On Monday, we flew back to Beatitude II after having been gone for six weeks. Three of those six weeks were spent in Belgium, Holland, and England. The other three, for me, were spent working in Maine and Florida. For the last week, Cindy was blessed to visit our grandson, James, and his family, who have recently moved from Berkeley, CA to the Albany, NY area. (Sorry, Jeremey and Fran. You are now known as the parents of our grandson). Cindy, of course, loved every minute of it.

Jeremy, who recently finished his PhD in philosophy from the University of California Berkeley has accepted the position of Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Siena College

The Doctors Carey with James.

St. Francis in the Siena College Garden

Sign In the Siena College Bookstore showing the required texts for one of Professor Carey’s classes. He will teach Greek and Roman Philosophy and Philosophy and the Human Being

James

Son and Mom

The Carey family

The eleven month-old James at the Cheesecake Factory.

Reading time!

We were excited to return to our roaming home. It occurred to us the other day that, although we have owned the RV for just over three months, we’ve only spent four weeks on her. So, the whole experience still seems very new and fresh to us. Our first night back, we were blessed by the hospitality of our friends, Justin and Shera, who gave us a soft, comfortable bed to sleep in. The next morning, we drove our Ram truck to Extra Space Storage to pick up Beatitude II and take her to Camping World for some warranty work. They replaced a refrigerator door that had a small dent and a torn speaker cloth. This turned into an all-day affair, but finally, we hauled our 5th-wheel to Oak Plantation RV Park, where we would set up for a few days. The campground was lovely and had lots of space to roam.

Our site at the Oak Plantation Campground

Playing Frisbee at Oak Plantation

Playing Oversized Chess

She’s been checkmated!

Wednesday, though, we had to unhook in the morning and drive the RV to Corbin Hitch where we had a hitch custom-fabricated for the rear. This was done in anticipation of hauling a small scooter for short, local trips from the campgrounds. Finally, on Thursday,we were able to rest. We were exhausted and sleep deprived from the busy-ness of the last 6 weeks. We’ve done nothing touristy during this past week. We’ve spent a few days recovering our strength for the next adventure. We have enjoyed dinner with Justin and Shera almost every evening, with wonderful post-dinner conversation. We’ve eaten at their place, they’ve eaten at ours, and we’ve eaten at local restaurants. Fun!

Dinner is ready.

My wife’s delicious Lasagna

This morning, we packed up and put away everything for the thirty-minute drive north of Charleston, where we had a spot reserved at the Charleston KOA. If we could have remained at Oak Plantation we would have, but it was booked full for the grand total eclipse on Monday. Fortunately, the KOA had a spot. In fact, we were able to reserve one of the three “deluxe” sites with a patio, swing, fire pit, and grill. We are much happier with this site than the one we had here prior to us leaving for six weeks.

Our deluxe site at the Charleston KOA

Majestic Oak behind Beatitude II.

We’re staying in Charleston until Tuesday so that we can experience the total eclipse on Monday. We’re excited about that!