We just finished a 37-day stay in Galveston, Texas.

This was by far our longest stay in any one place, outside of staying in a family member’s yard or driveway since we’ve been traveling full-time.

We made the reservations back in January of 2023 after we spent a week at the Galveston Island KOA.  It’s probably one of our favorite campgrounds, if not, our favorite.  It’s a great location, just a short walk to the beach.  The campground has a ton of activities and amenities, too.  It has a hot tub, heated pool, and lazy river.  They have some sort of activity scheduled just about every day and the staff, from top to bottom, is outstanding.

Our first visit there was in December of 2021.  We were there for just five nights, but absolutely loved it.  We then came back for another one week stay in January of 2023.  It was on that visit that we got to know Marc and Tammy Hollander.  Marc and I connected to set-up a book signing and speaking event at the campground.  His wife, Tammy is the General Manager.  Getting to know Marc and Tammy is really what made us want to come back for a full month this past February.  They are the type of people that just make you feel like family from the get-go.  I did a podcast with them after our stay there last January and you can tell that pleasing their customers is very important to them.  It’s more than just a good business practice for them, it truly is their passion to give all of their guests a memorable positive experience.

I was a bit reluctant at first because as I have said many times in previous blogs, I love to be on the move.  Being on the open road is still my greatest high since we’ve been living in the RV full-time.  So, to be in one place for an entire month could certainly cause me to go a little stir crazy.  Even when we’re with family in one spot, I can sometimes feel myself starting to get the itch to be on the move after only about two weeks.

Nevertheless, we booked for the month and I started to arrange a couple of book signing events both at the Kroger and the campground while we were going to be there.

We arrived in Galveston on January 31.  We made a quick visit with our friends, Pat and Dawn Latona to grab an emergency shipment of some books before my first Kroger signing that afternoon.  I signed at the Kroger on January 31st and February 1st.  The night of the 31st, we just stayed in one of the boondocking sites at the Galveston Island State Park.  We checked into the KOA after my book signing on February 1st.

Our first weekend in town, was the start of Mardi Gras.  Pat and Dawn loaned us their Jeep, but the weather wasn’t great, so we decided not to participate in the Mardi Gras festivities for the first weekend.  Instead, we took Youk for a ride in the Jeep, which he absolutely loved.  We did get to the Mardi Gras Pet Parade with Pat and Dawn the following weekend, and made a killing on beads.

Sandy immediately started getting involved in the slew of campground activities that were scheduled.  Our first night, we played trivia and already started meeting new friends.  Over our first few days there, in addition to trivia, we made ice cream, played minute to win it, did a wine and cheese tasting (I just tasted the cheese and fruit), checked out the craft show, bought tamales on Tamale Tuesday, and played Left, Right, Center for the first time.  Sandy literally had whatever we could do outside of the campground scheduled around the activities that were taking place at the campground.

We immediately started meeting new friends.  There was Mike and Maria who we met at trivia our first night.  Dee from Alaska, who gave us tons of tips for our Alaska trip, and several others.

Sandy and I always stress that the best part of this journey is always the people that we meet along the way.  We are so blessed to be able to cross paths with so many wonderful people.  Some of whom we only get to interact with for a short period of time and others, who we get to stay in touch with.

Whether it’s reconnecting with old friends like Pat and Dawn, getting together with one of my old players, like we were able to do again with Andrew Ball while we were in Galveston, or meeting new friends.  It’s that human connection that we’ll always love the most.

During our first week, at our first Left-Right-Center game, we met a couple that we just knew we had a connection with.  Isn’t it amazing how sometimes you just feel a vibe with people.  You just meet them, yet you feel like you have known them for your entire lifetime.  Well, that was Jason and Sara Brelsfoard.  They sat next to us during the game and we immediately connected.  Jason had us laughing from the time he said hello to the time he said good-bye to us that night.  Sara may have been slightly embarrassed on occasion, but she seemed to take everything in stride.

They own what Jason calls a “small” 800-acre farm in central Illinois.  Sara is also a massage therapist.  Jason was immediately intrigued by our full-time RV lifestyle.  He loves what he does, but recognizes that life is short.  He wants to be able to live and enjoy life, not just work until he dies.

We made sure that Jason and Sara made it to trivia the next night and began sitting with them at each campground function that we were at together.  We’d stop by their site on our walks and chat and they would do the same when they walked or rode their bikes past ours.  They came to listen to me speak and bought a couple of my books.  They really did feel like family.

One of the other great things about our stay in Galveston was that our niece, Rebecca, flew down to visit us.  Last year, she flew to Lake Charles to visit us for a week, and traveled in the RV with us to Atlanta.  This year she decided to fly to Galveston to see us again.  We love when our family or friends come to meet us on the road.  It means so much to us.  We did a ton of “tourist” stuff with Rebecca when she was in town.  Galveston has such a great history and the downtown area has such a cool vibe to it.

