Tick Tock and there it goes, time is slipping by, no actually now it really seems to be racing by, we are on the final count down to the closing of the park for the 2019 season.

We just received our schedule for October…and it’s looking a little sad, the majority ot the tasks are winterizing, a couple of days of tree removal and trimming, some regular yard maintenance, maintaining equipment, oil changes, stowing away out door furniture, a final power wash of equipment before being stowed away for the winter.

Cleaning up and organizing the shop, getting tools put away, stowing the split and bagged firewood in the shop, preparing for the oncoming blowing snow, and anticipating the spring rains to avoid any damage of equipment.

It is kind of like the spring rush in reverse, but seems to be a much more controlled pace, almost like it’s in slow motion, I spent yesterday in the shop because of the rain, sharpening mower blades, stacking lumber, organizing, hanging tools, all the things I just didn’t seem to have time for all summer.

It is a time of mixed emotions for Miss Laurie and I, on one hand it is sad to see the park empty out, rigs with all the slides in, closed up for winter, some empty sites where they pulled their rigs for indoor winter storage or to head south, and the list of units for Rich and I to winterize growing daily. And on the other side the anticipation of our next adventure, as we make our way south for the winter, looking forward to some long naps in the sun, exploring some new hiking trails, visits with our RV family, reading for me and painting for Miss Laurie, and a few cocktails well ok a lot to cocktails, happy hours, tales of travel, just catching up with friends and family.

As we are shutting down the park, we are also packing the coach, and preparing to head out, I have a week of appointments the last week of October, where I will be poked and prodded and Miss Laurie and I are going to get some new glasses, visit family and friends, and plan a route to Arizona.

I think it’s going to be difficult to just stop the routine that we have developed over the summer, we will miss the busy times, and the quiet times on the beach, the guests of the park, that have been ever so welcoming, Richard and Bonnie who just let us do our thing, it’s almost like we were the owners of the park. And when we see something that was wrong we just fixed it or had it taken care of, oh don’t think for one minute that I haven’t had some screw ups, but I didn’t have to be reprimanded as I was already beating myself up. It’s like they are on the same thought plain as I am, “the only people that don’t make mistakes are the people that are not doing anything ” I came from the world of hard knocks, but I learned early in life that “Shit Happens” so deal with it.

I also fear for our livers a little, as I know there will be many more cocktails, and Miss Laurie free pours when she mixes, I also fear that the time away will disappear as fast as this summer has. It seems strange to say I will miss the work but I fear I will, having spent thirty years in management and then owning my own small business, planing and scheduling as what I do, so just planning what day is best for mowing the lawns, and when to split wood to work around the rain or the heat of the day may sound petty, but it’s what I have always done, now it will be planning regular or spicy Ceaser, scotch or vodka, IPA or wheat beer, these are still important decisions but not quite the same…

So you may remember Bob and Irena from earlier in the summer, they came to visit us back in July, we gave them the tour of the park and we looked at a couple of sites that were coming up for grabs at the end of the season. You know the kind of tour I would call a kiss and giggle tour, no serious talk just a lot of what ifs, we spoke of the parks amenities, and the virtues of seasonal as opposed to being transient, but it was just some light discussion over a few cocktails, and this is not the kind of thing you jump into without some serious fore thought.

So the next thing I know, they have put a deposit down on one of the sites to hold it for next season, when Miss Laurie told me I was about in shock, I mean yes it’s a great park and all but this was a pretty serious commitment, one visit to the park, never had been seasonal, always just booked a few days at a time, and now you move to seasonal.

When we started this journey I could never understand the draw to a seasonal parks, until we were able to made such great friends at every park that we have settled into for a month or more Why Arizona our first park brought us Ralph & Jenny, Jerry & Cindy, John & Lynn, the list goes on and that was a one month stop. At the Codroy Valley last summer in Newfoundland, we met Robert & Susan, Dennis & Alice, Jason, you might be seeing a trend developing here. And then last winter in Florida there was Butch & Betty, Ray & Karen, Gilles & Francine, so now I’m really starting to understanding the draw to longer stays, but that only works if you are going to be social, if you avoid the events or don’t get involved you are going to miss so much. Many people spend the winters or summers with the same people, at the same park year after year every year.

We have not made that kind of commitment yet, still way too much country to see, but in the next breath we are trying to decide how to see as many members of our new RV family this winter as possible, as we bounce around Arizona. As we try to plan we have Bob and Shari near Ehrenberg, Gilles and Francine near Yuma, Ray and Karen near Phoenix, a long list of boondockers in the desert around Quartzsite Larry, Brian and Susan, Craig and Bonnie, John and Val, Ron and Julie, this is a group we met boondocking at Three Lakes wildlife management area in Florida last November, and we haven’t been able to track down John and Lynn and where they will be yet but want to hook up to talk trash about the state of our Canadian politics. And we want to wander by a little town in Ohio in early November to catch up with Butch and Betty as they will be in Florida this year, so would like to spend a day or two as we pass by on our way to Arizona.

This list of people is the reason why we need a mix of long and short term spots, we met (Brian, Ron, Craig and John) “the soggy bottom boys” in Florida at a twenty day boondocking encounter, they instantly accepted us into the community and even trucked fresh water for us, I guess what I’m trying to say is living life to the fullest is what it is all about, making new friends with similar interests has become a much bigger portion of this new life style that what I was ever expecting, the amount of people living this life style is way beyond any expectation that I had. These are relationships that wouldn’t get a chance to grow when you are just overnight campers, so it is with pleasure we welcome our long time friends Bob and Irena to Lake Huron Resort for the 2020 season, and I hope they embrace of the great community that already exists in this park as it is a huge part in choosing a seasonal park. Every park has water, electric and such, but not every park welcomes you in as a long lost member of an extended family, the way this one does, the amenities are such a small portion of the seasonal experience as they will soon learn.

Well that got a little long winded, but I just can’t explain how much our life has changed by choosing this life style, and I also cannot explain why it seems so easy to make such great new friends, we lived in the same house in a small town for seventeen years and did not make as many friends as we have made in less than two years on the road. And that is all I can say about that…at least for now

So this last weekend Bob and Irena spend time prepping their new site, levelling a deck, cleaning up debris, pruning overgrown trees, laying some gravel at the back of the site and planning a small garden. Then on Tuesday I gravelled the site and set their trailer next to the deck, so it’s official…welcome to Lake Huron Resort Bob, Irena, and Alex the proud new holders of site 167…for 2020.