We made our way back to Mission Bay RV Resort on Wednesday afternoon. When we checked in, we were told the park would be filled to capacity for the Thanksgiving weekend. The park was busy at this time last year, but not full. All afternoon and into the evening, rigs were pulling in and setting up.

There’s a big group next to us – a group of sheriff’s deputies and their families here to celebrate the holiday. One of the first to arrive was waiting on a rental RV to be delivered. There are a few of them here this weekend.

Around 5:30pm, Donna and I headed over to her sister, Sheila’s house. Sheila was serving Thanksgiving dinner on the eve of Thanksgiving. We still have Linda’s car while Linda is celebrating Thanksgiving in Vermont with her husband, Tom.

My daughter, Shauna, and her roommate,Kat, joined us there. We had seven people in total at the dinner table – Sheila, her son Connor, Jeff Sandler, Shauna, Kat, Donna and me. Dinner started off with a curried butternut squash soup that Donna made, followed by a traditional turkey dinner with  mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the usual fixings.

We had a good time with lively discussions at the table. We came home around 9pm. The park was indeed nearly full by then, with people sitting around campfires and enjoying themselves. The group next to us was a bit rowdy and got a couple of visits from security reminding them about quiet hours after 10pm.

On Thursday morning, Shauna picked us up at 10:30am for our second Thanksgiving dinner. We drove up to Sun City (Menifee) to spend Thanksgiving with my stepdad, Ken. We made the dinner logistics simple by ordering out. If we cooked a turkey at Ken’s place, we would have had to leave here at dark-thirty for the 90-mile drive to his place or we wouldn’t be able to eat until late in the day.

There are 13 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises in southern California that are owned by Polly’s Pies Restaurant. These locations offered seasoned, deep fried turkeys (14-15 lbs) and side dishes. All turkeys had to be pre-ordered. Last week, I called in our order. The KFC manager told me orders had to be pre-paid in person. I explained our situation to him – driving a 180-mile round trip to pre-pay was out of the question. He made an exception for us and put us on the order list.

At noon, we picked up the turkey at the KFC near Ken’s house. Our Thanksgiving dinner included stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and bread pudding. Shauna bought Ken’s favorite cranberry relish at Trader Joe’s, but forgot to bring it. We stopped at Von’s and found cranberry-orange salad in the deli. Donna bought a cherry-apple crumb pie from Julian Pie Company for dessert. Ken’s neighbors, Ray and Helen, joined us. Helen brought biscuits she made from scratch. It was a good time and nice for Ken to have friends and family over for Thanksgiving. Ken lives alone since my mother passed away in September 2012. I don’t think he’s had the good china out since then.

Donna, Shauna, Ken, Helen and Ray at the dinner table

Ray is Ken’s best friend. They both served in the Marine Corps in the Korean war. We ate, watched some of the football game and talked for a few hours. We left around 3:30pm and were back home just after sunset.

Donna and I have much to be thankful for. I think all of us at both dinners were thankful for our health. You can’t take your state of health for granted. We also have great families that give us love and support. We’ve caught up and connected with old friends and made new friends over the past 16 months since we hit the road. Neither of us can imagine being tied down in one spot for more than a few months at a time at this point in our lives. We’re thankful we made the decision to hit the road and expect we’ll be out here for some time to come.