A visit!

Friday and early Saturday we had a visit - Christian Petrich and Susan Gelletly stopped by on their way from Boise, ID to points east on a trip they are taking with their camper. This was our one chance to see them on this trip - we are going through Boise on our way to Salem, OR and back again, but they will not be there. In years past we have stayed with them both going to Salem and coming back, and have often stayed for more than a day and done things with them in Boise. But this year, while they are generously giving us the use of their place to lay our heads, they will not be there to visit with. So they came here instead - they do enjoy seeing Paul, Jenny and Max also. Christian is actually involved in a very long renovation project in his own home, and he likes picking Paul's brain about various very specific aspects of that project. For two-three years now, they have been living in their garage/loft building, while their house has been torn up by the renovations. A corner of the garage has served as their kitchen/eating area, and the loft their living/sleeping area. We usually stay in the loft, and that's actually where we will be tomorrow night! They arrived here in Alpine fairly late Thursday evening, stayed all day Friday and left sort of 9-ish Saturday morning. They were hoping to find a place in Laramie, WY to park their RV Saturday night. Evidently one can do that in certain places free of charge, e.g., Walmart, Cracker Barrell, Costco, Cabelas, Home Depot, etc. Susan and Christian used to own a Dodge Sprinter Van outfitted as a camper. They liked it very much, but for a variety of reasons, Christian wanted to sell it and buy an camper that is towed by a truck. That seemed counter-intuitive to me, and I think Susan had similar feelings - she helped drive the Spinter on trips, but will not drive at all now that a camper is being towed. But there were complications with servicing the Sprinter, especially in sparsely settled parts of the mid-west, because it was actually built by Mercedes, and in places, could only be serviced by Mercedes, not Dodge. Christian does not find towing a camper difficult. He claims that it feels as stable as the van. I doubt that I would feel that way, but it is not an issue for me! They found a camper made by the Oliver company, known for their very well-made walk-in shower/tub units. Molded fiberglass is their thing, and in a way, a camper is just a big tub! The Oliver owners wanted a well-made camper and when they couldn't find one that met their standards, decided to make it themselves, or so the story goes. Check out their website. Models start at $65,000. I'll have to admit, it looks very comfortable and has everything. I just wouldn't want to tow it. But I wouldn't mind setting one up on a little piece of land next to the ocean! It was easy to have Susan and Christian here because they just parked by the side of the road, leveled the camper and slept in it. They could also "escape" to it when they wished to. Susan fixed a lovely supper for all of us Friday evening. They have a dog - Fritz - a terrier. He initially had a rocky relationship with Rollie, but they adjusted to each other. They used to also have Ella, but she died a year ago or so. That was hard, especially for Susan. Fritz is pretty old - the equivalent of a 100+ year-old human. So he isn't as frisky as he used to be. I think they all miss Ella. But Fritz is a love, and he seems to travel well. We got caught up on news about the Boise Hospice Singers (which Susan leads), and other news. It was very nice having them here, and Christian and Paul had some long, technical discussions.

Christian, Ellen and Susan, on the back deck.

Fritz in Susan's lap.

The Oliver Legacy Elite camper (from the Oliver website). I think Christian and Susan have a Legacy ELite II (it is bigger and has double wheels).

The truck and camper parked at Paul and Jenny's.

Inside the camper. ******************************** TODAY I didn't go to Star Valley United Church today. Instead I worshipped with the Guilford Church live at 8 a.m. - but it wasn't in Guilford. It was a union service held at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, which brings together Centre Church, West Brattleboro, Dummerston, W. Dover and Guilford. There was a guest minister - not Scott Couper, who is the pastor at Centre Church. I didn't catch his name. I would say that the service was not quite up to the usual caliber. Afterward I watched a memorial service held yesterday at Guilford for Edith "Dede" Lapanne. That was up to caliber! After that I had a long telephone conversation with John about cars, Grand Manan Island, allergy season in VT, his work, the Ransome Coot Club story and film, frustrations with solar panels, or more specifically, solar panel inverters, and my Peter Matthiessen book. Conclusion? The modern world is just too darned complicated and screwed up!