We made it out of Kansas City bright and early this morning. Our travel day was a tad windy, but otherwise uneventful. Tonight we're 350 miles north -- and about 20 degrees cooler -- returning to a place we recently left: Forest City, Iowa. Bullwinkle is tucked in a skinny spot here at Camp Winnebago. Our fingers are crossed that a couple of chronic issues will be resolved within the next couple of days and we'll be heading west to enjoy some obligation-free exploring.
It's been awhile!
Winnie buddies Mike and Susan raised an astute observation in their most recent comment. They're wondering how much of our recent evolution has been sparked by moose issues. We've shared more with these two than we've let on here on the blog. After all, they were witnesses to -- and fantastic helpers with -- our leaky wheel bearing a year ago in Moab. And, we've kept them posted about our moose's maladies since.
They raise a good question. When the place where your rolling home was built starts to feel like home, it can start a couple of weary fulltimers dreaming of a sturdy stick and brick place. But, we all know those have their problems, too.
It's really hard for us to separate how much of an impact, for example, living with half a heat pump for a year has had on our yearning for a home base. With this stop, we are wrapping up a Moose Maintenance Tour that has dominated our Spring travels. (Yes, there are places we'd rather travel to than Gaffney, Moscow and Forest City!) We started this fulltime RVing journey with an intention to explore new, exciting and beautiful places. When we're not doing that, it's easy to think about finding a new, exciting, beautiful place to live. Add to all that the fact we've spent the last month in our "home" park. That dumpy, tight, gravely park may be convenient, but we find it increasingly depressing. When we actually lived in the Kansas City area, we always had a comfortable home and a lovely lawn. So, it comes as no surprise that we tend to miss all that when we visit our old hometown.
Back to Mike and Susan's comment. We are keeping an eye on the real estate market. Of course, where it goes from here is anybody's guess. Prices have been so low for so long we just can't keep ourselves from looking. It's too tempting!
Meanwhile, we'll focus on getting Bullwinkle back in shape this week. We are so looking forward to getting back on the road and doing what we love to do: Explore this beautiful country.
Wish us luck!
The College Vibe
This latest series of posts has sparked some dandy comments. We always like comments, but we're especially appreciating the most recent efforts of our lovely readers. Y'all seem to be approaching this new chapter of our adventures in the spirit in which it's being written: with fun. We feel like we're in good company. Thanks so much!
Before we get too far into today's subject, we wanted to address a couple of items from recent comments.
Our buddies Sue and Doug asked about landing in one of our favorite spots -- Gunnison, Colorado -- and bugging out during those 30-below winters.
We love Gunnison so! And, we have thought about the possibility of becoming snowbirds. But, as much as we love our favorite high-altitude town, we are more in love the idea of having a place where we could stay all year, if we so decided. We plan to do lots of extended traveling after we find our home base, but we don't like the idea of being forced to hit the road by Mother Nature every year. So, for now, we'll look for a place that's livable year-round. (And, you can bet Gunnison will be a frequent stop on our summer travel schedule!)
Now that we've put some of our critical criteria out there, we certainly welcome your suggestions for spots worth considering. ArkTravelers offered up Fayetteville, and we're so pleased to report that Arkansas is on our itinerary for this fall. We've been meaning to spend some significant time in The Natural State for awhile, but life kept getting in the way. We are looking forward to our visit to Fayetteville and surrounding areas. We'll definitely keep you posted.
The Odd Essay (I can so relate to that!) asked about how "when" we land might impact "where." And, that's a great question. This quest feels like such a moving target (no pun intended), it is certainly subject to change. At not quite 55 years old, we're not ready to hang out where most retirees retire. Our current criteria feels like it should appeal to us for at least the next decade or so. If not, I guess we'll move!
Jessica and Harry, who are currently "practicing" for their fulltime RVing adventures, made an inquiry that inspired the subject of this post. Thinking they might have missed the answer, they wondered about our fascination with college towns. And, we haven't said. (Or, at least I don't remember!) But, here goes.
There's something about college towns. For us, anyway. It's tough to put a finger on exactly why. But, we like the vibe. The seasonal injection of knowledge-hungry students gives a community a boost of energy. On the flip side, their summer exodus gives a community an annual cue to slow down, spread out and relax.
With a college town, you tend to get better and more fun restaurants. And, there's lots to do. Most college towns offer as many cultural activities as many bigger cities. In a college town, the whole place just seems to have a higher IQ. And, with an ongoing influx of new 18 and 19-year-olds, the community gets an annual dose of fresh energy.
For nearly a decade we lived within shouting distance of the UC-Berkeley campus. Of course, there's nothing "small" about Cal or Berkeley, and a lot of it is a bit over the top. But, there was a lot we enjoyed about football Saturdays, cool concerts and restaurants featuring cuisines from around the world.
