It’s Not All Rainbows and Unicorns

Welcome back!  Thanks so much for taking the time to keep up with us!  It means so much to us! 

This lifestyle is truly amazing.  But as you have read in some of the past blogs, it’s not always fun and exciting. I will say that the pros do outweigh the cons. However, this can be a very lonely lifestyle. Missing friends and family is a constant. Yes, this is the life we chose, and we knew this was going to happen. However, it doesn’t make it any easier.

Last weekend was a family event in the Bay Area.  The minute I was told the date way back in Jan/Feb, I immediately started looking at flights for July.  I was completely blown away! To travel from Portland, Maine to the Bay Area (looking at all the airports) it was over $2000 round-trip. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the flight back was over 17-24 hours. Meaning 2 – 3 layovers. To say I was shocked is an understatement.  

When we decided to embark on this adventure (yes, I used the A word), I told everyone that we would just jump on a plane….  That is so not the case these days.  But, I digress.  Let me continue the saga.

I decided I had plenty of time to continue watching the flights and I was convinced I would find something as we got closer to July.  I even enlisted one of our extended family members who is a travel agent to help check flights for me.  In the meantime the continued news about the airlines canceling flights, people not showing up to work, or not enough employees, was raging.  People getting stuck and not able to get home due to their connecting flights canceling was really freaking me out.  Just so you know, there are NO direct flights to The Bay Area from Portland, and yes, we looked at flights out of Boston.  Trust me, we looked at every possibility. 

The flights lowered to $1700.00 per person, and still 17-24 hours to get back.  We finally had to make the really tough decision not to go.  Not an easy decision.  We let everyone know we weren’t going to make it.  Of course, everyone completely understood.  Still sucked!!  To say I was beyond disappointed is an understatement.  Heck, I was not just disappointed, but really sad.  

I needed something to help me get through Saturday, so, instead, we went to the Clam Festival in Yarmouth, Maine.  What a wonderful event.  Honestly, Jerry and I felt we were in Mayberry RFD.  For those of you who don’t understand that reference or are too young to remember that TV show, it means we were in small town America.  It was a beautiful city with lots of vendors, lots of music and food. They had clam shucking competitions, police dog demonstrations, firefighters showing off their fire engines, and just overall fun.

This is the first time since we have been on this journey and have gone to a festival/event that there was absolutely NO political agenda, signs, banners or anything.  It was so incredibly refreshing to just enjoy what the day was about: CLAMS!   

We were so excited to find out our friends Amy and Paul, who we met in Driggs, ID last August (check out that video) were in Maine!! We were parked next to them for the very first rally we ever attended. We hit it off and promised to keep in touch and meet up somewhere in the country. We’v met them for lunch a couple of times: once in Wells, Maine, and this week in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The exciting thing is we will be seeing them next week as they will be visiting us here in Freeport. It is so great to see them and spend time catching up on our travels. Our plan is to see them again in St. Augustine, FL at the end of the year. If you watched our live event, Amy and Paul were kind enough to be guests that evening. We just love them!!

Just a side note; Old Orchard Beach is where my parents lived in the 80’s. They would come stay with me in the winter when I Iived in Huntington Beach, CA. They lived at Marcott Motor Court in a great cabin.  We drove over there to take a look. It is still the adorable place my folks lived all those years ago.  

We had another wonderful experience this week meeting new friends. Debbie and Glenn, who follow our blog, reached out and told us they live in Maine and would love to meet us, as they are starting their RV adventures.  They are not going full-time, but will be traveling months at a time.  Debbie had even offered to let us stay on their farm while we were in Maine.  They live about 35-40 minutes from Freeport.  

We were so excited to meet them.  Just the fact that someone was reading our blog and wanted to meet us was so thrilling to us!  They came over for lunch to our RV and brought LOBSTA!!!!  Debbie made the most delicious LOBSTA rolls, and Glenn brought Jerry home brewed beer.  We really enjoyed spending the day with them giving them ideas and suggestions on RVing: where to go, stay and eat, but most of all, getting to know them. I keep saying, that’s what this journey is all about for us: meeting the most amazing people.

We will be seeing Debbie and Glen a few times (we hope) before we leave the area, as we have decided to stay in Freeport until August 19th instead of going to Vermont.  One day, as we were driving back from Harpswell, Maine, Jerry looked at me and said, “can we just stay here and not go to Vermont?”  He has loved not having to tow our home and is relaxing so much for the first time in a while…. Sure, why not stay in Maine?  It will save us $$$ on fuel and we really love it here.  There is still so much to do and see and now we have met a wonderful couple that we are looking forward to getting to know.

I was supposed to see my cousin who moved from the Bay Area to Vermont which I was really looking forward to.  I reached out to her and let her know that we weren’t coming.  She told me there’s a good possibility she and her husband will be coming to Acadia National Park in Sept to go camping.  I sure hope they do! 

Spending time with friends this week really helped me get through my feelings of missing my family.  As I said, we are so blessed and grateful that we are living this lifestyle.  We truly are having the most amazing time.  Sometimes we have to really look around and see what’s in front of you and know everything will be ok!  

Just One More…..couple to meet! (hope that never ends)

Make sure to check out our latest video below!