We just came back to Argentina after a 2 month visit back to the good ol’ USA to visit family and friends and start up a new build on a second camper. Since we had so many miles to cover, I decided to take a break from writing anything and just enjoy every minute of the time we had and just like we thought, that time flew by. Here’s how it went and a few pics when I remembered to take some.
Because we’d made a last minute decision to store our truck in Mendoza rather than Santiago, Chile, we had to get a flight over the Andes to catch the original booking. This worked out well because it was a beautiful clear day and we flew right over the road we’d driven over the pass. We got great views of Aconcagua, S America’s highest mountain. We felt relieved to not have to drive that pass again in winter or deal with border formalities or road closures. Plus, we stayed in a hotel that night so we’d be fresh for a long day ahead. Getting to either of our parents isn’t easy because neither lives near a big airport. So we landed in Miami, rented a car, drove to Vero Beach, gave Jon’s mom a hug and hit the pillow before midnight. Returned the car the next day using our new to us Ford F350 that we’d bought and had shipped from Arizona. Good friends George & Lois found a place in the same development as Jon’s mom to store it till we arrived. Such a funny plan but it worked! We now have a vehicle made in this century.
It was great to visit with Jon’s mom over 2 weeks, go out for meals and make others together, catch up, do some home projects and literally feel the heat of summer in Florida. We had numerous health check-ups as I felt getting a jump start would be best in case there was something wrong. Jon’s brother Brad & his girlfriend Alex came down to visit and it was good to hang out together. One of my favorite moments was when we were all riding home in the car singing to AC/DC. Ahh, the memories. That concert was one of Jon & I’s first dates! When we needed a breeze we rode our bikes around the development and along the last of the sand roads of Vero Beach. I saw a couple of owls which was nice.
We kept up the tradition in recent years of meeting our friends John & Cindy halfway across the state for lunch. I also met up with my sister Ann & Bruce in Fort Pierce for lunch and a good snorkel at the state park near the inlet. Since they’d been sailing in the Bahamas and we had all of our doctor appts, we couldn’t fit in more than a day visit but we made the most of it. Snorkeling is one of many things we have in common and it was so nice to visit that underwater world for a bit. We don’t get enough of it nowadays in our lifestyle.
Through all of these visits, we never got any pics.
We felt like we really lucked out buying the pick-up truck because it fits our needs and seems to run well. When it was time to leave Vero Beach, we packed up all of the billion packages we had shipped to Mariette’s house and headed off to Tallahassee to see Jan & Rich. We have a lot of history with these cruising friends and it’s always good to catch up. From Maine to Tasmania, we have made it happen all over the world. We spent a day touring around their area, walking at the lighthouse, eating a seafood lunch and getting ice cream.
Then it was off toTulsa to pick up a custom built slide in camper shell from Bison Overland. Because of timing, we drove 960 miles that day and although we wouldn’t make a habit of it, we were pretty impressed with how far we drove and how confortable we were doing it. Whoa! We could never do that in our big truck! It’s not about luxury and we can’t do more than 50. Picking up the camper was easy and we drove off with a shell on our back pretty excited about the build ahead.
Since Jon’s brother Craig lives right in Tulsa, we stopped for a nice evening to visit with him and his family and got to see their new house that he built. What a beauty.
Sticking to our schedule, we drove to Crested Butte, Colorado to meet with Cathy & Pato who we happened to be crossing paths with. We spent 2 days hiking in this wildflower paradise and we were so thankful for the break from the road and the time to breathe in some mountain air. We felt very well taken care of as we were really camping in our barren interior rig so we ate our dinner meals inside Cathy & Pato’s truck. Then every time we thought of doing something like take the packrafts out together for a little bit on the pond, we had to remember that we didn’t have that stuff with us! But it all worked out and well, we were just happy to be there.
Then it was off to eastern Oregon to visit Mary and her family. We parked in our usual spot by the barn except it felt weird to not be there in our Mercedes. As Jon has said, it was his masterpiece and he isn’t repeating it because life’s too short. We spent a week enjoying Mary & David’s and Dean & Sydney’s company, cooking meals, going out, hiking and in our spare time, we worked on the truck installing all of the windows, the roof hatch and the Max fan. Let there be light! In a menagerie of animals, the orange cat Pumpkin is the star for personality and he keeps us company in our camp spot and our clothes full of hair. On another note, there is something about the colors & the light in eastern Oregon that I really love. We finally hiked up Matterhorn Mountain, which had been on the books for a few years and the day was as beautiful as all the wildflowers near the summit. The first pic in this blog is from the summit of Matterhorn. The USA western scenery drives me crazy and makes my heart sing. We also went paddleboarding and it was so fun to be out on a beautiful lake.
