2014 Summary of RovingPollocks Rovings

Many of our friends and family follow us on social media and,thus,know of our doings this past year. What follows is a brief summary for those of you clever enough to have avoided the snares of social media...

 We started our second full year of full-time RV living by spending a couple of months in Florida while the rest of the country was in the deep freeze. We visited with friends, former co-workers, former neighbors and classmates. It was a real treat to stay in touch with all these folks.We also stopped to get some work done on the Beav. We then proceeded to Georgia for re-work. We had some real repair nightmares this past year including being towed three times, once for 170 miles in Newfoundland. {We went back to Florida on our way to Arizona finally fixing the the alternator system that was started in February. Frustrating...but a normal part of the RV lifestyle.}

We made the rounds of family, doctors, dentists, etc. in North Carolina and Virginia in April. The highlight was Ann and Jake's wedding. What a joyous event that was! We then returned to Florida to pick up a transatlantic cruise to Copenhagen. That was followed by a cruise of the Baltic capitals including St. Petersburg, which was fabulous. Plus we connected with a former Cedar Springs exchange student in Stockholm. What a treat! After 23 days of cruising we spent a few days in Copenhagen and a week in Norway. All in all a great trip!

We returned to Virginia, picked up the Beav at Ann's house and headed north for our summer in Newfoundland. We hadn't even recovered from jet lag before we hit the road. Newfoundland was spectacular...icebergs, whales, history, unique culture and great travels with Tom and Jil Mohr. The horrible roads were a bit of a downer. After spending two months we returned to Nova Scotia where we reconnected with friends and met a cousin for the first time. Back in the US, we met up with friends in Maine and then raced to Albany, NY for Terri Goldrich's 60th birthday party. We then slipped back into Canada for more cousins and then on to Michigan to visit Bill's brother, Bob. That was followed by a week in Bill's hometown where he and Bob served as Honorary Grand Marshals for the 75th Red Flannel Festival.

On our way south we stopped off at Notre Dame to catch up with ND roommate Bill Sugnet and his sons. Back to Virginia for doctors, dentists, etc. followed by a month of family time with Paul, Yvette, William, Ann and Jake. We had a wonderful thanksgiving with Jake's family.
So here we are in Arizona for Christmas, California for New Years, Hawaii for St. Patricks Day, New Zeeland and Australia for our anniversary in April.

 
We had originally thought we would be buying a house at the end of 2015 however we have found that being houseless isn't all bad. We think we will continue to travel part time in our motorhome and part time renting apartments in interesting places for the next few years. In that vein we will be spending some time in Amsterdam and taking a tour of Eastern Europe in the fall..

RovingPollocks 2013 Overview

Roving Pollocks 2013 Overview

We have had a good time in our first full year as full-time RVers.  Right after celebrating New Years with our wonderful friends, Don and Kathee Larmee, we headed south and west to Arizona in search of warm weather and our many pals among the Escapee RV Club Boomers.  We did Boomerville at Quartzite, Winter Blast at Lake Havasu, driving school for Gisela in Yuma, St. Patrick's Day in Happy Trails, as well as a diversion to Borrego Springs and San Diego, California.  It was a joy to catch up with Judi St. Croix and Mark Thornton, Tom and Jil Mohr, Betty Anderson and Duane Peyton, Chuck and Jan Moore, Jim and Polly Weaver, and Chris Christiansen to name a few.  Special thanks to Chuck for detecting and helping to repair our slide-out as well and installing a new convection/microwave oven.  And to Duane for helping with the repair to the motor home's gas tank retaining strap. 

Spring found us heading east for a cherished stay at Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, LA...the best RV park in the USA.  We then headed north to Michigan to see Bill's brother, Bob, and to get into position for Bill's 50th high School reunion.  We left the Beav at Camp Opperman and drove the Jeep to Virginia for doctors, dentists, and, most importantly, kids and grandson.  We did the Gisela, Paul, and Ann's combined birthday party at Ann's new home outside Richmond.  Jake and Ann have a wonderful six acre place in the woods and it even has a 30 amp hookup!  In between all that we traded the Jeep in on a new Honda CR-V which achieved 30 MPG on our return trip to Michigan.

The weekend of June 8-10 was dedicated to Bill's reunion.  Since it was the 50th, his class was included for the first time in the all class 50+ reunion.  It was a real treat for him to reunite with several other members of the CSHS 1961 Red Hawk football team...Covell, Van Lew, the Opperman Brothers, etc.  Esther Clark graciously opened her summer home to the class.  It was especially nice to catch up with Lisa Van Someren, Pat Stone and Nancy Hanna as well as others from classes which graduated ahead of Bill.

The plan was to head east to Newfoundland, Canada immediately after the reunion...However, life intervened.  Bill was diagnosed with a partial blockage in one of the arteries in his right leg.  That led to a summer of doctor visits, tests, lifestyle changes, and ultimately, in October, the installation of a stent to open what had evolved into a complete blockage.  We became vegans, switching to a plant-based diet, re-doubled our exercise program and each dropped 30 pounds. 

In September we took another road trip.  This time we ventured to Jamestown, NY where we were honored to serve as witnesses to the wedding of Gisela's cousin, Glorianne Leck, to her long-time partner, Susan Savastuk.  What a joyous event that was!  We continued on to visit Gisela's dear friend, Terri Goldrich in Albany and made a stop in Ithica to meet another long lost cousin of Bill's, Alicia Dale Alexander. 

Other upsides to all this include spending more time with Bob and attending the award ceremony at Notre Dame for Pat Finneran, who received the Corby award at the Notre Dame-Michigan State game.  We enjoyed seeing Pat's friend, Pam, again, meeting Pat's family and catching up with Jim and Anne Barnett.

We also journeyed to the Chicago area and did some touring with Geof and Nancy Justiss.  From the Chicago area, we made a quick trip to Gisela's hometown, Merrill, WI, to visit the grave sites of her family.  We spent some more time with Geof and Nancy in Lexington, KY on our way back to Virginia in October. 

November had us stopping in Front Royal for doctors, etc.  We were able to catch up with the world's greatest neighbors, Scott and Missy White, while we were there. We spent the last two weeks of November plugged into the aforementioned 30 amp connection at Ann and Jake's.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jake's parents, grand parents, brother, and cousin.  Spending time with family is always special.

December finds us in the Outer Banks of North Carolina near Paul, Yvette, and William.  We enjoy picking William up after school and cooking dinner for the family. Some more of that special family time.

As we approach Christmas, we are healthy and happy and looking forward to more adventures next year. We hope this finds you the same.

All the best.

Bill and Gisela