Alright, Already!

I'm here to report that I'm an abused blogger!

We were enjoying a Christmas Eve happy hour here at the park and met a couple of fulltimers. I asked if they had a blog and explained that I had two.

"No you don't!" our friend Steve chimed in. "You only have one!"

Technically, I do have two blogs. But, as I've mentioned, one has been woefully unattended. For some reason or another, Bullwinkle's Travels has been a bit of a challenge. And, in Steve's view, that means it no longer exists.

Then, while paying a visit to fellow fulltimer Dee's blog, I noticed she'd made a few changes to her blogroll. I spotted a few new-to-me blogs and gave them a look. As I worked my way down Dee's list of blogs I noticed something. She'd added a new section: Blogs Not Posted Very Often. And, what to my wondering eyes did appear? Bullwinkle's Travels was on that list - banished to blogging no-man's land!

Geez! Miss a few(?) blog posts and you find out who your friends are!

I don't really mean to put Steve and Dee on the spot. Actually, several folks have commented about the lights being out at Bullwinkle's place. A few kind readers have checked in to make sure we're OK and not still stranded in Thompson, Iowa. (Thank God, we're not!) But, other than the slightly bruised ego of the resident blog writer, I'm pleased to report that all is well with us.

And, guess what? Bullwinkle's Travels is a bit more up to date! There's a post about highlights of our November in Kansas City, our climb to the top of Enchanted Rock and a look at our Hill Country Christmas. I have a few gaps to fill in, like our memorable stop in Oklahoma City, our visit with John and Sandy to the LBJ Ranch and more Fun in Hill Country. (If you see links in that last sentence, I've brought the blog even more up to date!)

I sure hope Steve and Dee will notice!

Eureka!

I'm lounging outside soaking up sunshine under a cloudless sky savoring the 70 degree temps as I write this post. But, rather than tormenting any readers north of the 38th parallel, I'll get on to the real topic of the day: How to Lose Your Mind in 400 Square Feet.

As you may recall, I'm a fairly avid quilter, and my sewing notions were among the things that made the cut (pardon the pun) and were packed into our motorhome. One item on my Christmas to-do list was to sew a few practice blocks for a future quilt I'm planning to make for one of our nieces. I purchased a sample of a potential background fabric and wanted to give the someday recipient a chance to voice her opinion on the choice. Since I was packing a box of gifts to ship out to her house today, I decided I'd slip the blocks into the box and save a wee bit of postage.

With today as the shipping date, yesterday became the day to construct the blocks. I began to assemble my notions and couldn't find one essential tool: a 12-inch square plastic ruler. With a deadline looming, I became a woman possessed. I had to find my ruler!

Have you ever wondered how quickly you can turn a 400-square-foot home upside down?

It doesn't take long.

Within minutes I had unloaded every storage cavity of the inside of our rolling home. The elusive ruler was nowhere to be found. Paul returned from his workout to witness this topsy-turvy scene first hand. (It was a huge mess!) Fully aware that his spousal unit was nearing a breaking point, he quickly chipped in and scoured the basement compartments for the trusty tool. We both knew it wasn't there, but it was nice of him to help and oh so smart of him to stay out of my way. (Have I told you lately that I'm married to a very wise man?)

After an hour or so I regained some composure and declared an end to Round One in my search. As I put everything back in its proper place, I hatched a theory that might explain the missing tool. Perhaps I left it in Kansas City. After all, I had packed it in a bag one day for a family visit. But, even though I never actually took it out of the bag, maybe it jumped out on its own. A definite stretch, I know. But, by this time I wanted this mystery to be solved. I placed a call and left a message asking if the family members had seen the ruler. As the words were coming out of my mouth I knew I was reaching at straws. But, it was worth a shot.

With the mystery unsolved, I went back to the task of assembling the practice blocks. As I executed a workaround for the missing tool, I continued to ask myself where the dang thing could be. After all, we have such a little amount of stuff. It should be easy to manage it all. Right?

The blocks were completed just in time to head out to dinner with John and Sandy and new arrivals Steve and Cathy. Over dinner I shared the story of how I transformed our house into chaos and back in one afternoon and how it was all for naught. By this time, I didn't care a bit about the ruler. It was easily replaceable. My bigger concern was my mind. I was seriously afraid I was losing it.

Laying in bed last night, I closed my eyes and took a virtual tour of the moose. In my mind, I identified every storage space, crack and crevice in the place from top to bottom and front to back. I had checked, rechecked and triple checked them all.

Except one.

Just before drifting off to sleep, I remember thinking, "If there's a gap between the bottom and back of the closet, I suppose it could have slipped down behind the drawers underneath." With that, I sailed off into dreamland.

This morning, I'd yet to hear from the family member I'd phoned with my plea for help. So, I went back to trying to solve the mystery. Over coffee, I remembered my pre-sleep epiphany. I looked inside the closet where I normally store these things. There was a tiny gap at the bottom. It was definitely worth a look. I grabbed a flashlight, pulled out the drawer and peered behind. The clear plastic hideaway reflected the light.

Eureka!

