Searching and Researching

First things first, we're pleased to report the missing book has been found. And, order is restored in our rolling home. We continue to be amazed at the the little hidey holes in this house.

We're having a great time hanging here in Alpine. We've decided to stop for a few days in nearby Fort Davis on our way back from Big Bend, so our sightseeing agenda here has been abbreviated. That's given us more time to do one of our favorite things and to try something new.

We love to go geocaching. But, it just never seems like we have time to go in search of caches. This year, we've set a goal: to find 250 geocaches this year. Before yesterday, we were up to - eh - five . (Really, we have no excuse!) We picked up the pace yesterday and found three caches around Alpine. This isn't exactly a cache-rich part of the world, but the three we went in search of and happily found gave us a 360-degree tour of the town and one steep and rocky climb. Going 3-for-3 and getting in a nice hike made it a very good day.

Today, we made our maiden voyage into a bit of genealogy research. We don't really have much interest in this pursuit, but it turns out that Paul had a great uncle who lived in Alpine for awhile in the 1930s. So, we were curious to know if we had any peeps here in town. We made quick stops at the public library and the tax assessor's office. The latter pointed us to the archives at Sul Ross State University. There we found a most helpful librarian who set us up for our search. She knows a couple of newbies when she sees 'em. And, she cautioned us that there was probably just a 50-50 shot that we'd find anything.

With our expectations in check, we started looking. Within minutes we'd made a discovery. Turns out the great uncle owned a couple of restaurants back in the day. In the days way before Starbucks, the ol' uncle had the hottest coffee spot in town. We got some dates and saw a helpful old photo or two. Even the librarian was excited about our finds. After that, the trail ran cold. But, we had learned something! That's where, we think, people get hooked on this whole genealogy gig. But, not us. We'd rather be out hiking hills in search of geocaches than sitting with our noses in old books in the library. But, it sure was fun.

We might try it again, someday. But, for now, we have 242 caches to find this year!

Rituals

Well, our first travel day of 2011 is in the books. Actually, it isn't literally in the book...yet. Somehow, we've misplaced Paul's travel journal. In this handy dandy missing book, he captures the essential info for each travel day. It's in here somewhere. We'll find it...eventually.

Our event-free day reminded us of a couple of things. First, after sitting in one place for three months we're really rusty at this "get up and go" thing. After we landed today, I was scratching my head trying to remember my set-up routine. When I find myself wondering how to push the button to start the satellite search, I know I'm rusty!

The other reminder du jour is how we've come to depend on our travel day rituals. What some may call a "rut" has become our very comfortable travel day routine.

Travel days actually start the night before. Neither of us tends to sleep very well on travel day eve. So, with precious little sleep (Three hours for me last night and a couple more for Paul.) we're up early. We always allow a nearly decent amount of time for leisurely coffee. Then, it's time for our traditional travel day breakfast: Jimmy Dean Sausage Biscuits. These things are loaded with calories and fat. But, they're quick, easy and don't dirty any dishes. They're very satisfying and keep us going well into the afternoon. Our travel day lunch is usually late but very simple. We'll stop at a rest stop or Walmart parking lot and split a sandwich. Today, we noticed that our lunch stops are considerably faster than our fuel stops. They're lots cheaper, too!

No matter how far we go on a travel day, we set a simple rule for ourselves: We cover at least half of the day's distance before noon. That pretty much keeps us to under 300 miles a day (Today was just a few miles more.) and gets us to our destination by 3:00 p.m. Once we're settled, we take a much needed stroll around the park and/or neighborhood. And, by 5:00 we're ready for happy hour. Just like our travel day breakfast, dinner is equally predictable. We have a favorite brand of frozen pasta in a bag. It takes just one skillet and 15 minutes to make a tasty hot meal. We pour a glass of wine, toss a salad if we feel like it and toast a successful day on the road.

After dinner we're usually running on fumes. (Lack of sleep and a couple hundred miles will do that.) So, it's generally early to bed for us. The last, and perhaps most precious, travel day ritual takes place the day after. As much as we can, we make the day after a "down" day. We don't schedule a thing, and just let our first day in our new locale unfold on its own.

Generally, we're pretty spontaneous people. But, with all the things that can go sideways on a travel day, it's so nice to have some familiar rituals to count on, no matter where we land.

Now, if we could just find that damn book!

(Not) Gone With The Wind

What was it we were just saying about paying close attention to the weather? Something about how weather advisories can change your plans?

Today's expected departure from Kerrville has been delayed by six words: High Wind Warning; Blowing Dust Advisory.

We made a pledge long ago to not travel during a high wind warning. Now, if it would be a tailwind we'd consider it. But, we'd be fighting 50 mph-plus gusts head on most of the way, and crosswise the last hour or so. Throw some blowing dust into the mix and only one thing is crystal clear. Today is not the day to drive into West Texas.

