More Rock and Roll

Woo hoo! We are rockin' and rollin' tonight here in Kingman.

With plans to leave tomorrow, we checked the weather forecast for our route tomorrow and found this:

30 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 60 MPH ARE LIKELY. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR OVER RIDGES AND BELOW PASSES AND CANYONS.

Yep. That's the forecast for Tehachapi Pass tomorrow afternoon, which is just about the time we'd be passing through on our way to Bakersfield.

No, thanks. We'll pass.

Friday looks like a nice calm day to drive across the desert. We're happy to chill out here until then.

Rock and Roll

Here's the latest from the National Weather Service:

TODAY... WINDS WILL INCREASE EARLY IN THE AFTERNOON WITH WIDESPREAD WIND GUSTS OVER 40 MPH EXPECTED. THERE MAY BE A BRIEF LULL IN THE WINDS OVERNIGHT... BUT WINDS WILL INCREASE AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY... WITH WIDESPREAD SOUTHWEST WINDS GUSTING OVER 58 MPH POSSIBLE.

As a result, we've found a lovely little park in Kingman that we're planning to call home for the next two nights.

Our original plan was to make Needles today, some 260 miles away. Then, we checked the weather. This high wind advisory is impacting all of Northern Arizona and the California desert. The forecast for Needles was sunny, windy and 96 degrees. Sounds pretty prickly, doesn't it? We sure thought so.

We looked for alternatives and found Kingman, which looked just as windy, about 15 degrees cooler and 80 miles closer. If we left Camp Verde early enough we could make Kingman before the wind started to blow. But, one question remained.

Do we know how to leave early?

Sure 'nuff, we were hooked up and on the road by 8:30. That's some kind of record! With an all-interstate route and no need to stop for fuel, we made good time. Paul wrestled some stiff headwinds and a side gust or two the last hour or so. With enough of that we pulled into Kingman just before noon.

We've never landed anywhere before noon!

As if on cue, just after we set up, the skies clouded and the winds kicked up. And, by the looks of things, it'll be awhile before they calm down. We're happy to lay low and let the windy weather pass. Rocking and rolling in a parked moose is MUCH better than wrestling this rolling billboard down the road. Plus, when you add miles and miles of desert to this windy scenario things can get dangerous fast.

Meanwhile, we'll just sit back and relax and get our kicks here in this famous spot on Route 66.

Three Meets

We really like Northern Arizona.

It's scenic, vast and has the kind of Springtime weather we'd take any time. And, this time of year, it's a popular stopping place for fellow fulltimers.

This week we've had the great pleasure of having first-time meetings with three wonderful fulltiming couples and fellow bloggers.

We hooked up with Sandie and Jim on our service overnight in Prescott. Like us, they began their fulltiming adventure last year. In fact, Sandie served as the "president" of our Escapees fulltiming Class of 2009. This delightful couple has covered some serious miles in their first year. And, also like us, they have purchased a new rig on the road. We have followed their blog since its beginning, so when we met up it felt like we were meeting old friends. It was a treat to finally meet the people behind the words.

Sandie and Jim have magical powers, too. On our first day here in Camp Verde, we were settling in for a very lazy day after back to back travel days. With a commitment to making no plans for the day, we took Sandie and Jim's call. These two cheerful souls asked if we would like to join them on a day of sightseeing. And, of course, we said "Yes!" We're so glad we did. You can read about our comings and goings with Sandie and Jim in Prescott and Sedona on Bullwinkle's Travels.

Thanks to some crummy weather east of here, we were able to hook up with Linda and Denny. We've been following their blog since we've been following blogs. When we read that they were camped in nearby Cottonwood, we wrote from Tucson to see if we could meet. Their original plans had them leaving before our arrival. But, when they saw the forecast for storms along their planned route, they decided to layover for a few extra days. Thank you, Mother Nature!

