Full Circle...

It's really hard for me to believe that it's been a full year since Jack and I started out on this adventure of ours, but it has!  Wow.  One year ago we bought our rv, sold our home, put our things in storage, and set out on the adventure of a life long dream.

We drove 17,551 miles through 38 states adding New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada to the list.  We spent $9,990 on gas and stayed in 78 campgrounds, for a total of $6,171.24.  That included full hook-ups (water, elec. sewer & cable).  We only boondocked a couple of times, once at a friend's farm for a few days (until the mosquitoes were to much for me!) and once in the parking lot of CampingWorld that was due to do maintenance on the rv the next morning.  Just never did the "Walmart thing". 

We met all kinds of fun people, from archaeologists to  musicians from infants to folks in their 90s; students to retirees; hitch-hikers to million dollar rv drivers.  Friendly folk who cheerfully invited us over to enjoy their fire to fancy folk who keep to the more elite class of motorhome people.  We made some nice friendships that we hope will last a long time, and missed the ones we left back home.  We visited friends and family that we hadn't seen in years with promises to do so more often.

We learned more about this great nation of ours than we ever did in school.  We saw and enjoyed more beauty than we ever did from movies or books.  We smelled more flowers and felt more sunshine and rain than we had in a long time.  I saw robins & bluebirds and fireflies for the first time.  We saw (rare) black squirrels and alligators too!  The sunrises and sunsets never stopped being a joy to watch, beginning or ending our day with such beauty.

Beautiful nature was everywhere.  Waterfalls, rock formations that boggled the imagination, rolling hills, huge mountains, plants and tall trees in every color, deep blue lakes and ocean with white soft sandy beaches filled with shells.  Even the sky was different depending on where you were.  Some nights there were so many stars that you could hardly see the black sky.  And the lightening storms!  Loud thunder, crackling bolts of white light flashing across the sky, one after another with sheets of such heavy rain you couldn't see across the street.  What an experience it was to be in a summer storm in the south!  Then there was the wind...driving across a clear open road with no buildings or mountains, nothing to slow the wind down, and it's blowing 50+ mph!  After we pulled into a campground and hunkered down, we learned that it toppled over several semi trucks further down road.

Such great experiences, everyone of them.  Listening to musicians playing everything from "old timey music" to jazz to gospel.  Watching each one play with their heart as well as with their instruments.  Watching folks dance, full of energy, "flat-footing" and the Lindy, square dancing as well as other local style of "barn dancing".  We ate some wonderful regional foods too.  We learned the differences of Bar-B-Que (all of them good!), tasted hush puppies, and even learned to like crawdads!  Jack had some of the best Mexican food ever in San Antonio (which he doesn't normally like), and we laughed a lot about the southerners adding "gravy" to theirs in Tennessee!  It was great to be able to eat straight from the farm fruits & vegetables as we drove along some of the back roads.  It was even fun to guess "what they were growing" as we passed field after field of "something green".  (Soy beans almost had me stumped) We discovered frozen custard and next to the wonderful french Beignets of New Orleans, decided there is no other dessert that can match them!

We had a ball seeing how things were made.  We all get disgusted at seeing the "made in China" label on the bottom of so many products, well I'm here to tell you that America still makes a lot of wonderful things!  Baseball Bats, Braille Machines, Harley Davidson, Toyota Cars, Crayola Crayons, Coca Cola, lots & lots of candy, beautiful glassware from Traffic Lights to Chandeliers, Fire Engines, Zippo Lighters, Hallmark Cards, and Motorhomes.  Were the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Tabasco Sauce, Buffalo Wings, the Charleston Tea Plantation, Ringling, Barnum & Bailey Circus, and QVC.  We enjoyed seeing shop after shop filled with hand made local items from wooden clocks to glass beads, from cloth dresses to beautiful art.  There seemed to be no limit to the creativity and abundant talent all around us.  Jack was just happy that our "little home" couldn't fit much of it in! 

