Four years ago today we set off on our Great RV Escape. This is one of our favorite "anniversaries". It's a joy to recall the incredible sense of freedom we had on that day, remember everything it took to get there and celebrate all of the memories we've created since.
Of course, this is the first fulltiming anniversary that we're not celebrating in the moose. We'll meet up with him again tomorrow. Meanwhile, we're remembering this special day by reflecting on the lessons we learned on our life-changing journey. In hopes that these thoughts may inform or inspire folks who pass this way someday, we'll share a few of the things we're taking with us from our travels.
Lesson #1: Live Simply
If we take nothing else away from the last four years, this first lesson made it all worthwhile. For most of my adult life those two words were my perpetual New Year's resolution. Yet, every year life seemed to get more and more complicated. It took getting rid of most of our stuff, packing what was left in the moose and hitting the road for me to finally experience what I wanted for so long. Together, we learned the joy of living with just what we need. We kept things simple. And, we loved it. Our life of simplicity actually made room for us to enjoy so much more. Even though we're back in an "accumulation phase" for a bit as we furnish our house, this time it's different. We're finding just what we need and no more. We worked hard to finally simplify our lives. We're committed to keeping it that way.
Lesson #2: America Rocks
Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where most residents think it is the center of the universe, it was easy to become just a bit jaded about our country. But, something happened shortly after we crossed the California state line into Oregon. We fell in love with America again. That love affair grew stronger over the next 35,000 miles. We live in an amazingly beautiful country. It's not just the purple mountains and shining seas that make it beautiful. The people we met along the way were warm, friendly and helpful. We have always been proud to be Americans. But, now we're in love, too!
Lesson #3: Age is Just a Number
As fulltime RVers go, we were definitely youngsters. It bothered us a bit at first. We found ourselves missing the company of our contemporaries. While most of our contemporaries continued slaving away at their careers, we had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know people of all ages. A few were younger, but most were older. We met folks in their 70s and 80s who were more active and energetic than we are. (And, we're pretty energetic!) Today, we have friends who are young enough to be our kids and friends who are the same chronological age as our parents. And, lots of friends are in between. What makes us friends is love, laughter, energetic spirit and a shared passion for exploring. Age isn't part of our criteria for friendship. It's just a number. (With each passing birthday, we need to remind ourselves of that!)
Lesson #4: Go Outside
When we hit the road four years ago today, our lives changed in so many ways. One of the most significant was that we began to live outside. Our pre-fulltiming life was lived predominately inside our offices, our cars and our home. We even worked out in an indoor gym! Time outside was limited to rare weekend hikes or bicycle outings. We knew it was good for us to get outside, but we rarely did. As fulltimers, the continent became our front yard. And, we loved it. When we get plenty of sunshine, fresh air and exercise, we feel terrific. When we don't, we need to remember to go outside!
Lesson #5: Never Stop Exploring
Paul and I love to explore. It's part of what we love about each other. That shared love was one of the most satisfying aspects of our fulltiming journey. Whether we were exploring a hiking trail, a National Park, a state Capitol, a new-to-us restaurant or a quirky shop, we were feeding our souls. During our first visit to beautiful Hilton Head Island, SC, Paul's dear Aunt Anne delighted in what we were up to. "Never stop exploring," she said. "Keep moving. Keep learning." Even though we're not moving around in a motorhome as much as we were, we'll keep finding the new in the every day. There's something extra special about making a new discovery in familiar territory. We think Aunt Anne would like that.
Who knew such a crazy idea as getting rid of your stuff and traveling the country in a fiberglass box would result in so much learning?
We're so very glad it did! And, even more glad we did it!
Do We Miss It?
That's the most common question we've heard about our fulltime RVing adventures lately.
The answer is simple.
Of course we do!
Our nearly four years on the road were filled with great places, terrific people and memories that will last a couple of lifetimes. Why wouldn't we miss it? In fact, we are counting the days (just three more) until our first adventure as Anytimers. We can't wait!
