North Texas

It's another beauuuuuutiful day here in Gunnison, where the expected high is a very pleasant 76 degrees. Who cares if our heat pump isn't quite up to par? We don't need it here!

Merikay asked a great question. She was wondering if this was a place where we could settle down and hang out all year, especially since we seem to like it so. I did a bit of research on this morning.

The short answer is, "No!"

One of the hazards of exploring the country fulltime is falling in love with a place while it's having it's absolutely best weather. These days, Gunnison is in its glory. Summer here means comfortable days and cool nights. You just can't beat it.

Of course, we know it gets cold here. After all, we're sitting at 7700 feet. And, there are mountains all around us. And, when winter comes to the Rockies, it gets cold.

But, my morning research revealed that when winter comes to Gunnison it can get really cold. With overnight lows that consistently have a minus sign in front of them, January and February can be brutal. Temperatures of -30 are not uncommon. And, that doesn't include any wind chill!

And, yes, it does snow here. But, really, it's not that much. But, honestly, if the temperature is -30 how much difference does a few inches - or feet - of snow make?

When we find the next place we call home, it'll be in a place that we can hang out all year if we choose. As much as we love Gunnison, this won't be it.

We've come to discover that we aren't the only folks who feel this way. As we've made our way around town and the surrounding areas, we've noticed that most of the license plates aren't from Colorado. They're from California, New Mexico and Oklahoma, among others. Many are from our native Kansas. Most are from our adopted Texas.

On our drive to Lake City the other day, we noticed a steady stream of Texas plates heading our way. When we arrived in the tiny town of 300 or so, the Texas cars far outnumbered those from Colorado or any other state. When we found Roxa and Hutch, the folks we met last winter in Kerrville, at their very fun and funky gas station and BBQ joint we asked them if Lake City was actually a suburb of Amarillo. They assured us it wasn't, but understood why we might think so.

"Some folks call this part of the state North Texas," they explained. "Seems like everybody escapes the Texas heat and comes here."

Good idea. Today's high in Austin is supposed to be 104. We'd make that escape, too. Our friends, quite wisely, serve up some mighty tasty Texas BBQ that gives these cool Texans a taste of home cookin'.

We didn't need another reason to love Gunnison, but it looks like we have one. While we're cruising around town sporting our Texas plates, we look like locals.

For the Summer, anyway.

Kickin' back

It’s Friday, Friday

Gotta get down on Friday

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend

OK, I'll confess. Sometimes I'm not absolutely sure what day of the week it is.

Today, is no such day. I woke up with this inane little tune stuck in my head.

So, I thought I'd share it with you.

Friday, Friday

Gettin’ down on Friday

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend

Yes, it is Friday. That means another week has passed here in gorgeous Gunnison.

(Have I mentioned lately that we really like it here?)

We've kept ourselves busy doing nothing much in particular, just Jeepin' here and biking there. In between, we've met up with some amazing hang gliders and sat in on the championship game of the six-to-eight year old town baseball league. There's just something about sitting in the stands on a Summer evening watching cute little kids play baseball. (Unfortunately, "our team" lost.)

This morning, Karen and I are walking to town where Arvin and Paul will join us for breakfast. Then, Paul and I are planning to take a very scenic drive to Lake City to check the place out and see if we can find some folks we met in Kerrville last winter.

Other than that, we're getting pretty good at this "kickin' back in the mountains" thing. In fact, we could get used to this!

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)

Fun, fun, fun, fun

Lookin’ forward to the weekend

Have a great weekend!

Sunscreens

We are just loving it here in Gunnison. While much of the country is sweating through a monster heat wave, we are blessed with daytime highs in the low 80s and overnight lows that dip into the 40s.

What's not to love?

Our first week flew by. We had so much fun! We finally had the great pleasure to meet The Wandering Wishnies. We've "followed" these good folks for about three years. It was treat to finally meet up in person and enjoy a couple of fine meals here in town. We're so pleased to move Fred and Jo to the "Bloggers We've Met" on our blogroll! We also got to spend some quality time with Darren and Joyce, whom we first met in Kerrville and decided to alter their itinerary to hook up with us for awhile. (Thanks, guys!) We shared a most enjoyable wildflower expedition to gorgeous Crested Butte, and introduced them to the Wishnies, too!

Sadly, our friends all hit the road yesterday. So, we're left to our own devices. I'm proud to report that Bullwinkle's Travels is, at long last, nearly up to date. I've been a blogging machine! (My next step is to report on all the fun we've had here!) We've made several outings on the bikes, and it's been just too long since we've done that. We also met two really fun neighbors, Karen and Arvin. They've made summer stops in Gunnison for the last seven years, so they really know their way around. This morning, Karen gave me a wonderful Jeep tour of the area and we scoped out real estate.

