A New Chapter...

At Dockside...one of our favorite restaurants

We have been living on the road and traveling for over three years now. In that time we've crossed the country four times and visited thirty-four states. We've seen a lot of the country and yet there is much we haven't seen. I think one could travel this country for decades and still not see everything. We've had a lot of great times and we've had our share, maybe even more than our share, of mishaps...all of which have been chronicled in this blog.

Now it's time for a new chapter. For several reasons related to finances, getting older, and family, we are coming off the road. It's a big decision that has been formulating for some time.

I saw a question on Facebook the other day asking about people who quit full-timing. I don't feel like we're quitting because we never intended this to be permanent. We always knew it would come to an end, we just didn't know when...until now.

Our dream was not to live in an RV, it was to travel...living in the RV was the means to that end. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have been able to do that.

Jack has checked a lot of things off his bucket list and I've checked off some of mine. One I haven't checked off yet is my goal of visiting the forty-eight contiguous states. But, between the thirty-four we've visited while RVing and the places I visited earlier in my life, I'm almost there...I lack only six states. We still want to do some traveling by car or plane and you can bet I'll be doing my best to visit the last six. Which six are they?  Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Maine and Idaho. (Checked off 2 more in 2017)

There are things we will miss about our RV life...the fun and excitement of planing trips, the pleasure of finding a great campground and the community of campground living are some...and there are things we won't miss...like black tanks, minimal kitchen space, black tanks, being away from family and did I mention black tanks?

We are settling down in Wilmington, NC, the place I've called home for over ten years. Coastal, four seasons, mild enough winters that we don't usually get snow, good restaurants, within a days drive from my son and brothers and minutes from my daughter and grandchildren. We are buying a small condo central to the beach and to downtown and are in the process of moving in.

We love the place and are looking forward to getting settled.  More on that later...

Two Years on the Road...

Two years ago this summer, after retiring, we downsized our possessions and moved into our fifth wheel with a plan to travel the country and visit the forty-eight contiguous states. So far we've traveled some 15,000 miles and visited twenty-six states...all of which is documented in previous blog posts.

When we started our travels we had two older dogs, Maggie (top right) and Ryan (bottom right). Maggie never liked car rides and always had to be coaxed to get in, but she's adjusted pretty well and is always ready to hop into the truck when it's time to move on. Ryan always loved car rides, but had more trouble adjusting to life in the fifth wheel...maybe because he was aging and his health was deteriorating. We lost him in California in September 2014, but his ashes travel with us. At fifteen, Maggie remains in good health but does show signs of her age.

We love traveling. I do all the research and planning for our travels and Jack does the driving. I enjoy researching the places we'll visit, finding interesting restaurants to try and sights not to be missed, planning routes and researching campgrounds to find the best place to stop at the best price. Jack has no patience for the planning so we complement each other in this area.

Traveling has enabled us to get out to California to see Jack's family. He has enjoyed seeing more of them and I've gotten to know them better. I think we both really enjoy the time we spend with each other's families. The downside is that I see less of my family than I used to and I miss them, but I route us back here as often as I can.

We've adjusted pretty well to living in a small space. The trick is to stay organized and keep things uncluttered. We've never been the types to retreat to separate rooms, so not having them hasn't been a problem. We have a second TV in the bedroom for those times our tastes diverge...such as during football and racing seasons!

We read many comments about how easy and fast it is to clean an RV...people saying they whip through it in twenty minutes. We disagree, it takes us a few hours to clean both bathrooms, the kitchen, dust all the wood surfaces, vacuum and mop floors. Maybe my standards are higher than other people's but I doubt it! Still...it is faster then when we lived in a house.

Having only one vehicle when we are staying somewhere for a while is a tougher adjustment. I miss the independence having my own car gives me. That was never more apparent to me than when we had an issue that prevented us from unhitching the truck while visiting my brothers. I borrowed my old car from Glen and really enjoyed running around in my old Honda!

We knew going into this that we didn't want to do it forever, that someday we'd put down roots again. We live in an RV for the travel not for the lifestyle and we're not ready to stop yet. We've been a lot of places and seen a lot of things but there's still more to see, including twenty-two more states!