Paul helped me pull out the drawer and extract the offender. The ruler's pal, a small cutting mat, had joined him in the last possible hidey hole in our house. Peace and tranquility returned to our household.

So, it turns out, I'm not losing my mind.

Not, today, anyway.

Already?

It's hard to believe we arrived here in Kerrville a week ago today. Already!

We've had a pretty laid back week. (Hey, somebody has to do it.) And, we've managed to keep ourselves busy. It's a fine balancing act, really!

Our friends John and Sandy arrived Wednesday. It's so great to see them. It's a treat to have friends to "play with" while we're here. We all jumped into the park's social activities, starting with the Friday happy hour. Blessed with a pleasantly warm day with no wind, we enjoyed munchies, cocktails and lots of great conversation on the outdoor patio. And, last night we joined a park outing to San Antonio for an evening of strolling and dining along the Riverwalk, which is decked out in its holiday finery. It was all very festive.

We joined John and Sandy for a trip into town and explored the Riverside Nature Center. It's definitely the kind of place that's much more active in the seasons when things are green and blooming around here. But, even on a cool Winter's day it provided a place for a short walk along the river and the joy of finding a geocache along the way. (Our original plan was to spend the afternoon hiking at a local state park. But, we were disappointed to discover it's closed for hunting season. We opted for the shorter walk at the nature center over risking getting shot!)

We've spent much of our first week getting settled. This being the first time we'll be sitting in one spot for more than a month, we've taken some time to clean the moose. After having the outside washed, Paul started the mammoth task of waxing this beast. He's taking it in sections. But, any way you look at it, it's a big job. It's almost 1,200 square feet of "wax on, wax off"! (Thank you, Paul!) Besides being clean, the place is very homey. It's a nice change of pace to not be in "travel mode". We have everything set up just the way we like it and are definitely ready to stay awhile.

The weather has been cool-ish, but the days are wonderfully sunny. Highs have been in the 60s and are expected to reach into the 70s this week. The nights can get cool, as in 21 or so last night, but it's nothing compared to what Mother Nature is dishing out up north. We hope our snowbound friends are staying warm and toasty! We checked the weather in Kansas City this morning where it was just a couple of degrees. So much for our theory that once we decided never to return to our hometown in December they would be blessed with balmy weather! We're so glad we're not up there!

One of my goals for this week is to update our much-neglected travel blog. I promise to include some pictures of our park, Buckhorn Lake Resort, when I do! With warm, sunny days forecasted for the week, we're looking forward to some pretty serious exploration now that we're all settled in.

More to come!

Why Kerrville?

Food and cleaning topped our agenda on our first full day of our long winter stay here in Kerrville. We made a run into town and stocked up on essentials. The moose needed a good cleaning inside and out. It had been awhile since both. Paul ordered up a bath for the beast this morning. Lucky for us, the RV wash service could fit us in today. In no time at all Bullwinkle was sparkling in the Hill Country sun. While Paul worked on laundry, I spent a couple of hours working on the inside. These RVs collect dust in so many places!!!! With every surface cleaned and polished, we settled in by finishing up our Christmas decorating. We have a tiny tree and just a few choice holiday knick-knacks. But, with our stockings hanging over the fireplace, our clean moose is feeling quite festive.

Several folks have asked why we're spending a good part of this winter here in Kerrville. After all, we're a couple hundred miles from a beach and there isn't a palm tree in sight. This being Hill Country and all, it's nothing like the desert. And, it's not exactly shorts and sandals weather 'round here. So, what gives?

We learned so much last winter. First and foremost, we learned to stay the heck out of Kansas City! We discovered that camping at the beach is very windy and the salt gets everywhere. And, we learned we were misfits in the RGV. Beyond all that, our rookie winter as fulltimers showed us where we could have our kind of winter fun. Sun and shuffleboard might be fine for lots of good folks, but we need more. And, in many ways, we need less. We learned that we don't need the temperatures to be in the 70s and 80s every day. Actually, we're perfectly fine with highs in the 50s and 60s. And, after you've experienced lows in single digits, overnight temps in the 20s and 30s are down right balmy.

No matter what the weather, it's the people that really make a place. And, we found that here in our brief stay last year. We only spent a week here, but we met so many wonderful people. They vary in age but share a youthful energy that we loved being a part of and were eager to experience again. As these good folks talked about their plans for this winter they spoke of wine tastings and hiking and biking and maybe a group camping trip to Big Bend. We couldn't wait.

And, what's not to like about this park? Besides great folks, we have a beautiful, spacious level site with a view of the creek and surrounding hills. The power is strong, the wifi smoking hot and we can have propane delivered every week, if we want. (No preserving propane to avoid a drive in the snow!)

Finally, there's Kerrville. It's the one part of Texas we actually love. It has beautiful hills, of course. It's definitely out in the country, but it's just an hour or so away from two really cool cities. With 20,000 residents, it's a town that has just about everything you need, including one of the best quilt shops ever! There are good eats, great music and fun stuff to explore for miles and miles. And, there's one other thing. Kerrville is in the running.

