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
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