Back to NJ for a few weeks and Unexpected Family Sickness

August 25 – September 30, 2018:  

It’s been a month since we have made a post, just waiting for a good time to mark a timeframe.  So we are making this for the entire time we here in NJ before leaving to head west and then ultimately back to Florida.  

The thing is we haven’t done a lot since we have been back.  However, a lot has happened around us!  First, my son Tony has been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and he is just 41!  Yes, that was 3 weeks ago and a major shock!  He had been having appetite issues and then nausea and blood in the stool.  The blood in the stool and vomiting blood took him to to the emergency room.  He had lost so much blood that he was airlifted to a hospital 50 miles away in Indianapolis IN where they had more blood for him.  He was in the hospital for about a week.

He is having a lot of fluid buildup in his abdomen that is related to the cirrhosis that needs to be drained periodically. So far this has been about twice a week for him.  The hope is that this can be brought under control and the draining will not happen so frequently.  Being end-stage liver disease, he will be on a transplant list in a few months. We are planning to visit him and his family (wife & grandkids) before heading down to Florida in October.

The other thing happening here is the weather.  We have not been in the northeast this time of year for the past 7 years so it is a little different for us.  It went from being in the 90s and actually hotter than our place in Florida to now barely getting to 70 and raining.  We are now having temperatures in the 50s at night.  The good thing is that we are getting to experience a little fall but hopefully not any more than that before heading south in another couple weeks.

As stated in our last post, we have our RV and truck up for sale.  We have had some inquiries but no offers as of yet.  We have made arrangements at a campground near our house in Florida to park for a few days while we unload and clean it up.  Then we are moving it to a storage lot.  Just writing that feels sad!  It has been our home for the past 6+ years!  The thing that helps is that after we get it sold we plan to purchase another RV, just smaller.  We also plan to purchase another tow vehicle, a large SUV.  The transition out of full time RVing is not near as much fun as the starting out phase! We had similar feelings when we sold our home in northern New Jersey before we started our full-time life in our current RV.  We will get through it!

OK, back here in NJ over the past few weeks I have accomplished a few maintenance items on the RV.   I finished the last of the roof seam resealing jobs.  Last year I resealed with Dicor all but one of the roof seams. The exception was the large front one that connects the rubber roof to the fiberglass front cap.  This seal was a year newer than the other roof seals.  It had been replaced when the front of the RV was reinforced during the warranty.

And there is the finished resealed roof seam

Also fixed a small hole from a tree limb on the bedroom slide

Just picture of the length of sewer hose needed to dump here. 
It's around 70 feet!

I also replaced all of the roof vent caps.  The sun takes a toll on these caps and they are not very expensive so I just replaced them.  I think the cost was under $40 for all of the caps.  

Another thing I replaced was the remaining exterior slide seals.  Last year I replaced most, like 70% of them and left the ones that still looked good.  After another 16 months the remaining seals were showing signs of degradation so I replaced them.  Again, it is the sun that just eats these rubber seals up.  They tend to age according to how long they have been pointed toward the sun.  The first ones last year were the ones that were in the sun the most while we wintered in Texas.  

Replacing these seals is also not a difficult task to do.  Remove a top and bottom retaining screw and then slide the rubber seal down a channel on the RV and off.  Then, use the old seal to measure the amount you need from the roll of new sealing material and cut. Now reverse and slide the new one on where the old one was.  Re-attach the new seal with the top and bottom retaining screws and you are done. Each slide has 3 of these seals, a top and 2 sides. I replaced one side seal on each of the 4 slides.

We have had a few fun outings while here in NJ too.  We went one night to hear a relatively new local band called Back Track at the Old Village Pub in Middletown, that was a fun evening.  We also went to Long Branch NJ to the Ocean Place Hotel with friends to hear another band called the West End Dogs one afternoon.  

The West End Dogs

Then, this past week we went to see The Book Of Mormon on Broadway in New York City.  We have wanted to see this show ever since it came out about 7 years ago.  Now the prices are just expensive instead of ludicrous and we don’t need to wait for months to get a seat!

We took the train (NJ TRANSIT) to uptown Manhattan

The newest of NJT passenger cars, the multilevel car.  

Dinner in Manhattan at Lillie's Victorian Pub.  We really liked this place.  The food was good and the prices were reasonable for NYC.

Very interesting seating at Lillie's

Loads of stained glass

Not bad seats for the musical.  Still cost $150 each though!

Lastly, we went to see Lewis Black at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank NJ.  We went with our friends Cindy and Rob and my daughter Jennifer and her husband Christian.  We got these tickets way back in February.  

Just a cool landmark in Red Bank that we passed on the way
to the restaurant and theater

Our group for the event from L to R: Me, Patty, Cindy, Rob,
Son-in-law Christian and my daughter Jennifer

Pretty neat, a free shuttle from a few of the parking lots to the theater

Our first time in a balcony seat.  We liked it and the price was great here

And that is it for NJ this year!  Our next stop is in Elkhart Indiana to have the shower floor pan replaced and then off to Cincinnati Ohio/Covington, Kentucky for a wedding.

Stay Tuned!