
Now what?
Retirement year! Also, a year of highs and lows. Tom needed a hip replacement badly. His left hip was done in 2008 and now his right hip was giving out on him and affecting all aspects of his life.

A new RV to use for retirement was on our mind. We decided on the 2019 Rockwood Signature Series because it had a king bed and slide out and front kitchen with huge slide out. Our previous trailer was also a Rockwood Signature Series – 2009, with a front kitchen but only a queen bed. We overlooked the lack of storage space in this 2019 because we thought we could keep many things in our 2016 Ford F-150 pick-up truck and then later our 2019 F-350. But that didn't quite work out as planned.

Tom’s retirement came in March 2019. I was still working part time and Tom’s hip surgery was scheduled so we only took two vacations in 2019. Camping on The Battenkill Campground in Arlington, Vermont is our haven and was our first trip- July 8th to 21st, Site 1 which is our favorite place to camp right on the Battenkill River.

Hip Surgery
Tom’s hip surgery was scheduled for July 29th. We looked forward to the future of Tom being much more mobile. Surgery went well and his recovery also went well. We were ready for another vacation in the fall after an August of rehab.

September 20th to October 1st we enjoyed the fall foliage at Winhall Brook in South Londonderry, Vermont. Tom was happy to be back out camping. Winhall is an Army Corps of Engineer recreation area and we have been camping there for over 25 years.

Cell Hell
Cell service is not good at Winhall and I have fondly dubbed it “cell hell.” There are a few places you can get a text through (the bench!) and maybe make a call and read email. It’s a great place to unplug but I am usually so done with it after a week so the second week I spend a lot of energy trying to find cell service. It’s like a quest!

Our friends Mike and Cecelia booked the site next to us with their Class B for a long weekend and they arrived the 26th. We enjoyed the visit and ended it by going out to dinner at a restaurant in Londonderry.
More photos from 2019





Peace
Winhall has a great bike path that follows the river in places, I love this bike trail. At the end of the trail is a bench we sit on and rest and look down at the river. On Sunday the 21st we were at the bench standing looking over the river and out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving. It was a bald eagle! It flew right in front of us as it headed up the river. The eagle is my spirit animal, so much so that I have one tattooed on my arm. I didn’t even know that area had eagles. Apparently, there is a nest at the Townshend Dam. There was a dam release that weekend and there were many kayakers at the dam area so it must have made the eagle head upstream. I never had time to take my phone out to take a photo but the picture of that eagle flying right in front of me is a photo etched in my memory forever!

I threw a surprise retirement/birthday party for Tom in October and my retirement was in November. We were ready for our travels and even started to book for 2020. In January and February we booked Winhall and Battenkill for the summer. March came and then everything stopped……………….