What To Do Next?

Friday, April 24, 2020

These last weeks starting with March 13, 2020 when we crossed into Mississippi at Vicksburg on our trek East and the Ocean have been days and weeks filled with talk about what to do next. The fact that the spread of the coronavirus had led to the President declaring a National Emergency and the seriousness of it was just starting to sink in back then. The first decision was the hardest one and it was to not continue east where we would spend time with friends but to turn north. The last decision was to stay in place in Corinth, Mississippi for at least the month of April which is quickly coming to a close and it is now time to decide and answer the question, what to do next.

We both know what we want to do and that is go back to Michigan stop for a couple of weeks by our son and his family and then continue back up to the UP and spend time with our daughter and her family. That is what our hearts want to do but the reality does not coincide with that want.  For one thing every place we have called in Michigan is not sure when they will be opening because they are not sure what the Governor is going to do as far as opening the state and what will be allowed. Then I spoke to someone at the Chamber of Commerce in Escanaba and I was told that all RV parks in Michigan are all closed no exceptions.  The whole issue for Tom and I is not that we cannot stay at home it is that the home needs a place to park and we are not alone in this.There is a very large segment of our society that no longer own sticks and brick houses. They are fulltime RVers and we are not just talking about retired people like us, there are families and young couples who live this lifestyle. Plus, I am pretty sure we are not the only ones who consider Michigan our home and come back for the summer months. (Yes, we are in fact registered residents of South Dakota. We no longer own or rent property in Michigan and,  therefore, we do not have a street address in the state and a post office box is not considered to be a legal address. In order to vote and do banking you need a legal street address and South Dakota is one of the states we could legally do this through a mailing service. At the same time both Tom and I are lifelong residents of Michigan and the UP will always be home.) It is not just parking but we need to be able to get water and quite frankly we need a place to dump our grey and blank tanks. Even though we do have solar and a generator on board being able to plug into electricity is also a plus. So we will continue to make calls and see what we can come up with to get us closer to where we want to be.

Side note: That is not to say we do not feel very lucky to have found the place we are at. As I have mentioned before it is a small clean well kept up RV park ,and we feel safe here. Well to be honest the whole tornado thing is somewhat scary but so far we have been lucky weather wise.  One good thing for us right now is we do have the option of staying here for at least another month which is also something we are considering.

It rained here starting Wednesday evening and throughout the night. Thursday started under cloudy skies but the sun and the blue sky kept trying to join us and did succeed at times. Though we did have brief moments when the rain did rejoin us but mostly as sprinkling showers.

While we were eating dinner Thursday evening the view of the clouds and the sky as the sun was setting put on a nice show. That show included a rainbow and as we sat there I kept thinking that would make a good picture. The rainbow was mostly gone when I got myself up and opened the bedroom window to take a few pictures of the sky around us. Below are those pictures.. I like them all so I decided to share them all.

Today, Friday we mostly had sunshine and white fluffy clouds floating by earlier in the day. As we got closer to sunset the sky clouded over completely. So  far no rain but looking at the radar I can see it is coming our way and it looks like we will have rain tomorrow. Our days as I mentioned in our last post seem to melt one into the next. The daily chores of life cleaning, laundry, cooking continue as before. The last couple of days we added phone calls and RV Park research into the mix. Like always most days we speak to at least one of our children and get an update on their lives. Plus, it is always nice when one or more of the grandchildren takes the time to talk with us.

So for now we are living our days and there is joy in being able to spend this quiet time together. Yet at times there is a sadness that seeps in when we think about the fact that we are not where we expected to be with our children and grandchildren. Logically we know we cannot change what is; but our heart still wishes we could.

In the meantime we are thankful that our children, grandchildren, family and friends are safe and healthy. Plus we are grateful to be able to say we are safe and healthy. Our sincere hope is you can say the same thing about yourself and those you love.

We are so glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.