Um...

Looking at the update prior to today, I guess I did go over my plans! I did see some of the in-law family! Didn't see the wife's sister but did visit the brother and his wife and went the house of a friend of his for a fantastic dinner and playing some board games. So much to remember!

News from the world of Heather.

Hello friends and visitors.

It is September 5. Two months have passed since I visited my blog but much has happened.  I have a "new to me" desktop PC and before I switched from old to new, I failed to get my passwords copied and had been sort of locked out by the new PC.  Today was the day I said "I need to fire up that old PC and tell the world what's happened in the last two months.

I thought I had shared with the world that I was going to visit my parents on the east coast but in reading my two most recent blog updates, see nothing. 

So, I went to see the old folks. Mom will be 83 later this month and Dad's 82 as of May.  I'd planned on flying, like I usually do... I could swing the price of air fare since I'd bought a ticket last summer and cancelled when states back east started locking down. It would have been a couple hundred for the portion not covered by the credit.  When I tried renting a car in Hartford, I discovered that it would be about $1800 for the eighteen days I'd planned to get the cheapest/smallest thing available.  That wouldn't work.

I looked into the employee discount page from my employer. The have a link to renting "campervans" from a company based in Australia, New Zealand, California and Las Vegas.  I looked at the vehicles they offer. One is a passenger minivan which could be rented with full camping gear like tents, cots, portable stoves and coolers.  Well, I own all of that stuff, right up to the minivan but I didn't want to drive our van cross-country, though. It's my wife's car and she'd be miserable in my old Honda CRV for 2+ weeks.  I called the campervan people and asked about rental, discounts, mileage fees, talked it over with my wife and booked the vehicle the next day.  I drove across the North American Continent from Nevada, about 5 miles from the CA border to Mount Washington, NH and back with lots of adventure in-between.  

It was pleasing to stop at scenic areas in Utah, taking selfies while wearing the same sundress I'd worn to Rocky Horror!  Yeah, it's overexposed and a bit blurred but it was the first time using the selfie stick in a couple years.

Heather in Utah

There was some rain along the way which allowed for some interesting photos.  

Rain in the distance

Along the way, I
did some railfanning.  Stopping in Kearney NE at the crossing with a Virtual Railfan camera. At the time, my wife, her brother and some friends were playing boardgames online and I was an interruption.  I was just wearing a tee shirt and shorts, couldn't tell that my bra was stuffed with my D sized breast forms.  It was evening and the sun was backlighting me but I managed to get a screenshot. I'm the blur in the lower left quadrant.

Kearney NE Virtual Railfan crossing.

If you've read my previous postings, my family is in Massachusetts but my sister had taken vacation when I was there so she could have a break from worrying about our parents. She and her husband went to Lincoln, NH for about a week. They'd invited me up for a day and we went to Mount Washington.  That was a great place. Cold. Windy. Great fun. Glad I had warm clothes in the van!  I'd never been up.  We took my van up the AutoRoad. It's funny, the rental contract said "no dirt roads," no Death Valley between May and October but nothing about the highest point in New England and yes, there as a stretch of the AutoRoad that is unpaved. Didn't know until I got to it!

Mount Washington, NH

It was a nice visit. Got things done at my parents' house that needed doing but they were incapable of doing because of their age.  Dump runs, getting things ready to go to a metal scrapper, prepping for home improvement projects.  I try to bring my parents to places they've never seen or been to.  One trip, we did the Capitol Buildings in Hartford and Boston.  This year, we had planned on eating at a favorite Chinese restaurant but forgot it was a Tuesday so... closed.  Lots of things not open midweek.   

A week an a half after I'd arrived, it was time to say goodbye for now.  

My maple tree!

Here's the maple tree that stood guard over my bedroom when I was growing up.  It had been given a trimming by a tree company while I was there. Limbs were growing aver the house and the family didn't want one to fall on the roof.  As a kid, I played under that tree many times.  The family tapped it for maple syrup, too. Mom's clothesline is still attached to the tree and the original clothesline rail has grown into the tree.

My trip was nice, on the way out I stopped at the rail museum in Danbury, CT but it was closed. I still got a selfie.  Lots of places were closed mid-week.  

Danbury CT depot

It was a great trip.  I put nearly 7000 miles on the rented van in 2 1/2 weeks.  When not at my parents' house, I slept on my cot in the van, parked in truck stop parking lots and used the trucker's showers at Love's travel centers.  The van performed admirably and delivered phenomenal fuel economy averaging about 28 mpg with posted highway speeds of 75 - 80 mph.  All in, I spent just over $2000 on my trip. Food, fuel, showers, vehicle and taxes. AND... I still have my credit for a couple hundred dollars for air fare.  

Full disclosure, I didn't spend my entire drive fully dressed as Heather.  I needed to feel comfortable and safe with my surroundings and if there was going to be some kind of crowd, I toned her down. But I DID wear my biggest breast forms for the entire travel portion.  Tee shirt or button up, the girls went along.

Next time, I have to figure out how not to be sneering or exhibiting my RBF when I take a selfie.

That's it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time, Much Love,

Heather

ps: Hey look! I figured out how to include photos in my blog!