Birthdays and a Trip…Home?

Leg 8 – North Carolina 10/30/2021 – 11/28/2021

Week 2

This week started with the celebration of Bill’s birthday and ended with a trip back to Oregon. We celebrated Bill’s birthday with his family. On the menu? His favorite meal of Spaghetti and Meatballs and Homemade Apple Pie. One more year and he will be getting those senior discounts, but I doubt he’ll be ready to eat from the senior menu. LOL Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!

DIY Project

The weather was very nice this week, low 70’s. I was able to sit outside in the warm sunshine and work on recovering the material on the window valances in the rig. The décor is a little dated, so to make it “our own” we decided to add a little modern color. And you didn’t think I would find a DIY project in an RV.

It’s a pretty easy process. Bill took down the window boxes and I worked on the picnic table outside. I started by removing the current covering and paying attention to how they were wrapped. Snapped a few pics while doing so. The material I removed was then used to cut the new fabric. Then I just wrapped it the same way and used a staple gun to secure it. We ended up having to get a new staple gun because the one we brought with us was too big to handle this delicate job. Bill runs to Lowe’s and brings home this cute little, easy to use gun. Looking at this contraption, which side do you think the staples come out of? The end you push down on or the other end? If you’ve used staple guns, you would probably guess the end opposite of the end you push down on. Not this one. The staple comes out on the side you push down on.

The first valance was a learning process. The second and third, I’m moving along singing a song, comfortable with my new staple gun. What do I do? Pick it up, place the wrong end on the wood, squeeze the handle and send a staple right into my finger. An expletive flew from my mouth (not the one you might be thinking, but a swear-word nonetheless and this is a G-Rated blog 😉) I look down and there is a staple hanging out of my finger. I rip that sucker out and Bill comes out of the rig saying, “What the he(ck) did you do now?” I believe he thinks I’m an accident waiting to happen. Well, I cleaned up the little bit of blood dripping from my finger and powered on, finishing before it got dark.

Part one of the valance project is complete just in time for me to get ready for my trip back to Oregon. Yes, we spend 2 months driving across the country and I turn around and fly back for a long weekend. I had a doctor’s appointment that could not be done virtually. That’s okay, though. It’s a GREAT excuse to visit the boys. I needed this visit and I’m pretty sure they did too.

Sarah P Duke Gardens

My flight did not leave until late in the day, so Bill and I decided to go into Durham and see Duke University. We spent an hour walking around the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. There are four different gardens to walk thru. The Historic Gardens are where the Duke Gardens began in 1934. This garden contains a terraced garden and fish pool. A peak of the top of the cathedral is also visible from the top of the terrace. The Asiatic Garden was very tranquil. It contained soft Japanese maples, peonies, cascading streams and a lovely bridge crossing the pond. The Garden of Native plants was just like walking thru a forest. There was a tree in here that had huge leaves, the cluster at the end of the branch was about the size of an umbrella! We did not have time to walk thru the last garden, Doris Duke Center of Gardens. This gives us an excuse to return in the Spring when the flowers are all in bloom.

We took the short ride over to the Duke Chapel and I hopped out to snap a picture. I know I screamed “TOURIST” as I was just spinning in a circle taking in all the buildings on the West campus. I love the Gothic architecture. The design for the campus began in 1925 and it fully opened in 1938. I got my pics and hopped back in the jeep. We needed to get some dinner before my flight.

Back to the Pacific NW

The 6-hour direct flight to Seattle was LLLLOONNNNGGGG. I would much rather travel across the country in a motor coach than coach in an airplane. However, it was so worth it. Seeing my kiddos and getting those hugs was very much needed. I have missed them, A LOT!! We had a great time cooking, eating, watching TV (90 Day: Single Life and losing brain cells I will never get back), shopping and just hanging out and visiting. One of the things they wanted to do was fix a mini-Thanksgiving dinner. The holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are going to be hard for all of us this year. Bill and I will not be travelling back to OR/WA to celebrate with the boys and this will be our first year apart. I am so THANKFUL that I had this time to be with them and that they wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving early with me. The only thing missing was Bill.

Tuesday morning arrived too quickly. It was time to make my way back to North Carolina. Did you notice I did not say home to North Carolina? Or that I was flying home to Oregon? A strange realization came over me on this trip. When I used to go back to Florida, that always felt like “going home”. When I returned to Oregon, I was “home”. I do not have that feeling of “home” anymore and that is a strange feeling. In our new lifestyle, they say your “home” is where you park it. This is true, our RV is our home but there is no sense of “going home” for me. That’s not to say I’m not happy with what we are doing. I am very happy with this lifestyle. For now. But I will want the feeling of “home” again one day.

Jeeping in NC

While I was out visiting the boys, Bill took his brother and nephews on a Jeep ride. They completed the one and only Jeep Badge of Honor Trail in the whole state of North Carolina! They had to drive 1-1/2 hours to get to the Uwharrie National Forest. The day was spent the day doing several of the trails in the forest and then they made their way back to Chapel Hill. It was a great time and the little ones were real troopers with having to be confined to the back seat of a jeep all day. Boys = Energy and there is no good release for energy riding in a vehicle all day. LOL