We stopped by their place on the way to Walmart the other day. These fulltiming veterans have been on the road since 1998, and it's obvious that the lifestyle suits them very well. They share a sense of humor we really enjoy and instantly made us feel comfortable. Like us, they are exploring the country for, among other things, that place that they'll call home one day. And, like us, they have yet to find it and are loving the exploration. There are still many places left for us all to explore. Linda and Denny also bought a new RV in the last year. (Look at all of us fulltimers stimulating the economy!) Their 2011 Heartland fiver is a very warm and welcoming home. The time we had to spend with these two was far too short. (Our fault!) We look forward to spending more time with them down the road in the future.

A recent email from Ellie and Jim announced that they would be arriving at Dead Horse Ranch State Park during our stay. We made plans to meet up and spend an afternoon exploring the nearby quaint mining town of Jerome. We've been reading their blog forever and share many mutual friends, so again the experience was like meeting old friends for the first time. We shared stories of how we got hooked on fulltiming, and the similarities were uncanny. Over tasty burgers, local wines, shopping, sightseeing and yummy ice cream, we had a great time getting to know this wonderful couple better. (A post is in the works. Watch for it at Bullwinkle's Travels.)

After a very social week with these three very special meetups, we are thankful for one of the most unexpected benefits of our new lifestyle. We started out being a bit concerned that this might be one of the loneliest chapters in our life. Much to our surprise and delight, we have a growing group of wonderful new friends across the country. Us? Lonely? Never!

Many thanks to Sandie and Jim and Linda and Denny and Ellie and Jim for sharing some of your time in this beautiful part of the country with us. We wish you all safe travels and look forward to seeing you again soon.

The Start of it All

Two years ago today two very toasty workaholics set out on their first-ever RV trip. For 10 glorious days they explored the American Southwest. By the time they returned they were determined to become fulltimers one day.

The story is right here. It's a very quick read. Just follow the link and scroll down to the bottom of the page to start at the beginning.

Today, those two are toasty workaholics no more. As fulltimers, they find themselves back in the American Southwest.

We've come along way since that first day in that little rented Class C. And, these days, we're taking our time.

Another Dealer

One of the things we wondered about before we started fulltiming was what kind of service we would find at various dealers across the country. Since buying our new moose we've had a chance to visit four Winnie dealers for service. They have, in our opinion, ranged from OK to excellent.

We spent today at Affinity RV in Prescott, AZ, the fourth stop on our National Winnebago Dealers Tour.

They were OK.

The details of our service experience aren't really important. The moose is fine and everybody involved will, God willing, live to see another day.

The lesson of the day is the importance of being an aware and assertive, yet gracious, RV service customer.

When scheduling a service appointment we make it clear that we are fulltimers and this rig they'll be working on is our home. We ask for accommodations the night before. Some places have them, so don't. But, being on premise for a bright and early service appointment is so much nicer than having to break camp before breakfast and drive to an unknown dealer in an unfamiliar location.

We get to know the service writer by name, and introduce ourselves. With everyone on the same page that this is our home and what specific issues are to be addressed in this appointment, we can all get an idea of how quickly things can get done and we can get back on the road. We agree on a time to check in for a progress report before 11AM.

After things are set up at the dealer, we pack up ourselves and our cats and head to breakfast, followed by errands or mindless wandering. By 11AM we are back at the dealer. And, we make ourselves at home. We ask for the service writer. We get answers to our questions. We ask when things will be wrapped up. We stay in touch. When things are done, we make sure everything checks out OK and we're back on the road.

At this last stop, we had a couple of different things going on that involved two different service people who apparently don't know how to speak to each other. So, we stayed very involved. After breakfast we bought groceries and took them back to the moose, which was parked in exactly the same place we'd left it. (That's almost never a good sign.) We stuck around, asked questions and got in the way enough that we finally got one person to work on the first issue, our squealing water heater. He did his work and the squealing continued. As service person #2 arrived to work on issue #2, we assumed (That's almost never a good thing.) that service person #1 was working on a resolution. Issue #2, an engine software upgrade, took an extremely long time to get 99.99% completed. We decided to deal with that last .01% at our next service stop.

With Issue #2 essentially taken care of, we went back to Issue #1. Turns out our tech simply went on his merry way, with no intention of resolving our issue. We had him paged and he arrived at the moose. When we questioned him about our still squealing water heater, what was his response?

