Baby, it's cold outside

The temperature outside is a chilly, cold 32 (that's 0 centigrade for my European friends) so I'm not anxious to . . .
break camp too quickly. Plus, the trailer is toasty warm and I have a hot cup of coffee to finish. Today is the last leg of my journey north to visit family/friends in Livonia, Michigan. I've made it before the snow hit.

I'm at Fireside Resort RV Park in Auburn, Indiana, just north of Fort Wayne. Anyone who didn't take Economics in college, here's a quick lesson. If a business is the only one available around (supply is low and lack of competition) yet people are still traveling (demand is up) you get to charge what you want (price is high). All the other campgrounds in the area, that I could find, were closed for the winter. This one was open, no water, though, for the over-nighters which is fine since I carry my own. It looks like a lot of campers are using it as a base for work. Electricity kept me nice and warm. Even though all the advertisements and their website said that wi-fi was available, apparently they shut that down also for the winter.

No one is in the office to ask about this. I see two ladies outside having smoke and conversation so I go over to ask about the internet. They are disgruntled about this aspect also as they confirmed my suspicions.

One younger lady asks in her beautiful southern drawl, "Are you traveling in that cute little thing over yonder?"

"Yes, that's mine." I reply.

"Is it just you and your husband?"

I shake my head, "No, it's just me and my two dogs. My husband died back in August."

The older lady asks, "So, it's just you traveling? Wow! That's great! Power to you!"

I respond, "Thank you! We worked it together so I knew all the ins and outs. I'm visiting family in Michigan."

The younger lady says, "Yeah, I do too. My husband told me that if I wanted to travel with him to the job locations that I needed to know how to set up and break camp."

The other lady confirms saying, "Yeah, I know it all too. It helps him out."

I tell my new found friends that my husband was 15 years older than me and we would talk about what if the other one goes. That's why we bought the Casita because it was easy to manage for either one of us if we were caught alone.

The younger gal exclaims, "Me too! My husband is 15 years older than me, too! Plus we have a 5 year-old son. We talk about it all the time. He works a dangerous job on top of that. He operates a crane. He's still strong, but I see him when he gets up in the morning, he has to walk off the stiffness he didn't used to have."

The other lady says, "We didn't used to talk about it until one of our friend's husband suddenly died. It scared us so bad that we sat down and planned it out and he bought life insurance."

The younger lady says, "You gotta talk about it. It's part of life. Well, I'll be. I am proud of you. You go girl!"

I left them with a smile in my heart. The conversation was energizing after today's drive.

I want to praise another woman caught in my situation: Glenda. Her husband, Jeff, died shortly after Charley. They were full-timers in a Casita. She is currently carrying on and traveling west for the winter--remaining a full-timer. We met them both last year while staying at Brantley Lake State Park in New Mexico. They told us about the Fiberglass rally in Quartzsite, AZ where we met them a second time. You meet once, you're friends the second time! She is, too, carrying on!"