Well, it wasn’t the trip we’d planned – exploring the Southwest – and we saw enough to know we want to go back there to catch the people, national parks and other cool places we missed. Although we’d visited much of the Southeast before, we did manage to see a few new places and enjoy new experiences, as well as help out my mom. We learned that if necessary, we could get across the country quickly. And we confirmed that the concept of traveling in the fall with a careful reentry into New England after the first snows was not only doable, but adds a different kind of beauty and fun with just a few adaptations of the usual RV logistics.
As I had expected, we knew when it was time to come home. Watching the NOAA weather forecast up into New England as we started north from the Everglades, we saw a nice window in the week ahead – a snowstorm in the northeast followed by 4 cold but clear and dry days. The trick would be to get the rig’s water system cleaned out and winterized before we have a stretch of freezing weather. We were able to do that at a campground in NE Pennsylvania that stays open all year. From Florida, we took a variation of our 2-stop route home, adding a well situated and perfectly timed 3rd stop to visit friends in Connecticut on Thanksgiving day.
Our friends Mark and Linda host an annual Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving dinner. We’ve long had an open invitation to join, and we’ve been able to attend a time or two in past years. This year, longtime friends Barbra and John were going to be there along with their son Lewis and his wife Julia. (Barbra and John introduced us to Mark and Linda about 35 years ago, and we’ve known Lewis all his life.) Also joining the feast were Marc and Laurie and their son Joshua (all of whom we first met at last year’s gathering), and a new friend, Anna.
On Friday morning, before we headed for home, Barbra and Lewis brought out their cellos, Julia, John and Linda warmed up their voices, and we entertained ourselves with a set of Christmas songs. Adding Doug on guitar and me on drums, we found a few more songs we all knew for a bit of a ‘classical folk rock’ jam. Thanks Mark and Linda for instigating such a fun gathering!
Fall was a good time to be visiting the warm southern states, both east and west. Working around the cold, late autumn New England weather for our re-entry was doable and relatively painless. I expect we’ll do it again!
