The Andover Adventure 2021

 Waking early has become a habit.  Peter had the brainy idea to put the Keurig from our camper into our bedroom upstairs in Mom's house.  We bought the little creamers that don't need refrigeration and we make coffee when we wake up and spend quiet time planning for the day. Today Peter was going to finish the rest of the kitchen cabinets, and start painting the chair rail in the kitchen.   Despite using his electric sander in the kitchen (room right under Mom's bedroom) Mom slept until 10:45.  When she came down to her "room" she was a little confused. My brother Steve and I sat with her.  She didn't know I was her  daughter and was amazed to know that I knew who my brother Steve was.  The memory comes and goes. I spent time on the internet trying to find a trash removal service for weekly trash pick up.  However, no one comes to Andover 😒 We create 4 to 5 large black bags of trash every day!!  There is a dump in town but you can't use...

 Yesterday's Andover Adventure deserves it own blog.  I purchased a baby monitor when we arrived here, as I could not hear Mom when she was in her bed and we were in our bedroom, or down stairs.......... Thursday, January 28 started at 3 am.  I woke up when I heard the monitor.  Mom was crying and begging to go home.  I went to her bedside, to try to calm her, but it almost impossible to understand what she was saying, and the fear in her voice was awful.  I sat on the side of the bed and she didn't know who I was.  She said "you're new to this family aren't you?"  I slowly began to talk quietly to her and I told her I was her first born child and I was here to take care of her .  It took a long time to calm her down.  And so much she said was so sad.  I am not a stranger to people with dementia, but this was heartbreaking.  Slowly rubbing her back, she finally went back to sleep. When I heard her moving around about 10 am I we...

 Happy Friday from Andover, Connecticut.  Woke up to "feels like" 12 degrees.  Wow, I don't know how people can stay here in the winter.  I had to go grocery shopping today.  It was the first time I truly appreciated wearing a mask.  My mouth and nose were the only parts of my head that weren't frozen by the time I got into the store.  And talk about foggy glasses !!!!! Despite the weather, all is going well.  Mom has good days and bad days.  Her mornings are the hardest time for her.  She is very confused when she wakes.  Fortunately she has stopped getting up at 8 am.  Her new waking time is closer to 10 am.  Gives us some nice time in the morning to have coffee and check our phones.  This morning she had packed an overnight bag because her father was coming to take her home.  It is so difficult to witness. Peter has been accomplishing so much around the house.  The basement was in desperate need of cleani...

 Friday, January 15, 2021t We have been in my Mom's house since Saturday afternoon.   It took a while for her to get used to us being here, but she is beginning to enjoy the company.  Her loneliness was very hard on her. When friends or family call, she tells them that I am looking either for reservations at a hotel, or looking to buy a house.  She can't understand why we are here especially in the Winter.  I have that thought often my self. Before we arrived she wasn't getting out of bed all day, or until very late in the day.  On the days she would get up,  she would go to bed by 7pm.  All that has changed in 5 days.  We have to encourage her to go to bed so we can, and she's downstairs, dressed and ready for breakfast around 8:30. We spend lots of time looking at photos and talking about family.  She is still very confused and her memory is mostly gone.  In 1998 I gave her one of those books to fill out and give back to your...

 The Final day before the real adventure begins ! We woke up and immediately checked our phones and lap top.  All 3 were dead.  It was a terrible feeling.  Started trying other outlets and found that the the bank of outlets on the night table wasn't even plugged in.  The lap top was plugged in on the other side of the room, but the wall switch inside the door was never turned on. So we started charging the lap top, Peter's phone, but the charging cord for my phone wasn't working. While we were charging up,  we loaded the little we had taken into the motel back into the RV.  Peter decided to start the car which has been towed behind us the whole way.  And guess what, the battery was dead!! So if we need to unhook the car, we can't drive it anywhere !  Oh Lord have Mercy !!  Once we had enough charge on the phone, we headed out to a Walmart to get a new charging cord for my phone, and a package of socks as our trip lasted longer than the n...

  Friday, Jauary 8, 2020 I woke up at 5:30 am after having a dream that is was snowing and we already had 3 inches of snow on the ground.Thank the good Lord that it was only a dream.  However, the actual forecast was for mixed precipitation in the next half hour!!  We got on the road at 6:30 with a light sprinkle of rain.  It continued to lightly rain as we drove through Richmond, Va. We took the Beltway (I-495) around Washington, DC.  Then we took I-895 around Baltimore. It was a little scary as we had to take the Harbor Tunnel which was rather close to the height of our RV.  I was scared to death as we entered.   Peter was right as usual, we weren't too tall !!!  It was close to 11 am when we drove  out of the tunnel,  and we had not yet had anything to eat.  I decided we needed to stop driving and  have breakfast/lunch  at Cracker Barrel. While waiting for our lunch we took out our lap top and road atlas and worked out ...