"That's perfectly normal."

Say what?

After living in a motorhome for nearly 10 months, we may not know much. But, we do know what normal sounds like. (Or, in this case, doesn't sound like.) Despite our opposing opinion, this tech decided he was basically done with us. So, we went looking for our service writer.

He was at lunch.

We explained our problem to the woman at the service desk. To her credit, she listened. She asked for a more senior tech and got one. In a matter of minutes, this skilled technician did the repair and the not-at-all-normal squealing stopped.

As we hooked up the Jeep and hit the road for a quick afternoon drive to our next spot, we thought about how important it is to stay involved in the service of our home. Had we just dropped the moose off for the day, we would have driven off with a still squealing water heater.

Of course, in the big scheme of things this was a teeny tiny frustration. But, if you've ever heard a squealing water heater, you know it's not a sound you want to live with long. Besides being annoying, it means that - sooner or later - you're going to run out of hot water.

As we chalk up one more experience with a dealer, here's hoping that's the last one in awhile. With eight months left on our factory warranty, and a trip to the factory and our original dealer planned before that expires, we hope we are "good to go" for long time.

At the very least, we're oh so happy to have quiet hot water.

Ah-CHOOOOOOO!

We're allergic to the desert.

Yep. This time of year, anyway.

We're heading north tomorrow in hopes of finding a spot with a considerably lower pollen count. Prescott looks like it will fill the bill. Our fingers are definitely crossed.

We love the desert. No doubt about it. But, the truth is this last week has been a bit tough. With off-the-charts pollen counts, Paul has found himself with a watery and itchy eye thing that's just not fun at all. And, when he's not scratching at his eyes, he's sneezing.

It's not pretty.

We've both been dosing up on our allergy meds. And, as a result, I've been doing pretty well. Until tonight. I've very recently turned into a nose rubbing fiend.

Once again, it's not pretty.

We've been living pretty much like Mr. and Mrs. Bubble Boy this week. We'll go out and about for a bit, but quickly retreat inside to the cozy comfort of our air conditioned moose. But, the thing about this friendly park is, when we head out for a quick outing we are destined to run into a friendly neighbor who wants to talk. We love that, of course. But, after awhile, the pollen takes over. We start sneezing. Paul starts itching his itchy eyes. And, I start with the nose thing.

Like I said. It's not pretty.

As happy as we are to be heading for higher altitudes tomorrow, we are banking on the fact that we'll both fare much better in the desert during the winter. We'd like to return here for a bit next winter. Provided, of course, our allergies allow.

Doctors appointments are on the agenda for our return to the Bay Area in a few weeks. On our list of items to discuss is definitely heavy duty allergy drugs. We need 'em!

Ah-CHOOOOO!

Leonard's Legacy

The RVing community has lost a long-time enthusiast. Earlier this week, Leonard passed away.

Leonard was my mother's cousin. At 90-something, he lived a very long life. And, it was a full one.

For as long as I can remember until a decade or so ago, Leonard had an RV. Every year or two he would pass through my hometown and stop by for a family visit. For awhile he had a truck camper, then a Class C or two and back to a truck camper. I remember being amazed that everything he needed could fit in such a small space. And, it all seemed so cozy! One year he stopped by at Christmas. As sunset neared, he gathered us kids and had us come outside to see his lighted nativity set in the cabover window. I was old enough to remember thinking that was a little weird but really cool at the same time. That was Leonard.

Leonard was a talker. With every visit, he would tell tales of the places he'd been and the people he'd met. He'd been to Alaska a half-dozen times. He visited nearly every Canadian province. He'd traveled some in Mexico. He had journeyed to 49 states. And, if there had been a way to drive his RV to Hawaii he would've done it. The only state he didn't really care for was California.

He had friends everywhere. He treated some of his friends like family and vice versa. Leonard never married, but he had "adopted" kids on his travels. And, when they had kids they called him Grandpa. Long before the days of Facebook or cell phones, Leonard kept track of his many friends and adopted family members via postcards and long-distance phone calls for special occasions. And, every year or two he'd see them, live and in-person, on his travels.