One of our goals on this fulltiming journey is to find the next place we want to call home. Extended RV travel will be a part of our lives for as long as we're able. But, at some point (and we have no idea when) we're going to want a little place of our own to crash at every now and then. The operative word there is little. Right now we're thinking we'd like about 1,200 square feet. And if we could park the moose at the place, then all the better. It's a far-away dream at this point. But, we told ourselves if and when we found an area that looked interesting, we'd check it out for awhile. Kerrville has been the first place that has really piqued our interest. (We love, love, love Tennessee. But, a hefty tax on investment dividends put a quick stop to that plan.) So, now is as good a time as any to try on this town.

We so look forward to seeing how it fits.

Our Last Travel Day

Much of my time as a journalism student at the University of Kansas was spent writing attention-grabbing headlines. So, I'm curious. How did that one grab you?

Sensationalism aside, today was our last travel day...of 2010! With today's trek from Fort Worth to Kerrville we closed the books on Bullwinkle's travels for the year. (The blog, on the other hand, needs some work before year-end.) What a year it has been!

We're closing out the year in the great state of Texas, which is where we welcomed 2010. Much to our surprise, we will have spent four months and a few days in our adopted home state this year. (It sure didn't feel like that. But, it's a big state!) We spent the remaining eight months traveling to 24 other states. That's going to change, but that's a post for another day.

Our moose has logged something like 13,000 miles in this calendar year. After a year like that, our trusty steed deserves a nice long rest. And, so do we!

So, how does spending the next two-and-a-half months in Texas Hill Country sound?

Awesome!

We Belong

A weird thing happened to us while we were traveling today. We crossed the state line into Texas. And, you know what? We felt liked we belonged!

Maybe it was the throng of Nebraska Cornhuskers heading south on I-35 for the Big 12 championship football game in Arlington tomorrow. There were literally hundreds of them who passed by us. As diehard Kansas Jayhawks, we're quick to say there's no love lost between us and the Huskers. But, traveling as we are with Texas tags on both of our vehicles, we're extra fueled. You see, Nebraska is playing Texas A&M for the league championship. And, hey, we're Texans, technically. So, Gig Em Aggies!

We are Paper Texans. We own no property in this vast state. So, we were both a bit surprised to feel a bit of a feeling of coming home when we crossed into the Lone Star State. We are, after all, registered here. And, our address is here. Plus, this year we will have spent nearly four months in the great state of Texas.

Wow! Maybe we are becoming real Texans, after all!

Ya think?

Update: Oops! We just watched the local sports and realize that OKLAHOMA is playing Nebraska tomorrow. How'd we miss that? Well, we must of just had Aggies on the brain, I guess. Well, any Jayhawk worth his or her salt would root for Oklahoma over Nebraska. So, there you go. Interesting, though, that we didn't see any Sooners on the road today! Maybe they got an early start.

Oh well, the fact that we even thought a Texas team was playing in the league championship probably makes us even more Texan than we thought. Right? Plus, I just saw a Whataburger commercial. And, I got a pang! I've really missed it!

Man, how did this happen?

We're baaaaack!

We're back on the road again, that is. And, it feels great!

Our last morning in Kansas City was chilly and breezy. Just to make us feel extra sure that it was time for us to head south, Mother Nature even threw in a snow flurry or two.

With an early morning date yesterday at a Winnie dealer just south of town, we weren't sure exactly about our destination du jour. The good people at Olathe Ford RV Center went to work on a wee leak we discovered during a November deluge. They quickly diagnosed the problem and phoned Forest City to see if Winnebago would cover the repair under warranty. Having just passed the first anniversary of our delivery date, we were hopeful, but not certain, that it would be covered. But, Winnebago did the right thing and took care of the charges. Knowing that we were eager to hit the road, the repair dudes quickly worked their magic. After a propane fill and promising to leave our curing slide in for the next 24 hours, we were on the road by 11:00 a.m.

Getting away before noon was definitely our "best case" scenario for the day. We were thrilled to point the moose south on I-35 and enjoy the very familiar view. The scenic Flint Hills were especially windy, but we wrestled our way safely to Wellington and made our second annual stop at the KOA just off the turnpike.

As the sun set on the southern Kansas plains, we kicked back and relaxed in our not completely expanded home. Even with one slide retracted, we were all smiles -- very happy to be back to our "real life". We really missed it!

With a mere 125 miles to cover today, we slept in and enjoyed a leisurely morning. With the outside temps in the teens, we took our time getting ready and waited for things to warm up a bit. For the second day in a row, we hit the road around 11 a.m. But, today the breeze across the plains was much more manageable, which made for a very pleasant drive. Before long we arrived in our park in the northeast corner of Oklahoma City.

We've driven through OKC several times. But, we've never stopped, until today. We'll call this "cowboy town" home for the next two nights. There's a national cowboy museum close by, and we want to pay our respects at the national memorial and museum. I've already made a run to the largest quilt shop in the state to pick up the Oklahoma fabrics that will go into my fulltiming quilt project. I haven't kept track, but I'm closing on my 30th quilt shop stop. (Yes, I've developed quite a stash!)

Tonight we're happy to have both slides extended and be relaxing comfortably some 350 miles south of (and several degrees warmer than) our native hometown. It feels so good to be back on the road again.