Summer Vacation

First of all, the name of this update could be misleading. This update is undoubtedly not about travel to some destination, but coming back to our home in the Virginia mountains. We had a great winter in Florida and also look forward to a summer at home. I’ve also had a bit of a vacation from writing this blog. Completely unintentional I assure you. Just busy getting the house in order and getting back into hobbies. We are already over two months into our summer. So, let’s do a quick recap and go from there.

The Rest of our Travel Home – Jekyll Island

The last blog left off at the tiny Cedar Key fishing village. From there we drove north to Brunswick Georgia and took a day to walk around Jekyll Island. Located off the coast of Georgia, it is one of the barrier islands. It is owned by the state and run by a self governing body. I find the history quite fascinating. We stopped by here the first time in January of 2021. LINK

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From Wikipedia: A Du Bignon purchased the island with the help of his brother-in-law Newton Finney and an investor. Their plan to market the island as a winter retreat for the wealthy came to fruition on February 17, 1886. They decided to construct a clubhouse which was completed in January 1888. Fifty-three members purchased shares for $600 each; a limit of 100 members was imposed to preserve the club’s exclusivity.

From 1888 to 1942 the club opened every January for the winter season, except a few years when there were yellow fever outbreaks. It accommodated some of the world’s wealthiest people. Members and their families enjoyed activities such as biking, hunting, horseback riding, and tennis, and frequented the north beaches. Some of the wealthiest members built their own “cottages”, mansion-sized residences that are mostly still standing in the 21st century. Even the wealthy endured financial losses during the Great Depression, and the club had financial difficulties. When the United States entered World War II, it ordered the island evacuated for security purposes, ending the era of the Jekyll Island Club. After the war in 1947, the State of Georgia bought the island.

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The winter visitors, known today as snowbirds, would arrive in Brunswick by train, stay at the local hotel, then take a boat to the island. A large greeting party of staff would wait and welcome them to the island. Most staying the entire winter. These were the very wealthy from the New England area. It’s fun to imagine what it would be like.

Back Home – Unpack

The week after arriving back home is busy with unpacking the 5th wheel coach, washing it, and then cleaning the house. I’m amazed by the amount of dust throughout the house in 4-5 months away. We even cover most furniture. What happens while we are gone?

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I had two projects scheduled the week after we arrived, namely taking the RV in for service and storage and a plumbing upgrade on the house. Both were costly but needed to be done.

RV Work

Pat and I both cleaned the rig inside and out before taking it an hour south to our service and storage facility. We had them replace the living room theater seating, replaced several of the slide out seals, and cleaned and repacked the wheel bearings. It was some expensive work, but keeping the unit in good condition and avoiding water leaks is extremely important if you want to keep an RV. They can deteriorate very fast with a water leak.

Ours is a 2018 model and we plan to keep it for another ten years if possible. By then, we may not want to continue RV travel. Time will tell. Like I have stated before, we both miss the travels and exploring that we had as full-timers for three years. We are kicking around an idea to take most of a summer to travel in a year or two. Some candidates are the Canadian Maritime region, Michigan/Wisconsin Great Lakes or else Arizona/Utah/Montana. Let’s see what happens with the economic recession, fuel prices, the stock market collapse and inflation…

Plumbing Upgrade

Unfortunately, these upgrades would probably not add anything to the homes market value, not that we plan to sell, but I always think of return on investment. Some repairs are needed just to maintain the value.

I had a portion of the cast iron drain pipes replaced on the 1956 home. A section that was bungled in the 1989 remodel I assume. So, some new PVC drains and new commodes. In case you are very curious the commodes were highly recommended by our plumber as the very best. These American Standard Champion 4 models are chair height, elongated and have an impressive 1.6 gallons per flush. They most definitely were not cheap. LINK Toilet humor: What does superman call his toilet? The Superbowl!

Summer Projects

We have really enjoyed having the home with space for all our hobbies and activities. And Pat likes it as well, because it keeps me busy. 🙂 Along with the home comes the upkeep and cleaning. The yard work takes about 4-5 hours a week. Mowing, trimming, cleaning, picking up tree branches, etc.

I do have several projects to work on over the months while we are here. Two more rooms to update and some outdoors trim painting. After that there may be a couple of additional projects for a later year.

Ham Radio Hobby

Last summer was mostly consumed with updating several rooms on the main level and setting up my hobby spaces in the finished basement. These areas are the art studio and ham radio room also known as the “hamshack.” So, this spring I fully launched back into the radio hobby, by attending some in person monthly meetings, improving my radio antennas, and getting on the air more often.

There are many contests to enter in the ham radio realm. I have really enjoyed the Parks on the Air program. Briefly, it is a very active large group of park “activators” who go to one of the state, national, or federal parks and set up their station to make as many contacts with “hunters” as possible. There are awards for each level for both the activators and hunters. Parks On The Air website.

I’m getting close to making a contact with 300 unique parks as a hunter. My next endeavor is to take my portable station out to one of these parks and become an activator.

Other Stuff

Some of my other interests include home beer making otherwise known as homebrewing. I’ve only made one 5 gallon batch since returning home and one ready to brew in a few days. The batch in the keg is a Belgium Dubbel Ale. It is very good, but a bit of a different acquired taste. And also at 9% so potent.

One of my homebrewing gurus, Ed from Indiana, suggested my next process improvement is a temperature controlled fermentation chamber. So now I have an old fridge in the garage with an Inkbird temp controller! I can now dial in the temp for the couple of weeks of fermentation time. In the past, I would lug the 5.5 gallon carboy from the garage brew shop to the basement where it stays 65-73 degrees the year round.

On to another activity is my landscape painting. I’ve done 5-6 since we returned home. It’s still fun and challenging. I’ll include some photos in here on a future blog entry.

I’ve also taken up making artisan bread making using a cast iron dutch oven. Some tasty bread. Between the beer and bread I may have to increase my workouts.

Summer Plans

We have a few activities planned for later in the summer. One is an Amtrak trip out of Roanoke and a couple of car trips for a few days. Other than that we will enjoy all the local summer activities that are plentiful in this area. Stay local and save fuel may be our goal this year. We are also enjoying having our son and daughter over for dinners and game nights. Plus we recently took a week journey to Indiana to see family and for my mom’s 90th birthday. More on that in a later post.

I’m looking forward to the summer vacation! Yes, still loving retirement. Both on the days filled with activities and on the days when I just relax and read a book.

Take care and God Bless.