Leonard was never a fulltimer. While he was working, he would travel for three or four months at a time. I could never figure out how he made that happen. But, he did. He worked for the same company for most of his life, and he always had time for his travels. After he retired, he extended his travels to six months or more at a time.

Whenever he'd stop by to see my family, my mom would make the same offer. "Stay with us," she'd say. "We have plenty of room." His reply was always the same. "No, thank you," he'd say. "I have everything I need right here." His idea of family dinner was him supplying the food and our family providing the house. He'd stop somewhere and bring BBQ or fried chicken and all the fixin's. Leonard would never want to impose.

Growing up, I thought of Leonard as the "odd relative" in our family. Every family has one. With a heart of gold and lots of stories, he was fun to be around. But, he was so different. After all, he spent so much of his time traveling the country. On the road. In an RV, no less. And these friends of his! What kind of people does a person meet on the road? It was all a bit weird for me. Of course, Paul got to know Leonard over the years, too. He described Leonard as my weird little loud vagabond relative. He was all that, too. (And, he got louder as he got older!)

No, we just didn't get it.

When we took our first trip in a rented RV two years ago, we thought about Leonard. By the time we returned from that 10-day, life-changing journey we could understand how weird old Leonard could spend months on the road. When we bought our first moose, we really got it. We had everything we needed and there was a whole continent out there for us to explore. We "got it" so much we decided we had to do it fulltime. We've been on the road ever since. When I told my brother we were going to sell the house and travel the country fulltime in an RV, his reaction was priceless.

"It's in your genes," he said. "You got it from Leonard."

Yes, in a way, we did.

In his last days, the hospice nurse said Leonard was still planning road trips. What a way to go. Godspeed, Leonard.

Now, we're the "odd relatives" who are traveling the country in an RV, seeing places and making new friends who feel like family. As we carry on his legacy, we'll do our best to make Leonard proud.

We promise not to be as loud.

Let the Sabbatical Continue!

It's anniversary season around here. We're approaching the first anniversary of a series of notable events that launched the start of our new lifestyle.

One year ago today our sabbatical began. In a delightful twist of fate, we both were laid off from our former employer that day. While our plans to start fulltiming were well underway by then, our joint layoff was just the kickstart we needed to give our full-time attention to pursuing our dream. Less than three months later, the house was sold and we were on the road.

It's hard to believe we haven't worked in exactly a year!

Throughout our workaholic careers, we often wondered what it would be like to take a year off from work. The whole idea sounded absolutely dreamy. Surely a full year away from the work-a-day world would be enough to restore our spirit and leave us recharged and yearning to get back to our work with vim and vigor. Wouldn't it?

Well, we wonder no more. Now we know. And, the answer is NO!

Are we recharged? Absolutely! Are we yearning to get back to work? Nope!

No, a year isn't enough. For us, anyway. And, that comes as a real surprise. I thought by now I'd be champin' at the bit to work. After all, a workaholic's gotta work! But, not so. We keep telling people we might work again some day. But, we have no clue as to when that might happen. I, for one, have no idea what I'd want to do!

While a year isn't enough time for us to be away from work, it is long enough for something else. For the last year we've harbored, shall we say, bad feelings for our last employer. As happy as we were to be free from the place, it has taken some time to process our experience there, especially the last year or so. To say it was hazardous to our health would be an understatement. Every reflection we've made on our experience there has included at least one expletive. Yes, we've been bitter.

But, it's a new day! Today we are determined to leave the bitterness behind in the Sonoran desert. We are declaring our "processing" complete. Our memories of that place are neutralized. Our departure a year ago was, indeed, a blessing. Each of the 365 days since has been an amazing gift.

So, on this anniversary of our extended sabbatical we'll celebrate our renewed freedom with a champagne toast and a tasty dinner. It'll be the perfect end to a very dreamy year.

Let the sabbatical continue!

Taxes

Just writing that one-word title made my body shiver "Ugh!" Can't imagine how it was for you reading it. Anyway, today's the day all that stuff is due. And, thankfully, Paul wrapped ours up and e-filed them a few days ago. (Thank you, Paul!)