Ah, the difference a day makes !!!  A good dinner, a little wine and a good nights sleep!!! We left Southern Retreat RV park in Brunswick GA at 7:50.  A little later than we had intended, but it took us a little while to get going.  We didn't realize how tiring all the drama of the past two days had made us. Crossed into South Carolina at 9:15.  What a good feeling.  At 10 am we pulled into a rest area and we made breakfast and got right back on the road. We got off 95 in Florence to get gas.  Put 67 gallons in to fill her up while I got McDonald's for lunch. We crossed into North Carolina around 1 pm.  Originally we planned to spen the night in NC, but decided to try to make it to Virginia before we call it a day.  And we made it to Emporia, Virginia !!!!!  9 1/2 hours and 482 miles today, and a total so far of 677 miles. We arrived at Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground, office was closed, just took a site and will fill out the "do it yourself"...

  Worst Wednesday Ever or Most Wonderful Wednesday Ever ????   This is the third day of our "Andover CT Adventure".   Terrible Tuesday did however end on a very happy note.  A campfire outside with the the kids and our sweet little Charlotte sleeping in bed with us as she always did when she stayed at our house in Orlando.  If we hadn't had the trouble with the rig we would have missed that. It was early up this morning.  Paul quietly left for work at 6 am.  Then Erika and Elliot were next as Elliot rides the school bus that picks him up at 7:30. Charlotte and Claire were the last to rise and shine.  Erika took Charlotte to school and then we had a wonderful breakfast of Corn Beef Hash and Eggs. I headed over to "My Dream Salon" for a haircut.  I haven't had one in months and I looked frightful!!  Alli did a great job and even Peter liked the cut.  Said it was the best one in over a year.   We received a call from the...

 Sooooooo, at 4:30 am Peter was up making coffee.  I woke shortly after.  We both felt rested and ready to hit the road.  We knew we needed to say goodbye to the kids before we left, so we drank coffee and slowly closed up our rig.  At 6 am I texted Erika to see if anyone was awake yet so we could say goodbye and be on our way much earlier than we had planned.  We headed to their camper at 6:10, had very teary hugs with Claire and Elliot (Charlotte was still sleeping) and Paul and Erika.  On the road before 6:30!!  What a great start to the day. Stopped for gas before we got on Interstate 95 NORTH.  The gas station was very busy and we had quite a time trying to get out after getting gas.  36 foot motor home pulling a car takes a lot of space to maneuver but we finally got out without hitting any cars or gas pumps. Now we were back on the road heading to our next destination of Selma, North Carolina.  However, 10 minutes on I95 and ...

 It's Monday morning, and we were up and doing the final packing and cleaning by 7 am.  We hoped to get on  the road by 1pm.  We had our annual eye exam at 11:30 and were now ready to move on down the road.   Our first destination is Stage Coach Campground in St Augustine.  It is where Paul, Erika and the kids are living until they move into their new house.  We did not get on the road at 1:00.  But by 2:05 we were done with all the last minute checks, all the goodbyes and off we went.  125 miles and 2 hours later we were camped right next to the kids.   Erika had arranged to have the realtor meet us at their new house (they haven't closed on it yet) so we could see it before we left Florida.  What a wonderful 6 bedroom home they found.  Yes 6 bedrooms.  3 for the 3 kids, 1 for Paul and Erika,  1 for Paul's Mother and 1 for us for visits or forever!!!!!  I can see many happy holidays being celebrated th...

👀  Today is our last day  in our house before we start on our new adventure.  We drank our coffee in bed as usual and then got ready to go to Christ the King Church for our last Sunday service there.  It was a wonderful service with a special prayer for us on our new ministry.  We will miss all our friends at the church.  They have been a very big part of our lives since we moved here 6 years ago. We spent the afternoon with last minute packing, giving perishables to Cindy and Ted who will watch our house while we are gone.  Dinner at Sonny's BBQ with Bonnie and Jean who returned to Orlando yesterday from their summer residence in Wisconsin.  Chelsea and Bella had a great reunion. We will miss our daily chat at the dog park as our dogs romp, and poop!!! It has been a very tiring day, but we feel pretty good about what we accomplished.  It is hard to pack for a 3 month or longer time away from our home.  I'm sure we have forgo...