Author: livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

So far we’ve eaten three amazing (dinner) meals: grilled burgers with grilled eggplant (Justin) pork roast with roasted potatoes totally made by Justin with homemade applesauce by Gma Quilt, and Marty Mann’s recipe for chicken and artichokes (Holly). We tried to go apple picking on Monday but with it raining we bought apples at the farm stand. I cut and peeled apples with Finn helping by putting the pieces into the pot. The Instapot made short work of the applesauce. Every meal has been scrumptious.

Yesterday I went with Holly to pick up Finn. This is his school.

Bode demonstrated the ATV he got for his birthday.

Finn has the John Deere tractor. I’m hoping to see him demo the tractor. 😊

Yay, we got to NH on Saturday afternoon and it’s been 90 miles an hour since LOL. Finn and Bode were so excited to see us, it was great! I’ve been playing with them, made breakfast 2 mornings. Today was French toast. Taken walk with all 3 dogs, watched them on the trampoline, played with Lego’s and last night played balloon volleyball. That got pretty loud.

Dogs get along

Fall foliage is stunning. Next post I’ll have more pics of that.

Wow! Saw my brother Ron and his wife Barb for the first time in many years. Lots of hugs and smiles all around. Barb and I were classmates in high school. R&B got married in June 1971 so they have been together 51 years now. Wow. I love them both and am so happy we got to see them.

We had an amazing lasagne for dinner and talked and talked. Ron was in the marines and was in Vietnam, he snd Vic compared their experiences as they were there a few years apart.

They have a gorgeous property, 7 acres with beautiful trees and a huge patch of woods.

We are staying in the parking lot of Elks Lodge #2006, really really nice bunch of people. Beth the bartender said Zoe was welcome too. Everybody we met was very friendly.

We will leave in the morning on our way to see my brother Ron and his wife Barb in Andover CT. Haven’t seen them in several years!

We met a couple at a rest stop, from Keen NH, full time RV’ers. Mark snd MaryAnn. They travel with 2 labs and 2 cats (!). They pulled into this harvest host right behind us. How funny is that! We had a beer and some snacks and chatted with them. 6” Meatball sub, dip with fresh baked pita bread and chicken on a stick. All delicious. Zoe was welcomed inside. At first she sat down on her quilt and then made a few friends. It wasn’t crowded at all.

Yesterday turned into a 6 hr drive. GPS was routing us anywhere but thru the Baltimore Washington tunnel. Mark told us it was because we are carrying propane. He said you get stopped when you get through and fined $500. Yikes. Anyways we got here safe.

We are stopped overnight in the Richmond area at the parking lot of Truck and Tractor Museum. There’s a grill attached so we got take out. The grill had just closed so we got BLT club sandwiches, yummy.

We’ve had a nice visit with Vic’s brother Ralph, his girlfriend Pam and her step sister Wendy in Lillington NC. We hadn’t seen Ralph in two years although they talk on the phone often. The three of them with 2 dogs live together in a beautiful older house on a couple of acres. Zoe charmed everyone because that’s what she does. We had a great visit, now it’s time to get back on the road and head north.

Tonight will be a harvest host in Richmond VA. I believe it’s a brewery which is great since we can get dinner there. Thursday we will stop at my brother Ron’s in CT and then Friday we will be in NH.

We got a call on Monday that our camper was ready. There are still a few cosmetic things but they can wait. On Tuesday AM we threw our stuff in the truck, checked out of the “villa”and drove to Gainesville to pick up the camper. We had pre-ordered new tires but since we hadn’t been able to make an appointment we had to wait 5 hours for the installation. Then we drove out of Florida to Savannah Ga staying at a Harvest Host. It was the parking lot of a sports bar. We got there about 11:30 pm and went straight to bed. It was a long long day. We saw hundreds of utility trucks going to Fl to help restore power when the winds decrease.

We got up this morning before daybreak and continued up 95N to Vic’s brother Ralph’s house near Ft Bragg in NC. Another long day but we are happy we didn’t have to stay in the Clermont rental for another week in a storm. We have family and friends still in the Tampa area and are very worried about them.

We will be working our way north to NH. We are very excited to finally see the Rider family !!! It’s been a very very long time and I can’t wait!!

We went to Crystal River FL today and met Vic’s sister Kim and her husband Gary and their Shih Tzu Katie Scarlett. She and Vic haven’t seen each other for 15 years so they had a lot of catching up to do. She cooked a feast, we stayed all day and the time just zipped by. It was a great day. She has the biggest and most gorgeous house I’ve ever seen.

Zoe loved playing with Katie’s toys and slept in another of her beds. She has one in every room.

Unfortunately Katie Scarlett, also a Shih Tzu, was attacked by a dog and never got over it. She was afraid of Zoe (hard to imagine right?!) so they didn’t play but Zoe was a good sport about it. Zoe was a perfect guest and was told to come back again any time.

We stayed at Geri’s house in Ft Meyers for a month. She was incredibly generous letting us stay there. We loved being there, king size bed, all the comforts of a house with a ginormous TV. Even a very nice park close by where we took Zoe every day. We met some locals that meet daily and walk their dogs. Zoe walked with the dogs one day all of them twice her size. She fit right in and kept up. So cute.

We went to Ding Darling nature preserve (Captiva) one day. Here’s an Iguana we saw.

Then we needed to be back in Clermont. Our glasses were ready. Our friend Walt put a different hitch in the truck. Other things like that. There were several things that came up in the solar panel project. Almost everything has been figured out and fingers crossed it will be done soon.

Every time there’s a problem and/or delay It feels like the “finish line” was moved again.

We went to Apopka Wildlife Drive recently. Here’s some stuff we saw.

Of course we saw alligators over there