In our travels, we've noticed how college towns stand out. Alpine could easily be a remote West Texas town. But, thanks to Sul Ross University, the place is buzzing. Among other things, it is home to a fine dining establishment that's a sister-restaurant to a 5-star place in Fort Worth. Missoula is definitely a crossroads town in western Montana. But, the University of Montana brings a cool vibe to town that made us think about moving in! And, we felt the shift in our beloved Gunnison last Fall when the 2,300 students came back to Western State College. The town came alive!
And, of course, there's our own college town. As we've said, Lawrence, Kansas is a place we might love to call home. Imagining life in the shadow of our very favorite University is easy, indeed!
All this said, we know well how life among college students can grate on your nerves. We had an uncanny ability to schedule a trip to the grocery store on the Sunday night before a new semester. Our local Safeway was crawling with kids who were three or four to a cart loaded with Ramen noodles, mac-n-cheese and Red Bull. Still, it was fun to be a part of it all.
So, that explains our infatuation with college towns. We'd love to be part of one again one day.
But for now, we need to wrap up our stay here in Kansas City. Tomorrow will be a day filled with tearful goodbyes and getting ready to roll.
We can't wait.
Before we get too far into today's subject, we wanted to address a couple of items from recent comments.
Our buddies Sue and Doug asked about landing in one of our favorite spots -- Gunnison, Colorado -- and bugging out during those 30-below winters.
We love Gunnison so! And, we have thought about the possibility of becoming snowbirds. But, as much as we love our favorite high-altitude town, we are more in love the idea of having a place where we could stay all year, if we so decided. We plan to do lots of extended traveling after we find our home base, but we don't like the idea of being forced to hit the road by Mother Nature every year. So, for now, we'll look for a place that's livable year-round. (And, you can bet Gunnison will be a frequent stop on our summer travel schedule!)
Now that we've put some of our critical criteria out there, we certainly welcome your suggestions for spots worth considering. ArkTravelers offered up Fayetteville, and we're so pleased to report that Arkansas is on our itinerary for this fall. We've been meaning to spend some significant time in The Natural State for awhile, but life kept getting in the way. We are looking forward to our visit to Fayetteville and surrounding areas. We'll definitely keep you posted.
The Odd Essay (I can so relate to that!) asked about how "when" we land might impact "where." And, that's a great question. This quest feels like such a moving target (no pun intended), it is certainly subject to change. At not quite 55 years old, we're not ready to hang out where most retirees retire. Our current criteria feels like it should appeal to us for at least the next decade or so. If not, I guess we'll move!
Jessica and Harry, who are currently "practicing" for their fulltime RVing adventures, made an inquiry that inspired the subject of this post. Thinking they might have missed the answer, they wondered about our fascination with college towns. And, we haven't said. (Or, at least I don't remember!) But, here goes.
There's something about college towns. For us, anyway. It's tough to put a finger on exactly why. But, we like the vibe. The seasonal injection of knowledge-hungry students gives a community a boost of energy. On the flip side, their summer exodus gives a community an annual cue to slow down, spread out and relax.
With a college town, you tend to get better and more fun restaurants. And, there's lots to do. Most college towns offer as many cultural activities as many bigger cities. In a college town, the whole place just seems to have a higher IQ. And, with an ongoing influx of new 18 and 19-year-olds, the community gets an annual dose of fresh energy.
For nearly a decade we lived within shouting distance of the UC-Berkeley campus. Of course, there's nothing "small" about Cal or Berkeley, and a lot of it is a bit over the top. But, there was a lot we enjoyed about football Saturdays, cool concerts and restaurants featuring cuisines from around the world.
In our travels, we've noticed how college towns stand out. Alpine could easily be a remote West Texas town. But, thanks to Sul Ross University, the place is buzzing. Among other things, it is home to a fine dining establishment that's a sister-restaurant to a 5-star place in Fort Worth. Missoula is definitely a crossroads town in western Montana. But, the University of Montana brings a cool vibe to town that made us think about moving in! And, we felt the shift in our beloved Gunnison last Fall when the 2,300 students came back to Western State College. The town came alive!
And, of course, there's our own college town. As we've said, Lawrence, Kansas is a place we might love to call home. Imagining life in the shadow of our very favorite University is easy, indeed!
All this said, we know well how life among college students can grate on your nerves. We had an uncanny ability to schedule a trip to the grocery store on the Sunday night before a new semester. Our local Safeway was crawling with kids who were three or four to a cart loaded with Ramen noodles, mac-n-cheese and Red Bull. Still, it was fun to be a part of it all.
So, that explains our infatuation with college towns. We'd love to be part of one again one day.
But for now, we need to wrap up our stay here in Kansas City. Tomorrow will be a day filled with tearful goodbyes and getting ready to roll.
We can't wait.
Critical Criteria
One of the things we thought about during our "down days" as bloggers (But, have you noticed how things have suddenly "picked up"?) was what we want in the town in which we choose to land and set up our home base. Until very recently, we would simply immerse ourselves in each town and get the feel of the place. Kerrville felt good. Santa Fe didn't. (Though it's an awesome place to visit!) Gunnison felt very good, in the Summer, of course. With each town we've visited over the past three years, we've departed with an intuitive sense of whether or not that destination was a place we'd like to settle down in someday. The whole process has been loads of fun, but far from scientific.
