We're settled in, kicking off the holiday weekend with an overnight at the Petaluma KOA. We chose this campground because it's 3 miles away from the site of some very important activity. Just down the road we pumped some significant dough into the ailing economy this afternoon and got Rocky, our Jeep, and Bullwinkle outfitted for towing.
Boris did all the research on this vital purchase. He's relayed the essential info. Rocky is freshly outfitted with a Blue Ox baseplate. Bullwinkle's backend features a Blue Ox Aladdin towbar. And, the two share a US Gear unified tow brake and controller.
We started our day with a half day of work. Before the clock struck noon, we bolted home for a quick lunch, threw our stuff in the car and headed off to the moose. By just after 2 pm we were pulling into the dealership in Petaluma. We met up with Rocky, which we'd dropped off Wednesday night. His work was complete. Our Jeep was looking pretty fierce with his tow gear!
Bullwinkle was pulled into the service area where Steve, our highly skilled and very friendly service tech, went to work. Off came our bike rack and on went a drop hitch receiver, a mighty fancy looking towbar and a bunch of cables. Then he installed the brake controller at the dash.
Meanwhile, Boris and I toured several fancy coaches on the sales lot. They were beautiful, but none of them wowed us like our Bullwinkle!
As late afternoon became evening, Steve had everything installed and put us through our paces with hitching and unhitching, testing tail lights, brake lights and turn signals and disengaging and engaging Rocky's transfer case. (Not in that order, of course.) At last, we had everything hooked up and pulled away in the twilight. Thankfully, our stop for the night was just a few minutes away. Our squirrel followed our moose like a champ.
We pulled into the cheery KOA and our very long and level pull through. (Gotta love it!) By the light of our trusty flashlight, we unhooked Rocky and set up Bullwinkle. If we can do this in the dark, we're ready to do this anywhere! With everything set, we hopped in our toad and went grocery shopping. (Really gotta love that!)
Tonight we're celebrating another milestone in our fulltiming preparations. With Rocky behind us, Bullwinkle can take us anywhere and we can do anything. We are one giant step closer to realizing our dream!
Tomorrow morning, Boris will hop in the Jeep and run to our stick house, pick up the cats and bring them "home" to Bullwinkle. Then, we'll set out on an extended weekend adventure.
Lots more to come!
Eyes on the Prize
The eyes had it today. Boris and I started the day with a trip to the eye doctor. It's one of our many medical "to-dos" this month. (Before we get too far down this fulltiming road, we want to make sure we check out OK!) We both passed the exam with flying colors and quite correctable sight. The only downside was trying to work with pupils the size of dimes all day!
Later at work I was dealt a card or two that - if I still cared - would have sent me spinning. Instead, I did my best to remain emotionally disconnected and just go with the flow. Boris has been dealing with similar situations lately, and he's doing his best to do the same.
Tonight, as we relieved our tired dilated eyes with a cocktail, we gave thanks that we have crafted our fulltiming plan. Without it, we'd be tossing about like boats on a choppy sea. As we expressed our gratitude, Boris spoke the words of our dear readers, friends and inspiring fulltimers Gordon and Juanita. Their words have become a powerful mantra that get us through days like this.
"Keep your eyes on the prize."
Yes, there may be fancy new frames in our future, but that's our singular focus these days, without a doubt.
And, what a prize it is!
Later at work I was dealt a card or two that - if I still cared - would have sent me spinning. Instead, I did my best to remain emotionally disconnected and just go with the flow. Boris has been dealing with similar situations lately, and he's doing his best to do the same.
Tonight, as we relieved our tired dilated eyes with a cocktail, we gave thanks that we have crafted our fulltiming plan. Without it, we'd be tossing about like boats on a choppy sea. As we expressed our gratitude, Boris spoke the words of our dear readers, friends and inspiring fulltimers Gordon and Juanita. Their words have become a powerful mantra that get us through days like this.
"Keep your eyes on the prize."
Yes, there may be fancy new frames in our future, but that's our singular focus these days, without a doubt.
And, what a prize it is!
Reactions
We're wrapping up a stay-at-home weekend that featured the usual purging and shredding. RV weekends are lots more fun! But, it's great to see some significant progress on our road to fulltiming. Our household inventory project is nearly finished, and I managed to assemble the first row of 9 in my it's-gotta-be-done-before-we-go monster quilt project. We also checked out one possible nearby campground that we might park ourselves in while the house is on the market. So much to do! We're getting there.
While our bodies were busy, our minds reflected on the many conversations we've had with friends recently where we've announced our fulltiming plans. (For a couple of people who are trying to keep our plans under wraps, we're sure talking about it alot!) While it's always fun to share this news, we're beginning to be more intrigued with the reaction we get.
The reactions tend to fall into one of two categories: "I don't get it" or "I want to do that."
When we hear "Sounds fun", we now think that really means "I don't get (or really care) what you're doing." And, since we've limited these conversations to family and very close friends, our money is on the fact that they don't understand. And, that's understandable!
One very recent conversation went something like this:
Natasha: "We're going to sell the house and most of our possessions, load up the RV and travel around the country for a few years."
