Things To Do

We're enjoying our first morning back in our "home park" in Kansas City. Even though we're parked in one of our least favorite sites in the joint, it's still good to be here. Really good. After traveling 3,000 miles in the last six weeks, we are ready to sit still for a month. (We're ready to start doing more of that. But, that's another topic for another day.)

Truth is, while the moose won't be moving, it looks like we will. There's always plenty for us to do in Kansas City. Between meeting up with family and friends, and dropping by old favorite eateries, we definitely stay on the run.

Because everything is so up-to-date and very familiar to us here, we've realized we tend to stack up our to-dos before we arrive. "We'll take care of that in Kansas City," has been a familiar phrase each of the four times we've headed this way. This trip is no exception.

While Bullwinkle is in the best shape ever, he lost a couple of lights as we were leaving Forest City. Dropping by a local auto parts store is first on our list. Rocky needs some extra special attention while we're here, too. On one of our trips between Clear Lake and Forest City, his windshield caught a rather large flying stone. The sizable star cracked the next day, so the glass needs to be replaced. We'll also replace Rocky's four tires while we're here, which will be a significant investment.

And those are just the first few items on our shopping list! Perhaps it's time to ask our readers for contributions?

All kidding aside, we're looking forward to doing our part to stimulate the Kansas City economy and having a heck of a lot of fun this month. Meanwhile, we wish you a safe and happy Halloween.

Captivity: Day 5

When it comes to the advantages of living in a motel, a bath tub and smokin' hot wifi only go so far.

We are so ready to get out here!!!

Mother Nature didn't exactly cooperate with our plans to explore Clear Lake. The temperatures plunged, the winds howled, rain fell and even briefly turned to snow! So, no sightseeing for us. Instead, we've spent seemingly endless hours watching the walls close in on our little two-room suite. The cats have yet to really get comfortable here. Nobody has slept particularly well.

We're all homesick!

With all this smokin' hot wifi, I did some serious catch up on our travel blog. If you're interested in reading about where we've been lately, check out the fresh entries about our drive through Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, exploring two sides of the Smokies, our day trip to Nashville, our very relaxing and fun time at Defeated Creek, our overnight in Whittington, a couple of days in Iowa City and our fun weekend with friends in Thompson.

Wow! I've been busy.

We're getting sprung from this joint in a couple of hours. We'll grab some lunch, kill an hour or so, then spring our moose from the hospital. Hopefully everything will be in tip-top shape. After five days in the factory service center, one would think so! Our fingers are most definitely crossed.

If all goes as planned, we'll take off from Forest City bright and early, and will arrive in our home park in Kansas City tomorrow afternoon. We won't have smokin' wifi again until then. So, we'll see you later on the outside!

Away From Home

After a weekend in No Data Service Available, Iowa, we are soaking up all the smokin' hot wifi we can at our motel here in Clear Lake. 

That's right, we're in a motel. We checked the moose into the Winnie "hospital" in Forest City this morning to get the last of our warranty work taken care of. Then, we found our way to our home away from home for the next few nights. 

This will be the first night in 476 that we will not spend in a motorhome. (But, who's counting?) We did spend a couple of nights in our friends' motorhome when we were homeless back in July. But, tonight our home has no wheels. 

It's weird!

Once upon a time, I spent more time in hotels than I did at home. At least it felt that way. When my work required me to hit the road, I became quite adept at making myself at home away from home. But, today it feels like I'm in a foreign land. 

When we lived in our sticks and bricks house, the two of us were quite skilled at the fine art of packing for travel. All we needed was an hour to pull together everything we needed for a few days away and have it packed in the car, ready to roll. We're sad to say we've lost this ability we once mastered. Figuring out what we needed to bring with us for the next few days was a big project. Finding it all, packing it and squeezing it into the Jeep was another. Turns out we didn't forget anything major, that we know of anyway. Time will tell.

While we're missing our moose, we have stuff here that we don't have in our rolling home. A king size bed is number one. A bathtub is number two. I think a nap and a good soak are definitely on the agenda. 

