Chores

If we were on a two week vacation, we would have headed for home today.  

Yes, it's starting to sink in that we're not on holiday, this is our home and we're adopting a new lifestyle. And, yes, it's way different.

There's one thing that most reminds us that we really are fulltiming: Our household chores.

Nothing like a little work to help you realize you're not on vacation! 

As we were headed toward Port Orford, we created a list of chores we wanted to get done while we were here. Sitting in one place for a week gives you the luxury of time to be able to take care of a few things. It's harder to do when you're in one spot for just a night or two. 

Our list included things like laundry, groceries, purging (can you believe that?), reorganizing, getting mail, making reservations for down the road and washing the moose. We spent time this morning doing the latter while our friends patiently waited for us before heading out for a bit of geocaching. We've washed the moose before, but we forgot what a big job it is. Many hours later Bullwinkle was squeaky clean, much more time had passed than we thought, and we were very late for our geocaching date. 

With all these chores behind us, we're tired. But, it's a good kind of tired. Not that crazy exhausted tired we felt before the move. No, this feels pretty good.

Thanks to these chores, it feels like we actually live here. 

Meeting Up

We're well into our second week on the road, and it's official: We Love Fulltiming!

(Not that there was ever any doubt, mind you.)

So far, the thing we like best is meeting up with people. Sure, we've had all kinds of casual conversations with neighbors at each stop. And, those are great. What I'm talking about is meeting up with people we already know...and the people they already know. It's made our initial days as fulltimers like a party. There's so much to celebrate!

We met up with two couples we've known for several years in Bend. This was the first time we got to see them on their home turf. Hanging with the locals made our stay in Bend extra special.

In Crescent, we met up with Linda and Steven, future fulltimers we met virtually just a few weeks ago. There was something about them that compelled us to make a special stop to meet them in person. And, we're so happy that we did. Our initial meeting was filled with hugs, smiles and loads of laughter. When you can meet people for the first time and feel immediately like long-time friends, that's something. We so look forward to seeing them again down the road.

Here in Port Orford, we scheduled a very special "meetup". Gordon and Juanita were the very first commenters on our blog. We've been avid readers of their travel journal since we started reading travel journals. Since that first connection over a year ago, they have provided us with valuable information, inspiration, insight, encouragement and a some broad shoulders to cry on. Along the way, we deemed Gordon "da Godfadda". We knew da Godfadda and his lovely bride would be spending the summer in Port Orford. As soon as we had a closing date, we made reservations to spend a week at their wonderful summer park. We could not think of a better way to start our fulltiming adventures.

To say we received a warm welcome to Port Orford would be an understatement. As we pulled into the unfamiliar park, we saw a very familiar face sitting on a bench with camera in hand, capturing our arrival. We cheered and hopped out of the moose as fast as we could to greet Gordon. Again, it was a first time meeting with a long-time friend. Moments later, we spotted Juanita. We had the privilege of meeting Juanita over lunch in February. So, this was a second meeting with a long-time friend. Hugs, smiles and laughter all around. What a pleasure it is to see these wonderful people who mean so much to us. We could not have made this journey without them.

We're so glad we're able to spend some time here! It gives us plenty of time to spend together. As I informed Gordon when I made our reservation: "I hope you like us. We're staying a week!" Gordon, Juanita and their best friend Bodie hosted a wonderful welcome dinner that featured some fine Alaskan halibut from their adventures we read about last summer. They went to a lot of time and trouble to deliver that tasty entree! Between every delicious bite and celebratory sip we shared more stories and filled in between the lines of our respective journals. The spaces between the words were filled with lots of laughter. We couldn't imagine a warmer welcome.

Gordon and Juanita have introduced us to several friends in this wonderful park. The park owner's, Cindy and Tim, are fellow escapees from California who made us feel immediately right at home. They promote a real sense of community in their park and it shows. Sue and Doug are avid readers of da Godfadda's journal. They traveled to Port Orford from their home in Canada catch up with Gordon and Juanita. As future fulltimers, this very fun couple was very curious about our transition. They probably heard more than they wanted about how it is to purge a stick house of so much stuff! We look forward to spending more time with them this week and seeing them on the road in the future. (And, we're so happy to see they're following our blog. We look forward to reading their just birthed travel journal.)

Although we don't want to think about leaving Port Orford just yet, we're excited about other "meetups" that are scheduled down the road. We look forward to meeting Deb and Rod in Port Angeles, Jenny (and maybe Neil) near Spokane. Plus, we'll hook up with good friends from the Bay Area when we're in Montana. How fun!

Sure, in our initial days of fulltiming, we've seen some amazing, breathtaking and stunning sights. (I need to brush up on my superlatives!) But, the best thing - by far - has been the chance to meet and spend time with some very special people.

Tale of Two Blogs

Chronicles of our travels through Bend, Crescent, stunning Crater Lake and on to Roseburg can be found at Bullwinkle's Travels.

Yeah, for right now anyway, we're keeping these two blogs separate. Bullwinkle's Travels is about the places we go. We think of it as our travel blog. The Great RV Escape is about what we're doing: fulltiming. 

