I hope you are not wondering if we were washed away by the rain storm on June 19^th in WI.  If you were I apologize for my neglect, obviously we survived.  The last month has been a bit crazy.  Ever since we have been RV’ing we have thought the house was too big for us.  Then we started to visit Laura on a more regular basis and thought we are not home very much.  Lots of options were considered and if our house was really going to be more like a home base, I wanted it to be on the east coast closer to my son and the rest of my family.  Then late June a group from my high school planned a 70^th Birthday Event since this year we all have or will turn 70, I was sad I was not going.  So far this is the most angst generating birthday I am experiencing and a party was what I needed.  Spoiler alert, my children have me covered in November so all is good!

Back to the rain storm in June, funny I am sitting in the RV in a rain storm in WI right now.  The one I left you off on was one of the most horrible rain events I have participated in, when you are in a fiberglass pod with a sizeable amount of glass you do participate in the storm.  The rain was so heavy there were no drops on the windows, only clear sheets of water.  Puddles did not form around us, more like ponds and eventually lakes.  The thunder was close.  Remember the rule from grade school, count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder?  Every five seconds means one mile.  I was counting only two.  Ernie is afraid of thunder and there are few places to hide in the RV.  He picked his go to place of putting his head under the chair skirt while the rest of his big old body is sticking out.  In the middle of all of this, there was a dinner event everyone was to attend with outdoor seating.  Ha!  Our space was pretty close but not close enough.   When there was a break in the rain we started out.  The flooding was already bad and we walked through water that covered our ankles.  I was thinking, big puddle plus possible down electric wires equals electrocution.  Most likely it would be quick.  We made it to the dinner, ate our soggy food in soggy clothes with shoes that were so wet they were not wearable for 4 days and went back to put on dry clothes.   Even the underwear was soaking wet.   The shoes, they were Keen hiking sandals guaranteed waterproof for hiking streams and rivers.  Ha! Again!

When we returned from our Ark-like adventures, we spent a few brutally hot days at home and then set out in the car with Ernie for New York/New Jersey.   We were able to spend time with my sister-in-law and my nephews and their families and my cousin.  Andrew was on vacation since it was his first anniversary and we were able to see him later in the week.  In the middle, Jerry, Ernie and I took off for the Hudson Valley.   It was so much different that I remembered, so much more crowded, roads are like mini highways, the Taconic State Parkway which was a stop sign crossing that made me nervous is now an overpass and unrecognizable.  Where I lived before was too noisy, too crowded and too expensive.  We made circle from New Jersey going up the west side of the Hudson River stopping along the way across the river at Hudson, NY and then down the Hudson River.  The west side had some nice housing and towns, but the train to Manhattan is on the east.   Depending on which town you pick, some have a bridge to cross the river and some don’t.   Of course, the towns with the bridges are more expensive than those without, making the east side of the river more desirable.  By time we left Hudson I was a bit scared we would not find something we would like.  Hudson is a very nice town with a great main street with shops and restaurants.   The housing was out of our price range even at the top of our range and if we spent all our money on housing, it was likely we would not have much left for the great entertainment.  The other thing we found is many of the towns did not have a church.  The catholic church in Hudson had one Mass a week on Sunday, no outreach programs, no community.  If we are moving someplace, we need to have volunteer opportunities.  Jerry has started working at the garden at church that raises vegetables for the food pantry.  He now sees himself as the great tomato farmer.   We would stop someplace and Jerry would like it and I did not, or visa versa.   And it was hot!  Hot like 100-degree temperature hot, not factoring in the humidity.  Then there were places where prices were in our range and when we went there the house was a disaster, or the house was nice but the neighbor had a front yard filled with junk on an otherwise beautiful street.  There were also a lot of Trump flags….

I was really hot and I was driving and said lets stop for the dog to take a walk and find a place we can sit outside with him give him a drink and have something cold.  We found a parking lot and stopped.  We walked around to find a bank and next to the bank was a coffee shop – Taste Buds.  They had a patio area with a bowl of water for a dog – happy dog!   We sat down still a bit cranky.  After a half a glass of iced tea, I looked around and saw the town of Red Hook and thought – this is really nice.   Then I started to eavesdrop on conversations, two old hippy guys talking about the library and what they were raising money for, the servers talking about who had a class and was going to clock out, a lady sitting by herself talking on her phone to a friend.   Then we walked around a bit more and pulled up some homes for sale on the internet and drove by, nice neighborhoods, not mega homes just regular good size homes.  Then we passed the church and googling it saw it had multiple weekend Masses and daily Mass and lots of volunteer opportunities.  Every other place we looked at before and after did not compare.   We went back to my sister-in-law’s and discovered she has a cousin I have met who has lived there for 15 years.  Andrew had a mentor he is still in touch with who is a realtor in that area. 

Four days after we came back from the trip, we went on a cruise with Jerry’s cousins to Alaska.  That will have its own post.  When we came home, we had 10 days.  Here is what happened in 10 days.  Jerry took the RV to southern IL for 2 days for some repair work, I cleaned and packed closets, etc. and went to two doctor appointments.  We had all the windows and glass around the house washed; we had two cleaners in to clean the house top to bottom and Jerry and I cleaned the garage.  We sold stuff – all kinds of stuff but especially the whole living room and dining room furniture, took loads of things to Goodwill, had a pick up from Got Junk.  There is still packing to do, but we did make a big dent.  My good friend Nancy came by and she is our realtor and is doing everything to put the house on the market.  I contacted Andrew’s friend and signed a contract with her.  Then we shopped, cleaned and packed to RV to leave on Tuesday.

Now you know why I didn’t finish my story about the rain.