Our NH Summer 2021

We arrived at Old Stage Campground in Madbury NH on May 19th and departed a little over four months later on Sept. 23rd. Where does the time go?! As everyone in New Hampshire will attest, July was a wet month… 11 inches of rain and it was a humid summer. But all good! 

Highlights of our summer were first and foremost visiting with family and friends we were unable to see last summer because of Covid and re-connecting with our Old Stage Safari family. 

On a slightly lesser scale, but still important, Gary was able to do some RV fixes, as these tiny homes require maintenance! He had the fun task of replacing our toilet shortly after our arrival in NH, then replacing our kitchen faucet which now turns on/off by touch. I’m still adjusting to that! We had a hole in one of the tire rims on the RV and decided to replace ALL the rims so he had the fun task of removing the tires from the RV, having them re-mounted with new rims, then re-installing the tires. Those tires are heavy! We printed additional photos from our travels for display in our tiny home. He replaced all the knobs on all the cabinets just cuz. Researched, purchased, and installed a new back-up camera, and he installed new (brighter) headlamps on the truck. He also did some bicycle maintenance. Whew! Oh, and in his free time he made new cornhole boards! The new ones are lighter weight for travel and sport Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville graphics. 

Other activities we tackled this summer was extensive dental work for Gary (new bridge). I won’t tell you how many $1,000s that cost! A new phone purchase for Gary and getting that all set up. Backing up our 37,421 photos to iCloud. Yes, we have that many. I created a bird life list on my Merlin app. I tried some new recipes since I’m now getting daily emails from AllRecipes. We created a database of all the Corp. of Engineer parks in the country, and we worked on future travel plans. 

A sobering realization this summer was that my Mom was no longer here. We so enjoyed having her living in NH these last six years. She passed in February at 101 years young and as mentally sharp as ever. We were blessed to have her as long as we did. This summer I also took care of the remaining admin work that is necessary with the death of a loved one. In some ways its helpful… it aids in achieving some closure. I talk to her often, and I know she listens. 

Our Summer Highlights in no particular order:

Spending time with (sis) Ellen & (bro) Wayne throughout the summer was definitely one of the highlights. Lots of laughter ensued and grappling for the talking stick. We all want to talk at once! We enjoyed a dinner of Waynerd’s homemade pizza one evening. Delish! We celebrated the Troy boys birthdays and the Troy girls birthdays.… months after the actual dates but that’s ok! It made the celebrations that much more special. We were even treated to a practice session of the Thunderbirds during the girls birthday celebration at Hilton Park. 

I was able to visit with my cousin Andrea on multiple occasions and even celebrate her birthday in Newburyport. And thank you Andrea for dinner at one of Gary’s and my favorite restaurants! So sweet! We also visited with Gary’s cousin Jack a couple of times whom we hadn’t seen in a few years. Wonderful to catch up with him!

Gary and I were able to do some hiking. We visited Plum Island and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on a beautiful day in June, walked the Kingman Farm Trail in Madbury, saw the sand sculptures at Hampton Beach, and enjoyed a few walks along the beach. 

We visited with multiple friends… including local friends and those slightly farther afield…

• to Connecticut to see friends of 45 years, Debbie & Peter. (I don’t feel old.) I had the pleasure of spending time with some of their kids and grand kids and celebrating Debbie’s birthday with her. Then they returned the favor and came north to visit Gary and I for several days in September. We did all the touristy things… visited downtown Portsmouth. Another day we visited the historic Wentworth by the Sea Hotel, marina and gardens; Great Island Common park, and walked North Hampton Beach. We also enjoyed a Portsmouth Harbor Cruise, a visit to Nubble Lighthouse, some shopping in Kittery, some spirited Cornhole games, an adult beverage or two, great food, great conversation, and tons of laughter!

• to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, NH with (dear sis) Ellen and (dear friend) Mary. Beautiful flower gardens and sculpture in a natural setting. Hard to believe this started from a couple’s dream for their 35-acre property which now boasts 20 acres of gardens and sculpture. Wow. 

• to Maine to see our friend Martha’s recent purchase of a home in South Portland. 

• to Maine again to spend time with friends Carol & Charlie and Meigs & Paul. We were all neighbors in Nottingham for decades until C&C moved to Maine and M&P moved to TX. Nice that the six of us could spend a few days together hosted at C&C’s beautiful home. A Bed & Breakfast has nothing on them!

• to Hampton to Tilton Brothers Brewing Co. and spending time with a former client of ours of over 25 years and his lovely wife. We dined at their sons brewing company. An utterly delightful evening with a terrific couple!

• to the Nottingham Bandstand to enjoy an evening concert. I sent an email out to the Nottingham girls and was delighted to catch up with so many that night. A rare treat! I wish we could have spent more time together, but I was grateful for the time we had. 

• to the NH Juried Craftsman’s Fair in August with my dear friend Mary. What a treat to see the amazing work of 200 artisans in a bucolic setting at Mount Sunapee Ski Resort. This particular craft fair is the oldest continuously running craft fair in the U.S. and it’s in little ole NH. It runs for 10 days every August. Totally worth a visit!

