Home…

We pulled into our driveway in West Olive, Michigan at 1:41 pm on January 17, 2019. After 239 days on the road, we were home.

We parked the rig on the north side of our house and packed the Jeep as much as we could and headed off to my mom’s house. She didn’t know we were coming home and didn’t see us pull in. She was totally surprised when we knocked on the door. She had told us before that if we needed a place to stay we were always welcome. We were met with tears of joy and hugs! Hopefully she’s still happy after having us here for awhile. We come with a lot of stuff!

We had a lot of things to figure out. We knew the snow was coming so we had to figure out a plan for Gus. We got a dog crate from a friend and packed my mom’s car and the Jeep with more stuff from the camper and trailer. We took over the basement but it’s nice to have space to sort through all the stuff. And Gus’ corner should work out nicely for him.

We went back to our house and talked to our renters. It was great to catch up with them, share some of our stories and hear that they really enjoyed living there. The arrangement worked out great for all of us. We assured them we are in no rush but they are looking for a place and are ready for their next step.

Friday morning we stopped in at my Grandpa’s house. It was fun to see his face when we walked in the door. We got to visit for a little bit and then had to run off to get some errands done.

When we left Grandpa’s, Craig had a message from his mom and they had heard we were in town. We had wanted to surprise them but a friend saw us driving through Zeeland and then saw Mom and Dad Vug at a basketball game Thursday night and innocently commented that he saw us in town. They had no clue. Oh well, it was the thought that counts. We assured her we were on our way to see them that afternoon.

We went to their house for dinner and the whole family showed up. We had a great night catching up, eating, drinking and laughing. It feels good to be home. We headed over to Travis and Stacey’s house since Stacey had worked late and missed the family meal. We were happy to see other cousins there as well. It was a late night but so fun seeing all their faces!

This morning we woke up to snow. Gus loves to eat it! Craig made an awesome breakfast and it was so nice to sit at the table with mom. I so wish my Dad was here. I wish I could tell him all about our adventures. It’s been 6 years today since we said goodbye to him. It hardly seems like it can be that long. We miss him every single day.

Tonight we got to surprise our friends, Dunegrass, that were playing at Tripelroot Brewery. It was a fun night of great music, great beer and great friends.

It feels good to be home. We feel a little scattered and unorganized but that’s okay. We have time to relax and time to catch up with family and friends. We are going to continue to keep life simple.

We are thankful to be back safe and sound. All three of us.

We are home.