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Old 01-22-2020, 10:00 AM   #21
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1972 31' Sovereign
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felton , California
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oh man, sorry to hear that ... must be awful adjusting to life after the loss of a life partner. So many memories in the AS .... give it your best shot.
I expect lots of solo travelers out there. Try FB groups and the MeetUp website for finding others with similar interests.
good luck ... love the piece of coastline
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Old 01-22-2020, 10:56 AM   #22
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2014 19' Flying Cloud
Reseda , California
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I'm sorry for your loss. She is at peace now. I can not imagine how I would handle that situation.
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Old 01-22-2020, 11:26 AM   #23
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1972 25' Tradewind
East Lansing , Michigan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tlundell View Post
My wife, Penelope (Air Forum: LizabethLane), and I purchased our first RV in October, 2014: our 2015 Interstate Grand Tour, one of the first of that model sold in Northern California. We had never been "camping people", as Penny's idea of roughing it was "a hotel with bad room service", so it was a shock to me when she read an article about this new "glamping" vehicle and said "We have to get one!". And so it was, less than a month later we were picking up our silver beauty at Bay Area Airstream. And what a time we had! More than 100 (mostly short haul) trips in the four years that followed. We named it "Gizmo", and Penny outfitted it to truly be our home away from home. It was well-cared for in indoor storage, and still looks and drives like brand new. Then, in April Penny was unexpectedly diagnosed with a very aggressive gallbladder cancer, and she died peacefully on August 11th. I am, of course, lost without her, and not the least of those impacts is the challenge of getting back into love with Gizmo. Although I have taken her out of storage to drive on two occasions since then, my first camping outing (solo) will be this weekend when I take her to Costanoa on the California coast, one of our favorite spots. I know it will be hugely emotional, but I feel I have to take the plunge if I am going to keep this wonderful toy. I know there must be a number of my fellow Interstaters who have suddenly become single, and wonder if you have found that it can ever be fun again
I know exactly how you feel; I lost my wife in March of 2018, a little more than a year after our eldest son, a PTSD afflicted US Marine, committed suicide on Christmas Day. We never get over it, we just get through it.

To help our kids, family, friends and myself get through the loss, I began a blog. Many have said my writings have given them perspective. Feel free to read and share it, should you desire. Copy and paste the following into your search bar and the site will come up, including a photo.

missingbetsy.com
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Old 01-22-2020, 12:04 PM   #24
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2015 Interstate Grand Tour
Los Gatos , California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SnowWanderer View Post
I know exactly how you feel; I lost my wife in March of 2018, a little more than a year after our eldest son, a PTSD afflicted US Marine, committed suicide on Christmas Day. We never get over it, we just get through it.

To help our kids, family, friends and myself get through the loss, I began a blog. Many have said my writings have given them perspective. Feel free to read and share it, should you desire. Copy and paste the following into your search bar and the site will come up, including a photo.

missingbetsy.com

Thank you, SnowWanderer, and to all in the Airstream community who have so generously expressed their support for my "getting back on the horse". I very much enjoyed reading the blog about Betsy, and can totally relate to your shared experiences in "life after". I, too, find great therapy in writing, and have published a couple of blogs about the cancer battle and "life after", the most recent of which is at https://survivingthegrief.blogspot.com/.


I especially want to express my thanks to Roger and Richard, who read my original post in this thread, and, already planning a trip last weekend to Costanoa, sought me out at the park to join them and their partners for cocktails and dinner in one of their Airstream trailers. That gesture made my experience with Gizmo much more enjoyable, and I know that as much as I will always miss Penny in my travels, it will be much more often with smiles rather than tears.
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Old 01-22-2020, 06:03 PM   #25
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2015 Interstate Grand Tour
FAIRFAX , California
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I am so sorry for your loss

Hello Tim,
Too many similarities to count.
This my first post but have used it a an information tool for years.
As I write this my darling wife Sherrie lies on the sofa.
Not sure how long I will be able to be thankful each morning that she woke up today.
Writing this reminds me of the Jim Croce song, Operator can't see to write the tears blur the lines.
Thank you for your post.
We too have a silver 2015 Grand Tour only ours is named Ariel.
My wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's August 2013, the really tough part has been the dementia that took control a couple of years later.
I decided the disease was not going to define who we are.
I bought Ariel after a road trip to see our son in LA.
The public bathroom experience at the Interstate rest area convinced me I would never do that again, nothing really bad happened but I was so uncomfortable.
So on our return to the Bay Area I started researching my alternate bathroom plan.
Not knowing the timeframe I was dealing with I decided the Airstream Grand Tour was the way to go.
So enters Ariel.
We had had a 22' Airstream trailer in the early 80's and loved it.
We have always been road trippers as that was what we could afford in the early years. As time and luck prevailed we also became world travelers.
We just spent our 48th Christmas together so I guess the traveling bug was mutual and we infected our son by immersion.
Since getting Ariel I have yet to make the trip back to LA as a destination.
We did however spend Christmas 2018 in Joshua Tree NP with our son and he is a constant part of our lives.
Speaking of National Parks we just completed a loop in November which brought our number of different National Parks visited to 16 since April 2018.
My second career has been to provide the best care possible for my darling wife and keep her with me whether at home or on the road.
I am so thankful each morning that I want to provide this care and never really realized how much I loved her until she really needed me.
I did find a useful tool to help keep us on the road, a four point special needs harness to help Sherrie stay upright
So keep the memories, life is short but we are truly blessed to have loved so fully.
I am cherishing our memories while we continue to make more.
Thanks for the post it emboldened me to reply.
Always trying to do my best.
I have enjoyed this forum and found so many answers to my questions.
Chas
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Old 01-23-2020, 11:41 AM   #26
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Corpus Christi , Texas
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Chas, very poignant first post. Please don't make it your last.

Your wife is blessed to have you to take care of her.
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Old 01-23-2020, 09:35 PM   #27
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2015 25' FB Flying Cloud
Eugene , Oregon
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I am so touched by what you all have written. No words. But thankfulness for each of you.
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