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!