Stickered Up

Alert the media! We DID something today!

We've enjoyed a long string of calm, quiet, relaxing days. Not exactly ripe with blogging material, but definitely most enjoyable. Today was different, though. We actually had a job to do.

As Texas residents, both of our vehicles are registered in this great state. For the privilege, we are required to renew our registration and get the moose and squirrel inspected each year. We took care of the registration a couple of months ago. It's a piece of cake. A few clicks online and the deed is done. Our inspections were due this month. That's a wee bit more complicated. We have to present our vehicles at our choice of official state vehicle inspection station, cough up 15 bucks and let the inspector go to work. (A special note for our fellow Livingston residents: You don't have to have your inspection done in Livingston. Anywhere in Texas will get the job done.)

Rocky required one pre-inspection to do. Back in Iowa, when we were returning to Forest City to pick up the moose, a stone flew off a brand spankin' new Tour headed out of Winnie Town and smacked our squirrel's windshield. The next morning the sizable star turned into a big ol' crack. And, here in Texas, if you want to pass a vehicle inspection you need to have a crack-free windshield. Paul found a local auto glass company here in Kerrville that made quick work of the job. On the way home from getting the new windshield, he spotted an inspection station and whipped in with the Jeep. Rocky passed with flying colors and came home with a new inspection sticker on his pristine windshield.

Bullwinkle's inspection took a bit more coordination. First, we had to find a place that inspects RVs. Our RV park provided a couple of recommendations. Paul scoped them out and found one that would definitely work. Next, we had to find a day where we could make time in our oh-so-busy schedule to load up and go. (Stop laughing!) Wednesday sounded good to us. So, Wednesday morning Paul called our chosen inspection station and learned the inspector had called in sick. Yesterday's cold temps and gusty winds were enough to keep us from venturing out, with or without our motorhome. When this morning revealed sunny skies, calm winds and moderate temperatures, we were ready to roll. Paul called the station and they encouraged us to come on in.

Why does the very idea of packing and moving suddenly sound like such a big deal? I must confess to doing some first-class procrastinating. But, I can't tell you why. After all, we do this all the time! And when we do, it's no biggie. But, for some unknown reason, today I was definitely dragging my feet. After six weeks off the road, I'm out of practice, perhaps?

Whether you're driving your motorhome ten miles or 200, the task of packing is the same. Despite my foot dragging, we got the job done. By early afternoon, it was slides in and jacks up and we made the 15-minute drive. We pulled into the inspection station, where we spent more time waiting than actually being inspected. Before long, Bullwinkle was all stickered up, sporting new registration and inspection stickers on his Imax windshield. Within 90 minutes of our departure, we pulled back into our familiar and comfortable site.

As we started the process of settling back in, we freed our happy cats from the confines of their crates. They went through their very familiar end-of-a-travel-day routine, hopping up on the windshield and checking out the place. All it took was a quick glance. They turned around in perfect sync and gave me a look that said, "Really? After all that we're back here? What in the heck was that all about?"

With our not-so-big travel day behind us, we're ready to get back to the business of having fun in Hill Country. With friends close by and more on the way, I'm sure we can find something blogworthy to do around here...

Feelin' for the FF's

The weather has been up and down this week, as have we. The bright spot in our week has been the arrival of friends Mike and Leslie, who are planning to be with us for the duration of our stay. We met these good folks last summer in Idaho and, despite our warnings, they ventured to our dumpy home park in Kansas City in November. It was great to catch up with them over dinner and make plans for some fun together here in Kerrville.

Today's temps took a tailspin after sunrise. The mid-fifties became the mid-thirties in a matter of minutes. And, the wind gusts did their best to top the temps. It was not a day to be outside in any way, shape or form. So, we sat inside and did all kinds of inside stuff.

Reading blogs today, I seemed to focus in on the future fulltimers out there. These good folks are days, weeks, months or years away from making their own great escape. Some are trying things out and are on extended winter trips. Others are in the process of making some big decisions before hitting the road. Still others are pondering the possibilities and all of the choices that come along with all that.

