Almost Ready For Takeoff

After an overnight blacktop boondocking at a Flying J, Friday we headed out for our son Corey's home in NJ.  Not having a fixed time schedule was nice, we ate a leisurely breakfast and then departed.  Even though Marti has turned over the evil telephone to the new administrator, she spent a bit of the trip receiving and answering texts from her old staff, they miss her already...and she misses them.

We arrived at Corey and Amanda's house and commenced the "Moochdocking".  The Journey fits nicely in their driveway, complete with free water and electric (20 amp).

Shortly after arriving, we departed for a trip to one of my brother's homes, we were celebrating my dad's 90th birthday.  All of my four brothers, my sister and various BILs, SILs and assorted grandchildren and even one great grandkid were there with my dad.  He got some presents, even one all the way from California relatives.

We had a chocolate birthday cake, too, which read: "Happy 90th Birthday".

Of course, my dad, ever the jester, said if you looked at the cake upside down, he was only 60!

We had a great time, lots of food, laughter and some tears, too.  We all miss my mom, who passed away last April.  We've made plans for all the family to get together this summer and rent a house up in the Adirondacks in New York State on Brant Lake for a week.  Dad used to have a place there and we all spent many wonderful summers growing up there.  What a better place than that for our next get together?

After the party, we returned to Corey and Amanda's house.  Today, Saturday, "Amazing Amanda" took charge of getting the Journey ready for living.  After a few hours, the inside had been cleaned out a little but still had much work to be accomplished.  Taking things from our home, Marti's office, her car and even Christmas presents for our son Ryan's family our in Oregon made for quite a mess.  We almost could have qualified for the TV show "Hoarders".

Amanda, using her incredible organizational talents, finished up the job in a couple of hours.  To think she did it all, and she's six months pregnant with our newest granddaughter!

Lets just say I'm a very happy camper and the Journey's Cargo Carrying Capacity is back well within the proper limits.  I feel sorry for the garbage man, though...

We couldn't have finished the transition from a stix-n-brix to full time RV life without our kid's help.  They all pitched in, one way or another to help us get started on  living our dream.  Tomorrow we pull out for our first full time adventure, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then on to Oregon, here we come.  Looking at the Weather Channel, it should be quite a ride!

We'll miss Corey...

...and Amanda.

We'll be back in March to help them welcome their daughter. :c)

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