Until now.
Since about the time we crossed back over the Mississippi River last month, we've been working on our list of "must haves" for the town we will choose as our home base. The first on the list was that our place will be west of the Mississippi River! Of course, there are a multitude of wonderful places we love to visit east of that big river. But, one thing we've learned in our travels is that we are, at our core, Westerners.
With that little piece of self-discovery, we narrowed our search from "anywhere" in the country to "somewhere." Over the last few weeks, we've added to the list of criteria. Heck, I even put it on a spreadsheet. Yesterday, I looked online for a bit of help.
Find Your Spot.com features a quiz designed to help you find cities and towns that are most likely to appeal to you, based on your answers to an eight-part quiz that inquires about everything from the weather to culture, education, medical care, transportation, recreation, size, safety, location, home prices, taxes, faith and personal fit. Before you click on this link to the quiz, let me warn you, after you take the quiz, and before you get your list of 24 recommended locations, the site asks for a bunch of personal information, which I opted not to submit. Even without getting the answers, I like the quiz for the things it make you think about. Once we know what we want, we don't really need a list. We'll have great fun finding the place that's right for us on our own.
I'll share some of our critical criteria here, but I want to make it clear that these are the factors that appeal to us, and only us. Any list like this will be unique to each individual going through this process. There's no right or wrong to it all. And, like our travel plans, our list is definitely written in chalk, subject to change at any time.
With that disclaimer out of the way, here's a look at some of our criteria, such as they are today.
We'd like to "land" in a town that:
We have a few other items on the list that are a bit more personal. But, this gives you an idea of the kind of things we're thinking about and looking for. We think it's a pretty nifty list!
In our travels, we've noticed a handful of states where we really feel at home. Kansas is obvious. There are parts of our adopted state of Texas that speak to us, but we haven't been there in Summer! Colorado is another. We've always liked it, but last Summer we absolutely fell in love with Gunnison. It's not livable (by our standards) in Winter, but there are several other places in the state that we are eager to explore and consider.
We're heading to one of those places in a week or so. Fort Collins is a town we've only driven through. But, we're looking forward to spending a month there this summer and checking it out. Whether or not it makes the cut doesn't really matter. Either way, we know it will be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, we'll keep working on our list.
Until now.
Since about the time we crossed back over the Mississippi River last month, we've been working on our list of "must haves" for the town we will choose as our home base. The first on the list was that our place will be west of the Mississippi River! Of course, there are a multitude of wonderful places we love to visit east of that big river. But, one thing we've learned in our travels is that we are, at our core, Westerners.
With that little piece of self-discovery, we narrowed our search from "anywhere" in the country to "somewhere." Over the last few weeks, we've added to the list of criteria. Heck, I even put it on a spreadsheet. Yesterday, I looked online for a bit of help.
Find Your Spot.com features a quiz designed to help you find cities and towns that are most likely to appeal to you, based on your answers to an eight-part quiz that inquires about everything from the weather to culture, education, medical care, transportation, recreation, size, safety, location, home prices, taxes, faith and personal fit. Before you click on this link to the quiz, let me warn you, after you take the quiz, and before you get your list of 24 recommended locations, the site asks for a bunch of personal information, which I opted not to submit. Even without getting the answers, I like the quiz for the things it make you think about. Once we know what we want, we don't really need a list. We'll have great fun finding the place that's right for us on our own.
I'll share some of our critical criteria here, but I want to make it clear that these are the factors that appeal to us, and only us. Any list like this will be unique to each individual going through this process. There's no right or wrong to it all. And, like our travel plans, our list is definitely written in chalk, subject to change at any time.
With that disclaimer out of the way, here's a look at some of our criteria, such as they are today.
We'd like to "land" in a town that:
- is west of the Mississippi River, but not in California
- is part of a medium-to-small SMSA (300,000 people or less)
- features natural geographic beauty
- has lots of opportunities for outdoor activities (hiking, biking, geocaching)
- is livable year-round
- is within a short drive to a major airport
- is within a day's drive of Kansas City (It can be a long day's drive.)
- is a college town
- is within a short drive of friends and/or family
- has quality services (medical, vet, shopping)
- offers safe and affordable living
We have a few other items on the list that are a bit more personal. But, this gives you an idea of the kind of things we're thinking about and looking for. We think it's a pretty nifty list!
In our travels, we've noticed a handful of states where we really feel at home. Kansas is obvious. There are parts of our adopted state of Texas that speak to us, but we haven't been there in Summer! Colorado is another. We've always liked it, but last Summer we absolutely fell in love with Gunnison. It's not livable (by our standards) in Winter, but there are several other places in the state that we are eager to explore and consider.
