Monday, December 31, 2007 This is it - 2007 is gone, finished, history. Today we will be having a get together with our East Traveler Street Family. "What's new about that?", you may ask. Well this time we have a bonafide reason to get together (as if we need one) - the New Year's Eve Day Party. Being that we are all at that stage in life where 12:00 PM is the time to be cuddled up in bed with a warm katt sleeping on your feet; we will celebrate the ending of the year at high noon. We will set some tables up outside and each family will bring an assortments of "finger foods" to snack on. Then the lawn chairs will circle the tables like buzzards over a kill and the chatting, laughing, gaiety, and merrymaking will begin. There will be two fires to help warm our bodies as our hearts will already be warmed by the love of our adopted family. And, speaking of warmth, you just know that there will be wine to toast in the New Year. We will "celebrate" hard for a fews hours and then it will be time for a nice long nap - you don't want us to go to bed tired do you? All in all it has been a good year and we are throughly enjoying the fulltime RVing experience. We have made a boat load of new friends this year, which has been our greatest joy in this lifestyle, and old acquaintance will NOT be forgotten. We look forward to seeing each of our new friends again somewhere down the road. We wish all of our website friends a Happy New Year and may our paths cross soon as we continue Wandering America. Meow Meow and Happy New Year everyone, Darrell, Judy, Katie, and Alex Sunday, December 30, 2007 Your all waiting with baited breath just to hear how it went on our first day of w*rk. First of all, Alex was pretty much befuddled by it all. It has been his job to get us up each morning (whether we're ready to get up or not) and he was not happy that some sort of loud contraption on the night stand took his place. It was early even for him and he just followed us about kind of in a fog - "What's happening? How come you're up so early? It's not time for you to be up! What's going on? Why wasn't I notified about this change?" and so on. He remained pretty much under foot all the while we were getting ready. Katie wasn't a whole lot better. She knew something different was taking place and certainly wanted to find out, just as soon as possible, what was happening. She sat on top of the katt tree and kept an eye on both of us wondering if this early morning rising was going to involve her - like getting underway in the early morning hours (Katie doesn't like to travel in the dark). Now how did it go? Well, let me say this about that. Old Time Pottery Barn is a big store with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of stuff. It took 73 of us over eight hours to count it all. They tell us that Old Time Pottery is their hardest stores to inventory but I'm not ready to accept that yet. For me the hardest part of the inventory process is getting down on the lower shelves. You don't think much about it but there is a lot of "stuff" on those lower shelves and often times the heaviest things are located there. You pretty much have to get on your hands and knees (on a dirty floor no less) and sometimes have to pull the "heavy stuff" off the shelves just to count the items in the back (take a look the next time you are in Wal-Mart or other department stores). It will take a couple more stores before I will be able to make up my mind if this is something that I want to continue doing. All in all, it is not all that hard but it is a little more physical than I thought that it would be. Here's Judy's take - "I didn't like it. I'm exhausted. I could have taken four to six hours but eight hours was way too much. I could stand at a cash register for eight hours a lot easier than doing this. But, I'll give it another try." So there you have it, our assessment (first impression) of the first day of w*rk. Like any J-O-B it takes time to get into the routine. So, you'll just have to stay tuned in order to get "the rest of the story". We got home around 2:30 and later in the afternoon we got a surprised visit from some of our website readers, Glenn and Sylvia Avery with their son Glenn Jr., his wife Lana, and their daughter Amanda. The house was a mess, like houses always are at times like these, but we had a wonderful visit. Glen and Sylvia have their house on the market and are looking at joining the fulltime RVing lifestyle. We wish them good fortune with all of their plans and hope to see them again soon. It's serendipitous events like these that we cherish so much and hope to receive many more of them as we continue Wandering America So, in the meantime, be safe and have fun.. Saturday, December 29, 2007 Sometimes the stars align themselves in the galaxies and good fortune rains down upon us. Before Christmas I needed to replace the screen door latch so while I was at Camping World (finding more items that I didn't know that I couldn't live without) I inquired about a picnic table that I had seen in their catalog. This is a folding 5 foot picnic table that Judy and I saw awhile ago and wanted for our site here at Rainbow Plantation. So I asked if they could order one for us since there wasn't any in the store. When the sales lady checked it out online she discovered that that item was discontinued but rather than leave it at that she checked to see if some other stores might have any in inventory. She found three tables at the store in Gulf Breeze, Florida so she made arrangements to have one shipped over to the Robertsdale, Alabama store for us. They called yesterday morning and told us that the table had arrived so we went to Camping World to pick it up. The catalog listed the table at $129.00 for President Club Members which would have been close to $140 with taxes but when she rang it up the total cost for the table was $83.46 (that included the taxes). So, Needless to say, we were "happy campers" and now have a picnic table for entertaining as well as fine dining outside under the stars. :-) :-) :-) "I owe, I owe, so it's off to w*rk I go!" Well we don't owe but it is Oh Dark Thirty in the morning and it is still off to w*rk we go. Judy and I have woken up, yawned, rubbed our eyes, stretched, scratched our butts, poured a cup of java, and have started getting ready to go out into the world to count stuff. I used to get up at this time and be in the office before 5:00 AM in the morning, but that was back when I had a J-O-B and was young and foolish and didn't know any better. But now we have been out of that loop for 14 months and hopefully we'll be able to get back into a routine