POD Revisited

When it comes to properly loading a storage container for a cross-country move, we get a big fat "F".

Shortly after arriving at our transplanted POD this morning, it became painfully obvious how badly we had failed. We pulled the lock off the latch and took a tug at the roll-up door.

It wouldn't budge.

Thankfully, there was a man with a forklift close by and he came to our rescue by giving our POD a great big tilt, in hopes that whatever was blocking the door would fall back out of the way. In fact, he had to do it twice. As I caught a glimpse of the front end of the box hanging several feet in the air I wanted to scream, "There's china in there!" But, I was so grateful for the help I kept quiet. With the all four corners of the box back safely on the ground, Paul grabbed the door handle and it pulled up with ease to reveal what was inside.

One big fat mess.

It seems everything shifted in transit. What was once a neat a tidy arrangement of our worldy possessions was now a tangled wreck. It became obvious that the way to approach this would be to unpack the thing and try again. So, that's what we did.

Three hours later it was all restacked and tied down. Yes, we did a much better job this time. You see, we learn quickly from our mistakes! We tossed a couple of new items in the box, closed the door, affixed the lock and called the job complete.

The one piece of furniture we decided to bring with us is marred. And our bed looks like it made a cross country move. Several boxes were in various stages of crushiness. So, there's no telling how the contents inside fared.

Spending three hours with our stuff raised a flood of emotion about the stress of this move. We've been gone just long enough to forget. This brought it all back. If we had known then what we know now, half that stuff wouldn't be in that POD. But, at the time, we did the best we could. It was all we could handle. And, after all, it is just stuff. We'll work it out.

As we returned to the park, our day immediately started looking up. Gypsy had arrived! We welcomed her to Kansas City and our dumpy little park. What a treat to have her here. We visited a bit, and made plans for a dinner of Kansas City barbecue tonight. We're really looking forward to it!

She'll be here in a few minutes for happy hour. So, it's time to wrap up this post and get the party started. Because, when it comes to happy hour and barbecue, we definitely get an "A"!

Cheers!

National Dog Week

Just got this message from, of all people, Camping.com:

This is National Dog Week, a time to embrace all things canine. Whether you're a dog owner or not, you probably have pleasant memories of strolling down a trail with a dog, heading to the beach with a dog, and maybe even camping with a dog.

Well, even as a couple of cat people, we give a hearty salute to our canine friends.

Here's a big "paws up" to some of our favorite camping dogs: Bodie, Tucker and Lady. Also, a shout out to our buddy Jake, as his mom is known to pass this way. And, we'll be sure to give an extra shake to our newest canine friend, our dog-niece Penny.

No matter how you celebrate this big event, please do so safely.

Happy weekend!

Outerwear

Our previous wardrobe post raised some good questions about what we're planning to wear if and when we find ourselves in chilly weather. So, I thought I'd provide just a little more (hopefully) helpful insight into our on-the-road wardrobe.

Rule #1 for us is to avoid freezing temperatures. That reduces our outerwear needs considerably. Of course, we're planning to spend the holidays here in Kansas City. So, we could find ourselves breaking our first rule soon. Figuring that this is the only place we might find ourselves in sub-freezing temps, we packed our heavy winter gear in our suitcases when we flew to Kansas City last May. We each have a heavy sweater, coat and gloves stored in a family member's spare closet. My heavy hiking boots and some wool socks are there, too. If an arctic blast hits while we're here, we're set.

While we're successfully following Rule #1, no heavy stuff is needed. Paul's on board outerwear includes a couple of long sleeve t-shirts, a sweatshirt or two, a fleece jacket and a waterproof lightweight jacket. Now, I don't think of a long sleeve t-shirt as outerwear. But, this is coming from a guy who wears shorts and a t-shirt every day! So, not counting any t-shirts, I have one sweatshirt, a sweatjacket, a nifty neoprene-like vest that gets a lot of wear, and a fleece jacket that's just like Paul's. And, that's just what's in the closet! Under the bed, I have a nifty lightweight rain jacket that stuffs into a little bag, my can't-live-without-it black leather jacket, and (I think) a heavy windbreaker-type jacket.

Good thing I did some serious outerwear purging before we left. Oh my!

As you can see, outerwear is a topic one of us gave a lot of thought while we were preparing for our fulltiming adventures. And, since we're just a few days into Fall, our strategy has yet to be tested. We're eager to see how it all works -- especially that "avoiding below freezing temperatures" part.