I felt for them all.

A theme emerged from all that reading. These good folks are looking for answers to great big questions. When to go, where to go, to sell or not to sell their sticks and bricks, what kind of rig to buy, etc. etc.

Oh, how well we remember that time of wishful thinking and countless looming decisions.

And, we're sooooo glad we're over it all.

I resisted the temptation to respond to one and all. But, a clear theme started to take shape with my real and imagined responses. They seemed to fall easily into three simple parts.

First and foremost, don't look to current fulltimers for all the answers. Just because we're out here that doesn't mean we're experts. After all, we traded in a perfectly good motorhome after just four months on the road. Was that the most economical decision? Of course not! Was it the best for us? Absolutely! Speaking for us, the best we can offer is perspective. When it comes to sure-fire, fool-proof solutions, I'm afraid we'll come up short.

Second. there's no "right answer" for fulltiming. Some self-proclaimed experts might like you to think there is just one way to do this. But, that's just not true. Period.

Third, you have the answers to those most important questions. Really, you do! If you're wondering what kind of rig is best for you as fulltimers, or what to do with the house or whether or not workamping is for you, here's the bottom line: You know! It might take some heart-wrenching, sleepless nights to find the answer. But, they're right there in your brilliant mind. Really, they are. Wrestle with the questions - as hard as that might be - and the answers truly will reveal themselves. Really, they will.

While reading these blogs of hopeful wannabes, I quickly realized how very little attention we've given our blogs of late. Truth is, there are many days in this wonderful lifestyle where you sleep late or you don't, go out or not, do something exciting or not. Some days are so blogworthy you just can't wait to fire up the laptop. Other days are so calm and quiet that clicking out a recap on the keyboard sounds like a terribly radical idea. Sometimes, those are the absolutely best days!

So, you good people with wonderful dreams of hitting the road, know that you guilted me into posting today! (OK, not really!)

It's part of the reason we compile our favorite Future Fulltimers in their own section over their on our blogroll. We love seeing the future through your eyes. We really want to help you make your way. And, most of all, we so look forward to meeting you on the road one day.

Meanwhile, and trust us on this, you know what's best. Really, you do.

Holed Up

Mother Nature has kept us inside much of the last week or so. We're not complaining, really. I'm mean, seriously, we're not. Outside our cozy cabin on wheels it's drizzly and 40-something. We've seen pictures and heard stories of the weather up north. Folks are struggling with snow that's been deposited by the foot and temperatures of one digit and less. By comparison, we're living life in a sauna!

We've made the most of the downtime. Paul has had his nose in a book or two and I've been assembling quilt blocks like some kind of machine. The cats have loved some extra attention. We've taken care of some household business and caught up on the NFL playoffs and our favorite NCAA men's basketball games. And, we're reminded that this is one of the things we always liked about Winter. This season gives you time to rest, relax, recharge and get a bunch of "inside stuff" done. There's absolutely no pressure to get out and about and "do". After all, you can't spend every day basking in the sun!

Truth is, if we have to get out we are perfectly able to do so. And, we've done just that. When the walls start to close in a bit we find things to do, whether it's a walk around the park, getting long-overdue haircuts or enjoying a fun lunch out with friends. We did just that yesterday afternoon with John and Sandy. When plans fell through for a park-organized lunch and tour of an area shoe manufacturer, the four of us took matters into our own hands. We all just had to get out!

The downside to this brief period of hibernation is that we haven't seen as much of our friends as we'd like. And, they're planning to hit the road the day after tomorrow. But, we're looking forward to meeting up with John and Sandy not too far down the road when the sun is out and the temperatures are more conducive to hiking, geocaching and bike riding. We can't wait.

We're hopeful this little dose of Hill Country weather is short lived. In fact, Paul has declared that Winter in Kerrville lasts just one week. So, the season should be just about up. I sure hope he's right!

Meanwhile, it's been awhile since I've cracked a book. Where is my Kindle????

