After leaving Rochester, New York, it was time to head south. We had about 1300 miles to travel back to Lakeland and had planned 8 days to do it, making a few stops along the way.
Our first stop was in Warren, Ohio to spend 2 days with our friends, the Giammarcos. We hadn't seen them since we left on our journey in 2009. It was great to see Jim, Cathy, DJ, and their dog Ricky! DJ is living at home while attending Youngstown State University and is doing quite well while going to school and working! Daughter Lee Ann is now living in Cleveland, and working as a registered nurse and is also a Lieutenant in the Army reserves! She recently became engaged, and we were able to see her and meet her fiance, Buddy. Buddy, also in the army, was being deployed a few days after our meeting, so it was a little sad, especially for Lee Ann and Buddy!
While in Ohio, the weather started to get colder, and one morning we had some trouble with freezing temperatures, which caused one of our water pipes to freeze. Luckily, there was no permanent damage, but we agreed maybe we should head straight home, since freezing temps were in the forecast the entire way to Florida. Because we are building a house, and will need some new furniture, we were going to visit Highpoint, North Carolina, which is famous for it's furniture stores. If I didn't know better, I would have thought Art had arranged the cold weather to avoid this visit!!!!!!!
Luckily, we were able to spend an evening in Knoxville, and had dinner with Jill, Wayne, Kristi, Cayla, and Jason, Cayla's boyfriend. It was a fun evening and great to catch up with everyone! Cayla graduated from college this year and is looking for a job in marketing. She is a very smart and personable girl, and we know a good job will turn up for her! Wayne announced he had just received a promotion that day, so we did some extra celebrating!
The rest of our journey down south was uneventful, and we arrived in Lakeland at our campground 2 days later. After getting settled in our campsite, Carol and Ricky picked us up and took us to their new house. It is beautiful, and they truly got a great deal! We enjoyed the home tour and seeing Carol and Rick, who we hadn't seen since February! Their house is in a community called, Bridgewater, which is about 10 miles from where our house is being built. Of course, we had to take a drive to our house, also, since we hadn't seen it since construction was started. Seeing it in person made it seem much more real and exciting! Hopefully, it will be done, as predicted, by the end of February!
The last two years of travel have been wonderful! In the 6 1/2 months we were gone this year, we covered 18,500 miles and traveled through 24 states! We got to see and do so much, and also visit friends and family along the way, some of which we hadn't seen in many years! Art and I are so grateful to have had this opportunity. Even though we are building a house, we plan to keep the RV and travel, although less extensively, in the summers. We still enjoy this lifestyle, and do not wish to give it up completely.
Presently, we will be retiring our travel blog, and do not have plans to resume it at this time. If the situation presents itself to write about our travels again, we will notify you. We wish to thank all of our faithful blog followers who have traveled with us over the past 2 seasons! It was fun to have you "ride" along, and hopefully enjoy what we were experiencing!
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