because this is an easy way to make a few bucks. Tune in tomorrow for a report of our first day on the J-O-B. Friday, December 28, 2007 Good morning. Yesterday was just one of those days where not much happened. We worked a little more on our 2008 budget and travel plans. The problem that we are facing is how to cut back on both spending and miles of travel. We spent over $42,000 and towed the RV over 10,000 miles in 2007. Being that we are living off of our savings until August 2009 we would like to get our spending between $30 to $36k and keep our towing miles under 6,000. The problem is that we want to travel to new places, especially in the west, but we have three (soon to be four) grand children, four children, two brothers, and one sister as well as numerous other relatives scattered across the eastern United States. So it becomes a balancing act as to how we get to see them and also do our sightseeing while keeping spending and towing miles down. Anyway, we are still wrestling with it all in order to outline some sort of a plan by the end of the year (note that it is only a plan which is carved in putty). We are close to finishing "the plan" so then we will have some idea as to what 2008 will look like. Tomorrow will be our first day of w*rk with RGIS. We will start with an inventory at the Old Time Pottery Barn in Foley. We need to be there before 6 AM (now that ain't gonna be no fun!) and the inventory will last about 6 hours. There will be around a hundred of us conducting the inventory. We'll have to see how it goes - "this w*rking for a living has gotta go!" :-) Hopefully this will be a nice little part time J-O-B that will help us fill in the gap just in case we can't get our budget down to the $36k level. Being that we will be on the J-O-B tomorrow morning I won't get to publish an entry until tomorrow afternoon or evening. I'll let you know how day one goes. Thursday, December 27, 2007 While at Wally World yesterday morning Dr. Oz's latest book entitled, "YOU Staying Young" found its way into our grocery cart. Now we don't believe in New Year's resolutions but in 2008 we do want to work toward a healthier lifestyle. After all, that is one of the things that this fulltime RVing lifestyle is all about. Being debt free gives us freedom from the stresses caused by being in debt and the opportunity to live and travel fulltime in an RV. Now we have the time to focus on implementing changes in our lifestyle that will improve our overall health. But, we are finding that our previous life has followed us into this new lifestyle and that our old habits still have away of clinging to us. When we were w*rking we used the "lack of time" excuse for not getting enough exercise and taking the time to research healthy living. But here we are eighteen months into our new lifestyle and we are still not getting the exercise that we had planned on nor have we done the research that we had intended to do, so it comes down to laziness and not lack of time (just gotta stop living in denial). We want to better understand food, vitamins, and portion sizes as well as any other healthy lifestyle changes that we need to make to ensure a long and healthy life. Doctors Roizen and Oz have done the research for us and have put it into a nice readable format that even I can understand. So we no longer have any excuses left and need to get on with it!! Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Well, that does it, we're now looking at Christmas 2007 in our rear view mirror. We hope ya'll had a nice Christmas day. Now that it has passed we can just about roll up 2007 and store it in the memory banks. This year has certainly streaked on by like one of those high speed trains in Europe, it is now just a blur. Yesterday we slept in a little later than usual and then got up and downed two pots of coffee (not all at once). Talked with the kids, Judy's brother and sister (my brother was on the road - he and his wife sell Christmas trees in Virginia and they get to travel back to Maine on Christmas day) and then opened gifts. Alex was in rare form and got into everything all day long while Katie thought it a good day to rest and relax (What's New Pussy Katt?). We had our Pork Roast Dinner with potatoes and gravy, squash, stuffing, and jellied cranberry sauce along with a nice glass of red wine. Desert was pumpkin pie and we had plenty of "treats" around all day. The Christmas Parade was on TV in the background during the morning and Judy watched ice skating in the afternoon while I read. Later we joined our neighbors around a nice campfire with a cup of hot chocolate and finished the day by watching Deal or No Deal (what a stupid show!). It was a good day but we decided that we would rather be with our kids for Christmas so we are starting right now to make plans to be in New Hampshire for Christmas next year. What could be better than a good ol' New England Christmas with family? We'll just need to find a place to park the RV during the winter - brrrrrrr just thinking about that one, but there will be plenty of warm feelings when we get to see those smiling little faces on Christmas morn. Hopefully we won't get snowed in and have to spend the winter there, we'll just have to see what happens. Today we need to get back into our walking routine and take down the Christmas decorations. Normally I wouldn't do that on the day after Christmas but today is supposed to be the last good day before four days of rainy/nasty weather sets in. We need to go the library, pick up a few things at Wally World, and Judy wants to get some more craft supplies for making her cards. So, a pretty routine day with not a whole lot of excitement for us. And that's the way it is this 26th day of December, twenty oh seven. Monday, December 24, 2007 Today is the "Tis the Night Before Christmas" day and we are all ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. The tree is up (unless Alex has knocked it down again), the presents have all been bought and distributed, and Christmas dinner has been planned with everything purchased and ready to go. We originally had thought that we might have Christmas dinner at the clubhouse like we did for Thanksgiving, but this meal has a lot more significance to us. We spent the weekend before Christmas in 1990 with my parents at their home in Belfast, Maine. Dad thought it would be nice to have a pork roast for Christmas dinner so he and I went off to the supermarket to pick out some roasts. We found some nice center cut pork loin roasts and got one for each of our dinners (Judy, the kids, and I would be celebrating Christmas at our home in Topsham, Maine). As it