Friend: "That sounds fun."
Having heard that response more than a time or two, I waited for the next comment:
Friend: "What are you going to do with your house?"
Was she not listening or not understanding? The flurry of questions that followed led me to believe she very much wanted to understand more about what we're up to. I answered her every question. Minutes later I heard the other type of response we hear.
Friend: "Wow! That would really be something to do. Good for you!"
That's one variation of the "I want to do that" response. A recent favorite was "You're living my dream!" While those responses are tad more encouraging than "Sounds fun", there's something very affirming in them. Maybe it's the recognition that we all have something that deep-down in our souls we really want to do. And, it's a special joy to see someone else following their soul's yearning. In those joyful moments there's more than encouragement and affirmation.
It's heart-warming.
While our bodies were busy, our minds reflected on the many conversations we've had with friends recently where we've announced our fulltiming plans. (For a couple of people who are trying to keep our plans under wraps, we're sure talking about it alot!) While it's always fun to share this news, we're beginning to be more intrigued with the reaction we get.
The reactions tend to fall into one of two categories: "I don't get it" or "I want to do that."
When we hear "Sounds fun", we now think that really means "I don't get (or really care) what you're doing." And, since we've limited these conversations to family and very close friends, our money is on the fact that they don't understand. And, that's understandable!
One very recent conversation went something like this:
Natasha: "We're going to sell the house and most of our possessions, load up the RV and travel around the country for a few years."
Friend: "That sounds fun."
Having heard that response more than a time or two, I waited for the next comment:
Friend: "What are you going to do with your house?"
Was she not listening or not understanding? The flurry of questions that followed led me to believe she very much wanted to understand more about what we're up to. I answered her every question. Minutes later I heard the other type of response we hear.
Friend: "Wow! That would really be something to do. Good for you!"
That's one variation of the "I want to do that" response. A recent favorite was "You're living my dream!" While those responses are tad more encouraging than "Sounds fun", there's something very affirming in them. Maybe it's the recognition that we all have something that deep-down in our souls we really want to do. And, it's a special joy to see someone else following their soul's yearning. In those joyful moments there's more than encouragement and affirmation.
It's heart-warming.
A Little Bit Every Day
One week into our new year of soon-to-be fulltiming, we're pleased with our progress. We've scheduled doctor's appointments of various shapes and sizes, made great progress on our household inventory project, thrown more stuff away and made an appointment to get set up for towing.
Yep. In a week or so Bullwinkle and Rocky will finally be together. We have a date to get Rocky, our Jeep and toad-to-be setup with a tow bar and braking system. The next day we'll load up the cats and stuff in Bullwinkle for a holiday weekend of camping and meet up with Rocky and hook the moose up with what it needs to tow. Then, we'll hook everything together and roll.
There's much more to do this month, of course. But, so far we're more than happy to be a accomplishing a little bit every day.
Yep. In a week or so Bullwinkle and Rocky will finally be together. We have a date to get Rocky, our Jeep and toad-to-be setup with a tow bar and braking system. The next day we'll load up the cats and stuff in Bullwinkle for a holiday weekend of camping and meet up with Rocky and hook the moose up with what it needs to tow. Then, we'll hook everything together and roll.
There's much more to do this month, of course. But, so far we're more than happy to be a accomplishing a little bit every day.
Sentimental Inventory
With the holidays behind us, we are full speed ahead on our mission to get ready for fulltiming. There is so much to do this month it makes our heads spin. But, it's all good.
One of our first to-dos is to "put away" Christmas. We didn't get much stuff out for our last "stick and brick" Christmas, sad to say. A day or two before Christmas we hung a wreath I made years ago over the fireplace and we managed to pull out our little
allegedly 6-foot artifical tree that we bought the week before Christmas 10 years ago for less than 10 bucks because we were too tired to lug our 12-foot monster tree out of the basement and decorate it.
You see, many things -- especially holiday things -- have a story behind them.
Well, last night I pulled the final plug on that little tree and, I must admit, I got a little sentimental. (So sentimental, in fact, I took pictures of the scrawny little thing.) We'll take that tree down tomorrow or the next day and put it out with the trash. Then, we'll go through our collection of ornaments and decide what to keep and toss. Most will go. A few sentimental favorites will go to storage. Each and every one of them will have a story that we will treasure.
Tonight, we embarked on another chapter of our household inventory project. We're making a list of all of our household possessions, room by room, and will soon decide what we'll keep, store, trash or give away. Tonight we tackled the kitchen. In just under an hour we moved from cabinet to cabinet and made note of what was in each. Tucked away in dark crevices we found presents from Christmases past, wedding gifts and some stuff either one of us never knew we had. Each of them had a story.
We're pleased to report that during this process there were more than a few things that we immediately decided to toss. So, Boris is feeling particularly satisfied with this project as it met his minimum daily requirement for 2009: to throw something away every day.
Eventually, we'll decide what to do with it all. It's all part of the process. But, today it's been a sentimental inventory.