We're heading to one of those places in a week or so. Fort Collins is a town we've only driven through. But, we're looking forward to spending a month there this summer and checking it out. Whether or not it makes the cut doesn't really matter. Either way, we know it will be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, we'll keep working on our list.
We're Flip Floppers
Whew! I can't tell you how much better I feel. It's so good to have come out of the closet on thinking about the end of our fulltiming adventures.
I want to remind you dear readers, we're just thinking about it at this point. We still have many miles ahead of us in this journey. Heck, we have tentative travel plans well into next year. And, along the way we will continue to think about and look for that place where we want to land and establish our home base. From that place, wherever it may be, we will continue to travel -- sometimes for months on end -- and continue to enjoy this amazing lifestyle. As so many of our commenting readers alluded to, that will be the time when we will enjoy the best of both worlds. We can't wait. But, we will.
As we search for our perfect landing spot, we know we will have our challenges. Chief among them is this simple fact: We're flip floppers.
(Thank God we're not running for office!)
But, it's true. We are. We will fall in love with a place in a heartbeat. We'll convince ourselves "this" is the place for us. Then, in a nanosecond, we'll talk ourselves out of it. We move down the road and find another spot with which we fall in love. It's a vicious, but really fun, cycle.
This flip flopping is most obvious while we're here in our native Kansas City. It would be a piece of cake for us to settle here. The fact that the area is filled with friends and family and we know our way around practically with our eyes closed makes the idea of settling here a real no brainer.
Then, in the same breath, we can talk ourselves out of it. It's too easy. It's not really our favorite place. It's too big. Too familiar. Too hot. Too humid. Too cold in the Winter. We want to be somewhere different.
See how we flip flop?
See how this process of finding our home base might take us awhile?
Today we had the great pleasure of spending some time in a town that's at, or near, the top of our potential home base list. Lawrence, Kansas sits just 45 miles - and a few light years - away from Kansas City. This quaint little college town on the banks of the Kansas river is home to our alma mater, The University of Kansas. It serves up a heap of history with a nice side of modern conveniences. It's town and country. It's business and academia. It's the best of everything.
Yep. We love it.
One of our hundred nieces and nephews (O.K., it's really not that many!) has expressed a passionate interest in attending the KU School of Journalism. Even though this particular niece still has a couple of years of high school left, as a couple of proud alums, we jumped at the chance to show her around.
We spent the day in our favorite college town. As we hiked around campus, we poked in stately buildings that were familiar and new. At one point in the day, we enjoyed a 360-degree panorama from our 10-story perch on top of the hill. As we took in the sweeping views of the university, the town, the surrounding neighborhoods and not-too-distant farms, we sighed in unison.
"We could live here!"
Oh, yes! We could.
As we left the Lawrence city limits, our niece was dreaming of her future as a Jayhawk. And, we were talking ourselves out of our love fest for the town. You see, we have other places to see and explore. It's too soon for us to declare our old college town our new hometown.
And so we flip flop.
When it comes to finding our new home base, we know we'll know it when we see it. It might be a brand new town, or familiar stomping grounds. Who knows?
For now, these flip floppers will just keep looking.
I want to remind you dear readers, we're just thinking about it at this point. We still have many miles ahead of us in this journey. Heck, we have tentative travel plans well into next year. And, along the way we will continue to think about and look for that place where we want to land and establish our home base. From that place, wherever it may be, we will continue to travel -- sometimes for months on end -- and continue to enjoy this amazing lifestyle. As so many of our commenting readers alluded to, that will be the time when we will enjoy the best of both worlds. We can't wait. But, we will.
As we search for our perfect landing spot, we know we will have our challenges. Chief among them is this simple fact: We're flip floppers.
(Thank God we're not running for office!)
But, it's true. We are. We will fall in love with a place in a heartbeat. We'll convince ourselves "this" is the place for us. Then, in a nanosecond, we'll talk ourselves out of it. We move down the road and find another spot with which we fall in love. It's a vicious, but really fun, cycle.
This flip flopping is most obvious while we're here in our native Kansas City. It would be a piece of cake for us to settle here. The fact that the area is filled with friends and family and we know our way around practically with our eyes closed makes the idea of settling here a real no brainer.
Then, in the same breath, we can talk ourselves out of it. It's too easy. It's not really our favorite place. It's too big. Too familiar. Too hot. Too humid. Too cold in the Winter. We want to be somewhere different.
See how we flip flop?
See how this process of finding our home base might take us awhile?
Today we had the great pleasure of spending some time in a town that's at, or near, the top of our potential home base list. Lawrence, Kansas sits just 45 miles - and a few light years - away from Kansas City. This quaint little college town on the banks of the Kansas river is home to our alma mater, The University of Kansas. It serves up a heap of history with a nice side of modern conveniences. It's town and country. It's business and academia. It's the best of everything.
Yep. We love it.
One of our hundred nieces and nephews (O.K., it's really not that many!) has expressed a passionate interest in attending the KU School of Journalism. Even though this particular niece still has a couple of years of high school left, as a couple of proud alums, we jumped at the chance to show her around.
