Westing Again

Dear Friends,

We be headed west, the end of our second day. We are parked in a little
RV park that somehow got three stars in our RV directory. We couldn’t
see the sign, missed the turn and got stuck in a turn around that we
couldn’t turn around in. I don’t know how Dave got us out. The Four
Seasons RV Resort has 45 trailers in varying stages of literal decay
and half a dozen pull through sites which were thankfully available. Of
the four washers and six dryers, three washers work and two dryers
work. I finally got so irritated I stomped over to the managers trailer
and demanded my money back, in quarters!

But at $22.00 a night, it’s probably better than last night, where we
paid $38.00 to be parked in a cow pasture at the end of the Lake Myers
RV Resort. That Park has over 350 trailers parked in a maze of trees
and dirt and shrubs and plastic flowers. The directory said “some
seasonal sites.” It was all we could find and we were tired. We don’t
always know how long we can drive until about 2 PM; depends of how many
big cities we had to go through, road construction, concrete highway,
etc.

Anyway, we are west of Knoxville, Tennessee, and hope to get past
Little Rock tomorrow. This is Saturday night; we are due in northern
New Mexico on Wednesday.

We had a great visit with the kids. They arrived from their cross
country trek a few days after we did, one moving truck, one van with
canoe on top, and four kids. The house Jason rented is really nice, in
a beautiful neighborhood, 2-story with a wonderful fenced backyard and
deck, full of shade plants and bird feeders. Roxy, the Springer Spaniel
(and my special friend) romps around the backyard with full time
squirrel-bird duty. The two indoor cats are content to sit in the
windows and chatter at the lizards in the laurel bushes.

The kids will start school in July. It’s year-round here, with three or
four 3-wk vacations. Susie just turned 11 and will be in 6th grade,
Becca will be 9 at the end of this month, a 4th grader and 6-year-old
Katie is busting to hit first grade.

Xander is 2-1/2, a darling blonde boy with great communication skills.
He asks for what he wants, says please and “tank you G’amma.” Every
time he said that I was poised and ready to get him whatever else he
wanted! Who says they can’t be spoiled and cute!?!

Jason has been promoted to project leader at his computer company whose
name I can’t remember. He has a corner office now; (okay, corner
cubicle) no window, but if he leans right he can see the front door. If
it was open he could see out. Jamie is so relieved to have the family
together and be rid of the responsibility of their Logan business she
is almost serene. We are just in awe of her because the place is a zoo,
four kids getting into boxes, trying to cook for her in-laws, etc. That
alone would have tipped me over, having my in-laws around while I tried
to move in. But she just moves through it all with a smile, already
hauling kids to church play-dates, re-potty training Xander, looking
for Jason’s lost wallet and emptying a box along the way.

These kids are a lot of work; no type A personalities here – they’re
into everything, sports, computers, lots of reading, painting, beading,
snacks, some lapidary lessons they picked up on their trip and of
course just playing with a truck load of stuff. Jason and Jamie let the
little battles go and maintain general control of the campaign. The
kids are out-going, secure and curious, not to mention bright and
beautiful. They know good manners and they use them as soon as they get
out of the house. We’re really proud of them.

We went to the ocean, can you believe, the ATLANTIC ocean, and swam and
picnicked on the beach. The eastern ocean is just like the pictures,
pretty boardwalk and balmy temperatures. Susie and Becca were in the
water in one mad dash (be still, my heart!); Jason took Xander and
Katie out. It was great. Twenty-five minutes from the house in Havelock
to Atlantic Beach City. Really great. It would be so perfect to meet
Kevin and Shelly and Morgan here, maybe at Myrtle Beach.

We went through the Great Smokey Mts today, passed all the cars going
to Ruth Graham’s funeral near Black Mountain, North Carolina. Diesel
is $2.77/gallon. We’re on US Hwy. 40, hating all the concrete highway
and wondering why they are still making it. We’re glad to know we will
be back; some of the things we would like to see but had to pass up:

– World’s largest display of pork products
– Tobacco Trail
– World’s largest cigar store
– Dale Earnhart Jr. Motor Sports
– Big Men’s Store: Size 8X shirts, size 72 pants
– Pigeon Forge

The weather has been pretty steamy. We have stayed in the south a month
longer than before; we won’t do that again, probably. Jason’s house is
extremely comfortable, but our stainless steel coach really gets
cooking. You have to put the chocolate in the fridge. We are using our
A/C more than we ever have.

Love to all,