“There’s no place like home.” It’s so true. The place that raises you will always have a special place in your heart. People ask me why don’t you just live there? You know it. Your family is there, your friends are there, what’s not to like? It is hard to explain, but after living on the East Coast for over a decade, there are parts to MN that don’t fit with who I am anymore.
That said, I do love to visit, and I had a good time when I was back in March / April of this year. After celebrating Dad’s birthday with gifts I had collected for him while I was on the road, I had a chance to drive my new car. We all know that I have so much love for Estella, but she’s not small, so navigating tight spaces and her general mobility are just not the same as having a car. I ended up buying a used Nissan Rogue with about 18,000 miles, and it has been a joy to drive, to fit in a parking space, to parallel park, and to not pay for diesel.
I ended up having to go on a work trip to San Antonio about week after I got to MN, so back to Texas I went.
Arthur was not a fan, but the good news was that I was reunited with my suitcase! After many trips just with a backpack and tote, this was so liberating. It was Minnesota in March, so of course there was a trip through the de-icing zone at MSP. I was even lucky enough to score an upgrade, which is the only time I’ll sit by the window – hence the obligatory sea of clouds pic.
My mom spent some quality time with Arthur when I was away, but he was happy to see me when I returned. I made a couple of trips to my storage unit to shed some things from the RV and to pick up a couple of small things to make our next phase a bit easier.
My friend’s eldest son had a leading part in his college’s play, and I was lucky enough to get to see him and spend some time with her. I ate donuts with another friend and her parents as well. I also had a lovely brunch with my aunts and uncles and parents, which has become such a rare treat now that I’m all grown up. It was so wonderful to spend time with them all together in one place, laughing, telling stories, and catching up.
But it wasn’t all fun and games when I was back in MN. I ended up getting really sick. It wasn’t COVID, but I slept on the floor of my parents’ half bathroom for three nights because I couldn’t chance being far from a toilet and running water. Thankfully, no one else in the house got sick, but there was plenty of time to consider all my life choices, and at one point, I thought I would never see sunlight again.
Glamour shots from my time in quarantine and my reunion with Arthur. Needless to say, this bout of the plague (or whatever it was) limited how much I could do when I was there.
Early in the morning of April 19, Arthur and I said goodbye to my family and Estella, and we hit the road for part two of finding our Unicorn City.
The Adventures of Ms Haps & Arthur 