The party's over ....

We rolled back into Ashfield on Saturday evening, January 21, 2018, temperature in the 20s, cold and gloomy. Hard not to think back on the sun we had left back in Fernandina, where I left you in my last post. From Fernandina we made our way to my sister's in Charleston, were we hunkered down for an extra day waiting for yet another ice snap to pass through the Eastern Seaboard. We had a really good time with Rita and Kurt, saw two movies and ate more bbq.

We left Charleston on Thursday morning not knowing how far we would get that day nor whether we would spend the night in the camper or in a motel. We made it all the way to Roanoke Rapids, which is in North Carolina on the border with Virginia, went for the motel since we stopped driving late and had no water in the camper.

We started our last day on the road a little on the late side - somewhat dragging our feet - and had a beautiful drive through Virginia - really stunning landscape that we vowed to visit in better weather. Our very last night on the road was spent at the the Microtel Inn and Suites in Hamburg, Virginia.

Back to our Ashfield return: after spending Saturday night in Ashfield, we emptied and cleaned out our camper Sunday morning, and headed out for Montreal Sunday afternoon to return our camper. That was poignant - we had lived well in the 150 square feet provided by it and I didn't want to let it go.

Since being back, our friends have asked several questions - what was the best part of your trip? would you do it again? how much did you spend on gas????

These are hard questions to answer except for the last and we are in the process of calculating that. I think for me the best part of this experience was to strip away a lot of what goes on in my daily life. I was more present. I had fewer choices. We had no tv. I had four outfits and two pairs of shoes. I had to carry my toiletries to a communal bathhouse in the morning. I had to empty out anything I put into the trailer (or rather Harry did - thank you Harry!). I had to pay attention to Jack and Sam's needs. I had to be sure Harry was feeling good. In sum, everything was a little more immediate than what's typical in my ordinary daily life - and I am grateful for that experience. And yes I would do it again.Read more