Nearly 400 hits on the craigslist ad for Frye-Cake’s garage sale. Promptly at dawn, the games began as the cars started parking every which way around the “Corner Nook” as Kathy calls her house. Kathy’s house and yard are as cute as can be with antiques everywhere and it’s hard to know what’s for sale and what is normal décor for the Frye household. But we had prepared for this mega garage sale and hundreds of little items were tagged and cleaned up. The pouring rain didn’t stop the constant flow of curious buyers. Almost every person commented on the ad in the paper and lots of people wanted to know who the stranded Oregonians were and Kathy was happy to point us out. We cooked Smith’s hotdogs on the grill and gave tours of our RV while friends and family stopped by during the day. The rain and wind persisted but we had a good time and we made nearly $400!
While we were in Fairview, Pennsylvania Jolynn not only had the gaskets around the air conditioners fixed but she, herself, caulked the windshield as well. All weekend the rain soaked the manicured lawn around the Corner Nook but the water didn’t get through the new gaskets and the moisture didn’t penetrate Jolynn’s impeccable caulking job…the RV is dry!
I just need to revel for a moment…… The RV is dry inside. There’s no smoke coming out of the dashboard. We are not stranded next to the bird lagoon on Manchester Boulevard in San Diego. Stinky smells are not coming from our coach. The stairs open when we want to get out of the RV. Not a single ant is marching inside the RV. Ahhhhhhh……..this feels good.
Leaving Pennsylvania, my sweet sister Debi and our dear friends is hard, really hard. Arriving in Northampton where Hannah is in her 4th year at college is simply wonderful. We met Hannah in a parking lot and Jolynn, the 3 dogs and I jumped into her car and she took us to one of her favorite places to hang out on campus, a Smith dormitory house. Inside the big quiet house, Hannah unleashed the dogs and they ran around the house with excitement and joy. We are all happy to see our Hannah Monet. After a nice visit with Hannah’s friends at the house, we prepared to leave and that’s when Cocoa Bear quietly went into the laundry room and grabbed a pair of underwear that belonged to an unknown resident of the house. He ran through the kitchen and through the living room with the underwear in his mouth and as we tried to stop him, he dodged us and kept running with the underwear hanging from his mouth. Girls were squealing and laughing and that only egged him on. The little brown poodle just ran faster with those panties dangling from his mouth. Totally embarrassed, we finally caught him, leashed up the dogs and left campus.
After driving 15 miles to the campground in Hannah’s car with Jolynn driving the RV behind me, we arrived at a very private, wooded campground called White Birch. Lovely little site. But the manager wasn’t where he was supposed to be when we pulled in so we made a big tour through the campground with our large headlights in the very dark setting, trying to find our appointed site. After driving around the entire campground, I found the manager but I could barely hear his directions because 3 dogs were barking in my ears. Eventually we pulled into our wooded site and I put the dogs in the RV so they would not further disturb our neighbors while Jolynn hooked up the electric and water. I had Hannah’s car so I’m not terribly familiar with it and when I tried to lock it, the alarm went off. The sound of a car alarm in a serene little campground at ten o’clock at night is not a good way to endear yourself to your camping neighbors. Northampton, we are HERE!
Our trip thus far has been full of heroes and stars and I want to acknowledge them. Mighty Mouse…hats off to you again! HandyMan Moore, you are amazing and we totally appreciate you! Not only are you getting our mail at two different locations and faithfully calling me with the mundane details of bills and deadlines but your handyman work at the rentals is of the utmost importance and we appreciate you greatly! GREATLY! Brother in law Gary – your help and positive attitude with the isolator was perfect and we appreciate you too and I totally love your wife! Jolynn’s family, you are all awesome and your patience , kindness and support is wonderful. Mary, your help with the lawn mowing and watering at home is so great! Dan in Erie – you are the man! Thank you so very, very much for lending us your huge dry shop so Jolynn could caulk the windshield. You are awesome! Debi, thanks for the food from your garden and I love you, my sister! Diane & KJ, you always feed us and take such good care of us and we love you dearly. Denise & Lyle, thanks for making us a priority in your lives, hugs to you. And Frye-cakes and V, you are wonderful! Your generosity and friendship goes beyond words. We miss you Pennsylvania. Thank you to everyone for your support, kind comments and great feedback! We are so very lucky to have ALL of you in our lives!
Jolynn, you are amazing. You are totally amazing…….
Tomorrow’s a new day. A day with Hannah on her beautiful campus in this cool New England air with the leaves just starting to turn. The joy of it all. What will tomorrow bring? Will Bear find more ways to embarrass us? Will we run out of propane while we are running the heater tonight in this beautiful campground in New England?
Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted.
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