Springfield, Virginia

We flew back to Virginia at the end of July to a warm, friendly “Giusti” style welcome. By the way, “Giusti” welcome involves tears of joy, big dramatic hugs and fancy signs. We were exhausted but elated from our travels.

After a short week in Virginia, we made it to Walt Disney World with the family. Which was AMAZING (see previous post), but added to our tiredness and fatigue. Our month in Virginia felt like just a few weeks and was over before we knew it. We did manage to accomplish quite a bit:

• Rest. Like the last time we were in Virginia, our minds and bodies were tired when we arrived. We wanted guilt free naps and judgment free lazy days. My mom often worried we were bored, but the truth was – we were drained.   We spent time watching Marvel & Disney movies, doing a puzzle, walking Sparky and loved every minute of it. I highly recommend a PJ party with your favorite dog, book/movie and some junk food – your soul will thank you for it!
• Spend time with family and friends. Much of the time spent in Virginia was catching up with people. It’s amazing how people’s lives can change in 9 months. We may not live there full time, but we tried to squeeze in a lot with everyone we know there, including:
  • Escape Room – This triple date was with my sister Moe, her husband Joey (we call them MoJo), and his brother and wife Luke & Laura. We went to EscapeQuest in Alexandria, successfully escaped the “Hidden Temple” and then pigged out on fancy egg rolls at Meggrolls.
  • Met up with our Bay Area hockey friends – Mike, Alyssa and their beautiful baby! They live in Arlington, which is a short drive from where we were staying and they made us some delicious BBQ. We look forward to seeing them next time we are in town!
  • Trivia Night – We joined MoJo and Joey’s mom, Suanne at the local bar for some trivia. How’d we do? Let’s just say I don’t foresee an invite from Jeopardy anytime soon.
  • Labor Day Goodbye Party – My parents hosted a Goodbye Party for us before we left. We loved chatting with people about our trip and getting to show off some of our photos that people asked to see.
• Become reacquainted with Sparky. In the 9 months we had been gone, Sparky developed his own life in Virginia. He made friends at the local day care; he had a routine with my mom (Nonna) and Dad (Papa) and plenty of foxes & chipmunks to keep him occupied in the backyard. We weren’t sure how he would act when we got home, but in pure Sparky fashion he cried, wiggled, jumped and howled when he saw us. He welcomed us back to his pack immediately and without anger or a grudge.   We are hoping he will quickly adjust to long car rides and tiny trailer living soon.
• De-Winterize and prep R-Pod and Truck. It was a pain to winterize everything, but it worked out for the most part. We didn’t have any mold or mildew in the truck or R-Pod when we return. Determined to spend less on campsites on the way home, we did have to make some minor upgrades/adjustments. After traveling abroad, we decided we didn’t really need full hookups, laundry and all the other amenities that KOA’s or other campgrounds offer (at least not all the time). We wanted to do more “dry camping” or “boondocking”. Our trailer is small enough, we can get into a lot of places that are really cheap, or free that are “primitive” campgrounds with no real amenities. To do this successfully, we made some upgrades:
  • We had to get new batteries for the trailer. The batteries we left with my parents stopped holding a charge sometime during the winter. We were surprised these cheap batteries the dealer provided lasted as long as they did. We took this opportunity to upgrade to two 6volt “golf cart batteries”. These heavy batteries are designed for deep charge/recharge sessions and will hold a great charge and take more abuse. We went with Trojan T-105 These, though not cheap, should last us at least 5 years with proper maintenance. They are also a great compliment to our second upgrade…
  • A solar panel “suitcase”. This folding set of solar panels can be setup and taken down within a few minutes and on a sunny day should keep our batteries topped up nicely. We went with a 100watt kit from Renogy, which included a charge controller and all the cables. Steve ended up making a quick connect kit for our batteries, which far simplified the connection process.

    

    

  • Our trailer did not come with an awning (the R-Pods do now) which is something we didn’t think we really needed but have actually missed.  It is great to have when there is rain for protection when getting in and out of the trailer or as a sun shade to keep the sun off the side of the trailer.  That being said, there is a company that makes them aftermarket for some trailers.  They have gotten great reviews online, so we decided to get one.  This “visor” we bought is from PahaQue Custom back in our great state of California.  It is slightly more work to setup than an attached stock awning, but with two people it really doesn’t take much to get it up.

    

  • We got a 12v outlet powered fan and extension so we can plug it into the 12v port Steve wired back in CA and use it to keep us cool while sleeping without electricity.
• Plan our road trip back to California. We really didn’t do any planning before we arrived in Virginia, so we had a lot to think about.   We used RoadTrippers again to plan the route and are still planning it! We decided to spend less time in big cities and more time in the country & campground. We will keep you posted on the route!
• Do some sightseeing in Virginia. We didn’t see as much as we did last October, but did see a few things –
  • Antietam National Battlefield – The battle of Antietam is the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, resulting in 22,717 dead, wounded or missing. The battle itself didn’t result in a win on either side, but did give Lincoln the push to deliver his Emancipation Proclamation.   Today, the battlefield is well preserved as part of the National Park Services.   We watched the video at the Visitor Center and did the self-guided audio tour. The site is considered hollow ground, and it did feel eerie walking trails both sides had once walked on. The battlefield is pretty big, but much smaller than Gettysburg.

    

    

    

    

  • National Harbor – Moe, my mom and I did a girls trip to old town Alexandria and hopped on the ferry to the National Harbor. The National Harbor is a fun place to visit with lots of shops, restaurants, art and monuments to see. We spent a few hours here and enjoyed it immensely.

What’s Next

It’s official, the road trip has begun, next stop – Outer Banks, North Carolina!