Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Making Friends

Living on the road fulltime does make it harder to acquire and keep friends.  Folks we meet at campgrounds are in general friendly. However, when you're only pulling in for an overnight stay, there isn't a sense of urgency in getting to know your neighbor.


In the summer of 2011, we met a couple who were staying at the same campground in Maine as us. We stopeed to speak with them as we noticed their license plates indicated they were from South Dakota also.  Michael and Glenda are fulltimers and use a differnt mail service in the state.  Their routes are in the South; family in AL, LA & TX.

Because we were the locals, we were able to share information about Maine with them.  They were very easy going folks and we frequently found ourselves visiting at their campsite as did other folks from around the campground.  Michael enjoys cooking others and we were introduced to Cajun flavors.


To our luck, Michael and Glenda stayed for several months and a friendship was formed.  We share a few other commonalities besides residency including kayaking and motorcycling. After our stays in Maine ended, we stayed in touch and tracked each others travels via social media.

In summer 2012, while Chuck & I were doing the Habitat build in eastern South Dakota, we read on FB that Michael and Glenda were leaving Wyoming and heading towards western South Dakota.  We made plans to join up with them in Sturgis (after motorcycle week) and spent time reconnecting.  Winter plans were discussed and they mentioned there was the possiblity of them coming to Florida this year.

By mid-November we knew Michael and Glenda were in the neighborhood, staying at a campground 60 miles from the one we were at.  Although it put us further away from people we knew in the region, we ended up relocating from our campground over to the one they were at.  

One of my favorite things we've been doing is going on motorcycles rides.  Generally Michael selects the destination for the ride, then shows me a simple map of the proposed route and I end up leading our band.  We participated in a charity ride with them one day, and have done several scenic rides. On one outing another couple from the campground join us on our journey to Cedar Keys FL.

Wanderlust set in quicker for Michael & Glenda and they have moved on to other campgrounds.  Chuck and I feel the need to get moving calling and are considering options on where to go and when.  But we know that someone down the road, we'll meet up with Michael & Glenda and have more fun.

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