We spent the day in our favorite college town. As we hiked around campus, we poked in stately buildings that were familiar and new. At one point in the day, we enjoyed a 360-degree panorama from our 10-story perch on top of the hill. As we took in the sweeping views of the university, the town, the surrounding neighborhoods and not-too-distant farms, we sighed in unison.
"We could live here!"
Oh, yes! We could.
As we left the Lawrence city limits, our niece was dreaming of her future as a Jayhawk. And, we were talking ourselves out of our love fest for the town. You see, we have other places to see and explore. It's too soon for us to declare our old college town our new hometown.
And so we flip flop.
When it comes to finding our new home base, we know we'll know it when we see it. It might be a brand new town, or familiar stomping grounds. Who knows?
For now, these flip floppers will just keep looking.
We're Evolving
I'm the first to admit my enthusiasm for blogging has waned over the last few months. It's been tough to find things to write about. I really didn't have much to say. At first, I didn't understand exactly why. But, today it occurred to me.
We're evolving.
I'm not trying to steal any headlines here. Really, it's not that. But, what it is is a change in how we are as fulltime RVers. And, truth be told, I was afraid to write about it. Until today.
Today I remembered why we started this blog. We wanted to chronicle the story of our fulltime RVing journey, from before the beginning to the very end. And, from the beginning we have been painfully honest about what we're thinking and feeling. We have always told it like it is, the good and the not so good, for a couple of reasons. First, we wanted to chronicle our story. Second, we hoped our doing so might inform and/or inspire folks who were thinking about following us along this path.
In the beginning, it was so easy. We'd hatched this dream and started a blog about it all. The preparations were as exciting as they were stressful. Then, finally, we hit the road. Every day was a new and exciting adventure. It was all so compelling we just had to write about it, whether anyone wanted to read it or not. As the months and miles passed by, we became more comfortable as our mobile lifestyle became not-quite-so new. We started to slow down, relax and stay awhile in some places. Life was good, but blogging material became harder to find.
As we approach our third anniversary as fulltimers (in a month or so), something has changed. And, like I said, we haven't had the courage to blog about it. Until today. So, here goes.
We're thinking about the end.
No, we're not talking about the Mayan calendar. We're thinking about the end of our fulltime RVing journey. And, in the same spirit we've written every word of this humble little blog, we want to be honest about the process as we transition from fulltime RVers to anytime RVers.
I've been perusing the blogs of many former fulltime RVers lately, and I've noticed a theme: Folks are happily hopping across the country until one day they stop, never to blog again.
We don't want to do that.
Today we decided that we want to be up front and personal about this part of our fulltiming journey, too. So, we shall.
When we started this blog, we laid it all out. Here's an excerpt from our very first post, from July 2008:
From the beginning, we knew this whole fulltiming adventure for us was a "temporary gig." Nearly three years in, that's still true. That whole "perhaps as long as three" thing makes us smile. That sounded like such a very long time to be on the road back then. We can't believe how quickly the time has flown. Today when folks ask us how long we plan to be doing this, we have a simple answer that reflects our new perspective.
It feels like we're about halfway done.
(Of course, that's subject to change at any time!)
But, these days, it does feel like we're about halfway done. We have a list of places yet to see, and places to go back and visit again. We're enjoying it all, of course. But, in the back of our minds, something is smoldering. We are starting to yearn for a home base: A place to call home; A real address that isn't a file folder in a warehouse. Someday, we want a proper kitchen, a real bathroom, a lovely patio and a yard. (Anyone who's following my Pinterest boards has probably already noticed this!)
We've given it a lot of thought. And, we'll share some of that, if you're interested. The bottom line is our travel plans are now including spending time in some of the places we might like to call home one day. And, that might take us a year, or two or three to find.
Who knows?
We'll definitely keep you posted.
We're evolving.
I'm not trying to steal any headlines here. Really, it's not that. But, what it is is a change in how we are as fulltime RVers. And, truth be told, I was afraid to write about it. Until today.
Today I remembered why we started this blog. We wanted to chronicle the story of our fulltime RVing journey, from before the beginning to the very end. And, from the beginning we have been painfully honest about what we're thinking and feeling. We have always told it like it is, the good and the not so good, for a couple of reasons. First, we wanted to chronicle our story. Second, we hoped our doing so might inform and/or inspire folks who were thinking about following us along this path.
In the beginning, it was so easy. We'd hatched this dream and started a blog about it all. The preparations were as exciting as they were stressful. Then, finally, we hit the road. Every day was a new and exciting adventure. It was all so compelling we just had to write about it, whether anyone wanted to read it or not. As the months and miles passed by, we became more comfortable as our mobile lifestyle became not-quite-so new. We started to slow down, relax and stay awhile in some places. Life was good, but blogging material became harder to find.
As we approach our third anniversary as fulltimers (in a month or so), something has changed. And, like I said, we haven't had the courage to blog about it. Until today. So, here goes.