Bad Sales Guy

Back in the dark ages of this blog, we told you about a sleazy sales guy we met at an Itasca dealership in California. Today, we met a really bad sales guy at a Winnebago dealership in Missouri.

It was a gorgeous autumn day in Kansas City. We crossed the state line to stock up on adult beverages. After making our purchases, we decided to go for a scenic drive and visit the area's Winnebago dealer. About 20 minutes later we arrived at the place and were greeted by a smilin' RV salesman.

We asked for just a wee bit of his time to look at the Winnie diesel pushers he had on the lot. We explained our situation and told him we were just looking. We explained our pledge not to make any buying decisions for at least another 3 1/2 months. We said we didn't want to waste his time, and he said "no problem" and invited us to take a look.

There were three diesel pushers for us to see. One of them was a brand spankin' new 40-foot Journey with a new floor plan we'd yet to lay eyes on. We stepped inside. And, we liked it. We really liked it. It had everything we wanted and then some. Yes, it was nice. Very nice!

Now, if either of us had been the smilin' RV salesman (and I'm so glad we're not), we would have taken a shot at selling this motorhome today. We wouldn't have tried any of tactics the sleazy sales guy used, but we would have at least asked a question or two. After all, if a couple of fulltimers find the diesel pusher of their dreams, are they really going to let some silly little self-imposed 15 weeks stop them?

(I can answer that! And, the answer is No!)

What did this guy do? First of all, nothing. He sat on the Rest Easy sofa and smiled. He didn't point out a thing! He left us to do all the exploration ourselves. Maybe he thought since we already owned a Winnebago we could figure things out on our own. We did, but it would've been nice to hear something about some of the features that would make this big new diesel pusher more fun than our short little gasser. But, we didn't.

Second, when Paul asked him about financing (There's a big buying signal!) this was his reply: "You know, these days many banks aren't approving loans for fulltimers."

Seriously. He said that! This guy knew nothing - and I mean nothing - about our financial wherewithal, and that's what he had to say in response to a question that, loosely translated, meant "We might actually be interested in buying this thing."

His disinterest in selling tempered our interest in buying. Besides, we were hungry. So, it was time for lunch. We thanked the man for his time and took his card. We gazed longingly at the diesel pusher of our dreams and pointed the squirrel in the direction of our moose. Along the way we recounted what we really liked about that nifty Journey. Finally, Paul put into words what we both were thinking.

"If he had done a better job, he could have sold a motorhome today," he said.

Absolutely.

Our Wardrobe

Today was laundry day. And, someday early next week we're going to visit our POD.

And those two things have what, exactly, to do with each other?

They have us thinking about our wardrobe.

Next week's trip to our POD is an opportunity to put into storage anything that we don't really need as fulltimers. (It's also our first chance to make sure the POD actually made it to its destination.) We've spotted a few things that will head to storage, and we'll keep looking for more. One thing that's on the chopping block is our clothes. We have too many. Over the next few days we'll take a close look and see what we can do to lighten our load.

As I was putting away my laundry, I decided to take stock of what's in my drawers and my side of our teeny tiny closet. Knowing that we have a future fulltimer or two who stops by here from time to time, I thought I'd share a bit of my findings:

• 22 "t-shirts". This was a topic in chat recently. My actual total was a bit more than my guess. These shirts fill one drawer and include sleeveless, short and long sleeve varieties that I wear for everything from exercise to going out and about. Most of these shirts are either white or black. After all, those two colors go with everything. That said, I think I have too many!
• 6 "nice" shirts. Nice means they hang in the closet and don't go in a drawer. Only two are really nice. And, I've only worn one of those. The other four get lots of wear.
• 3 cotton sweaters. Living in the Bay Area provided good training for dressing for fulltiming: It's all about layers. These three sweaters range from light to medium weight and get worn all the time.
• Jeans, capris and shorts. I have 3 pairs of each. This is probably one pair too many. But, I had 'em so I kept them.
• Shoes. I think I have 5 pairs. Maybe 6. Depends on what you count as shoes.

That gives you an idea of the "scale" of my fulltiming wardrobe. There are a few more things, but it's all pretty simple. And, it's all washable and pretty darn interchangeable. So far, it seems to work.

Before we started this journey, I tried to figure out what I'd wear the most. A couple of months out, now I know. Most days you'll find me in a a 3/4-sleeve t-shirt, a pair of capris and my trusty Keens. If it's chilly, I'll add one of those cotton sweaters. If my wardrobe has a direction, I'd say that's it.

