Serendipity

Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise".

Well I've been reading RV blogs for the last 3-4 years since we started RVing and have learned a lot reading blogs of those that are already full time RV'ers. I first started reading RV-Dreams(Howard and Linda Payne) near the beginning of my search for RV information. I have continued to read their daily posts and enjoyed getting to know other RV'ers virtually through their site. One of the reasons I wanted to begin full time RV'ing was to meet other like minded folks. So yesterday I was reading Howard's post about their trip to Knoxville, TN to get some work done on their rig. In that post, On to Knoxville, meeting new full timers Howard had a photo of two women(Peg and Michelle) that were just beginning their full time lives and had just purchased a new Heartland Landmark from RVs4Less, owned by Butch and Karen. I haven't met them yet but feel like I already know them from Howard's posts.

Anyway, here we are in a small RV park right off of I-74 near a little town called Carlock in Illinois until I retire on Sept 1. I decided to wash my truck before coming home to the RV park. Once I got back, I noticed my windows were still sort of smudged so I was over by my truck cleaning the inside and outside of the windows when I saw two women walking over by the office. They looked like they were in search of someone there. As they walked away, I took a second look and thought "they look very familiar". To preface this, earlier we noticed a beautiful Heartland Landmark pull into the RV park with a nice matching silver Dually pulling it.

We didn't think any thing more about it other than "hey another Heartland 5th wheel in the park". Cool. So as I took that second look and thought they looked familiar, I remembered Howard's post yesterday and it dawned on me that they looked a lot like the women in the photo. Well if you know me, I can be a little bold at times so I went up to them and asked "do you know Howard and Linda Payne?" They looked at me with a somewhat shocked expression and said "yes we do". I said "I think I saw you on their blog yesterday, was that you two?" and we all started laughing.                   

 

SERENDIPITY 

 I'm not sure whether it was Peg or Michelle that said it but.... How in the world do you explain it other than that? How did they just happen to take a route that Linda had recommended and end up at the same RV park we are in and I just saw their photo the day before and then recognized them. A pleasant surprise indeed. We started talking and right away it was like we had known each other for some time. This is what I was hoping for when I decided to consider full time RV'ing. Meeting like minded folks and feeling like they are already your friends. We stood near the parking lot talking for a while and I invited them to come to our site, meet Glenda and maybe take a look at our rig. After I introduced Glenda and we talked some more they came into our rig and looked at the similarities of the Heartland products.

We showed them some of the modifications and we had a great time talking about our experiences so far. They are very new to RV'ing and had great instruction at RVs4less. Now their on their way home to pack and organize as they begin their RV adventure. It was so great meeting Peg and Michelle and I hope we get the opportunity to meet again this fall. Maybe at the fall RV-Dreams Rally in Goshen, IN. We're looking forward to renewing the new friendship.  Safe travels Peg and Michelle. I will keep working to retirement and it won't be long.