After going through the process of preparing our tax return for the first time as fulltimers, I thought I'd share some of our learnings about doing taxes on the road.

E-File

This isn't the first year we've filed our return electronically, but it was definitely the most convenient year to do so. We didn't have to print off the return, find a post office, etc. When we were done, we just clicked "submit". (Although, I must confess we kind of miss the ritual of standing in the last minute line at the Post Office. OK. Not really!) And, of course, we did all that on our private wifi network. You don't want to risk sharing that information with some geek hacking your park wifi!

It's Deductible

As our faithful readers know, we gave lots of stuff to charities last year. (Lots!) While it seemed like a PIA at the time, we made detailed lists of everything we gave away. We logged on to an Intuit web site called "It's Deductible" and it helped us place a value on our giveaways and loaded it right into TurboTax and our return. It took some time, but it was definitely worth it.

TurboTax

We've used this tax preparation software for years. As fulltimers, it's all about the convenience factor. This nifty program makes it easy to do it yourself wherever you are, whenever you want. We didn't have to go searching for a tax preparer or shuffle documents back and forth to our CPA.

Backup Plans

One of the last things I did before we gave away our desktop computer was save our returns for the last several years on a CD. We safely stored the CD in the moose. The first time we needed to access last year's return, we pulled out the disc and made a horrible discovery: the disc was corrupted. Lesson learned: Always test the documents you burn to a CD before you nuke your PC. (Hey, I was in a hurry!) New discovery: The IRS will happily mail you a transcript of past year's returns. (All it takes is the patience of Job to navigate the agency's audio response unit and wait to talk with a human being.)

Watch the Calendar

Now that we've been fulltiming for awhile, dates don't really matter. Since we've been in perpetual pursuit of Spring, we've lost our sense of the calendar anyway. And, we tossed our "to-do" lists a long time ago. Despite that, we manage to fill our days quite nicely. Between going places and seeing things, we've been pretty busy. So, a big project with a deadline is an alien concept to us these days. Paul was diligent about staying on top of collecting all of the info we needed to complete our return and then making time to do the deed and file the thing well in advance of April 15th. If it had been up to me, I would've spaced it.

Hope that helps. Now, if you were looking for some ways to reduce your taxes here, we can't help you there. Sorry, but good luck with that.

Happy Tax Day!

A Tale of Two Busses

Greetings from Tucson!

Check Bullwinkle's Travels for tales and pics of our latest adventures in Las Cruces, White Sands, our drive to Tucson and last night's entertainment here at the park.

It's all good!

We are reminded how much we love the Southwest. It's our kind of place, except in the middle of Summer, of course. We like the vibe. It's the kind of place where people are free to do their own thing in all kinds of ways. Traveling fulltime in an RV is pretty darn normal here. Jeep Wranglers are everywhere. And, the people we've met are very friendly.

Case in point. Just the other afternoon, as we pulled the moose and squirrel off of I-19 south of Tucson at the exit that would take us toward our campground, a big yellow Tucson Unified School District bus pulled up beside us. The driver gave us a big friendly smile and motioned to her one and only passenger a few rows back. As we sat at the light together, she pulled the bus up and we were face to face with her passenger. With tinted windows between us we couldn't see much, but we did see a big smile and a thumbs up. So, we gave the same back. It looked like the sighting of our moose and squirrel had just made some kid's day. The car between us and the light turned right on red, so we nuzzled up to intersection and were again side by side with the school bus. The still smiling driver opened her door. Paul opened the window.

"I was wondering if you'd want to trade me even up," she shouted as she pointed to our bus and hers. We all laughed.

Then, her "passenger" stuck his head out from the front row. Turns out, he wasn't a kid. He was a full grown adult with an obvious passion for RVing.

"I was wondering if you'd want to adopt me!" he shouted with a big smile.

They complimented us on our many wheels and we wished each other a great day and safe travels. With that, the light turned red. The yellow bus took the the next turn into a school. As we piloted our bus the last few miles to our campground, we appreciated our warm welcome to Tucson.