We're trying to treat this forced getaway as a bit of a vacation. But, rural Northern Iowa in late October is not exactly our idea of a vacation destination. And, when did motels get so expensive? We're paying as much for this far-from-glamorous pied-a-terre as we did back in the day when our vacations took us to beautiful places and lovely hotels. This place makes the nicest campgrounds we've visited look like real bargains!

We wish the "doctors" in Forest City all the best as they get our moose back in shape. We hope their work goes well and finishes quickly. I have a feeling all four of us are going to be eager to get back home as soon as we can. 

Meanwhile, I think I'll soak up just a little more wifi!

Weather Outlook

I was so busy reading and commenting on blogs I wasn't sure I'd find time to post anything today. But, I was inspired moments ago by a local TV meteorologist.

We're heading to northern Iowa tomorrow and will be there for a week. Yes, we know it's late October. And, yes, we know it gets cold in northern Iowa. So, that's why we decided to check in on the weather. There's rain on the way this weekend and the temperatures are expected to tumble. So, we're taking our chances. Yes, our fingers are definitely crossed.

The source of today's blogging inspiration is the really long range forecast. Today NOAA released its Winter outlook. This time last year I remember looking at those forecast maps in fear. Everywhere we were planning to go last Winter was expected to be cooler and wetter than normal.

NOAA got that right!

I am pleased to report that things are looking better for this Winter. Much better. The southern half of the U.S. is expected to be warmer and drier than normal. Check out the expected temps and precipitation for your destination at the NOAA web site.

Here's hoping NOAA goes two-for-two!

Comments

Comments have been a common topic in the blogosphere lately. To read them or not, write them or not, allow them or not, moderate them or not, respond to them or not, and like them or not. By the looks of things, comments can get complicated!

I've read more comments in the last few days than ever. The tragic deaths of Bruce and Margie have everyone talking. Margie's daughter's posts have generated more than 200 comments. And, I've read every one. Most of my blogging buddies have shared their thoughts about the loss of these two beautiful souls. And, every post has generated comments. Again, I've read every one. As my buds shared reflections about Margie, everyone mentioned how much she commented on their blogs and how much they loved hearing from her. Margie was a prolific commenter! She left many comments on our two blogs. I've gone back and read several of them over the last few days. I found myself looking for a response from her on my last post. But, of course, it's not to be.

All this has made me think about how little I comment. I'm a voracious reader of blogs, but I'm a lousy commenter. I think about things to say, but I usually don't. Why? I'm going to blame it on my iphone. (I blame it for lots of things, so I'll just add this to the list.) I do most of my blog reading on my iphone, which makes it super easy to keep up to date with my blogging friends. But, when it comes to writing on the iphone, I'm all thumbs. It takes me five minutes to type five words! That makes commenting a real challenge.

Comments transform a blog from a one-way communication vehicle to a many-way conversation. Some folks may just want to stand on their blog podiums and preach. And, I suppose that's fine. But, I find it much more interesting to be a part of conversations. Lots of them.

So, I'm going to be a better commenter! I'm going to read blogs at my nifty laptop with this wonderful keyboard where all my fingers can go to work. I'll let the comments fly! And, I'll respond to comments on our blogs. I won't comment just to comment. I'll do my best to foster conversation and acknowledge the work of my fellow bloggers.

For the record, I like comments. So, they'll be here on both blogs, completely unmoderated with no password required. I read every one, of course. And, now, I'll do my very best to respond.

Let's keep the conversation going!

Lunch On The Road

We left Defeated Creek Campground this morning with friends in mind. We loved spending time with new and old friends the last two weeks at this beautiful spot. We just can't wait to get back here. And, as we drove through the beautiful Tennessee countryside and soaked in the vibrant autumn colors, we had our friends Bruce and Margie in our hearts. We were heartened thinking that maybe, just maybe, they were riding along with us for awhile today in a motorhome that looks an awful lot like theirs. They would have loved the ride.

I was driving as we passed through Paducah. And, frankly, after a not-so-good night's sleep I was ready for lunch, a rest stop and a change of drivers. All that was planned for about seven miles down the road when the interstate traffic came to a stop. We idled for awhile and quickly realized we weren't going anywhere. We shut the engine off and sat. Then, Paul had an idea. He decided to fix lunch.