Don't get too excited, people. We're just looking!

It is easy to see us living here in Gunnison. It's our kind of place. It's beautiful and cool. There's plenty of hiking and biking for miles. And, there are Jeeps everywhere. Of course, we have to remind ourselves that this is July! In the middle of winter, the snow really piles up and Gunnison frequently earns the title of coldest place in the United States. We've been advised that if we get really serious about living here, we rent first...and spend a winter. We'll see.

We've taken care of various odds and ends and household chores that are best taken care of when you're parked in one spot for awhile. Today the UPS man delivered our latest, greatest moose accessory, which we ordered shortly after our arrival.

Bullwinkle is now sporting sunscreens! Since the day we purchased a motorhome, we've been researching the options for moderating the amount of sun and heat that come blazing through our big Imax windshield. We've stopped more people in more campgrounds and inquired about their sunscreens. (It's a great conversation starter!) Through our research, one company rose to the top.

Prompt RV Sunscreens are unique. You can put them up and take them down quickly and easily without using a ladder, and you don't need to add any snaps or buttons to your motorhome to attach them. They block 90% of the sun's rays, which can have a huge impact on the temperature of the front of our rolling home. After talking to several happy owners of these magical sunscreens, we ordered two: one for the windshield and another for the big driver's window.

I was out shopping for real estate when the UPS man came by this morning. But, by the time I got home Paul had the big sunscreen up. Moments later the second was attached. With these two nifty black wraps, we had just one thing to say.

Bullwinkle looks cool!

He doesn't just look cool. He is cool! It's amazing how much difference these screens made in the temperature just today. And, like a great pair of sunglasses, we enjoy a glare-free view of the great outdoors.

We realize it's only been one sunny afternoon with this new purchase. But, so far so good. Actually, we highly recommend them.

After all, don't we all know how to beat the heat? Drink plenty of fluids, wear a hat and apply sunscreen liberally. We're all over it.

Refueling

We've been here just a tad over 24 hours. So, it's safe to say it.

We love Gunnison!

To say our moods have improved would be an understatement. We’re cool. We’re calm. We’re in the kind of place where we love to just chill.

We’ll hike and bike and explore, too. But, after the time we’ve had in Utah (and Grand Junction) we both need some time to just be. On this, our first day in Gunnison, we enjoyed a very tasty breakfast at the W Cafe. Over this very satisfying meal, Paul summed up our current state of affairs quite nicely.

“This place is refueling my interest in fulltiming,” he said.

That’s so right. We didn’t sign up for this gig so we could make day-long detours for repairs, or witness dealers trying to screw us, or sit in 100-plus degree heat with half an air conditioner. No siree, it’s days like this that inspired us to make this big lifestyle change.

Afternoon showers. Mountains. Views. Temps in the 60s. We’re soaking it all in. We definitely need it.

And, guess what? We've signed up for a whole month of this.

Yippee!

Hot Air

One of the things we miss from our pre-fulltiming life is our network of trusted and skilled professionals. We were fortunate to have doctors we liked who got to know us. I had the same hair stylist for nearly a decade. We had a locally owned mechanic shop that did outstanding diagnosis and repair, which kept our cars in tip-top shape. And, our heating and air conditioning guy was so great he made one much-needed house call for free.

Today, we especially miss those last two.

At our two last stops we noticed and confirmed that our heat pump wasn't performing as it should. With plans to travel across the toasty western slope of the Rockies next week, we decided to get it checked out. We checked with our heat pump manufacturer and learned that the closest qualified technician for our model was at a dealership in Salt Lake City. Before making the nearly 300-mile trek to Utah's capital, Paul called and discussed the situation with the dealership. He told them what type of heat pump we have, the make and model of our coach, described the problem and explained that we were nearly 300 miles away. The service tech asked a few questions and told us to come on in.

We checked in at the dealership Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning, we delivered the moose to the service bay. About noon, we stopped by the dealership and were thrilled to see Bullwinkle sitting out front. We stepped inside and inquired on his status.

The service tech told us the news was bad. Repairs were needed that would require more than one day, and maybe several. The bill was certain to be at least $1500. Maybe more. And, that's if they could get the parts they needed. Worse yet, he reported, the heat pump manufacturer said it would not honor its two-year warranty on this 19-month old unit.

With our heads spinning, we decided to put some space between us and the problem. So, we left the dealership and checked into the local KOA. (We checked out another highly recommended park that looked quite nice, but had absolutely no shade. Right now, we need all of that we can get. And, the KOA has plenty!) Our service tech asked us to call him today and let him know if we wanted to get started with the work on Monday.

From the comfort of our shady site, some things became clear. Something about this exchange was fishy. Paul placed a late afternoon call to the maker of our heat pump. The friendly Kansan on the other end of the line assured us that the warranty would be honored, and plenty of parts are readily available.