That's just one of the many reasons we like life here in the desert.

Pit Stop

We get a lot of questions about our cats. How do they travel? What's different from when they lived in a stick and brick house? What have we learned along the way?

The quick answers are: Great, not much and lots!

Our second travel day across Texas was actually a red letter day in this department.

Let me explain.

First off, cats are waaaaaay different than dogs. Dogs love to go for a ride. And, all you have to do is put 'em on a leash and go for a walk and they'll do number 1 and/or 2 practically on command.

With cats, guess what? It's different.

First off, our cats ain't dogs. And, they know it. They don't go outside and they aren't big on leashes. They go number 1 and 2 when they feel like it. And, their location of choice is the litter box in the place it's always been - under the steering wheel. They are, after all, creatures of habit. And, this is exactly how they like it.

So, here's how a typical travel day goes down. The cats wake up way earlier than we do. We feed them before or about dawn. Between feeding time and us getting out of bed they usually do their business. With that, they're pretty much good to go. We put them in their crates and hit the road.

What we've learned is that our cats are good for about four hours. If we go beyond that, they need a potty break.

Good idea. And, guess what? They don't get it.

Many, many times we've broken up a long travel day by finding a place to stop, letting the cats get out and stretch. Then we cross our fingers that they'll find their way to their not-in-its-normal-place litter box to do their business.

They get out, they stretch and they never - that's NEVER - go.

Until now.

The other day we stopped between Fort Stockton and Las Cruces. We let the cats out to stretch and they began to wander. It had been a long day and we knew at least one of them needed to go. Before too long our boy kitty wandered into the bathroom and toward the litter box. Anticipating the red letter day I made a declaration: Any cat that pees at a pit stop gets two treats!

With that, the stakes were set. And, our boy kitty was game. He did his business, cleared the area and stood ready to receive a snack. Yes, he got two treats!

Wa-HOOOOO! If you don't count us, it was our first successful pit stop on the road.

Let's hope this is the start of a really good trend!

Miles and Miles of Texas

Just updated Bullwinkle's Travels with a little ditty about our drive across West Texas. Check it out.

Actually, I accidently posted it to this blog. (Oops!) So, I did a quick copy, paste and delete. And, in the process I deleted a comment from our new friends Bob and Molly. (Sorry!)

More later from beautiful Las Cruces, NM.

Three Quarters

Greetings from the middle of nowhere! We’re in a dandy spot in a lovely overnight park in Fort Stockton, TX. With almost 300 miles behind us today, we are enjoying a mellow evening, looking forward to the sunset over the Texas mountains and becoming increasingly grateful that the high plains winds are quieting down nicely.

For being camped in the middle of nowhere, today is a rather noteworthy day. Today marks our ninth month as fulltimers. That’s right, we’ve successfully completed our first three quarters of fulltiming.

We talked about what to write about this noteworthy day. Here’s the bottom line: We love this life!!!

Now, if you want more detail, stay tuned.

A very interesting thing happened over the last three months. This traveling around the country in an RV thing has, at last, started feeling like our life! It still feels a little bit like a vacation. And, truthfully, we hope that feeling never goes away. But, what we have started to realize is the freedom and flexibility that comes with this lifestyle.

We need to get our Winnie fixed? No problem! We’ll make an unscheduled stop in Buda.

They need to order parts? No problem! We’ll spend a week in Kerrville.

Wait a minute! We have friends staying in a park on our way out of town. No problem! We’ll stop in Boerne for a couple of nights and say “Hi!”

(Now, when they tried to twist our arms to stay for a few more days to attend a rally, we just had to draw the line! It was tough, but we do have places to go and people to see!)

Our impromptu stop in Boerne was just one example of what makes this life, and not a vacation. We parked for a couple of days and caught up with Mac and Netters and Kathy and Chuck, and met Bob and Molly, whom we’d heard so much about. We also met Nora and Howie and Lynette and Greg and others. It was lots of fun! Such is this life!