Herein lies one of the primary advantages of a motorhome!

As we sat immobile on the interstate, Paul whipped up a tasty lunch of sandwiches, chips and Oreo cookies, All that was served up with a icy cold cola beverage.

You just can't do that with a trailer!

We sat on the interstate and enjoyed our tasty lunch. We watched other motorists around us get edgy. Many crossed over the grassy median and headed in the other direction. With no particular place to go and all day to get there, we chilled out and enjoyed our lunch.

Gotta love it.

Yes, once upon a time such a traffic tie-up would have sent either one or both of us into a tailspin. But, today it simply provided us a chance to breathe and enjoy lunch on the road, literally.

Like I said. Gotta love it.

Bruce and Margie

The fulltime RVing community lost two of the best among us yesterday. In a senseless and tragic act, our friends Bruce and Margie were killed on their morning walk in one of their favorite places, beautiful Pismo Beach, California.

The news of this unimaginable tragedy was bravely shared by their daughter Stephanie on Bruce and Margie’s blog. Stephanie knew that was the best way to reach many of her parents’ friends. In between the lines that were so shocking and painful to read, I could see Margie’s foresight. She had seen to it that if anything had happened to them, her family would know how to notify their friends.

Bruce and Margie were blessed with many friends. With their kind hearts and energetic spirits, you just couldn’t help but like them. They shared their travels and commitment to healthy eating with the world through two blogs, which had many regular readers and followers. Margie’s comments on her friends’ blogs, including ours, were ever-present. She always knew exactly the right thing to say.

Bruce and Margie started their fulltiming journey in 2008, shortly after we hatched the idea for our own. At a time when we were soaking up all the information we could about this intriguing lifestyle, we enjoyed reading about Bruce and Margie, experienced RVers and former Californians, who were just starting their life on the road. While we were still working away, we lived vicariously through their posts.

As we got to know this lovely couple through their words and pictures, we saw in them many traits we wanted to foster in our own fulltiming journey. They shared a deep commitment to their family. No matter where they were traveling, family came first. Always. We were inspired by their obvious commitment to maintaining their health and fitness in what can easily become a sedentary, pound-producing lifestyle. Bruce and Margie also displayed a rather unique combination of talents that served them so well in their life and this lifestyle: organization and adaptability. It’s not often that those that are so well organized can roll so easily with the punches. We so wanted to be like them!

In April 2009, we needed a place to escape to while the interior of house was being painted in preparation for our house sale. After reading Bruce and Margie’s accounts of Pismo Coast Village, we knew where we were going. We missed meeting our friends there by a few weeks. But, after spending a lazy five nights in their lovely park in that beautiful town on the central coast, we understood why Bruce and Margie loved it so.

Late last Summer, when we started shopping for our new moose, we reached out to Bruce and Margie for advice. Their rolling home was the same make and model of the one we were considering. We were grateful beneficiaries of their generous spirit. They selflessly shared their insights and tips. They answered tons of questions. Thanks to them, we made an informed decision and approached this mega purchase with confidence.

Sharing similar motorhomes provided a bond for our friendship to grow. We regularly exchanged stories of Winnie life. While we subjected our Tours to sub-freezing temps last December, we kept in near constant contact helping each other keep our motorhomes, pets and selves from freezing. In moments when we were reaching the end of our rope, Bruce and Margie would offer wise perspective, practical advice and welcome good humor.

“As Bruce always says,” Margie wrote on more than one occasion, “everything can be fixed.”

After we’d all headed south to thaw, we compared travel itineraries in search of a place to meet in person. Johnson City, in Texas hill country, would be the place. Bruce and Margie were overnighting there in April on their trip east on US 50 toward a family vacation at Walt Disney World. We were on our way from Kerrville to Austin and scheduled a lunch stop in Johnson City along the way.

As happens when fulltimers meet, with our first hugs we felt like we were meeting long lost friends for the first time. We will always remember the youthful spring in their steps, their joyful smiles and the sparkle in their eyes. We admired each other’s homes and doted on each other’s spoiled pets. As we caught up over our long lunch, we shared lots of laughter. At one point Bruce told our helpful server, “Can you believe we just met?” She shook her head in disbelief.

