CAN damage your RV getting propane. At least, I can.

No More Reunions!

So, three years ago, Barbara and I ventured up to Massachusetts for one of her high school reunions. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Barbara hadn't seen many of her classmates in years, we were scheduled to head up to New England anyway, so we figured - “What the heck.” The original date for he reunion had been postponed due to COVID concerns, and the delay seemed reasonable. We go, had a nice time, and Barbara came back with COVID anyway!

And of course, what happens when you live and travel in a 38' Class A motor home? The people inside all get sick with the same thing, only a few days later. So Barbara and I both suffered through COVID as a result of her reunion.

Apparently, we learned nothing from that experience, as my 50^th high school reunion loomed large this year. Pretty significant number, and the last time we went to one of mine was 40 years ago. So we figured - “What the heck.”

Took the Jeep this time, as most campgrounds in Massachusetts and New Hampshire were already closed for the season. A two-day drive got us to the Fairfield Inn on the Tewksbury / Andover line at 5:15PM; well after check-in time. Alas, our room (along with quite a few others as we found out) was not ready yet. So we wait until almost 6:30 to check in. Dinner was at the Wendy's next door. At least we'll get a good night's sleep before the reunion the next night (Saturday).

With limited time to spend in MA, we decide to hit the seafood portion of our trip for lunch on Saturday. A relatively quick trip to Ipswich to the Clam Box took care of our seafood craving, and we head back to the hotel to get ready for the reunion. It's being held less than 5 minutes up the road from us at the Long Meadow Golf Club in Lowell, and it's a pretty nice venue.

Our requisite meal every time we visit Massachusetts. Fried clams and scallops!

 

Thank God for name tags with yearbook pictures and names, because with about 4-6 exceptions, I wouldn't have been able to pick out most of the attendees from a lineup! Had a nice time and spoke to some people I hadn't seen in 50 years.

Meanwhile in checking with my banking app, I find out that I have been charged for our room a second time (the first time was through Expedia). Apparently, the new girl at the front desk didn't know how to process Expedia reservations, where they need to initiate a transfer of funds from Expedia to the hotel, so to her it looked as if I hadn't paid. Now I had to get the charges reversed on my card, which of course would take a good 7 days to show up on my credit card.

Sunday is a day to visit with my best friend from way back in Junior High days, Rick Penney. Nice time catching up on all the news regarding other friends of ours, had some great pizza, and we head back to the hotel. We set up a visit the next day (Monday) with my sister-in-law Debby, and look forward to the roast beef sandwich portion of our short visit.

Woke up Monday morning with a seriously scratchy throat, which doesn't bode well. Cancel our visit with the sister-in-law (which was good because apparently SHE was coming down with something as well), and make plans to check out early and head back south to Georgia. Of course, I get worse as the day progresses, to the point where I have to visit an emergency room in Woodstock, VA at 3AM for relief. All tests came back negative for the flu, RSV and COVID, but whatever I have is pretty serious.

Unfortunately, Barbara is stuck in the Jeep with me for about 24 hours, so of course she gets sick as well, even though it's a milder version of whatever I had. But it took a week to get pretty much over it.

So – NO MORE REUNIONS!

Meanwhile, Grover is living the life of Riley at our youngest daughter's house. He's getting a bit overfed, he's getting treats, he's helping himself to blankets and pillows, and he's putting their cat, Ragnar, on notice that feline antics will not be tolerated. He also gets to wait for his buddy, Jace, to get off the bus every day.

Excitement reigns as Grover waits for his buddy, Jace to get off the bus. Ragnar is just a copy cat.

So Grover got into this position without any help. He has a remarkable ability to get comfortable all on his own. The other thing is that this shows Grover / Ragnar detente. You can get close, but we don't cuddle together, cat.

Grover even got to spend a couple of extra days at Alicia's house, because we didn't want to get near them with whatever we had. He wouldn't leave Barbara's side all day. He's so needy!

Travel can be lots of fun, but one aspect of this lifestyle is that we're more isolated from the general populace than many people are, so sometimes our immune systems seem to be more susceptible to picking up bad viruses when we get in crowded situations. At least, that's what seems to happen to us after getting into crowded situations – like reunions. Or maybe it's because we're just getting older. Who knows?