Search This Blog


Friday, December 6, 2013

Wow! Two Years Already!

Two years ago yesterday (5 December 2011) we set off on our new course in life, as full time RV travelers.  It seems like just yesterday I was waiting outside Marti’s office in the Journey with the engine running waiting for her to leave and hop aboard.  She finally broke away from the job that had consumed her for years an hour late and we took off for Astoria, Oregon, to spend Christmas with our son Ryan, DIL Amber and our (then) two granddaughters Taylor and Kierra.

DSC01487

Little did we know that the first three days of our trip we’d spend at a Freightliner Dealer waiting for a bum alternator to be replaced.

DSC01247

We did make it to Astoria and spent Christmas in their driveway with the Journey all decorated by Marti and the girls (with a wee bit of help from me).

DSC01514

DSC01535

We did a lot of traveling all around the U.S. and by the end of the first year, we had traveled 18,500 miles.  We had a ball and looked forward to another fun year on the road. 

We spent our second Christmas (2012) near our daughter Heather, SIL Brian and grandsons Andrew and Owie’s house.  The boys helped us get the Journey all ready from Christmas.

DSC05319

DSC05323

Little did we know that we’d end up “grounded” and almost stationary in South Carolina for more than a year.  I had a bunch of medical issues to deal with at the Veterans Administration (VA)Hospital in nearby Columbia, SC.  The waiting for appointments, over which I had no say in the scheduling, kept us from wandering too far.  We did do some short trips, but never too far away in case an appointment suddenly popped up (and they did) with little advance notice.  This past year we’ve traveled less than five thousand miles, if this keeps up, I’ll be losing my PDD club membership…

We took a new tack in October and took a position as workampers at the J. Strom Thurmond Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Area, about an hour and a half drive to the Columbia VA.  We’ve had a great time with the rangers and the other workampers.  The jobs we’ve been given to do have been interesting, educational…and fun! 

However, our plans to head to Florida starting in January have gone out the window as I still am awaiting a final appointment at the VA for some MRIs.  Hopefully we will be finished with all this waiting so we can head to Missouri in late April to welcome another grandchild at Ryan and Amber’s newest home (their fourth, after three beautiful girls, Taylor, Kierra and little Rebekah, we’re all pulling for a boy). 

So the Journey is once again decorated for Christmas.

IMG_3096

Hopefully mid next year we’ll be footloose and fancy free.  Lots of miles to drive and places to see.  We haven’t made too much of a dent on our Bucket List and we need to change that!

In the mean time, Marti is enjoying her early Christmas present.  A Yamaha electric piano.  She has been missing playing piano since we sold the house and shipped our piano to our son Ryan’s home in Missouri.  A real piano wouldn’t quite fit in the Journey, but this one was the perfect “fit”, easy to set up, easy to take down and it will slide under one of our couches when we travel.  Happy, happy, happy is she (and me!). :c)

IMG_3099

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

license_20110706205528_24375[1]

26 comments:

  1. Congratulations all around! New piano, New grandchild, new job and 2 years of a new great life. Now if you could just get these appointments done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No kidding, time flies...sure doesn't seem like it was two years ago. Now, to get you to expand your RV'ing horizons to Mexico...

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW, 2 years already!! Hope you get the medical stuff taken care of early this coming year and get on with this great adventure:o)) What a wonderful Christmas present for Marti...something you both will enjoy!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The two years have passed by quickly, haven't they? I hope you get cut loose pretty soon so that you can do some driving!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You have lots of years to get that traveling done. That piano looks like a great gift.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amazing how the years just slip on by, hope you can get you on the road soon.
    We still love wandering about, in our 8th year now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, the two years went by fast! Too bad some of it is stationary, but I guess that's not really all that bad when spent with family :-)
    Marti must be loving playing the piano. Hope she's making nice Christmas music for the Volunteer VIllage!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Two whole years on the road and you're still enjoying it!! I'm glad to hear that. For us it's hard to imagine staying put in one place for a long time. Many years ago we had the small house and white picket fence dream. Now it's the wide open spaces and no fence at all. Things do change. Hopefully, you'll continue to enjoy your lifestyle and see much more of this wonderful USA.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy Anniversary! You'll be back in PDD form soon. No danger of you losing your membership. You're the founding father!
    What a nice Christmas gift! Something you'll both enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone else having a piano in their MH. Congrats on that, what a nice gift.

    Hopefully you'll be able to get out and put some serious miles on the Journey in the coming year.

    ReplyDelete
  11. We can definitely relate to being grounded for medical reasons. And then in our case, the resulting changes in physical health means that I have had to learn to accept the fact that we won't travel as much as I had hoped for. But we'll do what we can and enjoy every minute of it. Sure hope your appointments end soon. A new grand(son!!) to look forward to would be a wonderful anticipation. And like Gail said - you're the founding father of PDD. No chance of that changing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can't believe the VA is so slow. Good grief! Is that an example of how Obamacare is going to work? Sounds like Canada to me.

    We hope you can get on the road soon. You have paid your sitting still dues.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It is very hard to believe you have been full timing for two years! It seems like you just started. I look back and find it hard to believe I have been waiting for three years. Well things are looking up, at least we are living in the RV, even if the house isn't sold yet.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I remember reading about that first trip. . .it all flies by, doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  15. See, you knew what you were doing by getting all those miles in during your first year! Sometimes life gets in the way of what we want to do but it all seems to work out okay in the end. Marti sure looks happy playing her new piano. Those things are so nice now with great sound so she should get many hours of pleasure out of that.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Congrats on two years. Looks as if you're still having fun. Hope to see you this next year again. Head west young man...

    ReplyDelete
  17. crazy how fast the time has flown by...

    ReplyDelete
  18. I can't believe it's been two years for you two! I remember that day. We've started our 5th year yesterday, which is hard to believe. Hopefully we'll see you back on the road soon. It was great seeing you in SC.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Time sure does FLY!!! I remember we were both trying to sell our house and get on the road. We only lasted a year due to unforeseen medical issues but have settled here in Punta Gorda FL - missing RV-ing but starting to get use to being stationary. My best to you guys - ENJOY!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sure doesn't seem like it's been two years already!

    What a nice Christmas gift! Marti will have to put on a concert for us.

    ReplyDelete
  21. We understand being grounded for medical reasons. Don't worry your PDD membership is safe.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Congratulations on two years on the road. Our one year anniversary was on December 1. Where has the time gone!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Congratulations Guys, quite a milestone and it did go by so fast. Here's to many more years of safe travels.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Congrat's on the two years! Neil and I have 1 1/2 already and other than some vacation time…we haven't even started yet! Still fun, no matter what and how you do it! I think you would agree?

    ReplyDelete
  25. The Best Lol n Troll Network with the Name of Lols Gag... Troll Images, Prank Peoples, Funny Peoples, funny planet, funny facts, funny cartoons, funny movies pics, iphone funny, funny jokes, Prank Images, Fail Pictures, Epic Pictures, Lols and Gags, Lol Pictures, Funny Pictures, Lol is the Laugh out of Laugh where you can Fun Unlimited and Laughing Unlimited.
    LolsGag.Com

    ReplyDelete
  26. Easy Earning, Playing Games, Earn Money by Just Viewed Some Ads, 10% Referral Commission with Payza, Perfect Money and EgoPay
    AdsClickEarning.com

    ReplyDelete