Tuesday, September 1, 2026 started off the 6th and final month in our volunteer position in White, GA. Our time here is almost at an end.
After breakfast and showers, we drove over to Canton so Cindy could go crazy at Michael’s. While she shopped inside I sat in Voyager reading The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years. I’m up to the fourth season of Deep Space Nine and the background and behind the scenes information is interesting…at least to a Trekker such as yours truly. I really am grateful to Cindy for gifting me these two volumes.
Sadly, Michael’s was not well-stocked and her app went down so she couldn’t get her larger discount. Accordingly, she came out with a fairly small bag of goodies. Miracles, it seems, do still happen, lol!
Then it was on to Woodstock (every time I say or write the name of that town I hear the chorus “By the time we got to Woodstock…” from Woodstock by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in my head) so we could pick up a few things at Camping World. I’m going to completely remove the sealant on the seam where we’ve had the leak, clean it all up and then re-apply fresh sealant. Hopefully that will end our small leak problem when it rains heavily.
While in Woodstock we made one more stop. Next week (already passed by the time you read this) the wonderful and seemingly unending tariffs this administration imposes and has had imposed on us by other countries as payback will cause the price of things like toilet paper to increase, so we decided to go to Costco and stock up on that and some other paper items. Plus we always get croissants when we go there (Yum!), and this time we also grabbed a bottle of Sangria. I’m not really supposed to have alcohol anymore with my Chronic Kidney Disease issues and flare-ups of gout, but what the hell. I’m old and have fewer years in front of me than behind me, so I may as well enjoy them. Right?
While there, we had a nutritious lunch of Costco pizza and coke (and Cindy got a sundae). Lunch for both of us and dessert for her; less than $9! WIN!
Wednesday the 2nd I was going to lube the slide-outs after doing laundry, but it was SO damn hot that I did not want to be crawling around under Nomad. Instead, I’ll try and get it done Thursday or Friday morning before it gets to be too sweltering out there. That night we watched the latest episode of Reacher.
Routines
Thursday was our usual day of lunch out and grocery shopping. I was thinking about the routine we have established here and how that will change once we are back out adventuring. It will be an adjustment, but it was an adjustment to get ourselves INTO this routine too, so we’ll handle it.
After dinner we watched a couple of episodes of Fringe and then that week’s episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The writers on this show have been doing “genre” shows; horror, musicals, animation, comedy, etc. The genre for the show this night was soap opera, and it was heavily drenched in that style. The soap opera aspect was engineered by Trelane, who is a Q-like being that first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series which, despite airing 60 years ago, takes place AFTER Strange New Worlds. Trelane has appeared in Strange New Worlds twice now, and they have yet to really address why Spock does not remember Trelane when he encounters him later in The Original Series. It is but one of the continuity issues I hope they clear up before the series ends next year.
Anyway, the soap opera episode was funny for about the first 10 minutes, but then it lost its appeal. We still watched all the way to the end but it was a struggle. The only saving grace was that, again, the story DID move some characters forward, despite the silly and absurd vehicle for doing so.
Friday morning I crawled under Nomad to clean and lube the slide-out rails and gears on both sides, then we ran the slide-outs in and back out to be sure they were well-lubricated. In addition, I cleaned and treated all the rubber gaskets around the windows and doors. I also took the two tire covers off the side that hardly gets any sun and washed and dried them before storing them away. I’ll do the other side closer to when we leave on the 30th.
It IS going to be strange to be moving again from site to site after sitting stationary for 6 months. But we’re also looking forward to adventuring again.
That night we watched a couple of episodes of Fringe, and the season finale of Silo. Now we have to wait until next Sumer to see the last season. Bleh!
Labor Day Weekend
Saturday, September 5th, kicked off the final three-day-weekend holiday of the Summer. It was not really very busy, especially for a holiday weekend, but that may have been because it was hot as hell. Temperature was 95. With a “feel like” temperature of 109. And we felt every bit of it!
That night we watched a couple of episodes of Fringe and then the latest episode of Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. The premise for this series is getting old, but we only have a few more episodes in the first season. Wondering what they will do to keep things going, because they HAVE been renewed for a second season.
Unlike Saturday, Sunday was busy, busy, busy at the ramp and, like Saturday, it was hot, hot, hot. We were tired at the end of the day so we ate dinner, watched one episode of Fringe and then hit the sack.