Time passed much too quickly, of course, and it was time for us to leave our friends. With warm hugs we vowed to see each other down the road soon. As we’ve sketched out travel plans for next year we’ve looked for possibilities to meet up with these special friends again.

We are so deeply saddened that reunion is not to be.

Today our thoughts and prayers are with Bruce and Margie’s family. We join fellow fulltimers and bloggers across the country in embracing them in a virtual hug. We pray that they will find comfort in the words of Bruce and Margie’s many traveling friends as they face these most difficult of days.

Last night as I prepared to saute some veggies for dinner, I stepped through the now automatic process of placing a shower cap over our super-sensitive smoke detector just above our stove.

“Margie gave us that tip,” I muttered.

Through tears we have spent the last day reflecting on our brief friendship with these two special people who shared so much. We are so very glad we had the great pleasure to meet them. They will be missed.

We join our wonderful RVing community in celebrating two lives well-lived. Bruce and Margie spent their last years doing exactly what they wanted to do, the way they wanted to. We thank them for their selfless contributions to our community. As we continue our travels in our trusty Tour we will honor their memory by embracing their joie de vivre and living the words that Margie so frequently used to close a message or comment. In fact, she used them to close her last blog post.

“Travel safe and enjoy the view.”

We will, dear friends. And, we wish the very same for you.

Valued Sites

Life is good here at Defeated Creek. The weather has been picture perfect, the company wonderful and the food plentiful. Most of our time has been spent simply enjoying this delightful place. We’ve even managed to get out and see some sights. 

Between sightseeing we’ve been thinking about sites. Web sites, that is. Online browsing fills the time we once spent reading daily newspapers and magazines (and then some). It’s our primary method of staying connected with the world in general and our fulltime RVing community, specifically. 

In a sea of sites, there are several we visit on a regular basis. We frequent all of the blogs listed over there to the right. These are folks who are sharing their experience as future, current or former fulltimers. They’re listed here because, in our opinion, they tell it like it is. Free of hype and hoopla, these good people are making a small but mighty contribution to the fulltiming community by publicly sharing what they’re up to. We find these “reality” sites entertaining, educational and inspiring. Plus, they help us keep track of our friends and meet up with them whenever we can! We can only hope that our meager little blog might provide the same for other members of this community we are proud to be a part of. 

Besides these blogs, there are five RV-related sites we find most valuable. 

rvparkreviews.com is an example of the value the RVing community can create together. This site features more than 100,000 reviews of RV parks and campgrounds across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The reviews are written by everyday RVers and provide helpful, unbiased insight to parks unknown. We use this site regularly to help us find the places we call home on the road. And, we’ve contributed reviews on every place we’ve stayed. Here’s a link to our reviews.

 

rvnetwork.com is the Escapees discussion forum. As members of this RVing club, we enjoy the campground discounts, member campgrounds and mail service. The free forum is open to any and all RV enthusiasts. With more than 16,000 registered members, we have found the collective wisdom available here to be quite valuable. Topics range from “Beginning RVing” to “Working on the Road.” Two topics are of special interest to current and future fulltimers. “Sharing the Fulltiming Lifestyle” is a very helpful and friendly thread that explores all aspects of life on the road. “Graduating to Fulltime” is an area where fulltimers check in with their “class”. We communicate regularly with our Class of 2009 and have met classmates from our class and other years. We’ve even contributed words of encouragement to future classes, like the Class of 2014!  

rv.net is a network of many sites. It’s a great big source of information for and from the community at large. Besides info on campgrounds, shows and RV reviews, there are blogs. Lots of them. The rv.net Open Roads Forum is vast. Our favorite thread is “Roads and Routes”, which contains more than 200,000 topics about to get from here to there. If you’re wondering if Highway 123 is the best way to reach Location ABC this is the place have that question answered. 

irv2.com bills itself as a friendly RVing forum. And, we’ve found it to be just that. With more than 50,000 members, there’s always someone there to help a fellow RVer. There’s gobs of information here. We spend our time in the specific owner’s forums for our motorhome, chassis and engine. We have learned so much about our moose from fellow Winnebago, Freightliner and Cummins owners. We’ve asked and answered many questions. Whenever we have a question this is the first place we visit. This is also the first place we go to offer help whenever we can. 

rvforum.net is a smaller forum, with a mere 27,000 members, that has a dandy Winnebago owner’s forum. (It touts that it is the friendliest online RV forum. We won’t dispute that!) Through this forum we had the pleasure of meeting up with several Winnebago owners at the Grand National Rally in Forest City this summer. We have found this to be a great group of friendly, knowledgeable and helpful folks.