As much as we miss all that, we are really appreciating what we have now. Despite my occasional rant about how much time, energy and money it's taking us to make it our home, we love the new house. It's really great. We're enjoying cooking more than ever now that we have a proper kitchen. We hosted our first dinner guests this week and look forward to many more. I almost forgot how much fun it can be to entertain.
We appreciate being near family right now, especially our parents. Being here, we're on top of what's up with them more than we ever could be from hundreds of miles away. We'll always worry about them, of course. But, somehow the worrying is less stressful when we're all close by. We're also enjoying reconnecting with friends in the area. Our social calendar is filling up. And, we love it! We've met many of our neighbors, and they are a friendly bunch, too.
We're in better shape than were on the road. We hiked and biked when we could, but these days I'm walking and Paul's running nearly every day. I love it. And, Paul ran his first road race in a zillion years on the 4th. I don't know why, but we're eating better, too. Check that. It could be because we're no longer exploring new restaurants at every destination!
Paul has been busy getting his business off the ground. Having a real office provides him with the tools he needs to do the work he loves. And, it's obvious he's enjoying it. He's designing the business to work with our extended travels. But, for now, he's logging some serious hours to get things going.
One of my concerns about coming off the road was a fear of being bored. Not so! I am amazed at how busy we are. We keep wondering how we managed to squeeze in all this stuff when we were both working. (We didn't!) I suppose things will slow down once we're finally settled, but maybe not. If we do get bored, we'll just fire up the moose for a little road trip.
So, do we miss traveling fulltime? Yes.
But, are we sorry we stopped? Absolutely not!
It has been a little tough reading about our friends who are in some of our favorite Summertime destinations this holiday weekend. We're happy for them, but we're the first to admit it would be so nice to be among them. But, we have a house to settle into, a business to launch and a family wedding next week. As tempting as it is to run to the mountains, there's really no place we'd rather be right now.
Now, next Summer is sure to be different. We'll be on the road!
Time, Energy and Money
We thought this move would be simple.
Who were we foolin'?
It's been six weeks since we became land barons. By this time we were sure we'd be settled. Life would be normal, or close to it. The transition from living in a rolling home to a stick and brick house would be a distant memory.
After all, we only had so much stuff. All we had to do was a little shopping and we'd be all set. Right?
Wrong.
Truth is we're still in this transition. Knee deep. Turns out stocking a house, even a smallish one, from basically scratch takes time. A lot of it.
We're six weeks in and still have three rooms with no furniture. Not a stick. Actually, our living room has cardboard cutouts that represent pieces of furniture. Quite stylish! The good news there is I think we've landed on a layout that works. The next step is to buy the stuff. Then, we'll wait. Weeks.
Our rooms that have furniture are far from finished. We still need an area rug here and some bedding there and there. It all involves shopping. A lot of it. It's not our favorite thing to do. And, much of the time, it's not all that productive. I've been searching in vain for two small pieces of furniture to complete our most finished room. Once I find them, we'll start hanging artwork in there. Yes, our walls are bare. We have yet to unpack any of our art because we're not sure where we're putting it just yet. Plus, we have plans to frame yet-to-be-prints of some of our favorite photos from our travels. (Any project that starts with combing through tens of thousands of photos is going to take some time!)
We've made some mighty big moves in our past. Some were across town and one was across the country. Whatever the case, six weeks in we looked like we actually lived in the place. Here it looks like we're still waiting for the moving van to show up!
Of course, we have no deadlines on this project. That may be a blessing and a curse, actually. We have all the time in the world to get this done, which may be exactly why it's taking that long. With our first house guests expected in three weeks, I'm on a mission to properly outfit our guest bedroom and bath. Yesterday's shopping outing resulted in a shower curtain rod, hooks and a liner. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?
We're making progress. But, we are surprised at how much energy this never-ending project is taking. I'm always on the lookout for something. Because we pretty much need everything! Craigslist correspondence has become my latest obsession. Scouting for a bargain is fun, but when it becomes your job, it's an energy zapper. Paul has been focused on getting the lawn up and running. Of course, that meant buying and assembling a lawn mower, spreader, sprinklers, hoses and such. He wanted a lawn to take care, and he definitely got one. The house doesn't need much work at all. But, the yard is definitely in need of Paul's green thumb. Still, our "to-do" list is lengthy. And, it seems like the closer we get to checking things off the list, the longer it gets!