Labor Day Monday was “the last hurrah” for the long weekend and it showed. It was even busier than Sunday but thankfully a cool front had come in the night before. We were actually able to open the door and windows on Nomad for the first time since the middle of July and get some fresh air in the RV that morning, which was nice. And for the first time in a long time, Cindy and I had to be out in the lot managing traffic flow and parking. After dinner we watched one episode of Fringe and the latest episode of Lanterns and were in bed by 9:30 pm.
Hiking Again
Tuesday morning we were up early so we could drive south 30 minutes to Red Top Mountain State Park. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been joining Cindy walking loops around the parking lot after dinner so that I could work up to a return to hiking.
I haven’t been able to hike for months due to the arthritis in both knees and the torn meniscus in my left. But the injections I received have given me a great deal of relief, so this was our first official attempt to return to hiking.
We did two different trails, totaling about 2 miles. Yeah, it hurt a little but I’m chalking that up to old age. It felt good to be back on a trail hiking around, exploring and (even though we LIVE in nature) to be out and about in nature.
On Thursday we watched the new Supergirl movie on HBOMax and it was pretty disappointing. I’m glad we did not spend money to go see it when it was in theaters. Jason Momoa as Lobo was the best part of the movie.
And the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was NOT a genre or gimmick show and it was pretty good.
Cindy received word via Facebook and our friend Rhonda that our good friend Michelle had suffered a heart attack and was in the ICU. We have known Michelle and Rhonda for about 27 years, I believe, and count them as close to our hearts. Sadness does not begin to describe how we felt upon hearing about Michelle’s heart attack and hospitalization. We are keeping close tabs.
9/11- 25 Years Later
Friday was, of course, September 11th and also marked 25 years since that horribly tragic day. I think that most people over the age of 30 today can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing that fateful morning. I also remember frantically trying to reach my brother because he was working in the vicinity, but phone lines were down and overloaded with people like myself trying to reach their loved ones. We were fortunate that he was safe, but the families and friends of almost 3,000 others were not so fortunate. It was a day of deep and raw emotions, and 25 years later those emotions are still just as deep and just as raw.
A few years ago, while in New York City, Cindy and I had the opportunity to go visit the World Trade Center Memorial, but we looked at each other that morning and decided we just could not do it. Even today, watching the news and seeing people go to the memorial and touch the names of their lost loved ones, we were choked with sorrow and regret.
This day was also the “End of Season” volunteer picnic for those of us volunteering at this lakeside recreation area. We had already met all the rangers as they make rounds through the boat ramp area, and two other volunteer couples who had come through the ramp area, but we didn’t realize that there were almost 40-50 other volunteers in this recreation operation. It was much larger than we realized.
That night we watched the movie Practical Magic from 1998 because we’ll be going to see the new movie, Practical Magic 2 on Cindy’s birthday the following week. Cindy had seen the first movie before and loved it. Personally, I was not impressed and am hoping the new movie is a lot better than the first.
The weekend was slow at the boat ramp; almost like a weekday as far as traffic goes. It rained most of Saturday but Sunday was bright and sunshiny.
I finished another dead tree book that Cindy had gifted me. Now I’m starting on another of the two I have left to read.
And Sunday was Grandparents Day. Most people who aren’t grandparents aren’t even aware there is such a day, so Cindy and I were thrilled to get text messages from two of our grandchildren and thanked them for remembering.
That night, we started on the third season of Fringe.
Monday, September 14th we wished a Happy Anniversary to my Bestest Brother and Super-Sister-in-Law. You guys still make a great couple, but that’s (let’s be honest, bro) because SHE makes you both look good.
As usual, on Monday, we took it easy though I did do some “End of Summer Cleaning” to prepare for our imminent departure. Mostly just throwing out some unneeded stuff and organizing what was left. It’s far too easy to accumulate things when you’re sitting in one spot for a while.
That night we watched the latest episode of Lanterns which may be either the worst episode of the series, or the best. Time (and the final three episodes) will tell.
Tuesday, September 15th we took care of a couple more tasks we needed to do around here before we leave in 15 days. That night we watched 2 more episodes of Fringe.
And with that we marked the 5 1/2 month point of our 6 month role in the volunteer position in White, GA
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