2012 Recap

2012 is past and many memories were made. Some are happy memories, some sad, some silly, and some bad. 

One of the most influential memories I will have from 2012 is the passing of my father in February. There were many times throughout the rest of the year when I’d say to myself “Dad would have loved to see this” or “This reminds me so much of Dad”.  I know his presence will always be with me and I’ll hold him dear to my heart.

My second special memory of 2012 is Paysen Marie Ramsey.  Chuck’s older daughter, Melissa, delivered our first grandchild on May 1.  I didn’t feel like a “Grammy” or “Nana” and we came up with the idea of my being “JoJo”. Chuck wanted to be “GrandDad” but because he had on a baseball cap with the name of a coffee shop in Bar Harbor emblazoned on it, everyone started calling him that name instead; “Grumpy”.  Only time will tell if Paysen likes our nicknames or not.

2012 was a year of travel for sure as Chuck and I continued our full-timing.  We left Florida in early March to return to Massachusetts for Dad’s funeral. We hung around New England for about a month and I did some more family genealogy research before working our way to NY and Pennsylvania, getting to Maryland just in time for the birth of Paysen. In mid-May we started our real travels and headed back to New England, spending a few days in the Portland ME area reconnecting with friends and professional services before pushing on.

By June we had crossed in to the Canadian Maritimes and reconnected with several campgrounds we had visited in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, as well as finding new locations to visit in Nova Scotia.  I think our favorite location during that part of the travels was staying at a campground outside Baddeck, on Cape Breton Island.

July brought us back to the United States and New England, first a brief stop in Maine and then a week stay in New Hampshire.  We had abandon our plans to travel westerly across Canada and decided to see the U.S. instead.  One of the places on our 2012 bucket list was to visit an RV manufacturing plant.  While in Elkhart IN we took advantage of touring at a Heartland facility. Very educational for us.

During this time, while checking an email, I discovered that there was a need for Care-A-Vanners at a Habitat for Humanity build in Brookings, SD.  We decided to sign up, and with a few weeks before the build date made a few more stops on our way west.  It was during this time that we discovered Pipestone, Minnesota and the Pipestone National Monument.  There is a lot of Native American history in this region.  I found this area very special for me spiritually and hope to get back again.

After our two week stint with Habitat was up, and because RV friends we knew from Maine 2011 were in Montana, Chuck, the pups and I headed west across South Dakota to meet up with our friends in Sturgis, SD.  (Bike Week had ended and the RV park had an outstanding deal which we couldn’t resist.)  We stopped in Mitchell SD, home of the Corn Palace and also at Wall Drug as we headed west of I-90.  

Upon crossing the Missouri River in SD, a whole different world opened before us. The landscape of our country was so different and beautiful.  We stopped for a few days in the Badlands National Park before joining Michael & Glenda in Sturgis for a week.  It was fantastic to reconnect with them in person and the week flew by.  While staying in Sturgis, Chuck and I drove to Mount Rushmore one day and Devils Tower another.  

Getting back on the road, we chose the Little Bighorn Battlefield for our next destination.   From there we headed to Yellowstone National Park, spending a few days on the east side of the park in Wapiti, WY, then to the west of the park in Island Park, ID.

By this point I was starting to feel overly visually stimulated and instead of trying to get to many more of the national parks, chose a few key locations we wanted to see during the year before finding a place to set up camp for the winter.  We headed to Las Vegas where I reconnected with a friend who I first knew when we both lived in Charlestown MA.  Kathryn and I hadn’t seen each other in 10 years and had a fun reunion.  And Chuck finally got to say he had been to Vegas.  I was able to share the Red Rock Canyon area with him which had always been the highlight of my trips to Vegas.

From Vegas we headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Words and photos do not give this beautiful area full justice - to me it is something you have to experience.  While in Arizona, we decided it was time to head back to Florida and chose 2 more most stop locations before getting back to the campground we stayed at the previous winter.