How long we continue is dependent in a large part on finances. We've hit some really rough patches and have had about $15,000 in repairs to both the truck and the fifth wheel. Any more major repair expenses will likely sideline us before we're ready...but, ever the optimist, I'm already planning our next route!

Our First Anniversary and Saying Goodbye to Family...

I've let way too much time go since my last post...sometimes living life gets in the way of writing about it!

We got our new black tank installed the weekend of October 4th.  It took all day Friday and part of Saturday morning. It was a smelly job, the old tank was gross, and it took until Monday before the odor dissipated.  Total cost was about $1200. Tank, fittings and shipping were about $300 and labor was $900.  You couldn't pay either of us enough to do that job!  Thanks, Dave.

If anyone out there needs a good, honest Mobile RV Tech in the Vacaville/Solano County area, Dave Gelineau at Dave's Mobile Home & RV Repair is the one to call.  Message me in the comments for his number.

October 6th brought our first wedding anniversary.  A year ago, on Wrightsville Beach, under the Oceanic Pier,with sand between our toes, we got married.   It's hard to believe it's already been a year, yet it's been such a full year it sometimes feels that was so long ago.  We celebrated with dinner at Cattleman's...an old favorite of Jack's.

Our repairs done, it was time to leave Vacaville and hit the road.  We had a goodbye dinner at Chevy's Fresh Mex with Jack, Candice, Chanoa, Sienna, Stacey and Brian...Kayla had to cheer and couldn't make it :( so we had a goodbye phone call with her.

A few days before we left, we took a day trip with Robyn and Mel to Old Sacramento. We wandered around town, bought salt water taffy for us, t-shirts for Katie and Jackson, and had lunch and Joe's Crab Shack.   Then, the night before our departure, we had one last backyard BBQ at Melvin and Robyn''s.  We really enjoyed being close to everyone for two months...as Robyn said, we could get used to this.

We miss you all already and are looking forward to spending the holidays with you next year!

We said tearful goodbyes and headed south to Fresno, CA, where we visited Jack's sister Mardell, brother Terry and brother-in-law Bart.  We had a great, all too short visit...spaghetti dinner at Mardell's - a cook-out at Brandon and Michelle's, her son and daughter-in-law - dinner at Kylie's, Mardell's daughter, and Sunday Brunch with Mardell and Bart at Mimi's Cafe.  For some reason...I forgot to take any pictures!

We stayed at Blackstone North RV Park in Fresno.  The sites are paved and level, satellite TV was only so-so, picnic tables were old and cracked, but it was too hot to sit out anyway.  Most of the sites are a good size, but we got the last available site and it was a tiny back-in.  Next time we'll reserve more in advance.  We did meet some nice neighbors.  Jim and Barb were right behind us in their new 2015 Montana. They are full timers, originally from Placerville, CA.  We toured each other's places and they got some decorating idea from us.  Before we left, they had already bought Smart Tiles for their kitchen backsplash!

Melvin and Robyn make very cool lights out of wine bottles and, while we were still in Vacaville, they gave us a beautiful one.  I love the label which says "Por Que, No"  Why Not?  As it happens, we have been carting around two bottles from Richard Childress Winery...Jack liked them because of the racing connection and checkered flag label. They were old enough that the wine was no longer drinkable, so...Robyn and Mel turned them into lights too!  I love them!  Mardell loved the Childress bottles, so we gave her one before we left.  We still have one Childress and my Why Not bottle...don't they look pretty? 

We said some more sad goodbyes in Fresno and hit the road in mid-October.  Next stop...Vegas!

The Florida Panhandle and Time On Our Hands...

Wow, I haven't posted on here in a while. Can't really say we've been busy, more the opposite...we've been relaxing.