turned out, that was the last thing I ever got to do with my dad as he passed away on January 10th, 1991. So, from that time forward it has been a tradition in our house to celebrate Christmas dinner with a nice center cut pork loin roast. Not only do we have Christmas day as a remembrance of the wonderful gift of salvation from our heavenly Father, but we have Christmas dinner as a remembrance of our earthly dad as well. I'll be taking tomorrow off, so Merry Christmas to all of you. Be sure to set aside some time to reflect on the real "Reason for the Season", And a special Merry Christmas to both of my Dads as we remember you both on this Christmas day. Sunday, December 23, 2007 The best part of being officially into winter is that each day gets a little longer. I know, all days are twenty-four hours but the day light portion of each day increases by a couple of minutes each day. Mainers have a saying, "go to bed when it's dark under the table". Well, it gets dark under the table at around 5:30 in the evening and that's a bit little too early to go to bed, even for me. But, as I have stated before, one of the great things about this lifestyle is that there is no time - we can go to bed when it "gets dark under the table" and rise at dawn to watch Mr. Sunshine arise. I know a lot of fulltimers who tend to "stay up late" and "sleep in" in the morning. That's okay but my body wants to be up in the morning. There's just something about being up at the "crack of dawn" and watching the rest of the world come alive while sipping on a nice hot cup of joe. Alex is the first one up in our house, he thinks everyday is Christmas and wants to open his presents early (that being a fresh dish of Royal Cainin Special 33 and a fresh bowl of Aquafina bottled water). Judy gets up next and makes the coffee, bless her heart - she's a good woman! I arise at the "tinkling of the cup" which is "the good woman" stirring my java (I like mine with cream and no sugar). Katie, on the other hand, is the "sleep in" member at our house, however, she does move her little katt body from the bed to the sofa to catch a couple more hours of shut eye. Once we are all settled in with coffee in hand, Mr. Sunshine yawns, stretches, and decides to join us by spreading his warm rays of joy across the landscape - ah, life is good! It's going to be nice to enjoy Mr. Sunshine's presence a little longer each day. Saturday, December 22, 2007 This afternoon is going to be a quiet, stay inside, and relax kind of day. It is supposed to be rainy with temperatures in the low 70's - brrrr! We'll do our routine cleanup this morning, go for a walk before it starts raining, and then later this afternoon will do some reading, play some games, watch a movie, or whatever else hits our fancy (like a nap?). I've been reading "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck. It's a humorous account of a RV trip across America that he took back in 1960 with his dawg Charley. Charley was a standard size brown poodle who was the only dawg known to say "FTT". He would say "FTT" whenever he needed to go for a walk or wanted something to eat, so he said "FTT" a lot. Steinbeck felt that, as a writer of the American life, he had lost touch with the ever changing American culture since it had been over twenty five years since he last traveled the country. So he had a truck camper built onto the back of a three quarter ton GMC pickup, outfitted it, and departed Long Island in the fall of 1960 along with his dawg Charley to rediscover America. They first took the ferry across Long Island Sound to Connecticut and then headed North toward Vermont, New Hampshire, and onto Maine before heading west (this is as far as I have gotten). The book is a light hearted and humorous account of his rediscovery of our great country and not unlike what hundreds of thousands of us are doing today. Needless to say, I'm enjoying the book. Other than that I will spend sometime with Katie and Alex as they are still attempting to write an article about choosing an RV. I'm beginning to think that they are ADD because it is hard keeping them focused. Alex has been on meds for a urinary track infection and is beginning to feel much better - he's into everything and just won't stay on task. Katie does alright for awhile but then she keeps wandering off to take a "katt nap". It's just plain hard work keeping their "paws to pen" but their deadline is January so they had better get with it. Judy has been working on designing and making cards. She makes some using ribbon and others using embroidery thread. They are really nice and she's working toward perfecting her techniques. She doesn't have enough crafts to work on (scrapbooking, quilting, Swedish weaving, cross stitching, tenerife embroidery, and now card making) so if any of you have any ideas please let her know. :-) She looked at beading and would enjoy it but doesn't want to make the investment to purchase all of the do-dads required. Pine needle basket weaving is also on her radar and she will probably look into it once Norm and Linda Payne get to Rainbow Plantation. Friday, December 21, 2007 The pantry is empty while my brain is telling me not to go any where near Wal-Mart today. What to do, what to do? Do I want food on the table for Christmas dinner or will it just be a day of fasting? I think you know the answer to that question so I guess it's off to fight the crowds at Wally World - survival of the fittest, slay the dragon!! This is the last weekend before Christmas - or should I say Holiday (Nah, I don't give a darned about political correctness, it's Christmas, always has been Christmas, and always will be Christmas). In any event, commercialism is running rampart and my "flexible, plan free" lifestyle has left me in this terrible dilemma - little to no food in the pantry (or 'fridge for that matter)! What a shame, what a tragedy, Shakespeare move over, have I got a play for you!! Beware of the ides of December, eh Brutus? Thursday, December 20, 2007 Where's Angus King when you need him? With 2008 coming on like a lion and it being a presidential election year we can be guaranteed that we will have a bumper crop of nuts this year. I haven't been following the politics closely but you can't help getting your nose rubbed in it every time you turn on the news (which I try not to do often because it is so damned depressing and I would rather remain joyful and in love with life even if it means being ignorant). In any event, where's Angus King when you need him? Angus King ran as an independent for the governorship of the State of Maine. He sat down and wrote a book outlining his stand