What we learned from all of this was that we are not ready to stop just yet.  We still have 10 states we haven't even stepped foot in, so to speak, and several more that we just wheezed by that we want to spend some quality time in.  This past year we wanted to see as much as we could, so traveled pretty fast.  This year we want to slow it down a bit and spend more time enjoying our surroundings, nature, and the people around us.  More State and National Parks, more time to ride our bikes and kicking back reading the box of books we still have with us.

I would like to continue to write, but am thinking of making some changes.  What do you think, dear readers?  What would you like?  I could use some feedback...more detail, less?  I was thinking maybe more detail on the campgrounds in case anyone wanted to go there?  Or more about my personal journey?  Or? I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

 

 ...kicking back in California,  Marie

A day in our life...

As I sit here, thinking about how far behind I am in getting my blogs written, what I want to write, and what I'd rather be doing now...I thought I would share with you, a what a "typical" travel day is like for us, first...

I don't think our bodies have totally adjusted to the different time zones. Not having to get up by a certain time to "go to work", we've slowly changed our routine to later dinners (or just two meals, making one around 4pm, then "dessert" around 8pm)and staying up late (11pm-midnight) and waking up late (8:30-10am). Most mornings are spent leisurely getting up and having a light breakfast, then when we are pulling out that day, we slowly get things "buttoned down" and usually pull out sometime between 10-11am. It's a rare day that we "rush" anything!

We mostly drive the "back roads" whenever we can, staying off the main interstates. The beauty & grandeur along these roads is what makes this country so mesmerizing. No billboards or advertising to distract you. These roads usually take a bit longer, but the traffic is much fewer. I also like that the speed limits along them are usually a bit lower, mostly around 45-55 mph, dropping down to 35 mph at each small town. This way, we can enjoy the scenery better.

These roads are usually filled with trees and wild flowers all along the edges. Meadows are filled with knee high grasses and wild flowers of every color. Tucked in here and there are simple homes, farmlands, small lakes, ponds and streams. The water level has been pretty low in most parts, but every once in awhile we cross over a fast-flowing river or stream that always brings a smile and an "oh look!" Of course there has been the "coastlines" where the views run the gambit of sandy beaches to cliffs overlooking gorgeous waterways. We pop in one of our Cd's of New Orleans jazz or Zydeco and just tootle down the road. Sometimes when we come over a rise, we are in awe of the vista we see out our large front window.

My only disappointment is the lack of seeing much wildlife. Occasionally we will see a deer or two, but not much else. (we have seen a couple of turtles trying to cross the road!) "Moose" is supposed to be abundant along the north-eastern states & Canada, but you couldn't tell by me! Other than seeing it on every t shirt and souvenir , you wouldn't know they were anywhere near here. I try to look through the trees and scour every meadow for moose, but not a one has been spotted (so far, I'm not giving up!).

When it comes to camping, we've been able to almost always get space at our first choice. Bad for the economy, but good for us. Campgrounds have not been very full - even in this height of summer. Rates have been very reasonable as well. Many of them have added extra entertainment to help keep more campers coming and staying. Everything from live music to games and cookouts. Our average stay is anywhere from 1-3 nights.

The more north we travel, the more attention we get from people seeing our Washington licence plates. We've met some really nice folks that come over to chat. When we share what we are doing, they often ask where we are heading next; they are always very helpful in giving us tips & suggestions of where & what "to be sure and see". Taking their advise has led us to some wonderful places and adventures.

Since it's not always easy for a 35' motorhome + tow to just pull over and stop, we often see "fun"things that I haven't been able to "shoot". There have been great old barns, fences or walls covered in everything from lobster buoys to multi-colored tractor seats. It's as if the people who live along side of these roads decorate for our joy and entertainment! Most are well maintained with beautiful flower beds all around their very mowed lawns (everyone seems to have one of those riding mowers!). Many have added "yard art" as well. It's always fun to see what "other people" do to their homes & yards.