We arrived in Navarre, Florida the first of February and settled in for a month at St. Rosa Sound RV Resort. For the most part I liked the campground - nice flat sites with cement pads and patios, clean and well-kept, with gorgeous views as it is situated right in the Intracoastal Waterway. The downside is traffic noise, it is right on the main road...but I knew that going in. Jack wasn't quite as enamored as I. In addition to the traffic noise, he didn't like that there is no grass - the landscaping is all done in wood chips, which was fine to me but not, according to Jack, to the dogs! We have different preferences and, for me, being on the water trumps all. :)

One thing we did agree on is that, despite having grocery stores and the like nearby, there was really nothing to do in the area...not even decent shopping! We either had to go to Fort Walton Beach, about 15 miles to the east, and it doesn't have much more than Navarre does, or to Pensacola, a city of 50,000 about 25 miles to the west with a number of offerings.

Of course not finding a lot to do can leave you with time on your hands, and time on your hands can lead to all kinds of things, with me it usually leads to shopping...

We love our fifth wheel, but not so crazy about the furniture that came with it...a sofa with an air bed and two recliners. The recliners are hard with no lumbar support and seem to make Jack's bad back worse (he has two bulging discs that are becoming more painful, but that's another story). The sofa is equally hard and uncomfortable and we seem to have no need for the air bed. We live in our fifth wheel 24/7, it's our home and should be comfortable, right? We started out "just looking" and, no surprise, ended up buying. We found a small-scaled, but very comfortable, rocker-recliner and a cushy recliner love seat at the Lazy Boy in Pensacola. Jack loves a recliner, especially one that also rocks. I am more of a "curl up on the couch girl" but a couch won't fit through a twenty-eight inch door and a recliner love seat with a removable back will. Our love seat and two recliners will arrive late March or early April! Pictures will follow.

Ordering the new furniture seemed to get my nesting instinct going and I started looking around to see what else we could do to make our home comfy and cozy. Well, we found something called Smart Tiles designed for a light weight, do-it-yourself backsplash. Couldn't decide which one we liked best, so bought one for the kitchen, one for the bathroom, one for the other bathroom...! Thinking I might try doing one room today. I'll post photos when they're done.

When our month at St. Rosa came to an end we still had four or five weeks to wait for our furniture, so next post...moving to Pensacola!

Random Reflections...

(Authored by Jack)
The best thing about retirement is having no particular place to be every morning. My only responsibility is walking our dogs, Maggie and Ryan. I really enjoy the fact that the dogs appreciate my efforts. They are quite easily pleased and they don't ask more than a little food, water, and attention. I can handle that. I really love our dogs.

Since Gail and I were married, we've been traveling. We finally got to try out our 5th wheel. We discovered a wide variety of uses for bungee cords after finding many of our belongings misplaced at the next campground. Some of our country's wonderful interstates are in serious need of some TLC, to say the least. Not that we had any loss or damage, but finding things that were once in cabinets on one side of the 5th wheel suddenly on the opposite side concerned us both.

A real downside has been the weather. In Topsail it rained for 3 or 4 days prior to our leaving the campground and we remained under the same storm until we reached our Washington, DC campground two days later. Setting up our 5th wheel and tearing down in the rain is not a task I relish. Oh, and we left 75 degree temperatures and landed in 48 to 53 degrees. I can't wait for winter, right! Overall our trip has gone quite well.

Speaking of our trip, we found many of our greatest national treasures being held hostage both in DC and National Parks. I have some very unkind words for the so called elected "representatives" in DC.  I must admit I will never understand why some people have such an aversion to compromise for the greater good. To be so arrogant as to think they know what the people want without asking is unconscionable. My feeling is when elected officials determine they know best what's good for the country, they should be replaced. We did not put them there to take care of us, we put them there to speak and act on our behalf. Sounds as though changes are required to reacquaint them with reality.

Moving on, we have found we don't like being under large trees with acorns and squirrels. There's nothing like leaning back to take a nap and having dive bombing squirrels dropping acorns on the roof. Will definitely sit you right up when you're half asleep. Autumn's leaves cause problems when closing the slides. Sweeping the roof and slides is required before leaving a campground. Crows can be very athletic when they find a loose acorn on the roof. If you've ever wondered what a soccer game sounds like underground, I can tell you.

