Marshmallows and home...is anything better?

Marshmallows!

On Tuesday, October 16th, we drove out of Lexington and made our way to Charleston, West Virginia. Though we didn't stop to tour the town, we did manage to find ourselves on some tiny roads snaking their way through the West Virginia mountains whose beauty in the fall is hard to surpass (except for this fall in upper Michigan). Though the scenery was spectacular, the drive was positively harrowing with only a single slim lane in each direction, trees whose limbs occasionally grazed the roof of the RV, a steady flow of traffic, entirely too many traffic lights and more than one state's fair share of hairpin turns and arduous climbs. Despite all that, we pulled into the Rifrafters Campground in Fayetteville, a lovely, albeit tiny, campground about an hour southeast of Charleston with some friendly folks in charge.

More marshmallows!

We settled into a campsite and quickly gathered the necessary items for a proper marshmallow roasting fire. Armed with a fresh bag of medium sized marshmallows (Becky, Jon and their three sons helped us polish off all the giant ones in Wauconda, IL a couple of weeks back), I skewered a couple at a time and commenced the last roasting of the trip. Ken, in typical fashion, simply set his marshmallows on fire then extinguished and ate them. No fanfare, no contorting himself to find the perfect spot in the fire where the heat alone toasts the little cylinders to a perfect brown, just a quick blackening followed by a quick eating. What a shame. Luckily, he didn't eat that many, and I followed one duet of evenly toasted marshmallows with another for entirely too long that evening. Yum.

In the morning, we readied the RV and ourselves for the trip home. With the anticipation of seeing the old homestead increasing with each passing mile, I struggled not to speed. Luckily with 16,000 pounds of RV, tow dolly and car, it's hard to speed anyway. We stopped for lunch somewhere and ate quickly, not wanting to delay our arrival at home anymore than absolutely necessary.

The sun setting behind the barn

And then...home. Is there any scenery lovelier than the sight of home after so many months away? None I saw in all our travels could even compete.

The Ed!

At 3pm, after pulling in front of the home we have missed for almost 8 months, we began the 2 1/2 hour ordeal to unpack the whole RV. In his excitement and confusion, The Ed followed me from RV to house and back again all afternoon while we unloaded. Our stuff must have multiplied while we drove and as we took armful after armful out of the RV, we were perplexed at all the clothing, food and assorted crap we had accumulated. But, aahh, it's good to be home.

Mom!

Chris and Chrissy

Farmer Dad!

We spent our first evening home catching up with the house, trying to re-assimilate all the stuff from the RV and enjoying the feeling of finally being home. The next several days were filled with the inevitable scrubbing of the RV and car, mowing of the yard, and cleaning of the house, along with the great fun of visiting with the 'rents and Chrissy and Chris. As if to welcome us home, a hot air balloon floated over the house a couple of mornings. We hadn't seen the hot air balloons in two years!

Robin and Joe

Another day, a package arrived from Robin... Marshmallow Madness!, a fluffy covered book after my own heart and one so delicious looking that I may actually just eat the book instead of following the recipes. Thank you, Robin!

Janine and Joel with us
in Fairbanks

The next week, we drove down to Greensboro to visit Nene and Joel for a while, and decided to stay through Halloween to avoid Hurricane Sandy, whose torrential rainfall and heavy winds along the northern half of the eastern seaboard promised to be legendary. Our decision to stay may also have been influenced by the fact that we missed the heck outta them while we've been gone.

Stacy and S'monkey

We even caught up with Stacy one day for an indulgent lunch and our chatting reached a fever pitch. By the time Ken and I returned to Nene and Joel's house that day, I was hoarse from so much talking. Excellent.

In the coming weeks we will visit everyone we haven't seen and have missed for so long. What an outstanding trip of a lifetime!