We're thinking about the end.
No, we're not talking about the Mayan calendar. We're thinking about the end of our fulltime RVing journey. And, in the same spirit we've written every word of this humble little blog, we want to be honest about the process as we transition from fulltime RVers to anytime RVers.
I've been perusing the blogs of many former fulltime RVers lately, and I've noticed a theme: Folks are happily hopping across the country until one day they stop, never to blog again.
We don't want to do that.
Today we decided that we want to be up front and personal about this part of our fulltiming journey, too. So, we shall.
When we started this blog, we laid it all out. Here's an excerpt from our very first post, from July 2008:
How long will we be "gone"? At least a year. Maybe two. Perhaps as long as three. Who knows?
At the end of the road we'll settle down in a new spot. Right now, we're thinking it may be our old college town. But, again, who knows?
From the beginning, we knew this whole fulltiming adventure for us was a "temporary gig." Nearly three years in, that's still true. That whole "perhaps as long as three" thing makes us smile. That sounded like such a very long time to be on the road back then. We can't believe how quickly the time has flown. Today when folks ask us how long we plan to be doing this, we have a simple answer that reflects our new perspective.
It feels like we're about halfway done.
(Of course, that's subject to change at any time!)
But, these days, it does feel like we're about halfway done. We have a list of places yet to see, and places to go back and visit again. We're enjoying it all, of course. But, in the back of our minds, something is smoldering. We are starting to yearn for a home base: A place to call home; A real address that isn't a file folder in a warehouse. Someday, we want a proper kitchen, a real bathroom, a lovely patio and a yard. (Anyone who's following my Pinterest boards has probably already noticed this!)
We've given it a lot of thought. And, we'll share some of that, if you're interested. The bottom line is our travel plans are now including spending time in some of the places we might like to call home one day. And, that might take us a year, or two or three to find.
Who knows?
We'll definitely keep you posted.
Don't Tell Rocky
Shhhhh!
We're shopping for a new squirrel.
In addition to archiving a couple of old blogs, another of our "Kansas City To-Dos" has been to check out local Jeep dealers for a new Wrangler. Of course, we love of our squirrel. But, truth is, we wish he had four doors, especially when we're going out with another couple. If I have to fold my body into a pretzel to fit in that back seat one more time, I'm not sure what kind of heinous act I might commit!
The last couple of days we've visited three local Jeep dealers. Paul has been corresponding with one for a few months. He was off yesterday, so we scheduled an appointment with him today. But, yesterday we decided to drive about 15 minutes north of here to visit another dealer just to see what they had in stock. There we met a very friendly fellow who was fun to talk with, but really didn't seem to be terribly interested in selling us a car.
"What's new since 2005?" Paul asked.
"An engine and that's about it," replied the mellow salesman.
Even if you're not a car salesman, if you did a side-by-side comparison of our 2005 Wrangler with a 2012 version, you'd see a lot more differences besides the engine. Guaranteed. But, I digress.
We did spot a brand spankin' new "Gecko" colored Wrangler that became the subject of my daily snap. That day-glo green had us thinking about our friends Sue and Doug and their new day-glo orange Jeep, which is appropriately named "Crush". For a brief moment we imagined meeting up with our Jeepin' friends and taking our glow in the dark Jeeps off roading. It would be quite a sight!
We left the neon Jeep at the dealership and prepared for our appointment with Paul's pen pal this morning. We were eager to see what inventory this salesman had to show us. Shortly after pulling into the dealership, we met the salesman in the showroom. We exchanged handshakes and pleasantries, then Paul suggested we head outside to see what Jeeps he had for sale.
"Uh no!" The salesman responded. "I don't want to go outside."
"But, that's where the cars are!" We thought silently in unison. The looks on our faces had to be priceless.
He went on to explain that he was suffering from seasonal allergies and was heading out to see his doctor as soon as he was "done with" us.
As a life-long seasonal allergy sufferer who spent 42 years of my life in Kansas City, I had one thing to say.
Suck it up! (Let me remind you, dear readers, that we had a scheduled appointment with this is dude. If he wasn't feeling well, he could have called to reschedule. We most certainly would have understood!)
Instead, we wrapped up this waste of time meeting and made a beeline for another dealership. With our fingers crossed that we might actually find a salesman who actually wanted to sell a Jeep, we pulled in and were promptly greeted by a friendly and polite sales professional.
Paul explained the reason for our visit. We want four doors. As members of the Freightliners Owners Club, pricing is quick and easy. (We get a deal!) We know pretty much which bells and whistles we want on our new squirrel.
"What's stopping you?" The sales pro asked.
Logistics, was the answer.
You see, Rocky has a pricey auxiliary braking system on board, which we'll want to have removed and reinstalled in our new Jeep. And, of course, our new squirrel will need to have a baseplate installed. And, eventually we'll have to make sure the moose and new squirrel match up just right. Between all of that uninstalling and installing, it makes our heads spin.