One of our first to-dos is to "put away" Christmas. We didn't get much stuff out for our last "stick and brick" Christmas, sad to say. A day or two before Christmas we hung a wreath I made years ago over the fireplace and we managed to pull out our little
allegedly 6-foot artifical tree that we bought the week before Christmas 10 years ago for less than 10 bucks because we were too tired to lug our 12-foot monster tree out of the basement and decorate it.
You see, many things -- especially holiday things -- have a story behind them.
Well, last night I pulled the final plug on that little tree and, I must admit, I got a little sentimental. (So sentimental, in fact, I took pictures of the scrawny little thing.) We'll take that tree down tomorrow or the next day and put it out with the trash. Then, we'll go through our collection of ornaments and decide what to keep and toss. Most will go. A few sentimental favorites will go to storage. Each and every one of them will have a story that we will treasure.
Tonight, we embarked on another chapter of our household inventory project. We're making a list of all of our household possessions, room by room, and will soon decide what we'll keep, store, trash or give away. Tonight we tackled the kitchen. In just under an hour we moved from cabinet to cabinet and made note of what was in each. Tucked away in dark crevices we found presents from Christmases past, wedding gifts and some stuff either one of us never knew we had. Each of them had a story.
We're pleased to report that during this process there were more than a few things that we immediately decided to toss. So, Boris is feeling particularly satisfied with this project as it met his minimum daily requirement for 2009: to throw something away every day.
Eventually, we'll decide what to do with it all. It's all part of the process. But, today it's been a sentimental inventory.
Life at the Rancheria
We're settling in for night 2 of 2 at Jackson Rancheria. Details of this trip, though there aren't many, are at Bullwinkle's Place. The headline for this blog, however, is: WE STILL HAVE TO GO BACK TO WORK ON MONDAY.
With thoughts of quitting on Monday dancing through our heads, we checked out the casino late this afternoon. We are so not casino people, mind you. But, we thought it was worth a small investment to see if, by some astronomically unlikely chance, we could hit a jackpot that would make our post-holiday return to work optional. Fifteen dollars and fifteen minutes at the quarter slots proved otherwise. Oh well, you can't win if you don't play.
We're so glad we planned this little two-night getaway for the tail end of our holiday break. It was just what we needed to start our fulltiming year. It's a good feeling to start the year in our moose!
This has also been our first real foray into cold weather camping. Here in the Sierra Nevada foothills it's been chilly. Last night's low was a nippy 28-degrees. Sometime in the very wee hours, our awning retracted on its own, which gave us quite a stir. After a few puzzling moments, I remembered reading that the thing automatically comes in when the temperature approaches freezing. (I honestly never thought that would apply to us!) We checked our outdoor thermometer and, viola, we were there. Mystery solved.
We've also learned lots about how our heat pump and gas furnace work. Tonight we'll likely need them both as the forecast calls for another night in the 20s, and the temp was below freezing before we started dinner. Boris has a big to-do before we sleep tonight -- unhook the water hose.
With a pot of hearty red beans and rice on the stove, we're ready to concede our gambling losses and enjoy another night in our comfy cozy moose. As Boris pointed out, we've already spent more nights in 2009 in the RV than we have out of it.
Let's hope that's the beginning of a long-running trend.
With thoughts of quitting on Monday dancing through our heads, we checked out the casino late this afternoon. We are so not casino people, mind you. But, we thought it was worth a small investment to see if, by some astronomically unlikely chance, we could hit a jackpot that would make our post-holiday return to work optional. Fifteen dollars and fifteen minutes at the quarter slots proved otherwise. Oh well, you can't win if you don't play.
We're so glad we planned this little two-night getaway for the tail end of our holiday break. It was just what we needed to start our fulltiming year. It's a good feeling to start the year in our moose!
This has also been our first real foray into cold weather camping. Here in the Sierra Nevada foothills it's been chilly. Last night's low was a nippy 28-degrees. Sometime in the very wee hours, our awning retracted on its own, which gave us quite a stir. After a few puzzling moments, I remembered reading that the thing automatically comes in when the temperature approaches freezing. (I honestly never thought that would apply to us!) We checked our outdoor thermometer and, viola, we were there. Mystery solved.
We've also learned lots about how our heat pump and gas furnace work. Tonight we'll likely need them both as the forecast calls for another night in the 20s, and the temp was below freezing before we started dinner. Boris has a big to-do before we sleep tonight -- unhook the water hose.
With a pot of hearty red beans and rice on the stove, we're ready to concede our gambling losses and enjoy another night in our comfy cozy moose. As Boris pointed out, we've already spent more nights in 2009 in the RV than we have out of it.
Let's hope that's the beginning of a long-running trend.
Happy New Year!
With the turn of the calendar to 2009, we're back home briefly from our far away family holiday travels.
Today is special in so many ways:
Today is special in so many ways:
- This is THE YEAR we become fulltimers. It's no longer a "next year" thing.
- We're still employed, so we'll receive another year of retirement plan contributions. Yippee!
- We're reminded how much we really hate to travel by air. The sooner we're traveling by motor coach, the better.
2009 promises to be 365 days of fun, adventure and change.
Cheers!
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