The Virginia Hiatus
Our #VanLife plan is to land every 6 months in Virginia and in Colorado. And stay in each for a month or so. Virginia because John Miller is there and Colorado because we like it there! So after Gramp Camp in the middle of July we headed east toward Virginia. We had some FUN on the way there:
Indiana's ode to the movie "The Christmas Story"We walked our 35th Capital Volksmarch in Lansing, MI. We did tour the capitol and saw a bit of the city.
In Deerborn, MI we thought we'd pay a de rigueur visit to "The Ford" aka The Henry Ford Museum, with a side trip to a Ford Assembly Line. We had such a good time there, especially at the assembly line watching an F150 Lightening come together, that we wished we'd bought more than a one-day ticket. Highly recommend these two places.
In Virginia: Life on the road makes even routine professional health care tricky. In an attempt to normalize that a little, we arrived in Virginia in late July and started a round of doctor's appointments. from which we escaped in late August mostly unscathed.
And to add to the medical adventure's John Miller, Bill's brother, developed a very serious infection in the knee joint that was replaced in May. On August 16th, a 2 AM ambulance ride to the hospital got him another surgery to clean it up and replace some of the 'plastic' parts that were part of the knee joint. We didn't even know that new knee joints came with plastic parts.
John left the hospital with a PICC line and a ticket to a skilled nursing facility for four weeks of IV antibiotics. His blood work is looking good as of this writing and he's on track to go back to his assisted living facility by the third week of September with a good health grade.
And while in Virginia, we had a bit of day-trip fun. Here's some highlights:
We bought a new couch for the little basement apartment we live in while there. SO much more comfortable than lawn chairs. And yes, Bill regards his naps as FUN.
I was super excited to score lawn seat tickets at Wolf trap for a a live taping of the NPR show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". I've been a fan for years. And (!!!) the guest was Anthony Fauci. The announcement of his name prompted a standing ovation from ~7000 people that lasted minutes and he wasn't even on the stage yet. When he was, Peter Sagal interviewed him about computer viruses, about which Dr. Fauci is less conversant than he is with biological ones. And then he got another standing ovation. We went back to Wolf Trap a second time for Lyle Lovett. Good enough show-- glad we had lawn seats even though it was a little rainy.
A day trip to visit Chesapeake, MD -- a small town where we enjoy walking by the bay.
We met my cousin Cindy for the always great dinner at our favorite DC restaurant (Jaleo) and we followed that with a walking art tour through the Washington Convention Center, which has fantastic and unique art! Who knew? Guess we never looked at the walls during the few events that we've attended there over the years.
Cindy took us on a tour of Mount Vernon. Hot day but still fun. Haven't been there in a very long time.
This is a snap shot of me, friends Sheila, Tom and Sheryl along with Bill and a random willow twig bird of some sort at Delmarva Botanical Gardens. This is just the beginning of some fun nature art and beautiful gardens there. Really recommend this if you are ever in Sussex County, Delaware.
A second side trip to Delaware ended with great meal outside a pub aside lovely Silver Lake in Dover, with 'road' friends John and Sally. We originally met them at a Habitat for Humanity Build last January in Dade City, Florida.
As is always the best part of our Virginia trips -- we get to catch up with our local friends. We would so miss them if we didn't have the Virginia intervals: Rennie and Nick, Mary and John, Pat, Becca, and more. Love you all!
And we
- cleaned up the Virginia garden, a little bit.
- got our Prius 'undented' after a hit and run incident in a Home Depot Parking lot. GRRRR
- took Baby Beluga in for a health check and got her some new shoes -- six new tires have made her MUCH quieter and she doesn't sway as much as she did. So she's happy too.
And off we went to points west again! Lovin' the life style. Stay Tuned.
Retirement Lesson Learned: Ya hafta' 'adult' even when yer old.
VOYAYA
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