We knew this transition would cost us. And, we planned for it. But, the giant sucking sound of greenbacks leaving our bank account can be deafening. It'll be interesting to see how much we've spent after the dust settles. It'll be more than we thought it would be. Guaranteed.
The point of this ramble is that the transition from fulltiming to anytiming takes a lot of time, energy and money. And, while nobody will make the transition exactly as we are, our money (what we have left, anyway) is on the whole process being more complicated than imagined. Lots more.
We used to joke that one day we'd find a cute little house, park the moose, call Pottery Barn and have them deliver a house full of furniture. We found the house and stored the coach. But, that whole house full of furniture thing just isn't that simple.
We know there's a day in our future when we'll feel settled in both our homes. Then, we'll get to experience the best of both worlds. We can't wait.
Meanwhile, we'll keep hoping we have enough time, energy and money to get there.
Fingers crossed!
Who were we foolin'?
It's been six weeks since we became land barons. By this time we were sure we'd be settled. Life would be normal, or close to it. The transition from living in a rolling home to a stick and brick house would be a distant memory.
After all, we only had so much stuff. All we had to do was a little shopping and we'd be all set. Right?
Wrong.
Truth is we're still in this transition. Knee deep. Turns out stocking a house, even a smallish one, from basically scratch takes time. A lot of it.
We're six weeks in and still have three rooms with no furniture. Not a stick. Actually, our living room has cardboard cutouts that represent pieces of furniture. Quite stylish! The good news there is I think we've landed on a layout that works. The next step is to buy the stuff. Then, we'll wait. Weeks.
Our rooms that have furniture are far from finished. We still need an area rug here and some bedding there and there. It all involves shopping. A lot of it. It's not our favorite thing to do. And, much of the time, it's not all that productive. I've been searching in vain for two small pieces of furniture to complete our most finished room. Once I find them, we'll start hanging artwork in there. Yes, our walls are bare. We have yet to unpack any of our art because we're not sure where we're putting it just yet. Plus, we have plans to frame yet-to-be-prints of some of our favorite photos from our travels. (Any project that starts with combing through tens of thousands of photos is going to take some time!)
We've made some mighty big moves in our past. Some were across town and one was across the country. Whatever the case, six weeks in we looked like we actually lived in the place. Here it looks like we're still waiting for the moving van to show up!
Of course, we have no deadlines on this project. That may be a blessing and a curse, actually. We have all the time in the world to get this done, which may be exactly why it's taking that long. With our first house guests expected in three weeks, I'm on a mission to properly outfit our guest bedroom and bath. Yesterday's shopping outing resulted in a shower curtain rod, hooks and a liner. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?
We're making progress. But, we are surprised at how much energy this never-ending project is taking. I'm always on the lookout for something. Because we pretty much need everything! Craigslist correspondence has become my latest obsession. Scouting for a bargain is fun, but when it becomes your job, it's an energy zapper. Paul has been focused on getting the lawn up and running. Of course, that meant buying and assembling a lawn mower, spreader, sprinklers, hoses and such. He wanted a lawn to take care, and he definitely got one. The house doesn't need much work at all. But, the yard is definitely in need of Paul's green thumb. Still, our "to-do" list is lengthy. And, it seems like the closer we get to checking things off the list, the longer it gets!
We knew this transition would cost us. And, we planned for it. But, the giant sucking sound of greenbacks leaving our bank account can be deafening. It'll be interesting to see how much we've spent after the dust settles. It'll be more than we thought it would be. Guaranteed.
The point of this ramble is that the transition from fulltiming to anytiming takes a lot of time, energy and money. And, while nobody will make the transition exactly as we are, our money (what we have left, anyway) is on the whole process being more complicated than imagined. Lots more.
We used to joke that one day we'd find a cute little house, park the moose, call Pottery Barn and have them deliver a house full of furniture. We found the house and stored the coach. But, that whole house full of furniture thing just isn't that simple.
