Just a Taste

Details of our holiday weekend trip are now available on Bullwinkle's Travels. However, this space is reserved for more important matters.

Today we had just a taste of what life might be like as fulltimers.

We woke up early at our delightful site at Pomo RV Park and Campground. As the sunshine started to peek through the pine trees, we enjoyed our coffee and breakfast and visited a few of our favorite blogs. (Oh, what would it be like to make this a daily routine?)

We spotted a theme in today's entries: Fulltimers were traveling today. Gordon and Juanita were heading out of Valdez. Darrell and Judy were leaving the Adirondacks. Ed and Marilyn were heading out of the Rocky Mountains toward our native state. Just about everybody was on the road. Today, we would be in good company.

With coffee, breakfast and blogs complete, we set about our pre-trip routine of cleaning the moose. We've noticed we've become rather fastidious about this. On our last morning we take great care in taking care of Bullwinkle. We dust, vacuum and clean. It keeps our minds and bodies occupied so we don't get bummed that we have to go home. And, it makes sure that the next trip out will start with a clean rig. It's a ritual, indeed.

Once the moose was clean, it was time to pack things up and get ready to roll. As much as we did not want to leave this lovely spot, we were somehow inspired knowing we were traveling in the company of fulltimers today.

Several other Tuesday departures left the campground about the same time we did. We imagined all of them as fulltimers. (It's our fantasy. We can do what we want!) We waved a friendly wave to all, wishing them safe travels and great fun along the way. Heading out of town we saw several other imaginary fulltimers, pulling travel trailers and fivers and piloting Class As.

As our stomachs signaled it was time for lunch, we decided to stop by the KOA in Cloverdale. It's a spot we've seen online and wondered if it could be a quick getaway to wine country for us. So, we thought we'd check it out and have lunch in a site. Turns out the Cloverdale KOA is many winding miles from the highway. It was hardly worth the effort. We pulled in to find an empty registration office and three or four eager campers ready to get set up. We backed into an empty site and spread out on the picnic table for a quick lunch. Then, we noticed the time and realized we were headed for post-Labor Day Bay Area rush hour traffic, so we downed our meal and got ready to roll.

As we headed out, we made the acquaintance of two couples setting up camp. One couple had been on the road since June, enjoying an extensive tour of the American West. The other had escaped life in the Bay Area years ago to make their home in Oregon. They were accompanying their friends on this leg of their westernmost journey.

They were all calm, relaxed and well. They were preparing to spend a few days here and enjoying tasting wine of vinters across the region: That's our kind of fulltiming!

With this great connection with virtual and actual fulltimers traveling today, we find ourselves with mixed emotions. We so look forward to being a part of this lifestyle. Four nights away on this trip just isn't enough. We do want more!

And, unfortunately for us, while our newest friends will be touring Mendocino County wineries tomorrow, we'll both be at work.

Ugh!