on the issues and what he would do as governor. I got a copy of the book and even though I didn't agree with all of his ideas I knew exactly where he stood on the issues. He ran a positive campaign that continued to talk about the issues and he let the other candidates unravel themselves with negativism. He stated that he had no political aspirations beyond the governorship and that he would "be governor and then go home". Well, wouldn't you know it, he was elected governor, served for eight years, and then went home. Still, where's Angus King when you need him? Under the leadership of Governor Angus King the State of Maine prospered and he left office with a surplus in the budget. He enhanced the educational system, brought in new business, and stood up to the Federal government regarding emission testing. Whenever the state legislators attempted thwart his initiatives he simply appealed to the citizens of Maine which put the final decision making authority back into the hands of the people - not the bureaucrats. There is a lot more to his legacy that could be said, but again I ask, where's Angus King when you need him? I maybe wrong, and it could be too early to tell, but it looks like it is politics as usual - negative politics. Why politicians feel that it is necessary to tear down their opponents rather then take the time to outline where they stand on the issues is beyond me. Could it be that they have no clue what the issues are or they have no clue has to how to deal with the issues? I think it should be a requirement that anyone wanting to be the president of the United States, the most powerful nation in the world, must write a thesis outlining where they stand on the issues. Then every candidate should be allotted a specific number of advertising hours and not be allowed to say anything negative about their opponents. After all, if the people knew where each candidate stood on the issues they would be smart enough to do the comparisons and figure out which candidate they wished to support. It's time to put the Pit Bulls back in the kennel and find us a good Border Collie to take over. So again I ask, where's Angus King when you need him? Wednesday, December 19, 2007 "All Aboard!!!" Last night we got to experience something different. There is a campground, not five miles away from us, where the owner is a train enthusiast and he has set up a complete steam engine with passenger cars. The tracks surround the campground as well as going through it. He has built two stations with gift shops so you board the train at first station and ride it to the second. Then you board the train again for the return trip. On top of all of that, they have put up over a million Christmas lights throughout the entire campground which makes the train ride all the more beautiful at night. The second station is currently decked out as the North Pole and during the day children ride the train to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. Now how cool is that? A mini "Polar Express." The campground itself has wonderful facilities with an indoor swimming pool and a nice clubhouse where they have live music every Tuesday night. They had a Blue Grass Band there last night who was very entertaining. The cost is more than reasonable at $5.00 per person which includes, the show, a bag of popcorn, a soda, and a train ride. Ya can't beat that with a stick! This was the last show for this year but they will begin again on January 8th. You can bet that we will go back again. Tuesday, December 18, 2007 Well by gosh, by golly, it's official - we'll be spending the summer in Vacationland. There's a nice little campground known as Blueberry Pond located just West of Freeport (L. L. Bean), Maine where we have been accepted as workampers. We'll workamp for our site, which means 20 to 25 hours a week, starting around the first of June until just after Labor Day. Billy, the owner, has no problem with us having Sunday mornings off to worship so, of course, we'll spend the summer worshiping at First Baptist Church in Freeport where we attended when we lived in Maine back in the 1990's. We stayed at Blueberry Pond Campground last September after we left Lake George Escape. Pastor Sandy and Beverly had us over for a nice New England lobster bake (along with steamed clams - yum, yum). They will be thrilled that we will be back to annoy them for the summer. Our neighbors across the street, Chuck and Jan, will also be workamping there. They were the ones that workamped there last summer and departed the Tuesday after Labor Day, the same day we arrived (of course, we didn't know that at the time). Anyway, they are a fun couple who we enjoy getting together with so it should be a lot of fun. They say that Billy is absolutely a great guy to w*rk for who "takes care" of his workampers. Each week there is a pot luck dinner for the campers and Billy provides the main dish. There are two lobster bakes, one on the Fourth of July and the other on Labor Day. For those dinners each guest is asked to pay for his/her lobster - Billy gets them for cost from a friend who is a lobsterman (everyone in Maine has a friend who is a lobsterman but whatever they save in the cost of lobster they pay out in state taxes). One or two of the potlucks will be a "bean hole" bean dinner. For those of you who do not know what this is you'll just have to wait until next summer to find out. All in all, it sounds like we will have a great summer while being able to live like tourists in the great Vacationland state. Monday, December 17, 2007 Hi, this is Katie here. Most humanoids do not understand katts. They think that we are just self centered independent animals with little to no reasoning power what so ever. They think that we just hang around the house eating their food and then rub up around their legs getting the katt hair flying just to make them sneeze. They think that all we do is lay around the house depositing katt hair on their furniture while asking, "Is there anymore katnip?" Such shallow thinking, man have you "got another think coming." Katts appear to be independent because they are smarter than dawgs and do have reasoning power. Dawgs think that they have to earn humaniods love by doing all kinds of silly tricks like running out into the mud to pick up a dirty old stick with their mouth (yuck!). Then they bring it back to their humaniod just so the idiot can lose it again and then the dawg is stupid enough to go get it again - sheesh!!. Katts figure that if a humaniod needs a dirty ol' stick he has two perfectly good hands that he can use to go get it, so have at it. After all, if anyone in this