This will be the place where we tell you the honest to goodness truth about life on the road. Throughout our fulltiming preparations, I remember devouring each and every fulltimer's blog I could find. I had interest in the sights they were seeing, of course. But, what I really wanted to get the scoop on was how it was to be a fulltimer. So, for those of you with a unquenchable thirst for inside info about this lifestyle, this is your place. We'll provide links to Bullwinkle's Travels from time to time so you can check in on the places we go. And, if you're more interested in where we go than how we're living, that's OK, too. Bullwinkle's Travels is the perfect place for you. 

Is maintaining two blogs a little nuts? Maybe. But, heck. For once, we have the time! If we could do this when we were toasty workaholics we can definitely do it now.

That said, the topics for this blog are piling up. There's so much to share! Now that we're here in Port Orford for more than just a couple of nights, I'm eager to catch up.

Much more very soon.

Our First Week

Today marks our seventh day as fulltimers. What a week it's been!

We're chilling out in Crescent, OR, just about an hour south of Bend. Our travel day was extremely easy. We're rethinking our 250-mile per travel day limit. Maybe it should be more like 50 miles! (Just kidding!)

Light travel day aside, we realize our initial fulltiming itinerary looks more like one of vacationers. With a couple of nights here, a few nights there, and a night or two not far from there, we're moving around more than we will be. But, for now, it's a whole lotta fun.

I am most pleased to report that we are well on the road to recovery. We've had a couple of great night's sleep. So, we're no longer dog tired. We're emerging from what can best be described as some kind of fog. We thought we'd been thinking clearly over the last week, but it's obvious we weren't. Mt. Shasta is a distant blur. And, as Paul commented this morning, it seems like we arrived in Bend a month ago.

We spent Saturday morning cleaning the place. And, that definitely helped it feel more like home. We're still looking for things here and there, but more and more things have found their rightful place. And, most importantly, we're remembering where that place is!

We may not be settled just yet. But, after our first week on the road, we think we can see it from here.

Taking it Easy

We're sitting outside enjoying the weather and watching the weekenders arrive in this lovely park. Paul's preparing to open a bottle of fine champagne we've been meaning to consume for a couple of days now. We'll take one more opportunity to toast our brand-new lifestyle. 

We wandered around Bend for a bit today. But, basically, we did nothing...again. No matter how you slice it, we are being pretty darn lazy these days. We're resisting the temptation to run around and see everything. Instead we're giving our bodies time to rest and our minds time to adjust. 

Today we realized that we've been running at a million miles per hour for the last three months. Well, except for the last four days.  As soon as we hit the road, ironically, all that stopped. Only now can we see the cumulative effects of all that stress. We're both tending to sore and stiff parts of ourselves. We are discovering what happens when your weary brain tells you to pack something for the RV and your body packs it for storage, and vice versa. We're trying to find all kinds of things and still, believe it or not, finding things we can live without. 

And, did I tell you we're tired? 

We aren't complaining!  Really, we're not. It's just something to finally be able to stop. It may take our formerly busy bodies time to catch up. That's all. 

For now, we'll just take it easy.

Revelations

Now that we're fulltimers, and we're no longer employed, we figured it was time to reveal our true identities. Boris and Natasha are actually Paul and Mary. And, while our RV is named Bullwinkle and our toad is named Rocky and that all seems to fit perfectly, we must warn you. Our first cat's name was Peter. So, when it comes to Peter, Paul and Mary, we've been there, done that and definitely have the t-shirt.

Our trip from Mt. Shasta to Bend was eventless. Just the way we like them. That said, we did have a wee bit of excitement as we followed the mapquest directions off the highway rather than the handy dandy directions provided on the RV park's website. And, guess what? That was a big mistake!

We were 1/2 mile from our lovely RV park when we came upon an overpass that stated a sign with 12 feet, 10 inches of clearance. 

Uh huh. Well, actually, no!

We are at least 13 feet tall. So, no matter how we approached that low-hanging bridge, we weren't gonna fit. And, by the looks of things, dozens of AC units, antennas and front ends of motorhomes had met their maker on that overpass.

We did what we were instructed to do when we bought our moose: We stopped, got out, and sussed it out. Bottom line: We needed to unhook the Jeep, turn around and find another entry to the park. 

Paul commenced with the unhooking while I did my best to direct traffic safely around us. Within minutes he had the squirrel separated from the moose. Meanwhile, a car of angels showed up. This lovely pair knew of our plight. Actually, they had been here before. They offered to lead the way to our RV park. We were SO grateful. 

Turns out they are fulltimers from southern California who have been traveling the country for the last year or so. They were thrilled for us that we were just beginning our fulltiming adventures. 

With Paul following our new-found angel friends, I followed behind in the Jeep and we found our way to the Crown Villa RV Resort. It's way fancy.  And, we're so pleased to have arrived here safely. This is one great place to hang out for a few days.

So, we'll do exactly that!

Cheers!

Decompression Day

Today we slept, ate, walked, napped, read and went in search of a geocache or two.

Tonight we're looking forward to our postponed celebratory feast.

Tomorrow we're off to Bend.

Spotty wifi here, so we'll keep this short.

Life is good.