And, today, after being caught in a unscheduled vortex in our new favorite place: Texas Hill Country, it was time to hit the road. We packed the moose and watched the weather, leaving between two Texas-sized thunderstorms. We really threaded a needle on that one!

After spending more than three months in the Bluebonnet State, it is time for us to get back on the road. After this single overnighter, we’ll spend a few nights in a new state to us: New Mexico.

And, this is our life.

These days it’s not so much about our RV or where we’re going when. It’s all about living.

And, after nine months on the road, that’s a very good thing!

Speed Bump

We've had a very relaxing Easter morning here in Austin. We've had time to pause and reflect on the significance of the day, and the speed bump.

According to Wikipedia, the speed bump has been around for 100 years or so and can be found around the globe. So, it's a pretty safe bet everybody's seen them. Right? We just so happen to have one just outside our front door on a major thoroughfare in our park. We're here to tell you, it sure seems like that bump in the road is the first one some folks have ever seen. And, there's nothing like the sound an RV makes when it flies over that speed bump. Nothing!

The purpose of a speed bump is pretty straightforward: to remind drivers to slow down. And, a tight campground full of big rigs and families is a perfect place to do just that. We've seen a few dozen RVs pass by our moose here and most of them wisely take their time as they drive through the park. When they cross the bump, it's a non-issue. Others seem to think the bumps are the things to slow down for. These two-footed drivers accelerate to our bump, then hit the breaks and crawl over. Once they're clear, they gun it and race to the next bump. There's another version of this approach, and it's demonstrated by drivers who apparently have a short-term memory problem. They slow down for the bump and ease both axles of their truck or motorhome over. Then, they gun it - apparently having forgotten there's a trailer or a toad behind them! We swear we can hear cabinet doors opening and dishes falling out, and we witnessed a little Mini scraping bottom behind a rapidly accelerating Class A.

Come on, people!

Really, you can't miss this bump. It's painted day-glo yellow and everything. But, some people do. Especially when they leave. Apparently, these folks are in a big hurry to get out of here and hit the interstate. They're at cruising speed when they hit the bump, and they just keep on going - rattles and all. Maybe they crave the teeth rattling. Or, perhaps they like to collect broken glass out of their rig. Maybe they really do want those bikes to fly off the back, after all. Who knows?

Or, maybe it really is their first speed bump ever!

A Good Day

With a service appointment on the agenda, today could have served up just about anything. But, as it turns out, it was a very good day.

It started out early with us enjoying a deal of a breakfast in the park cafe. We joined our new friends from Winnebago County for pancakes and biscuits and gravy and more wonderful conversation. Then, we packed up the moose and headed south a few miles to Crestview RV in Buda for the followup to our service appointment. And, as luck would have it, we had discovered a couple of other minor issues that we wanted them to check out. Traffic on I-35 was a breeze and we were there in a jiffy. Chris, our very helpful service tech, welcomed us warmly, checked out our additional issues and pulled the moose into a service bay.

Unlike our recent visit, this time we prepared ourselves for a wait. With Kindle, knitting and iphone loaded into the Jeep, I was ready to entertain myself for a good long while. But, this time, entertainment came easy...and relatively cheap!

When we pulled into the dealership, we parked next to a new Winnebago Via. This 26-foot diesel Class A has been the talk of the industry, and we had yet to see one. No, we're not shopping. We're planning for the future! The one we parked next to was spoken for, but Chris encouraged us to look at another one that was on the sales lot. We stepped inside and explained to a trio of salesman that we were waiting on service and just wanted to take a look at the Via, if it wasn't too much trouble. Rob gave us a nod and graciously took us for a tour of this cute little thing. When the day comes that we find where we want to have a house and need a smaller rig, this could be the ticket. We thanked Rob for the tour and asked for his card.

If you're in the Austin area shopping for a Winnebago, stop in Crestview RV and ask for Rob Hoffman! You'll be glad you did.

And, that's what you get for being super hospitable to a couple of non-buyers today, Rob! We hope somebody stops in and says "Howdy!"

With our future RV shopping complete, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we decided to head down to the Camping World in New Braunfels to see if they had anything we needed. Sure 'nuff, they did! We've been looking for black moose-sized tire covers and we found them here. That made the time-killing trip worthwhile.