relationship has to earn love then you had better get a move on since you are the one that has been granted the privilege of living with a katt. You've heard the expression "that is more difficult than marching katts in a parade." It's not that we don't like parades or that we are trying to be difficult. Nah, we just have better things to do with our time. Humaniods have just got to get a grip on themselves. They have all of these silly little hangups like thinking they have to be "in control". We'll, I'm gonna tell ya right now that you do not have control, you never did have control and you never will have control. Katts are in control (now repeat that several times so that you won't forget it)!!! When you get over this control thing your life will be much more enjoyable, your training will go a lot smoother, and you will be easier to live with. Then you will be a joy to have around the house, so - now, please, go tend to the litter box and bring me some more kitty treats. Saturday, December 15, 2007 We didn't do much yesterday. It was another warm day with temperatures in the high seventies - rough!! I flushed the blackwater tank and putzed around outside while Judy did some housekeeping inside. Then we went out to lunch with some friends. We had three coupons for "buy one get one free" buffet lunches at the Gift Horse so we invited Dave and Jan (friends that we first met in Nashville last year) and Dick and Pat (friends who were parked across the street from us last winter) to go with us. It was good to get together with them again. Dick and Pat will be staying through until April while Dave and Jan will "hit the road" again in January. Later we joined in the the East Traveler Street bunch for an evening fire. This morning I will defrost the refrigerator and finish the Branson Travelogue while Judy bakes five dozen cookies for church. Miss Judy wants to play a game or two of Sequence or Scrabble or Cribbage or something. She likes to play games and has to work me over to get me to play (I'm not really a game player but once we get started I enjoy it). It's supposed to rain later today which is good because we can use some so this afternoon will be a good time to just relax and enjoy each other. We have several movies that we haven't watched yet so this evening we'll just sit back and watch one them. A little work, a little play, and a nice evening of cuddling on the sofa while watching a movie, now what could be better than that? Friday, December 14, 2007 "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it, say 'tisn't so!" Yep, 'tis. Miss Judy and I have gone out and gotten ourselves J-O-Bs which means we have rejoined the w*rking class. "Oh you poor souls. What could have possibly brought this on?" Well, remember way back when we decided to quit w*rking for a living and go fulltime? We had originally planned that we would workamp six to eight months a year for the first couple of years to augment our savings account (which is what we are living off from until my pensions kick in). This may just fit the bill for that plan and give us more flexibility than workamping. "Well, just whatzit you're gonna do?" We are going to be auditors for RGIS out of Pensacola, Florida. "Tell me more!" Okay, here goes the story. Ron and Connie, who are our neighbors on East Traveler Street, have worked for RGIS for years and was telling us about the J-O-B. They work out of Pensacola in the winter months and then out of Michigan during the summer. As it turned out, there were others at Rainbow Plantation interested in this opportunity. So Ron contacted the company, agreed to be a team leader, and put together a team of about a dozen of us fulltime RVers. Yesterday we filled out all the paperwork and had our initial training. The Pensacola office's territory extends from Fort Walton, Florida to Foley/Gulf Shores, Alabama. There are several "meet" points where company shuttles provide transportation to the audit locations. Our first audit is scheduled for December 28th at the Pottery Barn in Foley, Alabama. RGIS is an international company that primarily conducts inventories for their clients. If this is something that we like and we perform to the company's standards (which are reasonable) then we would be able to transfer around the country as we travel. They would want us to remain is an area for a month or two but that is better than most workamping assignments which look for seasonal commitments. This is an hourly part-time position however you are eligible for pay increases after the first 100 hours or 90 days. Work days are generally four to six hours a day starting at around 6:00 AM or 6:00 PM so we will need to be somewhat flexible. In any event, we will give it the good ol' college try and see how it goes; who knows, this may just very well meet our needs. Thursday, December 13, 2007 It never ceases to amaze me how much there is to be done. You'd think that not having a J-O-B to interfere with my time would give me more than ample time to get all of my chores done. I finished washing the RV yesterday so that leaves washing the truck, waxing both the RV and the truck, steam cleaning the carpets, installing the wainscoting in the kitchen, and repairing the cabinet under the sink left on the list. We also want to sort through all of our "stuff" and weed out those things that we don't really need anymore. In the spring I will be installing an inverter system as well as a hookup for the generator to make it easier to connect whenever it is needed. I'm sure that more items will crop up before I get all of that done. So, go ahead and ask me again what I do with all of my time and my answer will be the same - "I don't know but I never seem to get done!" Things have been pretty quite here on East Traveler Street since we returned. We've had one evening out with the "group" where we set fire to some wood and had a glass of Stone Hill wine. But it has been getting damp at night so everyone heads for the "house" early. The street does look nice though with all of the Christmas lights out. We bought four lighted candy canes to add to our Christmas light collection which shines brightly each night. Yes, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Wednesday, December 12, 2007 A friend of mine, Rich Emond (Roaming America) wrote about "doers" versus "havers". He and Diane have been fulltiming since 2000 and were deciding rather or not they should trade their motorhome for a new one. They were wise in their decision to purchase a quality unit in the first place; a unit that still has a lot of life left in it. They looked at the costs associated with trading and decided that it would impact their ability to "do". Being, as Rich puts it, "doers" rather than "havers" they decided that they would keep their current unit and do some "home improvements". That's a concept that you don't hear a lot about. We do upgrades by to our coaches by adding options, but Rich and Diane did a complete RV makeover. First they had their "home" repainted, then they had some wood working redone inside, and they are having wood flooring installed. The "havers" of this world would go ahead and trade for a new RV. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that if you have the money to do so, but a lot of people put themselves into debt just to" have". In this lifestyle there is no need to do that. A guy in a six year old travel trailer can very well live along side a guy in a brand new million dollar motorhome. And, generally, both will relate to each other just fine because they have the RV lifestyle in common. We have been considering trading for a motorhome. In reviewing our travel patterns over the past year we feel that a motorhome would be more convenient but we like the layout of fifthwheels better than most motorhomes. Also, if we traded for a motorhome we could no longer remain debt free. But, I tend to be a "haver" so Rich's example is a good reminder to me of why we chose this lifestyle in the first place - it was to "do" by traveling and seeing and experience all that this great country of ours has to offer. So we will just keep our fifthwheel, remain debt free, and continue to make home improvements along the way. Thanks, Rich and Diane, for your fine example. Tuesday, December 11, 2007 "Alex, NO!" "NO!" "Stop it, Alex!" This is what I hear as I am starting to write the journal. What's that katt up to now? "Honey, what's Alex doing?" "He's licking my feet and biting my toes!" That's his way of getting mamma's attention while she is trying to do something other than tend to him. He wants her to pick him up and hold him. But it's not just a "let me sit in your lap and pet me" kind of holding that he's got in mind. He wants to be held with his head up on her shoulder. Now, that's quite a sight to see, a twenty pound pussy katt stretched across her with his head laying on her shoulder purring loudly (can katts smile? 'cause I think I see him smiling). What a big baby. In the meantime Katie sneaks off and gets into something - I think it is all a set up. These two are looking for their Christmas presents, I just know it! Anyway, we have been reflecting over the past year. In reviewing our travels and expenses we realized that we towed the RV over 12,000 miles this year. That's too many miles, much more than we had planned way back when we decided to go fulltime. Especially being that we sat in one place for about six months out of the year (two months in Alabama and four months in New York). So that means that we are averaging 2,000 miles a month whenever we're traveling. Also, our expenditures were close to $4.000 more than we had budgeted (which is $10,000 more than our ideal of $30,000). There were a lot of one time expenses in this first year (some budgeted and some not) with $2,500 going toward the shed and landscaping that we did on this site. So, over the next couple of weeks we will be finalizing our budget for 2008 and getting a general idea where we want to travel this coming year. There are so many places that we would like to visit this year but we can't do it all. So, here go the compromises again! Oh why, oh why couldn't I have just been born rich and not quite so handsome? "Alex, No!" "You got to get down so I can get something done." "Katie, what are you getting into?" "You come here young lady!" Ah, the sounds of living with ragdoll katts. I guess I had better go and lend a hand - they're double teaming her. Monday, December 10, 2007 Boy, have we become wimps. When we woke up in Montgomery, Alabama it was 65 degrees outside. After the cold weather we had in Branson, and even in Tennessee, 65 seemed nice. But as we continued traveling south to Summerdale we watched the temperature rise from 65 to 77. Yesterday it was almost 80 degrees and we were just loving it. Imagine sitting outside in sleeveless shirts, shorts, and sandals on December 9th. This was just plain nice. Cold weather is something that we would just as soon watch from a far. So, for all our friends up north, feel free to send us pictures of snow just to remind us of what we are missing. Judy put up the Christmas Tree and started decorating the "house" for Christmas. Today I will put up lights and decorations outside. It seems odd to see Christmas decorations hanging out on RVs but fulltimers are no different than anyone else when it comes to celebrating the holidays. Last winter we were at KOA Nashville during the Christmas season and there were a few decorations but not many. Here at Rainbow Plantation there are a lot of decorations throughout the park. It's pretty neat to go walking around the neighborhood (in our shorts and sandals I might add) looking at all the pretty lights. Katie and Alex just love Christmas time and getting into everything. They enjoy "helping" to wrap presents, especially the ribbon part. Alex loves to take decorations off the tree and bat them around the floor. Judy has a snowman doll that was her mother's and Alex likes to get it down and play with it. He actually goes looking for the thing. Judy had put it on top of the entertainment center but he got it down by getting up on the desk and stretching his little katt paws up to get at it. So now she has it up on the top of the slideout and, sure enough, he has spotted it up there. Now he's trying to figure out how he is going to get up there to get it. He sits on the floor looking up at the doll and starts his howling, then he paces about still eying it. Katie on the other hand is very cunning and sly about her activities. Seldom do you catch her getting into things, you just discover the trail after the fact. They say Christmas is for kids and I guess that includes our furry kids as well. Sunday, December 9, 2007 Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig. We are considering Rainbow Plantation as home so I guess we are home again. My friend, Charles, wrote and said he was glad the we had had a great HOP to Branson, skip to Nashville, and Jump back to Alabama. And to be honest with you whenever you travel that much in two weeks that's just about what it is - a hop, skip, and a jump. We hadn't even got the rig parked when we were notified that a birthday party was brewing. Everyone was going to the Gift Horse Restaurant to celebrate Cleo's birthday - Bob and Cleo are one of the residents here on East Traveler Street. We hadn't eaten since the last time so we were getting pretty hungry :-) They had a wonderful buffet and, as always at a buffet, I ate way too much. At least that took care of the hunger pangs for the rest of the day - to be honest, probably for the next two days. We met up with our friends Dave and Jan Verse who have been here for about a week. We met Dave and Jan in Nashville a year ago and have stayed in touch ever since. They sold their house in Wisconsin, traded their Mobile Suites fifthwheel for a new Phaeton motorhome and have become fulltimers. We will be spending some time with them over the next month or for however long they decide to stay here at Rainbow Plantation. Saturday, December 8. 