Wednesday's forecast calls for cooler temps and a 5 to 10 mph tailwind. Much better.

After all...tomorrow is another day.

Blogroll Maintenance

While we've been busy getting ready to roll, I decided to do a bit of blog maintenance and give some much-needed attention to our blogroll.

We had the great pleasure of meeting Mike and Peggy, who stopped here in Buckhorn for a couple of nights on their sojourn to points west. I read their blog periodically, but they weren't on our blogroll so I was far from a regular reader. On a walk around the park we spotted their Adventurer and toad with Maine plates and something looked familiar. Later, I fired up the laptop and spotted a new wifi network in the neighborhood: Maineiacs. I knew that word from the title of their blog and went looking. Much to our delight, we discovered Mike and Peggy were here!

Their time was limited, but we enjoyed a brief visit yesterday morning. We exchanged stories of the road and all things Winnebago. And, we look forward to meeting them on the road again one day. We had planned to see them off this morning. But, one of us was still sleeping when they hit the road. We wish them safe travels as they head far west before they head home.

This whole exchange got me thinking about our blogroll. Mike and Peggy have a blog, but I hadn't put them on the blogroll because I didn't know where to "put" them. So, I didn't put them anywhere and, as a result, nearly missed them. Determined to list their blog in a place I couldn't miss it, I went to work on reorganizing the list. I quickly got rid of the old "categories" and divided the list in two simple groups. Bottom line, we really don't care what anybody's "fulltiming status" is. And, who are we (of all people) to declare what that is anyway? What we do know is there are some folks out here in blogging land that we've met, and there are those that we have yet to meet but would sure like to one day. So, that's how they're listed. And, I don't know about you, but it makes a whole lot more sense to us.

Now we have the perfect place to list a bunch more blogs!

Not Counting

We're leaving here in a few days. But, who's counting?

Not us!

Of course, this time last year, we were counting down the days, hours and minutes until we were sprung from the RGV. But, this year is different. Way different! Our winter in Texas Hill Country has been, in a word, fantastic. In fact, tonight we declared this stint our Best Stop Ever.

For what started as a month-long stay easily extended to three. And, we've never spent two months in one spot, much less three! Our time here in this comfortable, friendly, spacious park has actually flown. We've stayed surprisingly busy.

We've had friends and family here for the duration of our stay, which has made things extra nice. And, we've met lots of great new folks, too. We've seen almost all of the sights here in Hill Country. And, even after three months, we've managed to save some things for next time.

We've made time to take care of a bunch of "to-dos", too. Bullwinkle and Rocky will leave here in great shape. It's been a real treat to have the time to get everything they needed done to make them ready for our Spring travels. We've made plenty of time for ourselves, too. We've read, rested, sewed, exercised, busted a few myths and just chilled - figuratively and quite literally.

Yep, Kerrville was a bit chilly for a bit. But, with easy peasy propane delivery every week, we almost didn't notice the cold. And, it passed quickly, anyway. At least that's how we'll remember it. And, it's easy to forget the winter chill when March starts with sunny days well into the 70s.

Now that things are warming up, the road beckons. We can't say that we have hitch itch, exactly. But, we are definitely looking forward to heading west. We're ready to spend the next three weeks exploring west Texas. And, we're already wondering if a month in Santa Fe will be enough. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now, we'll spend the next couple of days getting ready to roll. Something tells us the "see you laters" will be the hardest part.

We're counting on it.

Myth #5 - Fulltime RVing is Your Exit Strategy

We’ve saved the last for last.

It happens to all of us. At some point down the road it’s time to stop traveling down the road. Then, whatcha’ gonna’ do?

For realists in the fulltiming world, you move on to whatever’s next. You get to put a great big checkmark next to “Go Fulltiming” on your list of life’s to-dos. You hang up your keys and use the money you saved for your post-fulltiming life to move on to your next spot, whatever and wherever it may be. Whether you’ve traveled fulltime for six months or sixteen years, you’ve done what most people don’t do. And, you’ve done what you wanted. Yeah for you!

But, if you follow the advice of so-called experts selling RV dreamsicles, “fulltiming is your exit strategy”.

Read more »

Myth #4 - Fulltime RVing is a Carefree Way of Life

That’s right! Every day is paradise...Not a worry in the world...Everyone you meet is friendly....There’s a gorgeous sunset at the end of every day. And, if anything about the place where you're parked isn't perfect, you just move on down the road.

Now, stop right there!

Utopia is a very small town in Texas. And, despite what you may have heard, fulltiming isn’t Utopia. As we’ve said, there is a lot to like about this lifestyle. In fact, we love it. But, we’re going to dig a little deeper into the parts of fulltiming that aren’t exactly carefree.

Read more »