Back at Crestview RV, our Tour was ready to roll. We are so grateful for the good folks there for making our on-the-road service stop a good one. We really have a great feeling for this place.

We pointed the moose and squirrel north back to our park well in advance of holiday rush traffic. Before we knew it we were all settled in our familiar spot.

And, with all that, we were tired. The two of us and the cats all caught naps. When we awoke refreshed, we reflected on what a great day it has been. Our service needs are all taken care of, and we are ready for a holiday weekend in one great town.

More soon from Austin.

No Foolin'

Today was supposed to be the day.

Yep, back in the day, when we first started this blog, today was going to be the day.

Check that first post and you'll see it: April 1, 2010. That was the day we set to start our fulltiming adventures.

We're soooo glad we were nine months early on this one!

This nine-month head start has given us so much. Already we've visited 21 states, traveled a bunch of miles, camped in 40+ campgrounds and parks, met tons of terrific people, bought a new motorhome, learned lots and had a ton of fun.

So many fulltimers we've talked with have stated just one regret. They wish they we started earlier. Us? We're so very glad we did!

Instead of starting out on our very first day, today we left our very comfy and cozy park in Kerrville and prepared to take a very short route through the backroads back to Austin. It would've been a very relaxing drive in the country, except for one thing. It was really windy. Paul did an amazing job of keeping the moose between the lines while we were battered with crosswinds in the 30+ mph range.

Just south of Johnson City, we pulled into the Miller Creek RV Resort. We had called ahead this morning to ask a special favor, if we could park while we had lunch with friends. The campground host was so gracious. She assured us it would be no problem. When we pulled into the park, she pointed us toward an easy access pull-through and encouraged us to stay as long as we wanted. We were so grateful for this park's warm hospitality. The next time we pass this way, we will definitely stop for a good long stay.

The reason for our stop was to meet fellow bloggers and Tour 40TD owners Margie and Bruce, and their dog Annie. Once we had the moose parked, we wandered over to the other Tour in the park and met people for the first time who felt like long lost friends. It's so funny how this whole fulltiming community works. And, the fulltimer bloggers are even better! We stepped into Margie and Bruce's Tour to get the tour and catch up. Their coach is beautiful. We exchanged stories and tips on Winnebago ownership. Then, we were getting hungry. So, we headed back into Johnson City for a very tasty lunch at the Silver K Cafe. We compared stories about how we got started, where we've been since and where we want to go in the future. The conversation flowed easily and was punctuated with lots of laughter between bites.

Before we knew it, lunch was gone and it was time for us to get back on the windy highway. We exchanged hugs and wished these wonderful people well. We look forward to seeing them again on the road and spending more time together. Thanks, guys, for making time to get together with us! We wish you many safe, healthy and happy miles in that beautiful Tour of yours!

The second half of our drive was as breezy as the first, if not more. And, we got to add crazy Austin traffic into the mix. It's nuts! Finally, we found our way to our destination for the next few days: The Austin Lone Star RV Resort. This once-upon-a-time KOA is a decent place to call home for awhile. More importantly, it's a mere 7 miles away from the dealership where we have a followup service appointment in the morning. This will definitely work.

We were escorted to our site, got everything set up, then walked to the office to get checked in. With that done we decided to stroll through the park. Along the way we met up with a wonderful couple from Winnebago County Iowa. What were they driving? A Winnebago Journey, of course! After exchanging pleasantries and a few Winnie stories, we toured their rolling home and set a date for prime rib near their home while we are there this Summer for Winnebago's Grand National Rally. We are so jealous that they live just 15 miles from the factory. And, they were the first to admit that is very convenient! More than an hour after leaving our rig to check in we made it back to our rolling home. And, an hour or so later they passed by on a walk and we invited them in. There's something about Winnie people. We like 'em!

So, here we are, ready to kick back and enjoy a restful night's sleep before what promises to be a busy day tomorrow. We are so very grateful we accelerated our plans and made our escape nine months before we planned.

No foolin!