Network Maintenance

We're both still hacking at our house. It's not pretty, but we're definitely getting better. We missed some really fun social activities over the weekend thanks to this crud. But, we're trying not to dwell on that.

With gobs of time on our hands, we've done more than our fair share of surfing the net the last few days. Along the way, we've taken care of a little network maintenance here and there.

From the "You'll Never Believe Who We Connected With" Department, Paul and I connected with a "kid" from our old neighborhood. We were sitting around last night thinking about "the good ol' days" and this kid's name came up. Once upon a time, I babysat this kid and his siblings. But, it's been ages since we've connected. So, of course, I "googled" him and, thanks to his uncommon name, he was easy to spot. Turns out he's an accomplished PhD! (I'm sure that's do in large part to the influence of his favorite babysitter!) Anyway, I shot him a crazy e-mail and he shot back. It was him and he was oh-so-pleased to hear from us after a gazillion years.

I'm still whirling at the idea that someone I babysat is now a 48-year-old PhD!

With that connection made, I decided to pay some attention to my online social network. A bazillion years ago I met the folks who conceived of the idea of LinkedIn. As a result, I signed on early. I really pay little attention to this network these days. It's funny. As soon as I was no longer working no one wanted to connect with me anymore! OK. So, I might be over dramatizing just a tad. I had noticed that my ex-boss was spouting some pablum on LinkedIn. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. It's been nearly two years since I was on the man's payroll. So, why was I still connected to him? Good question! In a matter of minutes I logged onto LinkedIn and removed that connection.

I'm feeling better already!

After that, I moved to Facebook. I've been moving in that online circle for over a year with an assumed name. It's a long story that I don't really want to share. But, the bottom line is today I decided I was done living life as a Facebook alias. So, I logged in and changed my name to the real thing.

I'm feeling better already!

Whew! After all this network maintenance, I'm tired. Time for a good night's rest. After all, I've been sick. It's important to rest up.

Night all.

Resting Comfortably

It's like clockwork. The first week of every new year, I get a cold. Every year! Even if I load up with echinacea and Vitamin C, the nasty bug still finds its way. This year, Paul caught one, too. Actually, he started it all on New Year's Eve. I thought I had escaped, but nooooooo!

As a result, we haven't accomplished much this week. Mostly, we've done exactly what you're supposed to do when you get a cold: get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids.

What a change it is to do exactly what doctors recommend! From our resting positions, we've both commented that our behavior is so different than it was in our working days. Back then, we would have loaded up on drugs and powered through, exposing our co-workers and clients in the process. We'd drag our ailing bodies home at the end of the day and put our hacking and sniffling selves in bed in a feeble effort to get some rest.

And, we wondered why our colds lasted weeks!

We like this approach much better. It's not the most exciting way to spend a few days. But, as long as we have plenty of soup, juice and tissues, we can't really complain.

Ahhhhh-chooooo!

A Year to Meander

Our New Year is off to a pretty quiet start. About halfway through our New Year's Eve dinner and party here at the park, Paul got whacked with a nasty cold bug. He's been pretty much horizontal since. But, I'm pleased to report he is feeling better.

All this quiet time has us thinking about where we've been and where we're going. To aid in this discussion, I've brought along a couple of visual aids.

This is an artist-who-shall-remain-nameless' rendering of our fulltiming travels to date. The routes may not be exact, but you get the idea. In the past year-and-a-half, we've been moving!

Some people call this "Vacation Mode." And, actually, we beg to differ. Sure, there was a little bit of that. But, we realized we weren't on vacation pretty early on, like somewhere in Oregon. What propelled us to keep moving and exploring was a thought in our collective subconscious that maybe, just maybe, we were only going to do this for a year or two. And, if you only have 12 to 24 months to explore the country you need to keep moving! We didn't want to miss a thing. As a result, we covered some serious ground in our first 18 months on the road. We have loved, loved, loved every minute of it. And, it has us thinking.