Oh, really?

More calls were exchanged this morning. Paul spoke with the service tech, warranty clerk and general manager of the dealership, and another call or two to the heat pump maker. Through these calls a stack of lies were revealed.

Turns out this dealer doesn't do the kind of work needed to fix our heat pump!

Gee, it would have been nice to have been told that before we made the drive. And, if they aren't capable of doing this repair work, what were they planning to do to our moose for several days while we camped in a hotel and they charged us at least $1500?

We don't want to think about that.

We're not naive. We know there are unscrupulous types that find transients like us in need of critical repairs as easy targets to scam. We found some right here in Salt Lake City.

They think we'll just move on down the road and not tell anybody. But, as Paul told the head dude at this dealer, the RVing community is very connected. If any one of us finds a repair place that's not reputable, there are ways to let everybody know.

He didn't believe us.

Well, folks, we'll start right here on this little ol' blog.

What's the name of this dealer full of hot air? Blaine Jensen RV, Kaysville, UT.

Our advice: Avoid them at all costs.

Year Two

Today marks a milestone in our full-time RVing adventures. It was two years ago today that we celebrated our personal Independence Day and launched our Great RV Escape.

It's hard to believe it's been two years, already and only. In a way, it seems like we've just been at this, maybe, a little over a year. But, in other ways, it seems like we've been living this life for a very long time. And, that's a good thing.

Last year, we posted a recap of Year One. And, we thought about doing something similar today. But, somehow, looking up how many miles we've traveled and stops we've made feels like a bit too much work. And, really, it's not all that important. Is it? (If you really want to know, just ask. We'll look it up.)

With that attitude, it sounds like we've mellowed a bit in Year Two, eh? And, maybe we have. We're trying to slow down enough to really savor the places we visit. Our month in Santa Fe (even when it was windy) and a near month near Zion (even when it was blazing hot), with a week or two in a couple of gorgeous places in between is definitely a better way for us to travel.

And, while the places have been great, the thing that continues to amaze us is the people we meet. We've always known that America is a beautiful country. What we're learning is it's not just the beautiful coasts, mountain ranges and national parks that make it so. It's the people that make this country great. The stories of so many folks we've met who are visiting here or call this nation home inspire us. They are funny, heartwarming and heart breaking. It's the encounters with these good folks, either planned or by mere chance, that keep us on the road.

One of the things that has changed for us over this past year is how little our life really has to do with our RV. Writing that last sentence seems so funny. After all, the RV -- and the idea of living in one fulltime -- was our primary obsession before we started this gig. And, truth be told, for awhile after. But, today, Bullwinkle is just where we live and our mode of transportation between one place we call home for awhile and the next. It's what we do, who we meet and what we see that makes this a dandy lifestyle for us right now.

Of course, our moose has thrown us a curve ball or two along the way. In fact, that's what brought us here to Salt Lake City. From time to time our moose needs tending to. And, when that happens, he does get to set the itinerary. For all he does for us, we'll let him do just that. Meanwhile, we'll enjoy the detours. Salt Lake is a city we've been meaning to see. Thanks to our moose, we're doing it now. Turns out, Bullwinkle is a pretty good travel agent!

Moose and squirrel care and maintenance is just one of the challenges of life on the road. As I write this, Paul is wrestling with one of our financial services providers over the logistics of depositing a check. With two years of life on the road under our belts, we have come to understand that full-time RVing is still life, complete with its assortment of challenges, frustrations, freedom and joys. And, when it comes to this life, sometimes we just deal with it.

Today, we celebrate it. With deep gratitude for all of the wonderful people we've met over the last two years, especially those we are honored to call friends, we raise a glass and thank you for making this an amazing ride. Here's to many more safe, happy and trouble-free miles and more great times ahead. (And, if we haven't actually met yet, here's another toast to hoping we do so soon!)

Onward to Year Three!

Bryce is NICE!

What a difference a few miles can make!

After traveling 132 miles north and about 4000 feet up yesterday, we are basking in the refreshing coolness of Bryce Canyon. Our "overflow" site is very nice, actually. This place will suit us just fine for the holiday weekend. With daytime highs in the 70s and overnight lows in the 40s, it's all good!

The good folks at Zion River Resort in Virgin were most accommodating. When Paul explained that we had to leave, they said they didn't want us to go away mad. (We weren't.) They gave us a credit for the remainder of our scheduled stay and invited us to come back and use it anytime. We most definitely will...when it's cooler. This is one of our favorite parks in a gorgeous part of the country. We highly recommend it. But, this time of year, it can feel like you're living inside an Easy Bake oven!

That's one of the advantages of living in a rolling home. When you can't stand the heat, you can head for some place cooler.

We're so glad we did!