"We can take care of that for you, " our new favorite sales pro replied. "And, we'll give you a Jeep to use while we do the work."
Yes. We are close to sold!
Now it's really just a matter of finding the new Jeep that has everything we want. And, if we can't find one, we'll order a 2013 model to be ready in time for our return to Kansas City this fall.
Meanwhile, our trusty squirrel is clueless. He has no idea what might be in store for him.
We need him to travel many more miles with us between now and then. So, for now we're keeping a secret.
Please don't tell Rocky!
We're shopping for a new squirrel.
In addition to archiving a couple of old blogs, another of our "Kansas City To-Dos" has been to check out local Jeep dealers for a new Wrangler. Of course, we love of our squirrel. But, truth is, we wish he had four doors, especially when we're going out with another couple. If I have to fold my body into a pretzel to fit in that back seat one more time, I'm not sure what kind of heinous act I might commit!
The last couple of days we've visited three local Jeep dealers. Paul has been corresponding with one for a few months. He was off yesterday, so we scheduled an appointment with him today. But, yesterday we decided to drive about 15 minutes north of here to visit another dealer just to see what they had in stock. There we met a very friendly fellow who was fun to talk with, but really didn't seem to be terribly interested in selling us a car.
"What's new since 2005?" Paul asked.
"An engine and that's about it," replied the mellow salesman.
Even if you're not a car salesman, if you did a side-by-side comparison of our 2005 Wrangler with a 2012 version, you'd see a lot more differences besides the engine. Guaranteed. But, I digress.
We did spot a brand spankin' new "Gecko" colored Wrangler that became the subject of my daily snap. That day-glo green had us thinking about our friends Sue and Doug and their new day-glo orange Jeep, which is appropriately named "Crush". For a brief moment we imagined meeting up with our Jeepin' friends and taking our glow in the dark Jeeps off roading. It would be quite a sight!
We left the neon Jeep at the dealership and prepared for our appointment with Paul's pen pal this morning. We were eager to see what inventory this salesman had to show us. Shortly after pulling into the dealership, we met the salesman in the showroom. We exchanged handshakes and pleasantries, then Paul suggested we head outside to see what Jeeps he had for sale.
"Uh no!" The salesman responded. "I don't want to go outside."
"But, that's where the cars are!" We thought silently in unison. The looks on our faces had to be priceless.
He went on to explain that he was suffering from seasonal allergies and was heading out to see his doctor as soon as he was "done with" us.
As a life-long seasonal allergy sufferer who spent 42 years of my life in Kansas City, I had one thing to say.
Suck it up! (Let me remind you, dear readers, that we had a scheduled appointment with this is dude. If he wasn't feeling well, he could have called to reschedule. We most certainly would have understood!)
Instead, we wrapped up this waste of time meeting and made a beeline for another dealership. With our fingers crossed that we might actually find a salesman who actually wanted to sell a Jeep, we pulled in and were promptly greeted by a friendly and polite sales professional.
Paul explained the reason for our visit. We want four doors. As members of the Freightliners Owners Club, pricing is quick and easy. (We get a deal!) We know pretty much which bells and whistles we want on our new squirrel.
"What's stopping you?" The sales pro asked.
Logistics, was the answer.
You see, Rocky has a pricey auxiliary braking system on board, which we'll want to have removed and reinstalled in our new Jeep. And, of course, our new squirrel will need to have a baseplate installed. And, eventually we'll have to make sure the moose and new squirrel match up just right. Between all of that uninstalling and installing, it makes our heads spin.
"We can take care of that for you, " our new favorite sales pro replied. "And, we'll give you a Jeep to use while we do the work."
Yes. We are close to sold!
Now it's really just a matter of finding the new Jeep that has everything we want. And, if we can't find one, we'll order a 2013 model to be ready in time for our return to Kansas City this fall.
Meanwhile, our trusty squirrel is clueless. He has no idea what might be in store for him.
We need him to travel many more miles with us between now and then. So, for now we're keeping a secret.
Please don't tell Rocky!
Unattended Blogs
I have a bunch of 'em.
First, there's this one. I haven't meant to leave it so high and dry. We did manage to leave Forest City, but we were weren't satisfied with the results of that stop. I never felt like writing about it. We get to make a return trip to Winnie Town the end of this month. So, maybe I'll catch the blog up on that adventure then. Right now, we're hanging in Kansas City. We're keeping ourselves busy enough and out of trouble, but there just hasn't been much to blog about.
Second, there's Bullwinkle's Travels. I haven't touched that blog since we left Bonifay, Florida a couple of months ago. One of my many "Kansas City To-Dos" is bringing that journal up-to-date. I have lots of great stuff to share. All I need is some time to write it all up.
This week my spare time has been spent on two vintage non-RVing blogs I gave up long ago. It's been so long that Blogger refers to them as "legacy accounts". And, Blogger is about to abandon them. I have until May 25th to bring them back to life, or Blogger says they'll shelve them.