We made sure that we had dinner with our friends, Pat and Dawn while Rebecca was with us.  We always love getting together with Pat and Dawn.  They’re such great people, so we wanted to make sure that Rebecca had a chance to meet our local Galveston friends.

Jason and Sara also invited us to come over to their site for dinner one night while Rebecca was visiting, too.  We had a great time until the mosquitos started to have us for dinner.  Our synergy with Jason and Sara was even obvious to Rebecca, as she thought that we had known them for years as opposed to just a week before she arrived.

The other couple we met during our 37-days in Galveston that immediately felt like family were Jackie and Jeff Powell.  I had set up a booth at the campground craft show and Jackie stopped by and bought a book.  We chatted for a little while and then she was off.  A few days after the craft show, on the afternoon that Rebecca had left, we were walking Youk around the campground.  We had walked past Jackie and Jeff’s site and Jackie was outside reading my book with her dog.  I waved, but couldn’t go up and talk to her because Youk would have gone crazy with her dog there.  I kept walking with Youk, but Sandy stopped and chatted with Jackie for quite a while.  From that point on, we had another family member.  Sandy showed Jackie how to get the oven rack out of her oven because our rigs had the same style oven.  It had taken Sandy years to figure out how to do it.  When she was telling Jackie about her accomplishment, Jackie mentioned that she had the same issue.  Low and behold, a quick tour of our rig and they discovered that it was the same model oven!  Jackie was so grateful for Sandy showing her how to it.

Sandy also gave Jackie and Jeff two pieces of the cinnamon pecan coffee cake that she had made.  Mainly because she didn’t want me to eat too much of it, which I absolutely would have, but also because Sandy just loves doing that type of thing for people.  She’s a great cook and baker and loves to share it with others.  The size of my belly is proof of the the quality of her work.

Again, Jeff and Jackie were very appreciative for the desert.

That’s one of the beautiful things about the RV community in general, this community appreciates the little things.  Small gestures of kindness go such a long way.  It’s so refreshing in a sometimes-crazy world.

We all sat together at the last couple of functions at the campground before we started to head our separate ways.

Jason and Sara were heading back to Illinois the same day that we were leaving the campground.  They were leaving much earlier than we were because they were driving about 8-hours and we were only going to the Kroger for a book signing.  They made sure that they stopped by our site on their way out to give hugs and say good-bye.  We checked in on each other later that night via text to make sure that we got to our destinations for the night safely.

Jeff and Jackie would be heading back to Ohio a few days after we checked out.  Jackie sent us a very touching email after we left to “virtually wave” good-bye to us.

It was sad to say good-bye to our new friends, but we were grateful for the time that we had with them.  They both told us that they had plenty of room for our rig if we ever wanted to stop and visit.  Jackie even invited me to come speak and do a book signing at her Optimist Club in Centerville, Ohio.  I will certainly take her up on that on our return trip from Alaska while heading back to Pennsylvania in October.  Ironically, it will be a bit of a full-circle moment for me as the first time that I ever did a public speaking event was when I was 19-years old at the Lebanon Optimist Club in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.  I was a member of the Spring-Lawn Optimist Club for many years.

I’ve already figured out that the distance from Jason and Sara’s house in Illinois to Jeff and Jackie’s house in Ohio is exactly 295 miles and approximately four hours and thirty-five minutes driving time.  We will definitely reconnect with all of them in the fall.

Once we left the KOA, we would still be in Galveston for almost another week.  I had book signings at the Kroger on March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  We would stay at the Galveston Island State Park in its boondocking area for the weekend that I was signing.  We would then check back into the state park after my signing on March 3rd in the area with electric and water hook-ups.  We would leave the island for Katy, Texas on March 7th.

During our last few days, we were able to reconnect with more friends.  John and Vicki Fisher, who we met a few years ago on one of our A Year to Volunteer projects just happened to be taking a weekend get-away to Galveston during our last weekend there.  We were able to get together with them for breakfast at the Gypsy Joynt before my final book signing at the Kroger.  We found a new favorite island eatery and had a great time catching up with them.  Just as we always do when we get together with our RV friends.  As always though, it seemed like almost two hours flew by as if it was only a few minutes.

The last people that we got together with before we left Galveston were also the first people that we had gotten together with when we first arrived in town on January 31st.  We had dinner again with Pat and Dawn.  We absolutely love spending time with them.  I had coached their son Mike back in Pennsylvania during my coaching days.  Pat and Dawn moved from Pennsylvania to Texas several years ago.  Mike played in our organization from the time that he was 13-years old into his college years.  He also helped work some tournaments for us as he got older and is one of those players that I’m extremely proud of the young man that he has become.

We reconnected with Pat and Dawn during that first year that we had come down to Galveston in 2021 and getting together with them is always one of the highlights of our visits to the island.  I used to tell people that we were getting together with one of my former player’s parents, now I just say that we’re getting together with our friends, Pat and Dawn.

The journey is, and always be about the people.