And, what about Paul? He's the first to admit he brought more clothes on board than I did. For a guy who used to wear a suit and tie everyday, he's made a quick and easy adjustment to a daily wardrobe of shorts and a t-shirt.

We both have some purging to do. But, now that we have a bit of experience wearing clothes on the road, we have a much better idea of what we need...and what we don't.

Girls Bathroom

What is it with young girls and RV bathrooms?

They seem to be completely infatuated!

We had three nieces over today for a grand total of maybe two hours. Anybody wanna guess how many trips to the bathroom these three girls had to make while they were here?

Four!

Yep. Everybody needed to check the place out, especially that nifty foot pedal on the toilet. One of them had to go an extra time, for good measure. It was simply too fun.

For fear that we'd be plagued with black tank woes after their visit, we gave everybody the same lecture: There are only three things that go down that toilet, and one of them should be used as little as possible.

We think they got the picture. Whatever the case, our black tank seems to be just fine.

Exported

One of the things on my to-do list while we’re sitting in Kansas City was to back up our blogs. I’ve never done it. And, one day it dawned on me that, with a couple of hundred posts, this blog represents hours of work that I’d hate to lose. It tells a heck of a story that we’ll want to remember. And, same with Bullwinkle’s Travels. Its 100 or so posts are definitely keepers in our book.

I had seen the “export blog” link on Blogger many times. But, I had made up in my mind that it would be a time-consuming task. After all, it took me hours to write all of this stuff. Surely, it would take more than a few minutes to back it all up.

After yesterday’s post, I decided it was time to tackle that to-do. I settled in with a cup of hot coffee and prepared for backup. I clicked on the link.

A few seconds later it was done. Amazing!

So, fellow bloggers, if you’ve yet to back up your work, I’m here to encourage you to take the leap. Backup early and often. It won’t take much time at all.

You’ll be glad you did.

Curiosity

Now that we’ve been at this fulltiming gig for a couple of months, here’s something I’ve found rather intriguing. When it comes to what we’re doing, people we know have varying degrees of curiosity.

We both happen to be very curious people. We won’t hesitate to inquire about this, that or the other thing. Sometimes we have a reason for asking, but most times we don’t: We’re just curious.

They say it takes one to know one, so we tend to notice other curious people. And, we appreciate them. Curious folks can start a conversation, or pull one out of the depths of an awkward silence. And, usually, they do it with just a question or two.

As we’ve visited with family and friends across the country, we’ve noticed some of them are curious. Others are not.

We had a wonderful visit with my brother and his family. Great to catch up. We asked them all kinds of questions about what they’re up to. When it came to fulltiming, my brother asked how we liked our campground. That was it. Our nephews didn’t know what to ask, but as soon as they learned we had a blog, they were all over it.

Our visit with old friends in Seattle was great, too. They asked about family and other old friends. Beyond asking where we were planning to go next, they didn’t have a single question about our fulltiming life. Not one.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. It’s just interesting.

Other family members aren’t too curious about the places we’ve been because they’re avid readers of the blog. And, we sure appreciate that! But, they have asked lots of questions about the “behind the scenes” stuff that we don’t report in our blog. (That one, anyway.) For them, much of our conversation is about filling in between the lines of what they’ve read on the screen.

We’ve also discovered that curiosity about fulltiming is not necessarily correlated with any interest in actually doing it. Sure, we’ve talked to lots of people who would love to be doing this. And, of course, we’ve met many folks who are doing it. And, there the curiosity is mutual. But, there have been those very curious types who have asked us questions about everything from the sights we’ve seen to how we get our mail. And, while they love to inquire about this lifestyle, they’re the first to admit it is something they’d never want to do.

Whatever the case, it’s fun to be living a lifestyle that can bring out the curiosity in others. It’s not every day you meet a couple of people living with two cats in a rolling home. There’s a lot to be curious about. If you want to be.

The Prediction

We are, at last, both feeling much better. Today was the day I officially rejoined the human race. It's great to be back. While spending the last few days in my sick bed, many blog post subjects have meandered through my fevered brain. As my fever lessened, most subjects were lost to the ether. But, this one stuck. So, here goes.

Shortly after our arrival in Kansas City, we were visiting with Paul's parents. At one point, Paul's dad announced "I have a prediction!" Well, it's not like him to make such declarations, so we prompted him to share details of his prognostication.

"Next Spring, you two will come off the road and settle down," he said.

We just smiled and looked at each other. He's his dad, so Paul fielded this one.