I haven't touched either of these blogs since 2007. While they were great fun for awhile, my interest on the subject matter has waned over time. One of the blogs was all about my early quilting and knitting adventures. Mostly, it chronicled the construction of my most complicated creation: a queen-size double wedding ring quilt. As readers here may recall, I finished the top of this quilt nearly three years ago days before we hit the road. Needless to say, I have little interest in continuing a blog about a quilt that's still not finished after some eight years. I'll finish the quilt some day, but the blog is done.
The other blog was a lot more fun. It was a pundit-style blog on which I published quite regularly for a couple of years. I developed a nice little following, too. But, life got busy and this fun little blog fell by the wayside. I don't have the passion for the topic I once had. So, that neglected project is toast, too.
Although my work on these blogs is done, I really want to save the content. So, with visions of logging on to my ancient Blogger account and taking a minute or two to download my old posts, I went to work to save my work.
Oh, if it could have been that easy!
I couldn't remember the password. So, I requested a reset. Apparently, it was sent to two email accounts that I closed long ago. Blogger offers no direct help to its users, which reminded me of the old saying, "You get what you pay for." With no way to access these soon-to-be-tossed blogs, I resorted to a most tedious process.
Cut and paste.
The quilting blog is all saved. I'm a year into the pundit blog. With Blogger's May 25th deadline looming large, my keyboard-weary fingers are crossed in hopes that I get it all done. I may never again look at this stuff. But, right now, it's worth this time hogging process to save it just in case I do.
Cutting and pasting is mind numbing work. But, it's given me time to think about my life as a blogger. Looking at my blogging history, it seems it's easy for me to be jazzed about my topic for two or three years. Then, my interest fades until I find a new and exciting thing to blog about (like fulltime RVing!). That has me thinking.
Who knows? It might be time to change things up around here. Maybe a different format, or a fresh spin on things. Or, maybe I'll start a totally new blog to attend to.
Whatever the case, I'm grateful for a couple of things: (1) Both of these blogs are backed up regularly; and (2) I have the password to my Blogger account.
That'll save me a lot of time someday.
First, there's this one. I haven't meant to leave it so high and dry. We did manage to leave Forest City, but we were weren't satisfied with the results of that stop. I never felt like writing about it. We get to make a return trip to Winnie Town the end of this month. So, maybe I'll catch the blog up on that adventure then. Right now, we're hanging in Kansas City. We're keeping ourselves busy enough and out of trouble, but there just hasn't been much to blog about.
Second, there's Bullwinkle's Travels. I haven't touched that blog since we left Bonifay, Florida a couple of months ago. One of my many "Kansas City To-Dos" is bringing that journal up-to-date. I have lots of great stuff to share. All I need is some time to write it all up.
This week my spare time has been spent on two vintage non-RVing blogs I gave up long ago. It's been so long that Blogger refers to them as "legacy accounts". And, Blogger is about to abandon them. I have until May 25th to bring them back to life, or Blogger says they'll shelve them.
I haven't touched either of these blogs since 2007. While they were great fun for awhile, my interest on the subject matter has waned over time. One of the blogs was all about my early quilting and knitting adventures. Mostly, it chronicled the construction of my most complicated creation: a queen-size double wedding ring quilt. As readers here may recall, I finished the top of this quilt nearly three years ago days before we hit the road. Needless to say, I have little interest in continuing a blog about a quilt that's still not finished after some eight years. I'll finish the quilt some day, but the blog is done.
The other blog was a lot more fun. It was a pundit-style blog on which I published quite regularly for a couple of years. I developed a nice little following, too. But, life got busy and this fun little blog fell by the wayside. I don't have the passion for the topic I once had. So, that neglected project is toast, too.
Although my work on these blogs is done, I really want to save the content. So, with visions of logging on to my ancient Blogger account and taking a minute or two to download my old posts, I went to work to save my work.
Oh, if it could have been that easy!
I couldn't remember the password. So, I requested a reset. Apparently, it was sent to two email accounts that I closed long ago. Blogger offers no direct help to its users, which reminded me of the old saying, "You get what you pay for." With no way to access these soon-to-be-tossed blogs, I resorted to a most tedious process.
Cut and paste.
The quilting blog is all saved. I'm a year into the pundit blog. With Blogger's May 25th deadline looming large, my keyboard-weary fingers are crossed in hopes that I get it all done. I may never again look at this stuff. But, right now, it's worth this time hogging process to save it just in case I do.
Cutting and pasting is mind numbing work. But, it's given me time to think about my life as a blogger. Looking at my blogging history, it seems it's easy for me to be jazzed about my topic for two or three years. Then, my interest fades until I find a new and exciting thing to blog about (like fulltime RVing!). That has me thinking.
Who knows? It might be time to change things up around here. Maybe a different format, or a fresh spin on things. Or, maybe I'll start a totally new blog to attend to.
Whatever the case, I'm grateful for a couple of things: (1) Both of these blogs are backed up regularly; and (2) I have the password to my Blogger account.
That'll save me a lot of time someday.
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