Eureka!

I have figured it out. It took me a few weeks, but I think I've got it.

Let me explain.

In case you couldn’t tell, we’ve been in a “mood” lately. As the resident “feeler” at our house, I’ve spent considerable time trying to figure out why. Today, I have a theory.

A year ago our pre-fulltiming angst was at a peak. Work sucked for us both. Really sucked. And, our desire to chuck it all and hit the road was high. Really high. And, there was a bunch of stuff in our way. Really in our way. Despite our best efforts, we were behind in purging our belongings and getting the house ready to sell. We worried that once it was ready to sell, it wouldn’t.

Get the picture?

On those dark winter days we searched for a lifeline. And, we found one in the blogs of the good folks who were already out there on the road. Reading about the daily lives of fulltimers helped us keep our eyes on the prize.

Many of those fulltimers were parked in the Rio Grande Valley. As we read every day about these people living the life we were oh so ready to move toward, we formed a mental picture of the RGV. Like Dorothy’s Oz, it became a dreamy, mythical place. From our overworked, bloodshot eyes, the RGV looked like heaven. Nobody worked. Everybody smiled. People sat and soaked up the sun. They bicycled to Mexico. They had happy hour every day. Yep, there was nothing but peace in the valley!

The bloggers didn’t do this, mind you. We did. It was us who glorified the place. The bloggers told us about the wind and the traffic and the tight, gravely RV parks, too. We simply stuffed those facts to the back of our minds. Plus, we understood the whole “Winter Texans” concept: a tsunami-size wave of trailer-pulling and motorhome-driving snowbirds who flood the barren valley for several months each year. But, there was little room for that reality in our growing fantasy. We looked forward to our stay there the next year. Parked in the RGV enjoying the warm version of winter, it would be official: We’d be wannabes no longer; We'd be fulltimers.

Fast forward a year. With some 8,000 miles between us and that very dark place where were last winter, we know that this heavenly lifestyle has its good days and not-so-good days. While many days have been filled with sunshine, bicycles and happy hours, others are about mechanical problems, detours and nasty weather, especially in an El Nino year.

With a much more realistic view of fulltiming, we headed south to just north of the border nearly three weeks ago. Shortly after we landed, we knew it. We don’t like the RGV. We even got all whiny about it.

Really, that’s not like us. In our first eight months on the road we’ve gotten pretty good at seeing the good in any situation. But, here we were nagging about a place we’d just paid to call home for five weeks.

So, what gives?

Somewhere between all of the packing and purging we did to prepare for this lifestyle, seems we packed that fantasy view of the RGV away deep in our subconscious minds. And, once we got here, we were wrestling with it.

Turns out the RGV isn’t the Utopia we created in our heads when we most needed one. Nope. It’s actually just a place in the southernmost part of the country that retirees in RVs head for in hopes of staying warm for the winter. Makes sense. Because of that, it’s crowded. Because it’s south Texas it’s windy, and it ain’t exactly what you’d call “purdy”. Because it’s an El Nino year, the weather ain’t been all that good for sitting outside. Besides, you’ve seen the half-naked guy across the street. He makes El Nino a blessing!

Are we sorry we came? No.

We had to! We simply had to see for ourselves the place that helped us keep our fulltiming dream alive during some of our darkest days. For that, we are truly grateful. And, though it isn't what we're looking for, the place really isn’t that bad. We’ve reconnected with friends here and met some nice people. And, even in an El Nino year, the weather is better here than most places in the rest of the country, if you don’t count the wind. We're paid up for another couple of weeks. So, we'll quit our bitchin' and actually enjoy the rest of our stay. We promise.

Will we come back? Don’t bet on it.