8/28/2018 Home, Jack & the Bean Stock, Readjustment

We have been home for about 18 hours and here are some initial thoughts:

• As we pulled up to the house we noticed some weeds (approximately 14 of them) that are very pretty, about 6’ high, and could be mistaken as ornamental growing in our landscaping.  (A lot of good the $400 in new mulch and Preen did that we put down before leaving.)  At first, we thought one of our mischievous neighbors (you know who you are) was playing a trick on us.  These bean stock type plants have the stock of a sunflower and a root ball the size of a potato.  They remind me of the bean stock in the “Jack & the Bean stock” story.
•   Interesting, we pay a commercial lawn/landscape service to keep the yard looking good while we are gone.  They did call me 3 weeks ago and we agreed to have them trim and clean up my landscaping for $150.  You would think that they would jump at the opportunity to make more income.  Obviously they didn’t expect us to do a surprise early arrival back home.  They will not be hired back.  AND we will do additional surprise visits to check on future lawn/landscape companies. Another unexpected lesson learned.  
• PS.  All the Bean stalks were removed before we went to bed that night.  Now we need to clean up the rest of the landscaping
• Did not sleep.  Neither Sandy or I slept well in our own bed at home.  It’s been 3 months traveling in the COW.  We are not used to street lights.  We are not used to the Air Conditioned taking hours, instead of minutes to cool the bedroom down.
• The bed to bathroom walk in the house is similar to walking from the back of the COW, out the front door, down two campsites, into another trailer, using its bathroom, and back.  As opposed to in the COW, hopping out of bed, 5 steps to the bathroom and back.
• The exercise, etc... of the trip, has contributed to a weight loss of 5Lbs/month  (total of 18 Lbs)and 2 belt buckle notches.
• The house survived.  We were able to turn on the A/C from the road with our wireless App.  Sandy called ahead and had our internet turned on.  I reinstalled the router.  We turned on the water and slowly exercised all of our faucets, showers, & toilets.  By the way, the Saran Wrap on the toilet bowl and tank really does work.  We had less evaporation than normal and most were still close to 100% full.  Also putting cooking oil in the shower trap kept the trap from drying out (as there was not any sewer smell in the house).  We are only putting batteries into some remotes, removing the saran wrap from some toilets, energizing 1 refrigerator, etc... because we expect tobe back on the road within 2 months.
• THANK YOU to the Neighbors that have helped along the journey. 
• To Penny for picking up and forwarding our mail. THANK YOU.  Doing this for us is very helpful and appreciated  
• To Barry, Mark, and Jay for keeping an eye on the house and keeping us informed on what needed to be taken care of.

This will be my last post until we get back on the road.

Although I suspect that Sandy will be posting her wrap-up thoughts sometime in the near future.

PS. Of all the places we traveled in the last 3 months I would recommend:

- Camden, Maine, Romantic setting, sail on a schooner, beautiful setting.  Check out the State Park and the overlooks

- Schoodic Woods Campground (outside of Bar Harbor, Maine).  This is  on my list to go back to and volunteer in the future.  Campground is a gem.  Take your bikes and ride the 12 mile road along the water.  Check out the secret (now open) military base along the coast

- Lake Placid, NY, beautiful setting.  Oozes of the Olympics of past.  Checkout the Olympic ski jump training facilities.  Also romantic location

-  Last, (I would not go back), if you want to explore a European Style city, with great views, food, waterfalls, island, etc..., check out Quebec City, Quebec.  When going to downtown Quebec I highly recommend taking a tour bus, not driving.  Most places offer this service for $18/person.  Driving outside of downtown is do-able, but keep in mind all street signs, exits, signage is in French.