2007 It is great to be able to take our time getting from place to place. There are so many drivers out there with their undershorts tied right up in a knot. As we travel along at 60 to 62 MPH we see all sorts of shenanigans. These knuckle heads cut each other off, don't bother to use their mirrors when changing lanes, and pass on the right, left, up the middle wherever they can squeeze in just to save a few seconds. Then when traffic slows down we end up right next to them again so they don't really gain very much if anything. And some of the truckers are just as bad as the drivers of the cars. My job is to watch for them, stay far enough behind whoever is in front of me, and keep out of the hub-bub. There are times that I have to work hard to stay out of the middle of all of their foolishness. That's why I like Naggie Maggie (our GPS). She tells me ahead of time which lane I need to be in for the exits so I can get there safely without having to make last minute lane changes. That certainly reduces a lot of stress while driving amongst the horses asses. Which reminds me what my ol' pape used to say; "The trouble with this world is that there are more horses asses than there are horses." Actually, I am pretty relaxed most of the time while I'm driving. There is no time pressure, I can drive at a comfortable and safe speed, and if I see an aggressive driver I just let him have the right away; that way he can crumple someone else's fenders and not mine. Monday through Thursday are the best travel days, but also early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday aren't bad times either. Friday is probably the worst day over all and yesterday was Friday. We had a bumper crop of nuts on the roads yesterday driving from Nashville to Montgomery but we are leaving in a few minutes for about a 3 hour drive this morning which means we should be back to Summerdale before melee begins today. Friday, December 7, 2007 Today we will begin our return trip to Alabama. It will be nice to get back into warmer weather as it has been in the 30's and 40's here in the Nashville area. This has been a fun trip and we have enjoyed it but it will be nice to settle in for a couple of months at Rainbow Plantation. We will stay at a Passport America campground just south of Montgomery, Alabama tonight and arrive back at our site tomorrow around noon time. Yesterday we stopped by the visitors center at the Corps of Engineers Park at J. Percy Priest Dam to talk to them about workamping opportunities. We met Dale who is a fulltime RVer and workamper. He gave us a lot of information, registration form, and a personal profile sheet so that we can "sign up" with the COE. We are not sure what we want to do next summer but still have a little time to figure that out. We would prefer to spend only a couple of months at a time workamping so that pretty much limits us to volunteering for a site. There are the National Park Service, Corps of Engineers, and State Parks that allow workampers to work for thirty to sixty day commitments. Also, there are a lot of missionary groups who would welcome volunteers as well as provide them with a site. We could go back to Lake George Escape and we are talking with a couple of campgrounds in Maine. The question we need to answer is whether or not we want to get paid for workamping. We will be in a better position to make that decision once we finalize our 2008 budget in the next couple of weeks. Today is the sixty-sixth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Let us not forget the sacrifices made for our freedom by those who have gone before us and by those who are currently serving us all around the world today. The United States is the greatest country in the world and we are truly blessed to be living here. Thursday, December 6, 2007 Last night while Judy and I was chit chatting in the RV-Dreams Chat Room it was brought to my attention that I have not even mentioned some of our friends in cyber space - no these are not space cadets, they just act that way. Two of them are fulltime RVers and the other two are working toward that goal. They join together in the chat room to "party" and just flat out have a good time. So here's to CaSandra, Denyse, Ellie, and Jenny_J. Talk about a "wild and crazy" bunch, this is it. I propose a toast: "Here's to cheap wine, the Internet, and RV-Dreams chat room. May the force be with you always." We didn't stay in the chat room very long because we were tired. It is amazing how much energy one three year old can draw out of two adults. Catia wasn't feeling very well yesterday, however, she was good though. But somehow three year olds can be very high maintenance and Miss Judy and I were drained by the time her parents took her away. I think that was what we said when Briana came to visit us last summer. Maybe it's that we are getting old - nah, that can't be. It's gotta be the kids these days, they are not as maintenance free as we were when we were kids. Times have certainly changed. :-) This afternoon we are going to have dinner with our daughter at her place in Brentwood. She likes to have her mom and dad over for dinner whenever our schedules will coincide in order to allow it. Mary is an event coordinator for Dave Ramsey is "out of town" several times a month so it is not always convenient to get together with her when we pass through Nashville. It will be nice to spend time with her just before Christmas. This year she is going to spend Christmas with Marc, Amie, Briana, and Lola in New Hampshire. Tomorrow we will be on the road again heading for Alabama. There is a good Passport America campground just south of Montgomery where we will spend tomorrow night and then we will arrive back in Summerdale on Saturday. We don't have to push it but want to get back for church on Sunday. Besides the temperature is about 35 to 40 degrees higher on the Gulf