"Well Dad," he replied. "That's gonna' be tough, especially since we have reservations for a month in Idaho next Summer."

For extra good measure, he added: "Besides, we're planning to look at bigger RVs while we're here."

After a round of uncomfortable chuckles passed, somebody changed the subject.

Of course, if we have anything to do with it, we'll be fulltiming well past next Spring. And, while the 13-year-olds in us are determined to prove Dad wrong, our 50-something selves know that he - like most of our family - has a not-so-hidden agenda. They would like to have us around. And, he's letting us know.

It's another version of the "When are you moving back to Kansas City?" conversation. After we moved to California nearly a decade ago, the conversations with our parents (and some of our family) maintained a familiar theme: When are you two coming back? Now that we're out of California and on the road, the question has evolved into a prediction, but the sentiment is the same.

The other thing we love about this prediction is the assumption behind it. Folks are assuming we're going to land in or around Kansas City. And, we might. But, part of our mission as we explore this beautiful country of ours is to find the next place we want to call home. Last night, we were reflecting on all this and began to laugh.

We can see it now. We call Dad next Spring and say, "You know, Dad. You're right. We're coming off the road." We'll give him just enough time to let that sink in. Then, we'll add "and we're making our new home at Flathead Lake, Montana."

All in good fun, of course. We're planning on being on the road for so many good miles that we're not even beginning to think about where we might land.

Meanwhile, we sure hope Dad is wrong on this one.

On The Mend

Well, that last post will be the last time I gloat about not having to go work. The next day I was whacked by some bad-ass bug that has had me down all week. Paul, too. I'm happy to report that we are both on the mend. I made my second two-lap stroll around the RV park for the week today, and Paul made a grocery run and picked up three geocaches along the way. He was happy to be out and about.

Both of us being "hit by a train" sick at the same time while living together in a 300-square-foot motorhome has been an experience we hadn't really thought about, much less prepared for. The one good thing about this new experience is that we we're parked for the month near lots of family and friends who would quickly provide any assistance we needed. Things would have been a bit different if we were planning to spend one night in The Middle of Nowhere, Wyoming, when we went down for the count.

Turns out we were more prepared than we thought. Taking a cue our Godfadda's lovely bride, who advised us at our lunch in February to carry a well-stocked medicine chest, we had all the drugs we needed to get through the week. Having lived in our moose for a couple of months, we've adapted to living in this small space. And, that adaptation served us well in our moment of sickness. We each basically found our own little spaces to get comfy and rest. I'll admit, the walls did to start close in just a bit. But, I found my outlet: playing many games of Bejeweled online and achieving a "career high" score. (That's what a fever and a bunch of drugs can do for you!)

Now that we're fever-free and feeling much better, we're chalking this up to another important milestone in our fulltiming life: We beat a bad-ass bug and are still happy fulltimers!

So, for all you future fulltimers out there, follow the advice of wise Juanita and pack a well-stocked medicine chest. Put everything in there you need and wouldn't want to have to go find if you were "hit by a train" sick.

And, I'll add my own little helpful tip: Always carry one can of chicken noodle soup. You never know when you're gonna' need it. But, when you do, you'll be soooooo glad it's there.

A Day of Labor

We've been known to make short moves on Labor Day. Really short moves. Last year, we wandered across Highway 101 in Fort Bragg, CA to enjoy the holiday at Pomo Campground. Today we found ourselves lusting for that beautiful place as we made a shorter, but far more laborious move from our "overnight" site where we've spent the last six nights to our "monthly" site where we'll spend the rest of the month.

The preparations for the 200-yard trip were not much different than getting ready for a 200-mile drive. We cleared and packed what we needed, then pulled in our "big ass" slide. With that slide in, we decided to wash that side of the moose before we moved. About an hour later, we pulled in the other slide and up came the jacks. With both cats secured in their crates, we pulled out of the pull-through and arrived at our back-in site less than a minute later.

What looked like an easy job became an ordeal. We backed the moose into the site with ease, of course. But, finding a place to get anywhere close to level in this unkempt spot kept us busy for two hours.

Two hours!

It's never taken us anywhere near two hours to setup the moose before. Yes, it was ridiculous. And, by the looks of other sites in this joint, there are places where it might have taken us even longer. We weren't crazy about this place when we arrived. Now, the only thing it has going for it is location and smokin' hot wifi.

