Heading West by Going East

After several days visiting Auburn and having Sparky examined, Pattie and I headed over to Stone Mountain, GA for a couple weeks.  We needed to recon a couple places near Atlanta, so we can visit Pattie’s family who live in Atlanta.  We stayed in the excellent Stone Mountain State Park campground.  It doesn’t get much better than this setting with lake front lots, groomed sites, and entertainment of all types. 

There are several trails around the park to bike and hike including to the top of the mountain.  There is also a cable car lift for those less athletic.  We purchased tickets for the Duck Ride since Pattie had never been on one before.  The Duck is an amphibious military surplus vehicle that they drive from land into the lake and give you a tour of the facilities and history in the area.  On Saturday night, we went to the laser show that is projected against the carvings on Stone Mountain.  It is free and incorporates digital video as well as lasers in an entertaining presentation.  It was a wonderful day and we headed back to The Bus about 10:30pm. 

When we got back to The Bus, Sparky was ready to go for a walk.  We had checked on her several times during the day and noticed she was having trouble urinating.  Unfortunately, she could no longer urinate and after consultations with the emergency vets locally and back at Auburn; it was time.  We bundled her up and took her to the emergency vet nearby, gave her some Conecuh sausage that we always shared, and eased her into that final sleep.  Our hearts were broken, but we are thankful the Lord gave us 13 years with her to enjoy each other’s company.  Having been full-time for a little over two months at this point, we had developed our routine with Sparky.  It does add to the logistics and constrains your schedule to have a pet along for the ride.  However, once you get accustomed to it; it is hard to adjust to a loved one no longer with you. 

During the week, I work from The Bus when away from my Huntsville, AL office.  The following week, a large project that I am the lead for and have been working on for 5 years was ready to enter the proposal phase.  This requires my full team participation in California for a couple months.  I flew to Los Angles for the first week leaving Pattie to visit family in Atlanta.  We hatched a plan to put The Bus in storage and fly her to CA.  So, I flew back over a weekend and we dropped the cat (yes, it has a name.  Katy, and no we don’t get along) off with our sons, put The Bus in storage, and flew back to CA together. 

This is the first time since I have been working for this company that Pattie has been able to join me in CA.  We are enjoying our time together seeing the sites, watching football with the local Auburn Club, and hanging out with friends that I work with or know in the area. 

We also took time to take the Warner Brothers Studio Tour and visit the Ronald Reagan Museum.  Both were well worth the effort.

We are enjoying the amenities of the Residence Inn in Burbank, CA and all the restaurants within walking distance.  However, it isn’t home.  So, we are researching campgrounds close enough to my work where we could bring The Bus out and live in it to complete this project.  So far, the pickings are slim unless I want to subject myself to an hour plus commute in LA traffic each day. 

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You know you are a full-time RV’r when:  You see a new coffee cup you want and realize that if you buy it, you will need to throw away one you already own.