1st Retirement RV Ramble 2024
3 weeks / >5000 miles - Part Eight
May 25th
After one day of stationary rest in Rapid City, we said our goodbyes to Naomi and her critters and headed East to Minnesota. We’ve made this trip many times in the years that Naomi has lived in Rapid and we lived on the farm in Minnesota. So, no new scenery today. It was an extra long day and I was getting a bit weary of bouncing in the truck. Rick should have been an over the road trucker, I guess. He never seems to tire of driving. Lucky, that!
We arrived at the farm early evening and got our camper set up for a 4 day visit. Rick’s brother Paul and his wife Loretta still live on the homestead where we operated our dairy farm before starting over in Tennessee. They have made a lot of changes over the years, it does not look like the place it was when we lived there. Maybe that’s a good thing, it’s for sure an inevitable thing. But it always brings the nostalgia for the people and things that we once were. The old barn and original farmhouse and our small home that we moved on to the farm to make our home are all gone now. The big dairy barn that we built so modern at the time, is now all but gone, one end saved to use as storage. My birch tree I planted is still there. Rick teases that I remarked with sadness at the time of planting that I wouldn’t live to see it grown. I wasn’t being morbid, I just had no realistic notion of the passing of time, I guess. And I never had planted a tree before. And now with the wisdom of time, I know I was still really a child at the time.
We visited several elderly relatives while there. It does not replace the stark absence of Rick’s parents whom we particularly miss when we return. But it was good medicine for our hearts to connect with family all the same. We got to spend some time with Paul and Loretta’s kids, Kris and Britt, both adults now but still within an hour’s drive from the farm. Time with them is cherished. Shared meals, stories told, pictures shared, the normal family things mean so much now. We were able to drive North about 90 minutes to my brother Allen’s house near Fergus Falls. He and his wife Susie have a lovely home there and his son and daughter were able to join us. Family we never get to see enough. Susie fed us well, and we caught up on all their lives. It is not easy being so far apart from family. Social media is not a replacement for time spent in each other’s presence.
Rick spent some time with neighboring farmers he used to work with and for. And we were able to meet for lunch with an online friend from a nearby town that I came across online and struck a friendship with, initially based on his location near our farm but then growing to a real friendship based on kindness and other shared online friends. Joe, getting to meet you was one of the highlights of my trip! We also visited our respective family cemetaries. It was Memorial Day weekend, after all. I will share a couple of those images here for family that don’t get back to visit often either.
And then it was time to head South, back to our cats and our real life in Tennessee.
May 30, 2024
Unknowingly when I booked it, we had saved the nicest camping spot for last! We broke the trip from Minnesota to Tennessee into two days, and I looked for a spot around Champaign, Illinois. I found a park named D and W Lake RV Park, and took my initials as a sign to choose it. And it was the nicest camping spot of the whole trip. We were at the end of one row of sites, so only had neighbors on one side. The spots were roomy and we had a tree and picnic table. Best part was the picturesque small lake with a walking trail around it that we and the dogs enjoyed. It was very relaxed and a great place to end our camping adventure.
May 31, 2024
HOME SWEET HOME - and the dreaded unpacking….
So grateful to have had a safe journey, plenty of friend and family time, plenty of new and beautiful places explored, ready to go again! Thank you for reading my trip journal, friends. Now that I have gotten familiar with how to work on Substack, expect to see house concert posts soon!
Thoroughly enjoyed your travel log. Looked like you had a great trip.
What a trip! Wow. I can't even imagine. And it makes me wish that I were close to what's left of my family as you guys are with yours. I don't know how you figured out the picture thing, but being able to click on them and get huge full screen views is really cool.