We spent one of the best Thanksgivings I've experienced in years in Myrtle Beach. I attribute that to the company I am now keeping. Gail and I went to Ryan's Restaurant and had quiet a dinner. It was buffet style so we got more than we could eat, which we paid for later. Another perk was the price, it was very easy on the wallet and was quite good. The best thing was that we were together and had lots to be thankful for this past year. The soothing sound of the ocean made for a wonderful month on the beach.

We've spent the Christmas holidays in Wilmington. Gail needs to get in a lot of grandma time because after this we head to Florida for two months and then on to parts west. We went to have lunch with the youngsters at school one day, Gail babysat them several times, and we spent Christmas with them. Not to mention the occasional drop-bys from time to time. She has decided that, while on the road, should she miss them too much, she may hop a plane and make a weekend visit. I can't blame her, I fully understand how she feels as I don't get to see my grandkids as often as I'd like.

Wilmington has one drawback: it has one way into town and one way out. Trying to get in or out of the KOA here is tricky and time consuming. Turning right takes a minute or two depending on traffic but turning left can take up to five or more minutes. This is just to get into the center turn lane, getting into traffic sometimes takes more time. I've considered writing a letter to the editor but think it is a waste of time as the town has been this way for years and I guess no one else is complaining.

To be honest, we haven't tried to banish one another to the couch, the dogs haven't tried to leave home, we haven't gone broke nor have we been asked to not return by any of the campgrounds we've stayed at, so I guess we are doing great.

Once we leave Wilmington we are embarking on new ground, places we have no ties to in any way. So far we have been in areas familiar to us and had people close by, but now we will really be on our own. It's both exciting and a little scary but, overall, we are looking forward to the travel and the adventures. Time will tell.   ...Jack

Happy New Year

2013 has been quite eventful. A year ago our life was very different. We were living together in Jack's townhouse, both working at jobs that took a lot out of us. Now we are retired and living in a fifth wheel, traveling. Oh...and we got married along the way.

In January we went to an RV show, learned about fifth wheels...and bought a truck. That month I also did a favor for a co-worker and ended up drowning my car...and the seeds of early retirement were not only planted, but fertilized and blossomed. The job was becoming too much for me and I needed to get out. Jack was very supportive and encouraged me to go ahead and retire early. I went out with a bang the first of April. We went to Indiana in mid April and bought our new fifth wheel and moved into it the last of June when Jack retired.

Today marks six months of full-timing. It has gone quickly and has been quite a learning curve...most of it documented in previous posts. We have learned to live together in 400 square feet of space. We are learning what kind of traveling we do and don't like and mostly seem to be on the same page. Three months in one spot is too long, moving every three or four days is too frequent. Other than overnights to get somewhere, we prefer stays of a week, maybe two, interspersed with a month here and there. We've also learned that weekly and monthly stays are kinder to our budget. We spend a lot on food, eating out too often because we enjoy it, relying more on convenience foods and less on cooking. We do okay when we are parked somewhere for a month, but fall into vacation mode when we are traveling more. Vacation mode is fine if you have deep pockets, which we don't. I'm told that is common in beginners to this way of life and will wear off after a while. I know there is lots more we will learn along the way.

Both our dogs are seniors (13 and 14) and we are seeing the older one, Ryan, age quickly these last six months. I'm not sure if he'll be with us this time next year, but for now he is comfortable and pain-free. Maggie is in good shape and seems to be adapting to this new life. She hates when it is time to get in the truck to go anywhere, but she's always been like that.

We have limited our travel to the East coast for several reasons and were able to return home for Christmas with Rebecca and my grandchildren, but we will be spreading our wings starting next week. We are heading to Florida for some warm weather, then we'll head west. I am going to hate saying good bye to my family, but I'm excited about our coming adventures. I know Jack is looking forward to going west and seeing his family when we hit California.

Living in one place in an apartment would probably be easier than living on the road, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun. We want to have some adventures while we still can. If there is anything that my hospice work taught me, it's that we never know how much time we have left.

Looking forward to 2014 and whatever adventures it holds...