These days we're pretty sure we like this fulltiming gig. And, God willing, we plan to be at it for the next few years. With that kind of time on our hands, we're ready to take a different approach. We're going to slow down.

This is how we see 2011. It's a rough estimate, to be sure. But, we hope you get the idea. Instead of bouncing coast to coast and border to border, we're planning to embark on an extensive exploration of the Great Southwest. We'll leave our gorgeous spot in Hill Country in mid-February. We'll head west and take our time. We'll stay long enough to smell the cactus, roses or what have you. If it goes anything like this sketchy plan, we might just find ourselves next New Year's Day somewhere in Arkansas. In between, we're going to meander in just five or six states.

Meander. That's such a wonderful word. And, truth be told, we've yet to do just that.

In fact, for the first time in our fulltiming journey, there's no place we have to be at a certain time. And, we can't begin to tell you how good that feels!

So, with absolutely no deadlines, we look forward to this new chapter in our lives as fulltimers.

We can't wait to do some serious meandering!

Cheers!

Sitting in one spot for awhile has given us time to reflect. And, on this last day of 2010, we’ve taken some time to reflect on these most memorable last 365 days.

2010 was our first full calendar year as fulltimers. With just shy of a year and a half of life on the road under our belt, this was the year when this lifestyle became our normal life. We’re still newbies and far from experts, but this life some folks call strange or absurd has become absolutely normal. And, we like it that way.

With 13,000 miles or so on the new moose’s odometer, it would be easy to think this past year was all about the places we’ve been. And, we’ve been to some great places. We played in a giant sandbox, spent a month visiting our old home state of California, enjoyed a summer month in one really cool spot in Idaho, discovered that even the northernmost parts of our country can be really hot in summer, finally laid eyes on Niagara Falls, walked over to Canada for the second year in a row, made a beeline back to Kansas City, spent two days at chassis school followed by two fun weeks in the hills of Tennessee, became honorary citizens of Forest City, Iowa, (OK, we’re kidding about that!) spent a holiday month in Kansas City without freezing our butts off and found a wonderful winter home in the hills of Texas.

But, as wonderful as all of the places of 2010 have been, this year has really been about people. Our most notable reflection about this year is the people we now know as friends who were strangers just a year ago (or less!).

2010 was the year we met Pat and Ed, Mike and Penny, Jerry and Maxine, Eric and Karla, Steve and Debbie, Sherry and Sharon, Al and Priscilla, Joe and Judy, Anna and Gale, JoAnn and Doug, Leno and Kevin, Donna and Nolan, Chuck and Kathy, Mark and Dortha, Ed and Marilyn, Carl and Linda, Gary and Francile (and their whole family), Bob and Molly, Nora and Howie, Sandie and Jim, Linda and Denny, Jim and Ellie, Phil and Joy, Merikay, Sandy and John, Mike and Leslie, Judy and Emma, John and Ann, Len and Mary Ellen, Chuck and Anneke, Sue and Paul, Craig and Anne, Gary and Vicki, Lisa and Tony and Tez and Rick, Cindy and Ken, Darrell and Judy and Gene and Judi, Jenny’s other half Don, Brenda and JB.

And we were worried fulltiming would be a lonely lifestyle!

We had the good fortune to reconnect with fulltiming friends Mac and Netters, Rod and Deb, Gypsy and our Godfadda Gordon and Juanita. It was a real treat to camp with Steve and Cathy after meeting them last year in Kansas City and seeing them as new fulltimers this year.

This was also the year we met our virtual friends Bruce and Margie, only to lose them in a tragic and senseless act a few months later. We also lost my crazy relative Leonard, from whom we inherited our RVing genes. The most precious loss, of course, was Paul’s mom. We miss her, especially during this holiday season.

As we ring in the new year at our park’s celebration this evening, we’ll raise our glasses and toast the wonderful people who make our great life on the road richer than ever. We wish everyone who reads these words a new year of health, happiness, prosperity, fun and adventure.

Cheers!