Our penultimate must see destination was Roswell NM, and as far as we recall, neither of us were abducted during that night.  Our final must see for the year was a visit to the Alamo in San Antonio TX.  Other than those places, the campgrounds we stopped at were strictly for resting and pushing on.

We arrived back in Leesburg, FL for October 1 and settled in to a routine at the resort.   Because we bought a new truck at the end of February, we knew exactly how many miles we had gone in the year, just under 20,000, sleeping in 25 states and 3 provinces.

At the end of Nov. our friends, Michael & Glenda coincidentally were in the same region as us and invited us to visit them at the campground they were at in Crystal River. The Crystal River campground was 1/4 the size of the Leesburg park, and had a more decidedly camping atmosphere vs  the mobile home park, and we decided to relocate to Crystal River for the winter.

Since arriving at this campground we’ve been kayaking with manatees and rode our motorcycles in a toy ride of over 300 bikers.  Mostly though, we’ve been relaxing and enjoying the company of friends and the outdoors.

When asked by people what we hope to do in 2013, we explain that our plans are written in ice cubes, ever changing with our whims.

Habitat for Humanity: RV Care-A-Vanner

Last year, the church we are members of in Maine participated in their first Mission Trip, assisting an organization with various repairs for multiple homeowners. I was able to be part of that group and enjoyed being able to assist those families with painting or minor carpentry skills.  

Because Chuck and I are retired and traveling all over, I started looking for similar opportunities for us as to help others. While searching the Internet, I learned about a group called Care-A-Vanners, folks with RVs who help at different Habitat for Humanity builds across North America.  CAVers use their RVs as their home during the build, most are fulltimers like us, but some people use vacation time to go and help in a different community from where they live.  We were going to join a build in FL last fall, but a family member’s health concerns delayed our plans.

In mid-July I received an email indicating a need for more RVers for a build taking place in Brookings, SD the following week.  Since we were approaching South Dakota and wanted to spend some time in our new home state, we decided to sign up.  A community hopes to get 5 or 6 RVs.  We learned there would be 1 other RV with us.

We arrived on Sunday, and met the other Care-A-Vanner who would be working with us.  They were an older couple who had participated in numerous Habitat builds, but the wife was no longer physically able to; staying “home” in their RV while the husband went to the build.  Unfortunately, they had a mechanical issue with their RV and had to leave after the first day. 

When we arrived at the home the first day, House 49 was just a cement foundation. We helped lay trip boards, put in flooring joists, flooring plywood, install S.I.P. (Structural Insulated Panels), build and frame walls and install roofing trusses. We operated table saws, chop saws, air guns and lots of hammers.

Over the next two weeks we generally spent 7 hours a day helping build a home for a mom and her two kids.  The work crew weekdays would be the general contractor, Chuck and myself.  Wednesday is a local volunteer day and we were joined by 7 to 10 people, including the homeowner, which allowed us to make greater headway.

One thing we didn’t anticipate when we signed up to be Care-A-Vanners with Habitat for Humanity in Brookings, SD, was extreme weather. The temperature was over 100 the first week and we were out in the bright sun.   Lunch was provided for the work site volunteers daily, and several days we left our build site to go to Habitat’s local office to cool off in their air conditioned space. One evening there was a severe thunderstorm and even a tornado watch in our region. 

Before the build, I had always thought that Habitat “Gave” people their homes in exchange for hours spent working on their home (or helping Habitat in some manner).  It turns out, each homeowner “Buys” their home at cost, financed with 0% interest thru Habitat.  A few times during our stay we heard Habitat does not give a hand out, but a hand up.

We seriously considered sticking around the community to join their next RV Care-A-Vanner build starting a week after our time ended, but the call of the wild in Yellowstone as well as more travel through the country convinced us it was time to move on. When we left Brookings after our two week stint, there was a lot more to do on the home, no way was it finished.  The anticipated completion and move in time for the homeowner and her children is Thanksgiving.  While there’s still much work for the community to do, it was a special time for Chuck and I to be able to participate.