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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Four Months On The Road

Time flies when you are having fun and we're certainly having it, becoming experts at doing nothing. 

Yes, we've finally slowed down.  We went from a mad dash cross country in the dead of winter through Northern states to Oregon to be with one of our son's families for Christmas, then down the coast through California, over to Quartzsite, AZ, then on (and on and on and on) through Texas to a whole week in Pensacola, FL. 

The Journey's engine barely cooled off and we rolled again up to South Carolina to spend two weeks this time with our daughter's family.  Finally, up to New Jersey for little Anabelle's birth and we're back where we started after 7,000 miles of travel. 

We've been here a little over a week already and will be staying until early May, when we head out to Sioux Falls, SD to get our drivers licenses and vehicle registrations done.  Our plans had included then heading out to Oregon to help our son move his family to Philadelphia, PA, but they've decided to make the move on their own. 

Now that we're stationary for a while, I have some odds and ends to do to pimp the Journey and our Honda Element toad.

What have we learned so far in our full time life?  Here's a few items:

  We must really love each other because we're still talking (and laughing) together.

  Even though we have almost 400 square feet in the Journey with the slides out, it still has some tight spots.  If we ever buy another big motorhome, we'll be giving two bathrooms a hard look.  It takes me a  long time to look this pretty.  ;c)

  Budgets are made to be laughed at.  Especially with rising (rocketing) fuel costs.  No matter how carefully I drive and maintain a nice slow speed on the highway, a headwind will wipe out any fuel savings.

  Passport America is a wonderful budget stretcher.

  Military campgrounds were worth staying in the service until retirement. 

  Overnight stops at a Walmart are way too expensive, often exceeding the cost of a KOA.  ;cO

  Despite two GPS units, maps and Marti navigating our travels, I still can manage to make the wrong turn.

  We're slowly starting to remember how to cook decent, healthy meals again.  When we were working, the obscene hours we both kept left little time to cook, we had to eat out way too often.

  We still haven't figured out how best to store some of our things.  The microwave doubles as a bread box.

  We've fallen in love with late night TV shows, reruns of the King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond have become favorites.

  Our mail service, Alternative Resources is working out well for us.

  Verizon stinks, Sprint has been the best Internet service for our needs.

  The extended warranty we purchased when we bought the Journey has saved us big time on two expensive repairs.

  We're still working on not feeling guilty for not going to work.  That feeling of "we have to do something" is slowly fading.

  We've met some wonderful people on our travels, they seem to be some of the best friends we've ever made.

  We still are weeding out clothes but have kept too many (you never know when that invitation to the White House for dinner might come).

  Kindles rock.  Don't remember what a book looks like anymore. 

  We're thankful for the ability to move where we want to or need to be.  We've gotten to know another sweet granddaughter because of it.


Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.


PS:  For Sherry, a follow up for your question yesterday.  Hard choices have to be made in today's budgetary crisis.  We made many rescues during the winter months.  Hopefully the extra time from the next nearest Coast Guard station won't be too long to cost a mariner's life.  Also it leave a wide open door to smuggling, yes that still goes on.  It is a risky choice.

16 comments:

  1. quite the whirlwind four months of travel!.good to sit back and relax for a while!.enjoy the weekend!

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  2. We also have 2 GPS devices, one android and one Garmin. It is funny to run them at the same time.

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  3. Very interesting list of what you've learned. I'd say you are ajusting quite nicely to this hard work of full timing.

    Thanks for the response on the closing. I knew you'd have a well thought out answer.

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  4. ha we have two gps and a book of maps..2 magellens...our mic also doubles as a bread box....I no longer feel guilt about not working either....I could go on and on....what a great read Paul :)

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  5. You definitely have had a whirlwind 4 months. Now all your kin will be on the same coast too!

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  6. Happy 4-monthaversary! Ahh, the Walmart curse: so convenient and affordable - until you see how much money you spend there a month (or day) and wonder how its humanly possible. -Brian-

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  7. I loved that post. Now I'm not saying we've discovered the same thing. I would never want you to think that I'm actually going to agree with your opinions. When we all hit the road we learn a lot. We thought we knew a lot more than we did. It didn't take long to find out just how much we didn't know!!

    Enjoy that beautiful baby. Before long you and Daddy will be fighting the boys off!!

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  8. So glad all your kids will now be on the east coast so that you can maintain a slower pace.

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  9. We missed seeing you here in Oregon, so when are you coming back?

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  10. Love all your observations, especially the Walmart one - how true!

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  11. Great observations!
    We have met and become friends with more people in the last 1.5 years on the road than in the previous 20! It's an amazing lifestyle.

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  12. A good list that we'll verify when we get on the road (without a mad dash cross country, I hope). As for taking a wrong turn here and there despite the GPS and Marti's navigation ... hmmm ... the GPS has a female voice and Marti is a woman. Husband's seem to have this innate ability to tune out on their wife's conversations, I wonder if that syndrome kicks in at times, leading to the ooops moments :-))))))))

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  13. Great post...I'm still having trouble becoming the expert at doing nothing...that's why all the crafts on board! Now if I could just make a little extra money at it.....great post today!

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  14. Great post...I'm still having trouble becoming the expert at doing nothing...that's why all the crafts on board! Now if I could just make a little extra money at it.....great post today!

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  15. Sounds like you're having a great time and you deserve it.

    Regarding the extended warranty, ours is done in 2014 but even if something happened now I doubt it would get fixed since the warranty is with the dealer we bought from, crooks at best so anyway, we tried to buy one but the rig is too old to get qualify now.

    Hopefully it holds up until we are ready to upgrade!

    Safe travels,

    Erik

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  16. Imagine what your fuel expenses would have been if you hadn't driven conservatively. And you found our bread box....our oven will often substitute as the bread box.

    When is that next grandbaby due?

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