RV Trips | The Road Home

Posts from the ‘RV Trips’ category

Headed for Home

It was love at first site. December of 1993, I was driving from Sandpoint, ID – having been making the rounds of mountain west towns from Taos, NM to Lake Tahoe, CA to Bend, OR to Sandpoint – looking for a new place to live. I was born in northwest Ohio and left to take a job in San Francisco area in 1979. In 1981 I moved south to Los Angeles where I lived, worked, started my consulting business – spending my young adult years in the “big city”.

The first time I saw the Flathead Valley and the mountains of the Swan Range, the Whitefish Range and the Bob Marshall Wilderness was after spending several days in Coeur d’Alene (south of Sandpoint) – liking that area enough to look at homes with a realtor. I was newly married at the time, 37, and we were looking for a family spot. As we drove west of Libby, MT and the road started flattening to the valley floor – with those ranges of the rockies rising out of the east side of the valley – that was it…I was in love and I knew that I had come home. It was NOT home for my husband and he departed Montana and the marriage. I stayed and have been there on my own since 1996.

Twice I have explored the U.S. to see if there was a spot I’d rather live – not out of unhappiness with Montana, but with the sheer love of adventure and exploration that is also part of me. Twice I got so homesick for Montana that I made a mad dash back.

This winter I left again – not for another place, but for another love – for a man. It is not a move that I regret, but that has hit a snag and I’m on my way to my home in Montana. Karl and I, in the Winnebago, are pointed west – we will take our time and enjoy the journey, but I will be glad to be back – home in Montana.

Above – Karl and I in Dillon,MT – first morning “back in Montana” – Dec, 2005 – after a month in Camp Verde, AZ. The interesting thing [to me] about this photo – I had the camera on a tripod and I intended to be looking at the camera with Karl next to me. As I walked out to where Karl was, he was looking toward the mountains in a way that drew me to look also forgetting entirely about the camera setup… I love this photo.

Goodbye Canada Dry

I was born and raised in northwest Ohio – not too far from where I am currently “parked” in the Winnebago. In this area, the “local” ginger ale is Vernors.

A little history, courtesy of Wikipedia:

In 1862, James Vernor was called off to the American Civil War. According to legend, he left a mixture of ginger, vanilla and spices sitting in an oak cask in a pharmacy he had been working in. After returning from battle four years later, he opened the keg and found the drink inside had been changed by the aging process in the wood. It was like nothing else he had ever tasted, and he purportedly declared it “Deliciously different,” which remains the drink’s motto to this day. Its current slogan is “Barrel Aged, Bold Taste!™”.

Vernors is a golden ginger ale with a pungent flavor, more like a ginger beer. This style was common before Prohibition when the less flavorful pale ginger ale became popular as an alcoholic mixer. While Michiganders who grew up with it tend to like it, many other Americans are suspicious of it, as it doesn’t taste like a “typical” ginger ale.

As I’ve moved around the U.S., there are some areas that carry Vernors and some that don’t. After the advent of the internet and the availability of nearly everything online – for a price, of course, I even had the stuff shipped to me at what worked out to $1 per 12 ounce can. Thankfully, my favorite grocery in Montana now carries Vernors, although only in 6 packs…still better than the shipping scenario!

In Florida, sometimes the grocery had it and sometimes they didn’t. Towards the end, I bought – GASP! – Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Canada Dry is nothing like Vernors but it was as close as I could come. Nearly the first thing I did when I arrived in Ohio was acquire a bit of Vernors…

Vernors

This is only one trip – I made 3 trips…I have as much Vernors as I can find room for in the motorhome.

Vernors

This storage area under the dinette seat is now full to the brim with Vernors…oh, and a bit of wine…

Now, when I brought back the first load of Vernors, I still had about 18 cans of Canada Dry left. Bleah! – still – I MADE myself drink the Canada Dry before I could have my first Vernors.

Canada Dry

The last Canada Dry…

Vernors

First Vernors!!! – in celebratory style…

Although the Vernors is stowed and I had planned to roll west yesterday afternoon, the weather did not cooperate. A storm the Weather Channel called “The Big Storm” was just west of Ohio and although I don’t think it will be as bad here as it was in TX, OK and the middle U.S., it is enough to keep me parked. The current plan is to sit here and work through the weekend and roll on Monday morning.

The downside to this plan is that Jeannine and Rick are stripping wallpaper this weekend. I offered to do the cooking (vs helping with the wallpaper). This offer was met with some skepticism as they know I love to cook. I’m not sure how it will all work out…

From the Winnebago

My “parking spot” at my friends’ home is in front of the shop-garage that is separate from the main house and garage. On previous trips I’ve been on the grass between the house and shop but the ground is too soft this time. The Winnebago just fits without getting in the way of the garage. Sitting directly North-South and between the buildings – I have the advantage of sunrise and sunset from this spot.

My friends’ home has both a beautiful front porch, an open back deck and screened-in gazebo. The gazebo and back deck look out over the back yard which includes a pond. A woodsy band of trees buffer the yard from the neighboring fields and railroad tracks.

Ohio Front Porch

Ohio Gazebo

But my “musing”, “From the Front Porch” writing and posts – since leaving Florida, they have been coming “From the Winnebago”….

morning

The recliner chair with a little side table and warm task light make a cozy spot to be still, to think, to listen, to write. And a bonus is that in the morning I have the sunrise out the east facing window opposite my chair.

morning

In Ohio – pictures

I have no writing in me at the moment. Arrived Ohio yesterday late afternoon…tired and sad but glad to see my dear friends and to be at their home which is beautiful and familiar. It feels wintry at 40ish and blustery – Karl was in heaven…for the cool air, the freedom off leash and he seemed to remember that we’d been here before.

Ohio