Saying Goodbye to My Bubby

It’s always hard to say goodbye when you are “of a certain age”. We’ve experienced losses now. We know we’re on the short end of the stick and things can change in a heartbeat. We want all those loving hearts to keep on beating as long as possible, and the thought of possible “last goodbyes” cuts deeply. My brother is doing so much better now. When I called him to tell him I got back to Denver ok, he answered the phone (yay!) and was out on a little afternoon junket. He went to Subway for lunch, then took the bus out to Target to do a little shopping. That’s an incredible improvement over just a few short months ago! As long as he is doing this well, he is in the best setting, but I know he misses me as much as I miss him so at some point, I’ll bring him to West Virginia.

I didn’t sleep well the last couple of nights I was camping. For one thing, the foam cushions which serve as “mattresses”in this camper are not comfortable for the long haul I’m putting them through. After a while, they smash in the middle and offer very little support. My hips and back have been screaming at me and the change in the weather hasn’t helped. I dragged myself out of bed yesterday, got the camper all set to move, then went to pick up some breakfast for my brother and me. We visited and chatted over our food till the time finally came to hug and say “See ya next time!” It’s so bittersweet.

I went back to the campground and hooked up to leave. I stayed at a little place called The Hideout at Glenwood Springs. I’ve passed that place for decades and I have a faint memory of camping there with my younger daughter when she was very little…I wanted to camp someplace near home in case it wasn’t successful. Most of their sites are filled with full time residents who live in their campers, which gave me pause. But it was very quiet and clean. There are also some small cabins and sites for “tiny homes”. However, they have one section with about ten sites for anything from tents to medium sized RVs. I stayed in Site D6 and it was beautiful. Water is available for filling your tanks, but not to hook up. And the site had electric for $40 a night which is quite reasonable.

The drive back to Denver was fairly uneventful. There was road construction on the east side of Vail, heading up the pass. Multiple lanes were shifted down to one and there was a bottleneck that brought us to a complete stop with bumper to bumper traffic. It really only delayed us about twenty minutes and before we knew it, the freeway opened back up and off we went. There were several areas that were wet from the snow melting off the sides of the road. When I went through, the temperature was in the forties, so there was no danger in slipping and sliding around. However, when it gets dark at night, that’s when you have to watch out for things like that. I just saw a story this weekend of a woman who hit an icy patch on a bridge and flipped her little camper on its top, so I was super cautious.

I’m glad to have that part of the trip behind me as far as the driving is concerned. I have another few days to visit with family, then I need to start heading for home. I’m missing Mr. FixIt and there are people and things that need my attention in West Virginia, too. My sweetie mowed at the farm today and sent me the most beautiful pictures. It’s so green and the trees are all filled out. They were barely budding when I left and I’m missing one of the most beautiful seasons in my beloved Mountain State.