We try and limit the number of driving hours to 4 or less, so that Jack can get a break from driving, and we can still enjoy the rest of the day at the campground before dark. We feel so lucky to be doing what we are doing, and enjoying every minute of it. There is so very much to see in this beautiful country of ours, that we decided awhile back that "one year" just wasn't going to cut it, we will have to add at least one more to our plans! We plan on staying out of that cold, wet stuff called snow, so we will be back on the west coast by the end of this year, and take plenty of time to stay and visit with all of our family & friends. It does get a bit lonely & quiet "out here", which has made us appreciate our family & friends that much more. I am often asked "how it's going with being together 24-7?" ...and I will share that it's a good thing we like each other so much, or it could be a frustrating & aggravating way to spend your life with someone! ;-)

So, you can see why, sometimes I am 2 to 3 stops behind in some of my blogs...I am just spending what would be my "writing time", having fun! Life is good...
























































































...on the road in New England and Canada, Marie

Our first RV Rally, a success!

Several months back, we had read about an RV Rally in March in Sarasota Florida, for all "Allegro Club" members. These are folks who own motorhomes built by Tiffin, of which ours is. The timing seemed perfect for us, so we signed up! We had heard from our "rv friends" that rallies were a lot of fun and educational - both of which we were up for!

March 1st finally got here, and we arrived in Sarasota just in the nick of time! The team of volunteers quickly lead each of us in and guided us into a parking spot, one next to another on a large grass field at the Sarasota Fairgrounds.

Once we settled in, off we went to get checked in and find out what's going on and where things were located! Badges around our necks, a bag of "goodies" and a schedule in our hands and we were off to check out the vendors! Well...that was a bit of a disappointment, for me, anyway. I had high hopes it would be a tent crammed full of all sorts of great things "I really needed!" But, instead, it was a few (maybe 15 or so?) vendors mostly selling things I pretty much knew I wasn't at all interested in.

First opportunity to meet anyone was at dinner. Gary and Ann were very nice. They had been "full-timer's" for the first 7 years, then bought a house, and now split their time between the house and the road about 60/40%. They were very encouraging, telling us how much we were going to love being on the road, and not to be surprised if at the end of the year, we just kept going, and going, and going!

The next day started off with donuts and coffee, 1500 donuts for 500 people! I believe they had a few left over ;-) They had about 30 brand new motorhomes there for us to check out and see all the new "bells & whistles" the 2012 models had to offer, and of course we could purchase any one, right then and there, we wish (and 20 were sold too!). The day was filled with seminars on everything from cooking to cleaning your rv.

Later in the day, we met our next door neighbors, Max and Martha, from Iowa. Great people, who we ended up spending the rest of the rally with. They have been rv'ing for over 20 years and helped us understand a few things about our rig, some helpful hints, places to visit and passed along some wonderful advise, one particular piece that I thought was most profound - Max said, "Don't drive to a destination, but drive instead with a direction in mind". He said that "if you drive to a destination, you are concentrating on 'getting there' and most likely are missing out on what's between here and there. But, if you drive in the 'direction' that you want to go, you are concentrating on everything you see while you are driving." I love that. I told him that we will keep that foremost and do our best to live by that rule.

The biggest change happened to the rig itself! One of the vendors was someone who makes and sells cleaning and polishing supplies for motorhomes (Wipe-Out). He was also offering (selling) to clean and polish on site. We signed up! We had been wanting to get the rig cleaned before we went to the rally, but ran out of time and had only given it a "quick once over". Besides all the dirt & bugs it had earned en route here, I don't believe it had ever been polished. It had been severely oxidized and I was afraid it would never be brought back to it's luster. The white looked and felt like chalk. He promised us his product would change all that! It did!! Two days his guys worked on it, and it now shines beautifully! Prettier than she's probably been in years! I'm really happy about that, I must confess. As we walked around the field, looking at all the other rigs, I felt like we were a dull pearl amongst diamonds, emeralds & rubies. Almost all the rigs were fairly new, meaning that they all were around the $250,000++ range. At least now our "pearl" is shiny and sparkles along side those other gems!

All in all the rally was fun. Great dinners and entertainment, enjoyable and educational seminars, and friendly people. Max shared that this was a "small" rally (500 ppl) and we should go to one of the Family Motor Coaching ones that are around twice the size. That's where I will find all the vendors I was looking for and far more seminars on subjects that would help us learn more on our rig & the "how to". I think we will add it to our "to do" list.










































...on the road in Florida, Marie