New Year - New Place

In a few days we will say ‘til we meet again’ to new friends and head out to our new volunteer gig at Goliad State Park  It has been a fun filled, 8 weeks here at Wilderness Lakes RV Resort. For us, it has been the perfect balance of ruggedness with timbered trails and wildlife and the perks of a resort style park with it’s clubhouse, pool and organized social events.  I recall our volunteer village neighbor, Bob Flannagan,  saying ‘For every Hello, there is a Goodbye”. What I add to that is there is also the hope of a return 'Hello' down the road.

My mind works in visual analogies.  I relate the people we meet along the way in this life to a Shrub Rose I had at our old acreage. Every passing year it grew a little larger and produced more flowers. Out time is like the bush and our new friends are the flowers. It was beautiful to see it grow just as it is beautiful to see the network of friends grow each season that we put behind us.

 

 

Over the past weeks, we had the opportunity to visit the Harrington’s who are two hours south of us working at Laguna Atascosa NWR till spring. We left with plans for them to visit us at Goliad when they head back north. We played tourist in Corpus Christie and spent a great evening taking in the Christmas spirit along the San Antonio River Walk. The rest of our time has been filled with new friends at the RV Park, Bocce Ball, card games and potlucks.  I met Connie, who introduced me to a new form of exercise called Eccentircs that I am learning and will continue to work on through videos and online self-teaching programs. Champ has been having a good time playing horseshoes and we both have really enjoyed the walking trails around the park.

[caption id="attachment_460" align="alignleft" width="300"] Fran[/caption]

Fran is the local bird and butterfly guru who volunteered many years at various wildlife refuges and traveled in her RV. She resides here at Wilderness Lakes now. I had the privilege of going birding with her one morning where we logged 35 species, several that were firsts for me, still in my birding formative years. She also taught me a great deal about identifying butterflies.

 

[caption id="attachment_459" align="alignright" width="300"] Champ and I with the Berrys and the Waltons[/caption]

We made new friends here, many whom we will stay in contact with and hope will come visit us at our new destination. Some live in areas of the country we want to visit and will give us a familiar face when we make it there one day. Some spend their summers just three or so hours from Saylorville so seeing them in the summer is very likely. It is going to be hard to leave, but it is also exciting to think of the future and opportunities to reconnect with them.

Through the people we met here we have learned about Texas Independence Day in March and the big town festival that happens in Goliad. We also learned about Cuero and the Chisolm Trail museum where we will make it a point to visit on one of our days off.

I saw a note in my publishing calendar that reminded me to revisit a topic from this time last year called “5 things We’ll Miss”. After a year we still miss the whirlpool tub very much. We have adapted to using single ply toilet paper, not having a garbage disposal and the cats have adapted nicely to being tethered when outside. Buster has even learned to walk on a leash so is able to roam a bit with us in tow to keep him out of trouble. I have learned to seek out Wi-Fi Hotspots for things that don’t require secure connections and have adapted. What we miss the most is reliable water pressure, an item that didn’t make the list last year. It changes from place to place and is by far the toughest condition to put up with if we are somewhere with mediocre pressure. We can reduce high pressure, but there is no fancy adapter to increase crappy pressure. That would be a nice invention for RV’ers.

We’ll revel in the New Years Eve festivities here at the RV Park with our new friends and pull the jacks up to leave the middle of next week. We are feeling the familiar mix of excitement for a new place and sadness of parting with new friends.

Find out more about Goliad State Park at:  https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/goliad



Until next time…

Reflections

The universe relies on balance to exist. Our bodies require balance to stay upright. Doctors say eat a balanced diet. The book stores are full of self-help books about how to balance home and work. The laws of physics rely on a balance of a negative for every positive. Ying-Yang, light-dark, heat-cold, wet-dry. All things require balance. Good things happen along side the bad things,  year in and year out.



This is the time of year when most of us look back on the year that is coming to and end and are glad it is over. We post memes on our social media accounts with antidotal quotes about how the previous year can go specific places or kiss certain parts of our anatomy. It occurred to me, it is rare to see someone post on Facebook this time of year what a wonderful year they had and hope the coming year is just as good. Just to be sure I went through my account looking for a post over the past years that stated something to that effect. I found nothing of the sort. Quite the opposite. Why do people reflect so negatively on the year that is winding to and end and look to the new year with hope for better times only to end that year once again weary and glad that it is over?  Are our lives really that bad?