We have little patience for places that get by with less than stellar service, just because they can. This is one of those places. With a central location, this park is the only game in town. And, even with painfully uneven and messy sites, it still fills up every night. (Just wait until I write my review on rvparkreviews.com!) Ugh. If ever we wanted to own our own campground, this is a town that could use a good one. But, that would be work. And, we're just not ready to do that. Not just yet, anyway.

After all, on this Labor Day, we're not just celebrating our first two months of fulltiming. We're also raising a toast to the fact that we don't have to go to work tomorrow.

A happy holiday to all, and best wishes for safe travels to all of our friends who are on the move. And, oh yeah. Our condolences to friends who have to work tomorrow.

Home at Home

We're approaching the end of our first week here in Kansas City. Not much to write home about. We're seeing people and doing stuff. You know the drill.

The best thing about our our stay so far is that we have our own home. For the first time in over nine years we are visiting Kansas City with our own place. And, that's very different! No longer are we guests in anyone's home. (Although, let me say we really did enjoy being guests here!) Instead, we have a place to come home to...our own place.

The rules have definitely changed up a bit. Do we call family before coming over? We never used to because we were staying there. And, do we knock before we come in the house? We never did when we were staying here. But, now it's different.

Sure, there's something really fun about waking up in the company of family. But, there's a lot to be said for waking up in your own bed in your own place, especially when family is just a few minutes away.

Our First Leg

Greetings from suburban Kansas City! It's really - and I mean really - great to be here.

It's the first of 30 mornings in our ol' hometown. We slept in and are giving ourselves a leisurely day before we get too involved in all of the things there are to do here. Our RV park really - and I mean really - isn't much. But, we don't care. We're here. The first "leg" of our fulltiming journey is complete.

Nine and a half years ago, after all of our stuff was boxed and loaded onto a moving truck by professionals, we packed my Volkswagen Passat with everything that was left, including our geriatric cat. In the pre-dawn hours of that April Fool's Day (That should have been some kind of omen!) we left our native Kansas City and headed west. Three days later we were in our new home in the Bay Area - road weary, done being in a confined space with a meowing cat, and a bit shell shocked. Our plan was to be gone three to five years. Well, we overshot that a bit!

Our return trip could not have been more different. We sold nearly all of our stuff. We loaded what we needed into our year-old motorhome, and packed the rest ourselves in a tiny POD. Instead of taking three days, we took eight weeks! Along the way, we've visited old friends, met new ones, caught up with family and seen some absolutely stunning sights. And, we've barely heard a peep out of the two cats we're traveling with these days. And, us? We are rested, refreshed and free!

After eight weeks on the road, we're still fulltiming newbies. And, we newbies have completed our first mission: We've come home. With that, we've finished the chapter of our lives in which we were Californians. Now, we're fulltimers. And, after we rest up for a month at home in our rolling home, we'll be on the road again.

On the next leg of our journey, we have no particular place to go. And our plans? They're wide open!

Family Dinner

For our last night in Salina, we decided to go out on a limb just a bit. After being fed two nights in a row by Paul's sister, we wanted to return the favor. So, we hosted a family dinner for six.

We wouldn't have given such a meal a second thought in our stick house. But, planning dinner for a half dozen in the moose takes a little more work. With inside table seating for only four, the first item on our agenda was to come up with a Plan B, in case of rain. That was easy: If the sky opened up, we were heading out to dinner. For Plan A, we kept the menu very simple: two do-ahead sides and chicken for the grill, all served al fresco on our KOA picnic table that seats six quite nicely.

Just before our guests arrived, the temperature dropped just a bit, bringing a slight chill to the air. We ditched our plan for happy hour outside and decided to let everyone get comfortable and stay warm in the moose before dinner. Two of our guests had already paid us a visit here at the KOA. One had seen Bullwinkle in his storage spot in California, and the other had yet to lay eyes on our rolling home. It was a treat to show off our moose and give our family an inside look at our life on the road. As the six of us sat quite comfortably enjoying beverages and conversation, they seemed to like it, at least a little. And, if they thought we were a little nuts before, they might think we're a little less so now that they've seen that we are traveling with all of the comforts of home.

Paul mastered the grill, preparing the chicken perfectly, and we served everything up family style. We dodged a mosquito or two, but the conversation and laughter flowed as we enjoyed our food and wine outside. We moved back inside for a finger food dessert and more conversation before these working folks had to call it a night.

Now we have the perfect recipe for dinner for six: A lovely night, a picnic table, a simple menu and our trusty grill. Oh yes, and plenty of wine!