We know there's a day in our future when we'll feel settled in both our homes. Then, we'll get to experience the best of both worlds. We can't wait.
Meanwhile, we'll keep hoping we have enough time, energy and money to get there.
Fingers crossed!
Storing the Moose
It's been a long time since we've stored a moose.
We took our original Bullwinkle out of storage four years ago tomorrow. One of the things I remember celebrating that day was that we no longer had to squeeze our wide body moose into that skinny little spot. We haven't missed it a bit!
Well, in four years, our moose got bigger. And, apparently, storage spots have become even skinnier. (It couldn't possibly be that we are out of practice!)
Our big moose has spent the last month at Cummins Coach Care for some general maintenance and fixin' up. When we dropped him off there we told them to take their time, as we - for once - were in no hurry. At the start of Summer, Cummins can be a busy place. Between that, and waiting on the Winnebago to send a correct part, this service appointment took awhile. When we got the call last week that the moose was ready to roll, we scheduled to pick him up yesterday afternoon.
We have really missed him! Even though we've been too busy settling in to go anywhere, we were a bit bummed knowing we couldn't because Bullwinkle was away. One of the advantages of becoming Anytime RVers is enjoying the "best of both worlds". We've been so wrapped up in the fixed house world, we are eager for at least a short trip to the other world. Soon. Very soon!
When we arrived at Cummins mid-afternoon, our moose was sitting out front waiting for us. We paid the bill, hooked the squirrel to the moose and made our maiden voyage to Bullwinkle's new storage spot.
The less-than-an-hour drive was a wonderful flashback. It was mostly city driving, which we really try to avoid, but it felt great to be looking at the world through that big Imax window. It's quite a ride.
As tempted as we were to swing by the house, pick up the cats and keep on driving, we kept on course and faced the moment of truth. Paul piloted the moose and squirrel through the skinny little entrance gate with ease. Once inside the storage facility, he had plenty of room to maneuver Bullwinkle around his new neighborhood and find a spot to unhook.
While Paul was separating the squirrel from the moose, I surveyed our storage spot. It was as skinny as I remembered! There's a large boat on one side and a wall on the other. The wall is supported by three or four posts that sit on large concrete blocks that would make mincemeat of fiberglass in a hurry. These menacing blocks and the big boat were separated by barely 10 feet of empty space. Unlike the angled storage spot we moved out of four years ago, this one requires a sharp 90-degree turn to enter.
In travel mode, our moose is 8.5 feet wide, not including mirrors. At 40 feet long, he doesn't exactly turn on a dime.
Therein lies our parking challenge!
We sussed out the situation. Every coach in the place was parked "nose in", so we decided to follow our neighbors' lead. This would take teamwork and patience. Thankfully, we have plenty of both.
We have parked our moose a couple hundred times. It took every bit of experience we have acquired over the course of those successful landings to dock our great big Winnie into that skinny spot. Paul sat calmly and patiently behind the wheel while I broke out into a cold sweat as I simultaneously provided moment-by-moment directions and kept an eye on all eight corners of the coach, the mirrors, the concrete blocks, the beams, and the neighboring boat. (That's a lot to keep track of!) Paul followed my instructions to the letter. An early miscalculation on my part (Starting the turn too soon.) kept compounding through the process. As a result we came damn close to hitting everything. We had to back up and get repositioned five or six times, but eventually the nose of the moose was inches from the back wall. We were just between the lines and had enough room to open the door. Most importantly, no fiberglass was damaged in the process.
Whew!
We went through the long-since-forgotten process of putting the moose to bed. When we flipped the battery disconnect switches we realized that was likely the first time we'd done that. It's a good thing they worked! We pulled the front curtain and locked the door behind us. After three-and-a-half years of being out in the elements, Bullwinkle is safely under cover. Our trusty moose has earned a well-deserved rest.
He'd better rest up fast! We'll be back soon to get him back on the road. A family wedding is just around the corner. It'll be great to have our rolling home with us for that celebration as we enjoy our first trip as Anytime RVers. Eventually, we'll find ourselves back at the storage spot.
I'm already dreading it.
