Time Flies – Part V – An Indiana Summer

We cruised into the Hoosier state mid-June of 2022 riding high from a monumental South to Southwest to Westcoast to Midwest six-month loop excited to reunite with family. Our plan was to stay approximately six weeks in Central Indiana, with my family, and six in Northeastern Indiana near Leah’s family. Our intentions were to soak up as much family time, celebrate all the birthdays and holidays, catch up with old friends, and work a bit too! We accomplished just that and more!

However, we had to problem solve, a pretty big issue. We have families in both Indiana locations who are generous enough to allow us to park the RV on their properties when we are in town, which is a big ask in itself. Yet they were kind enough to allow us to stay for 6 weeks at a time…. and utilize their amenities if we could figure out how. Well, lucky enough for us, both Uncle Lou in Carmel and Steve in Auburn are quite handy and not afraid to tackle an electrical wiring job. Yep – they both installed 50AMP plug-ins for us to use so we could crank up both the RV’s air conditioners, an absolute must during an Indiana summer!

Great! A place to park, water, full power to run what we needed, family as neighbors…oh, what were we to do with our “tank” issue. One solution would have been to hook up the RV once a week and pull it to a dump station – that is quite a hassle when the RV is your literal house, so that what’s I was prepared for…but wait – I live with the brightest, most optimistic research hound of-a-wife out there (…and she’s beautiful). And guess what… she found the “Macerator RV pump”(1), both properties we visit are on septic (1) …so… 1+1=#2. Quite literally – I’ll get on with it and allow you to Google macerator RV pump to figure out how we handled that situation.

OK, bases covered for a comfortable Indiana stay. On to some of the highlights of Summer ’22. I mentioned Fisher’s “Fish” party he asked for, held at my parent’s neighborhood pool with plenty of friends and cousins to play with.  A blast – that kid is a good time no matter where you put him! Faith’s 9th party(s), however, are worth writing a bit more about. In Carmel, she asked for a “fancy” party with shrimp cocktail, steak, and a huge banana split as a cake. She asked all her guests to dress formal, expecting them to dance with breaks in the “photo booth”. Her other request was that I was to man the grill and DJ – nailed it!

To celebrate with her Auburn family, Faith asked to go with her Grandma and Mom to get their nails done and go shopping. Not buying, but shopping – a thing females do that I just do not understand… Oh, and before you go thinking she’s spoiled, she is not. Though fashion is a passion of hers, this girl knows how to put a killer Goodwill ensemble together like nobody’s business. She’s frugal (our girl!). The funny thing about this birthday experience is the fact that Faith has never slept in the car – like maybe twice before she turned four. Check her out in the back seat of Grandma’s car after birthday shopping!

Another fun weekend trip was a drive to Lysle, IL. The kids and I packed up our camping gear to spend a few nights camping with my buddy in his backyard. This allowed time for reconnection between him and I as well as strengthen the friendship between his boys and our kiddos. Good memories relived and made in the same weekend!

A very cool part of being back in Indiana with the kids is sharing how and where Leah and I grew up. The sharing who made us who we are by visiting those who are aging, some here, some gone is extremely precious. My grandparents are living at an assisted living near my parents, and we were able to enjoy some conversation and meals together. Leah’s grandmother, up in Auburn, the same. A couple recognitions that came out of these meetings are pictured below. 1) Fisher looks just like his Grandpa in his old cowboy get up and 2) My grandpa was actually the original Obi-Wan Kenobi (not really, but funny!)

The whole summer was spent as summers should be; swimming, playing, fishing, random outdoor treasure hunts, and hanging out with friends and family. For work, Leah picked up on-location prn work – mostly in Auburn while continued to build a presence in the remote side of physical therapy. I was able to get to the point in which forming my own LLC would be beneficial. Thus, Osprey RTM Solutions & Consulting, LLC was born (made official on my birthday in November!).  A simple website and a few podcasts and webinars later, people see how legit I am – click the link or Google the name to scope it out.

Gotta “slip” this in real quick – right before we took off for our early fall East coast trip (teaser), I was able to talk Steve and Sara into letting me put up a giant slip-in-slide on a gentle slope next to their pond. Enjoy!