Time to Go

I can't believe it's almost been a month since we arrived in Raleigh.  Time flies when you're having fun.  We've spent nearly every day with the family at soccer games, BBQ's,  Granny's birthday dinner at Kanki and playing with the kids. 

It's also fun to see the changes in the city we lived in for 15 years.  Raleigh was recently voted the second fastest growing city in the nation, and we definitely saw evidence of that.  Traffic has increased and so has the speed of cars.  Or are we just getting older?  Saw too many vehicles running red lights, though.  We caution our kids to drive carefully every time they get in their car.  Everyone in a hurry.

Here we are in site 75 at the Fairgrounds:

Hay mulch for the new growing grass and not much else esthetic-wise.  But 50A, sewer, water (if not broken, like ours - we had to use neighboring site's water) and spotty wifi.  I give it a 2 on the "it factor" scale.  Twenty-five a night, and no parking during the month of October.

Tristan and his girlfriend, Tracy, arrived on Thursday, the 4th and we met up with them at Mandy and Joe's house.  We haven't seen Tristan and Tracy since April and they were looking wonderful.

The next morning the boys played golf at 9 am.  It was two 26 year olds, a 35 year old, and Gary (old as dirt).  The younger team played the older team, and that's all I'm allowed to say about that...

We celebrated Tristan's 26th birthday on Saturday with 60 pounds of wings, hamburgers and dogs.  About 30 people were there and we had a ball.  Sunday we had a smaller dinner party with Ron, Donna and their son, Paul and wife, Holly to introduce them to Mandy and Joe.  Since they moved into the area recently, Mandy and Joe know at least a million people and you can't have too many friends.  Hopefully they'll see each other again.

Monday was Tristan's birthday and he wanted to - are you ready for this? - watch the Wizard of Oz.  But before we did that on a rainy, cold day we had to go to the Shops of Southpoint to shop a little.  Then we watched the movie.  I practically know the words by heart, but I notice new things each time it airs. One of the best of all time classics.

Then it was time for them to fly back to their homes:  Tristan to Brooklyn and Tracy to Miami.  We squeezed them and their luggage into the Jeep and brought them to the new terminal at RDU.  Hugs and kisses all around with promises to see each other again at Thanksgiving.  Done.

Unfortunately, Tracy's flight was delayed out of RDU, so she missed her connecting flight to Miami at Atlanta and had to spend the night at the airport.  Hate that for her.  She did make it home early the next morning.

We realized that we had to move on Wednesday out of the Fairground campground because of all the carnies coming in for the state fair.  That meant the State Park at Rollingview was going to be our new home for the next two weeks.  We love the park, but the annoying thing is that they lock the gates from 8 pm to 8 am.  People who have early morning appointments have to park their cars outside the locked gates and walk half a mile to the entrance.  The good thing is that Gail and Rick (GypsyTurtles) were going there, too.  They got an early start and cased the CG for spots for us.  Rick also gave us an alternate route up Miami Blvd. to enter from the opposite direction instead of going near town. 

We said goodbye to Ron and Donna and their neighbors, Nan and Wayne who would be moving out also in a couple of days.  Ron and Donna were going to spend the weekend in their son's house, but park their rig at the park.  Nan and Wayne decided to go back to South Carolina for a bit. 

We arrived, unhooked our toad, and drove in to find Rick and Gail.  They had a great spot and we drove around a little to find one near them we liked.  A great number of them were reserved, but we found a walk-in unreservable spot, B23 that we liked.  Drove in and set up in about 30 minutes.  Ahh, trees and peace and quiet.

Thursday I was to go on a field trip with Ainsley to the Prairie Preserve on a beautiful cool morning.  Lots of discoveries for a five year old!

Gary stayed home with Mario, who was finally repairing our new fridge with the new cooling unit installation.  It was still under warranty, so Dometic wanted the old unit back (probably to refurbish it again and give it to some other unsuspecting victim).  Next time this goes out, it will be gone for good.  We will replace it with a residential one.  Hear that, fridge?

Friday, Donna and Ron moved their rig into their spot behind us and left for their son's.  We wouldn't see them again until  Sunday night.  Meanwhile, our fridge is down to 34 degrees, so we can take our groceries out of Mandy's fridge and bring them home.  Dometic calls lost food "incidentals" on page 9 of their warranty and will not replace or reimburse anything.  That makes me burn a little.  Good thing we had her fridge to save some stuff.  So we celebrated by having happy hour or two in their driveway where all kinds of wonderful neighbors stopped by.  What fun!

Saturday Jack had a soccer game and Granny was going to visit a friend in her hometown of Dunn who was celebrating her 100th birthday!  Granny, you're almost there!

Go for it, Jack!

 

Joe getting his ducks in a row for his hunting trip

Brutus knows what's going on

All ducks in the boat

 

We had to be inside our gate by 8 and cut it close, gulped down some dinner and walked over to Rick and Gail's site for a campfire.  They had a warm one going, and we needed it, as it was in the 40's.  We talked about the Carolina Clan (a bunch of north and south Carolinians that will be having their second rally together at Huntington Beach SP in SC in early November.  We haven't made reservations yet, so when Gail told us a few couples had canceled, I promised to check out the website tomorrow.  A few hours later, we said good night, walked 25 yards home and fell into bed.

The next day, we made reservations, and sure enough, there were a couple sites open.  Booked one, then looked at an email from Nancy describing reserved sites and by whom.  It turns out we were parked right next to - Gail and Rick!  Ha.  We're excited!

Sunday we replaced some groceries and decided to have a BBQ that night.  Gail and Rick were free and Donna and Ron were saying goodbye early, so we all got together for some brats and sides.  It was much warmer than the other night and we were probably the only ones awake so late.  Good fire and good times!

Tuesday we had Granny's birthday dinner at Kanki - oooo, delicious.  And a show to boot.  I was proud of Joe for catching the piece of "flying" chicken that Chau tossed to him from the griddle.  We ate till we were stuffed, and Granny heard Happy Birthday in Japanese sung to her! 

Gary had an eye doctor appointment on Wednesday morning.  Great Doctor who basically said to keep removing those pesky ingrown eyelashes, but not to wear contacts until some new ointment healed his cornea a little more.  He's got such great vision for his age - which is good, because I still am a little nervous driving Bella.  A lot, actually.

Thursday we drove to Clayton where a CAT dealer works on Motorhomes.  We talked to Rob about our turn-the-key-and-wait-15 second start time, and made an appointment for Monday morning.  Since we can't get out of the park before 8 am, we will drive there on Sunday and stay at one of their two 50A/water sites overnight so they can get started at 7 am.  That'll be a long day.  And hopefully not too expensive. 

Only a couple more nights left and we will be moving again.  We're ready.