Coast than here in the Nashville area. Wednesday, December 5, 2007 The katts are starting to get excited. It's Christmas time and that means that the Christmas tree will be going up soon. We have a small tree that we set up on the dining room table. No sooner than getting the tree set up then Alex will have it down again. He thinks it's his toy and it's a challenge all season to keep that tree standing. Katie likes to play with the ornaments and continues to look for any new katnip toys under the tree. They have a "ton" of katnip toys all over the house, but it never hurts to have one or two more. They had better watch out or else they will be getting coal in their stockings this year. Today we pick Catia up at 8:30 this morning. It's grandma and grandpa's grand daughter fix day. Her mom and dad will come to our house for dinner and to pick her up after work. She is normally very good and loves to go to breakfast with us but she's not feeling one hundred per cent. The doctor thinks she is getting an ear infection and she is on meds. That means she has been a little cranky, I would be too. So, hopefully she's feeling better this morning and we'll have a good day. We will finish our Christmas shopping this morning and ship Brian's gifts off to Michigan. That will do it for this year. Christmas has gotten very commercial but we put a limit on the spending and try to keep the focus on the "Reason for the Season". That allows us to enjoy the Christmas season in spite of all of the hub bub. Well, it's off to get Catia and breakfast at Cracker Barrel - yum, yum. Tuesday, December 4, 2007 Yesterday was an uneventful day, just what you want for a travel day. We are definitely going to have to do a better job of selecting campgrounds along the way. It cost us $29 for one night with our Good Sam discount and that's just not in our budget. We did have a nice level full hook up site with 30 amp and WIFI but we only needed the electric. Finding suitable RV parks along the way is a problem that a lot of fulltime RVers have. Some options are to use Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel, Flying-J, etc. for overnight stays but when it is extremely hot or cold we need electric to run our A/C or heaters. We have a generator but don't really want to run that all night but at these prices we just might do it. Oh well, it's just one more of those little things that we will have to deal with as we continue living this lifestyle. We'll just have to do a better job of researching before we set out on our trips and start looking into state parks, Corps of Engineer parks, and so on along the way. Monday, December 3, 2007 The Branson Tour is now behind us, boy did that fly by fast. We had a great time and it was worth the cost and the time. We can highly recommend it but keep in mind that there are about 160 shows in town so if you want to see them all you had better plan to stay for a while. The campground at Turkey Creek is nice, however, the sites are small but it is more than adequate while in this area. As always, the price is right and hugs await you. Now it's onto to Nashville. We will take two days to get there and then we can get our grand daughter fix before heading back to Alabama. Catia is already asking for her Grandma and Grandpa, so I guess she needs her grand parents fix or maybe it's the toys that she knows is heading her way. She will be three on the 30th so she is really getting into the Christmas Spirit. Next year she will have a baby brother or sister to share Christmas morning with - that ought to be a blast. Speaking of spirits, we found some wine that is almost as good as the Georgia Winery wine that we love so much while we were at the Stone Hill Winery. Note I said "almost", but it will certainly do in a pinch (like until we get back to Georgia). We are picky about our wines, we are not "wine snobs" but we are particular about what we like. We enjoy a nice glass of wine with our dinner - or without our dinner. I like to cook with wine and sometimes I put it into the food. Anyhow, we bought four bottles. Sunday, December 2, 2007 We have been busy little beavers since last Wednesday. We have toured the College of the Ozarks and the Ralph Foster Museum, visited Branson Landing, attended the Presley Jubilee, spent a day at Silver Dollar City, saw the Shoji Tabuchi show, toured Stone Hill Winery, and spent the evening at the Dixie Stampede. Today there is a shopping trip this morning, the Mannhiem Steamroller's Christmas Show this afternoon, and a catered dinner this evening which concludes this HOP. It has been a wonderful week and we have enjoyed it throughly. We can whole heartedly recommend the Escapees Head Out Programs as a marvelous way to tour with other RVers. So if you are wondering if you would be satisfied with one of their tours, think no longer. Their prices are the most reasonable, their organization of the tour is top shelf, and the events are carefully selected to be among the best. Saturday, December 1, 2007 That's right, it's December 1st!! This year has just flown by with a furry. We've been "on the road" for over a year and now 2007 is almost gone - inconceivable!!! Christmas is now fast approaching. As fast as this year has gone it's a good thing that we have got most of our Christmas shopping all done - and wrapped!! I say we as if I had very much to do with it. It's Judy who is the Christmas organizer/shopper in this family. I'm afraid that if it were left to me not very much would get done. I don't think I could get it done if I had two years to do it. When it comes to Christmas shopping I'm pretty much at a loss. I would just send a check but Judy wants each of the kids to have presents under the tree to open and when it comes to grand kids?? I might have to go back to w*rk just to make sure they have a supply of gifts. Oh well, that's what grand parents are for. Let us not forget the real reason for Christmas. It is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the One who gave the ultimate gift that we might receive eternal life with God in Heaven. Now that's a Christmas gift and it is available to all who will accept this gift by believing in Jesus. The Bible says that we need to confess that we are sinners worthy of death, acknowledge that we cannot earn eternal life by the works of our own hands, recognize Jesus as God's gift Who took the punishment for our sins, and to accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior. Yes, thank you Father for the gift of your Son and thank you Jesus for dying for my sins so that I might have eternal life with You and our Father. You truly are my Lord and Savior. |