With free and easy access to these five fantastic forums and all of these beautiful blogs, we can tap this wise and wonderful community in just a few quick clicks. We get helpful information and advice whenever we ask, and contribute the same to others wherever and whenever we can. 

It’s just one more reason we love this lifestyle. Though it’s just the two of us and the cats traveling along with the moose and squirrel, thanks to this powerful network, it always feels like we’re traveling in the company of family and friends. 

Our Favorite

When we were planning for our fulltiming adventures, I had a vision of how our new life would be: kicked back in a recliner outside with a book enjoying dappled shade and shirt-sleeve temps cooled by a gently breeze off a scenic lake. That idyllic scene had yet to manifest.

Until yesterday.

Defeated Creek COE Campground in Carthage, TN is simply gorgeous. There isn't a bad site in the place. Each one enjoys at least a bit of shade and a view of water and tree-covered hills that are just beginning to display their autumn colors. The weather since our arrival - and the forecast for the foreseeable future - is perfect. We'll take all of the 80-degree highs and 40-something low days Mother Nature will dish out.

Yep. This place will definitely work.

Of course, in our travels we've come to learn that it's the people who really make a place. And, that is certainly true here at Defeated. We're here with friends, which makes this spot extra special. So far, Ellie and Jim, JoAnn and Doug, Netters and Mac and Leno and Kevin have arrived and more are coming. We've all come to meet locals Lisa and Tony and their family and friends. They've warmly welcomed us here to their home park. We so look forward to hanging out with everybody for the next couple of weeks.

In these parts, neighbors are most friendly folks. Dinner at home last night was accompanied by impromptu bluegrass from the site next door. (It was all good!!!!) After dinner, we stepped out to catch the second half of a Big 12 football game at Jim and Ellie's, and were greeted by our neighbors at the site outside our door. We chatted around their campfire and time flew by. By the time we bid our neighbors adieu, the game was long over.

There's lots to do around here. And, we will get around to it, eventually. For now, we're thinking we might just have to spend a second morning sitting outside in the shade, with a book, watching the water.

Yep. We think we may have found our favorite spot....so far, anyway!

Frozen

Every so often we are reminded that this lifestyle we've embarked on doesn't quite fit with the day-to-day world. Case in point: Chase.

Paul has a Chase Freedom card. He's used it to pay for everything for years and paid off the balance every month. There's never been a problem, until a few months ago when the card was compromised. Chase promptly issued another card with a new number, and we've been humming along since. Until the other day when we popped into the local IGA to pick up a few things. Paul produced his card, and it was declined.

Say what?

Well, of course this would happen in a place where we have no cellular service. Paul didn't get a call from Chase and couldn't make one. While he was suspended in credit card limbo, his card was frozen.

Yesterday, during our topless adventure from the peaceful side of the Smokies to the crazy side, we found some 3G service in Pigeon Forge and Paul made a call. Seems a fuel purchase in South Carolina flagged the Fraud Department. (Let's see....we've been buying fuel with that card all across the country for the last 15 months. What's so unusual about that?) Paul convinced the lovely voice on the other end that the purchase was legit. So, she moved the conversation along.

"When will you be done traveling and return to Texas?" asked the cheerful Chaser.

You see, in her world, there are only two ways for a customer to be. One is happily spending close to home. The other is in "travel mode". The former is a permanent state of being. The latter is temporary.

"We won't be done traveling," Paul explained. "It's what we do."

The woman repeated her innocent question hoping for a return date she could plug into her computer. But, it wasn't to be. Minutes later she was as frustrated as Paul. The two agreed to disagree and she assured Paul he could use his card again.