Then it was time to pack up again and head to McCall to see Mark & Anne. It feels like home because we’ve spent so much time there. We had so much to do that there wasn’t time to work on the truck build which was fine by us! We went kayaking, mountain biking, boating with friends Mike & Beverly, visiting with other cruising friends Larry & Karen, white water rafting and we did a 3 night backcountry flying trip to Johnson Creek to meet up with Robert & Diana and John & Lisa. Just like “old” times. Each morning we would fly out for breakfast somewhere and then spend the afternoon hiking or swimming in the river. It felt like summer fun to the fullest and always a gift to be able to fly in their plane. And we got a break from camping in our not a camper yet truck because they have a guest apartment for us to use!
Then it was off to Boise for more health maintenance appts (we get our health care all over the country it seems!) before starting the drive eastward toward Vermont to visit my mom & dad. We broke up the trip with a fantastic stop to Grand Teton NP where we hiked for 2 days in lovely balsam scented scenery. On day 1 we saw 3 moose, one right beside the trail and on day 2 we saw 2 black bears, one scrambled up a tree right in front of us. Funny.
A little further east we stopped at Devils Tower for an afternoon and hiked all the trails there. It was an interesting place and one we hadn’t been to before. We continued on across to Wisconsin to meet up with sailing friends Rankin & Sandy. Along the way, we spent a night near the Badlands and had a cool view over that interesting scenery. I love I Overlander for finding nice camp spots.
It was great to see Rankin & Sandy and finally meet his family. They took us out for dinner at a very unique restaurant run by French nuns right next to the church! That was a first. So we took them out for Mexican lunch the next day but it couldn’t compete!
Then it was off to the aviation show at Oshkosh because believe it or not, the timing was perfect. Jon has been wanting to go for years and this was the opportunity. If the saying isn’t true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, then we’d like to learn to fly and own a plane someday. It would be a dream come true for him. Fitting it in is the trick. And probably in order to afford it it would have to be built by no other than us! It was a fun day and while we did spend a lot of it at the Rans booth, we also saw some stunt shows and a lot of interesting planes both old, new and military.
Then it was off for the final push to Vermont to complete the last of the driving. We covered the miles easily despite it being a long way. We were carrying so much of the equipment that still needs installing like the stove, sink, toilet, all of the Baltic birch plywood which we only find in western states, the electronics and a lot more in there but we still had our bed, backpacking kitchen, ice chest and the sun shower!!
It was great to arrive in Vermont to my parents in July, my favorite month to be there. We had many evenings on the deck together having sundowners looking over all of the green leaves, fancy meals, tons of produce, Vermont corn, we did some house projects, errands, the last of our medical check-ups and tried to soak up as much as we could of each other for the time we had. My mom and I took a walk at Zebedee wetland, a conservation project that she was a big part of and it was sweet to be able to go there together and walk the circle around the pond like we’ve done so many times before. We have a lot memories in this house!
Jon worked his butt off on the truck and made a lot of progress roughing out the interior. While it would have been nice to be able to take the time to complete it, we feel like we can probably get close to it the next visit back. Long time friends and old neighbors Chase & Linda stopped by to say hi and show off his Barracuda too.
Then the time was up. It seemed to have flown by. We had to store the new pick-up and pack up again to head back to Argentina. We carried a lot of luggage as always full of truck parts, must have food items and a few new clothes to start a new season to parts unknown. Our flights were seamless and everything went smooth as can be despite worrying that they wouldn’t. 27 hours later, we were back in our truck where I’m sitting now. When we’re making the trip it feels so tiring and long, because it is. But then just like an ocean passage, when you get where you’re going and have a good night’s sleep, you feel so elated that you forget how hard it was and are just left glowing from all the great memories. And Valentin, who took care of our truck while we were away, treated us like royalty and picked us up at the airport so we didn’t miss a wink of time standing around.
So thanks to everyone who made our trip back so fun. We love you all. Now we will go back to wandering for a bit until the next time we meet.