We've done it once. So, we can do it again. And, we know it will get easier in time. For starters, we'll start the turn later. And, Paul is thinking maybe we can back in next time.
Uh. We'll see about that.
We took our original Bullwinkle out of storage four years ago tomorrow. One of the things I remember celebrating that day was that we no longer had to squeeze our wide body moose into that skinny little spot. We haven't missed it a bit!
Well, in four years, our moose got bigger. And, apparently, storage spots have become even skinnier. (It couldn't possibly be that we are out of practice!)
Our big moose has spent the last month at Cummins Coach Care for some general maintenance and fixin' up. When we dropped him off there we told them to take their time, as we - for once - were in no hurry. At the start of Summer, Cummins can be a busy place. Between that, and waiting on the Winnebago to send a correct part, this service appointment took awhile. When we got the call last week that the moose was ready to roll, we scheduled to pick him up yesterday afternoon.
We have really missed him! Even though we've been too busy settling in to go anywhere, we were a bit bummed knowing we couldn't because Bullwinkle was away. One of the advantages of becoming Anytime RVers is enjoying the "best of both worlds". We've been so wrapped up in the fixed house world, we are eager for at least a short trip to the other world. Soon. Very soon!
When we arrived at Cummins mid-afternoon, our moose was sitting out front waiting for us. We paid the bill, hooked the squirrel to the moose and made our maiden voyage to Bullwinkle's new storage spot.
The less-than-an-hour drive was a wonderful flashback. It was mostly city driving, which we really try to avoid, but it felt great to be looking at the world through that big Imax window. It's quite a ride.
As tempted as we were to swing by the house, pick up the cats and keep on driving, we kept on course and faced the moment of truth. Paul piloted the moose and squirrel through the skinny little entrance gate with ease. Once inside the storage facility, he had plenty of room to maneuver Bullwinkle around his new neighborhood and find a spot to unhook.
While Paul was separating the squirrel from the moose, I surveyed our storage spot. It was as skinny as I remembered! There's a large boat on one side and a wall on the other. The wall is supported by three or four posts that sit on large concrete blocks that would make mincemeat of fiberglass in a hurry. These menacing blocks and the big boat were separated by barely 10 feet of empty space. Unlike the angled storage spot we moved out of four years ago, this one requires a sharp 90-degree turn to enter.
In travel mode, our moose is 8.5 feet wide, not including mirrors. At 40 feet long, he doesn't exactly turn on a dime.
Therein lies our parking challenge!
We sussed out the situation. Every coach in the place was parked "nose in", so we decided to follow our neighbors' lead. This would take teamwork and patience. Thankfully, we have plenty of both.
We have parked our moose a couple hundred times. It took every bit of experience we have acquired over the course of those successful landings to dock our great big Winnie into that skinny spot. Paul sat calmly and patiently behind the wheel while I broke out into a cold sweat as I simultaneously provided moment-by-moment directions and kept an eye on all eight corners of the coach, the mirrors, the concrete blocks, the beams, and the neighboring boat. (That's a lot to keep track of!) Paul followed my instructions to the letter. An early miscalculation on my part (Starting the turn too soon.) kept compounding through the process. As a result we came damn close to hitting everything. We had to back up and get repositioned five or six times, but eventually the nose of the moose was inches from the back wall. We were just between the lines and had enough room to open the door. Most importantly, no fiberglass was damaged in the process.
Whew!
We went through the long-since-forgotten process of putting the moose to bed. When we flipped the battery disconnect switches we realized that was likely the first time we'd done that. It's a good thing they worked! We pulled the front curtain and locked the door behind us. After three-and-a-half years of being out in the elements, Bullwinkle is safely under cover. Our trusty moose has earned a well-deserved rest.
He'd better rest up fast! We'll be back soon to get him back on the road. A family wedding is just around the corner. It'll be great to have our rolling home with us for that celebration as we enjoy our first trip as Anytime RVers. Eventually, we'll find ourselves back at the storage spot.
I'm already dreading it.
We've done it once. So, we can do it again. And, we know it will get easier in time. For starters, we'll start the turn later. And, Paul is thinking maybe we can back in next time.
Uh. We'll see about that.
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