Crisis averted.

Back at our rolling home, Paul tried to log on and check the activity on his card. The cheerful Chaser had been much more concerned with our travels than she was about any recent transactions, so Paul really wanted to check it out. But, his online account access was suspended for the next three to five business days.

How crazy is that?

In a flurry of emails that followed Paul explained that he wanted to see the activity on his very own account so that he could check for any fraudulent activity. Suddenly he had access. He checked and all was well.

Then, he checked his email. He had a response from halfway across the world explaining that the access was temporary. Like Cinderella, his temporary access would be revoked at midnight. Permanent access will be reinstated in three to five days. He shared the message with me. I asked him to forward it to me so we could share it with you. Here's the best part.

Dear Paul,

I have addressed your concern to the best of my ability and you can be rest assured of exceptional service every-time an opportunity arises.

A frozen account is thawed, but our temperament as customers is definitely on the rise.

You can be rest assured!

Topless

On this absolutely gorgeous 70-something sunny day in east Tennessee, we had a first.

We went topless.

Rocky has a soft top. And, back when we lived in a stick and brick house there was many a day when we unzipped the windows and stored them inside. Then, we pulled back the top and went - you guessed it - topless.

We hadn't gone topless since we started fulltiming. It just never seemed to work out. But, today called for us to pull the windows out, peel back the top and go cruising in the National Park just up the road. So, we did!

And, it was fun. Lots of fun.

Truth is, Rocky doesn't have a lot of room. And, if we want to take friends along it's down right cumbersome. But, today we remembered why we really love this little Wrangler.

We can go topless!

Long Weekend

Yesterday, while we were dodging falling walnuts, Paul had a brief chat with a workcamper who told him they were expecting 18 rigs to roll in before the day was over.

"Everybody wants to get a jump on the weekend," the yellow-shirt wearing worker said.

That's right. We had to remind ourselves that it was Thursday!

Through the course of the day our spacious park became a little tighter and a lot more populated. About an hour before sundown, two motorhomes and a fiver pulled into three sites next to us within a few minutes of each other. In the blink of an eye they had their rigs backed in, hooked up and everything set up under their patio awnings. It was obvious they were friends who were here to enjoy the weekend. But, they had something else in common. They were all dressed in business casual attire that told us they had all worked some today. As soon as they were able they got out of the office, hooked up their rolling weekend homes and headed for the hills. We heard our next door neighbor tell the others that he hadn't just had a long day, but a reaaaallly long day.

We looked at each other and smiled.

Oh, how we remember the freeing feeling of finding a free Friday on the calendar and managing things so we could leave the office early Thursday afternoon to get a head start. We'd spend Tuesday evening grocery shopping and Wednesday night getting everything packed. Then, we'd go to work and scramble to get everything done so we could make our early escape. We'd dash home, load the Jeep as fast as we could and head for the storage facility. Our goal was always the same: To beat rush hour traffic. Sometimes we did it. Other times we weren't so lucky. But, we always got away. To have the feeling of putting our feet up under our patio awning outside our moose on a Thursday night was worth all that trouble. Sure, we were always exhausted upon our arrival. But, the prospect of three, count 'em THREE, nights in a campground was sheer bliss.

That's exactly what these three couples were feeling last night. We could see it. And, we're so happy for them. We hope they have a great weekend. We'll tolerate smoke from their must-have campfire and the noise of the happy conversations they have sitting around it. These folks need this long weekend for their health, well-being and sanity. We know. We've been there.

We don't miss the hassle. Not one bit. But, we do miss the rush. Just a little. (Really, just a little!) That feeling you get when you meet friends in a campground after a crazy week at work is absolutely wonderful. Of course, when you have to pack it all up and say goodbye on Sunday knowing you have to go to work on Monday, that's one of the worst feelings in the world.

We're meeting up with a bunch of RVing friends next week. So, we'll get a taste of the best part of the long weekend rush. We're really looking forward to that.

We won't have to pack a thing or scramble anywhere. And, the best part is we won't have to go to back to work!

We can't wait.