• to Scarborough and Portland, Maine in August to enjoy bike riding with (bro) Wayne on a couple of rail trails on the Eastern Trail. Gary biked 12 miles and I did an additional 4 miles with Wayne. That’s a lot of bike riding for Gary and I! A beautiful day and so much fun! 

• to Portsmouth to meet up with friends Linda & Phil who live in Leominster, MA. We spent the day exploring the town and having lunch. Our friendship goes back 35 years! They traveled with us a few years ago when we did a Western Med Cruise out of Barcelona. We had a ball! 

• to Meredith, NH to explore the Meredith Sculpture Walk one Sunday in August with my friend Kristina. We worked together for years and a friendship was born! 

• to Maine again to have lunch with our next door neighbors of over 20 years, Betty and Gary. They now live in NC but have a summer place on Sebago Lake. So fun to catch up with them!

We were also fortunate to host several friends here at Old Stage including… our Nottingham friends Charlene & Cheryl, our former neighbor Carol, our former client and now friends Linda & Jim who also hosted us at their home in Nottingham on the lake, and Diane & Mike who live in FL but just happened to be up visiting family in NH shortly after we arrived in May. 

We had a really awesome summer with our Safari Family! Campfires every Friday and Saturday night and some in between. Cornhole games every weekend where I invariably was one of the not-so-good players but everyone was very supportive and kind! I did improve by the end of the summer… sort of. We enjoyed multiple food events with everyone… a buffet breakfast one Sunday morning, a Ham & Bean Supper, Hot Dog night, appetizers galore, and Kathy’s delicious homemade desserts at the campfire on weekends. We once again this year enjoyed setting up for Christmas in July at the campground. In addition, Halloween, which gets celebrated in August, is no slouch either.  So fun to walk the campground at night and see the decorations for both events. We gave candy out to almost 100 trick-or-treaters. Gary and I were able to introduce everyone to the board game called “Blank Slate” one night. The kids played, too, and it was a hoot! We also had great fun with a Yankee Swap. We enjoyed great conversations by the campfire, and one evening I was even introduced to Screwball (peanut butter whiskey). Quite tasty! We will miss these wonderful friends who became our summer family for two seasons. They are special folks. 

This summer we also visited multiple times with our friends Cheryl & Joe, who were in the midst of selling their home in Bedford, NH. We saw them at their home and ours and enjoyed a final big sayonara bash at their house. They have now joined us in this full-time RVing lifestyle. As Cheryl says, “if it doesn’t work out, we’ll blame you!” lol. They’ve been full-timing for a month. So far, so good! 

Recently we’ve been joined by Stacie & Johnny, friends who live in NC, and whom we met on the road back in 2018. We were all walking our respective dogs in a campground in Tennessee and stopped to chat and became instant friends! The rest is history. We’ve managed to camp with each other on multiple occasions and spend several birthdays together! 

We had a final fun dinner with everyone on Saturday, Sept. 18th, at “Troy Stadium” which is the name everyone gave our site at Old Stage! We were blessed to have our Safari family and Road family together. Gary, with help from Johnny & Joe, set up the lights and awnings and grilled steak tips and marinated chicken. Everyone contributed appetizers, sides, desserts, and 25 baked potatoes (big thanks to Bud, Melissa, Brad, & Denise for the taters). And we enjoyed meeting Irina, a friend of Cheryl & Joe’s who joined us. We played cornhole during the day, dined in the early evening, and enjoyed a campfire and desserts at Lisa & Paul’s in the evening. A wonderful way to wrap up our summer with these amazing folks. We will miss them all. 

September 20th was Gary’s and my 41st wedding anniversary. I wouldn’t want to go through this roaming phase of our life’s journey with anyone else but my sweet hubby… and maybe the company of family and friends. We had a fun day exploring Ogunquit, ME with Stacie & Johnny then we were joined by Cheryl & Joe and the six of us headed to the Thirsty Moose in Dover for dinner. Of course Niky came along for all the festivities because it wouldn’t be the same without him. Thank you all for dinner! And thank you Joe for the campfire afterwards! We loved spending the day with y’all! (Practicing my Texas slang.)

The sad part about this lifestyle is having to say goodbye to new friends with the hope that we’ll see them again on down the road. This was very true this week at Old Stage. Over the weekend we said goodbye to some of our Safari family then we had to say goodbye to others on Thursday when we pulled out. A few tears were shed, many hugs, and some gave us parting gifts. You are all very special. We are fortunate to know that we’ll see Lisa & Paul in Gulf Shores, AL over the winter. We’re hoping to see Vin in FL in November and maybe Lucy & Danny in FL, too. The others we hope to catch up with at a future time yet to be determined. In the meantime we will stay in touch via email, text, and blogging. And don’t get me started on the friends and family that we are leaving behind here in Southern NH and beyond. Thank goodness for phones and zoom calls and the opportunity to see each other on the road in far flung locations!

We are now traveling with Cheryl & Joe and Stacie and Johnny. S&J will be with us for about 3 weeks before they head elsewhere. C&J are with us for the long haul… or until they get tired of us. 🙂

Next stop Boothbay, Maine!