I offer this as an answer. Good things are generally well laid plans that work out. Joy is easy to feel, we kind of soar on it, like a bird riding high on the thermal currents. It is effortless to experience the euphoric joy of a child being born, or a wedding or a bucket list vacation. Pain takes us by surprise, as if a trap door opens under you while you stand in line at the grocery store. It requires a great deal of energy and demands all our attention to experience. It consumes us completely. Therefore, it is quite memorable. I spent some time recalling very painful memories in my life and realized that it is hard to remember that the day, weekend or even month leading up to that terrible event was relatively good and uneventful. The good memories are shrouded by the bad. Painful memories are the ultimate photo bomber of our memory bank.

2017 was a difficult year for many people close to us. It was marked with staggering losses for many of our loved ones; seven funerals in all this past year. Others close to us are facing serious health issues of their own or their loved ones.  To test the principal of balance I went back through the year in my mind one night during a bout with insomnia and searched for the good memories. Buried under the bad stuff I recalled there was also a baby born in our family and two couples we know got news that they were going to welcome their first grandchild early next year. Two of our kids earned job promotions. Two friends got clean bills of health after facing cancer the previous year.  As I consciously pushed back the heavy stage curtain of bad memories and searched in the wings, a photo reel of happy memories like returning to Iowa last spring, time with kids and grandkids, friends buying new campers, travel, (ours as well as others) our first full year as RV Volunteers and all of the special people we are meeting along the way, began to push the painful memories to the side.

Whatever your year was like, my wish for everyone is take a few minutes and work hard to remember everything good about 2017 and let it be the star of the year. Don’t let the painful memories  consume all you feel this time of year. Change, sometimes very painful, is inevitable.  Bad memories will be present at the end of every year. Let them exist in the balance, but work hard not to let them tip the scale.

Happy Old Year- Happy New Year!

Until next time…

"Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable"  ~Mary Oliver

Hiatus

[caption id="attachment_443" align="alignnone" width="300"] Annie getting sun drunk in the windshield[/caption]

I don't have any deep phylosophical thoughts this time other than to say that every now and then I'll be doing something mundane like putting away laundry or sitting outside working a crossword and this fleeting thought reminds me that this is our life. We will not return home to the grind of going to work or mowing the yard for a very long time if ever. I never know quite what to think when it happens and dismiss the feeling as quickly as it rises.

November and December are  our hiatus months for this winter season. We discovered a gem of an RV Park in Mathis Texas called Wilderness Lakes. if you ever make it to this part of Texas with your RV we highly recommend it.  http://wildernesslakesrv.com/ It is a beautiful park surrounded by timbered trails and small lakes that serve as wildlife preserve for waterfowl and mammals. The campground buzzes with activities morning, afternoon and evening. There are exercise classes for every fitness level, regular gatherings for various card games. craft groups, horseshoes,  Bocce Ball and a beautiful heated salt water pool. The park denizens are mostly snowbirds like us and display the Texas friendliness that made us fall in love with Texas last winter. We are making fast friends with many of our park companions and having a blast.  After 14 months full timing it we have learned a great deal talking to veteran full timers. It is fun to visit with people we have met here who are in their first year.  Our jumping off point is recent enough we can appreciate the emotions they are feeling as well as share tips we have learned along the way. I still marvel at those who have made the leap but never owned an RV till they hit the road. We were veteran campers and had taken several long trips in ours. I can't imagine doing this and not knowing anything about owning an RV. Those are the real adventurers!

A mere 150 miles south of our 2016 destination has made a marked  difference in climate. An average of 10 degrees warmer and noticeably more humidity. The best part for me is no Cedar pollen.

[caption id="attachment_423" align="alignright" width="300"] Whitecap Beach NPI[/caption]

During my first 51 years in northern climates I often dreamed of sitting on the beach at Christmas time.  The dream has come true and I must say it is all I imagined it could be. The water was still about 80 degrees the air was near 90 and the ocean breeze was warm and salty. Heaven for this water baby.

It is still hard to reconcile walking around looking at Christmas lights and hearing the sound of crickets and frogs. Two things that my northerners mind has trouble associating.

We still fall into temporary valleys of depression, like when we face timed two of the grandkids’ birthday parties. It about killed us but we are thankful for the technology that allows us to see and talk to them and sing along while they received their cake and blew out the candles. A look at the Iowa forecast is the first step toward climbing out the mire of holiday depression.

[caption id="attachment_442" align="alignleft" width="300"] Christmas lights and crickets[/caption]

Occupying an end spot at the park, gives us that much more excuse to ‘Griswold’ the campsite with outdoor Christmas decorations. The motorhome has also made it possible to have a bigger tree this year.  People drive around in their golf carts, also bedecked withlights and decorations.  Christmas Cheer is alive and well.

We drove up to Goliad, where we will camphost for 90 days beginning in January, and found it to be a beautiful park with friendly Rangers. We are excited to head there after the holidays and already have plans for new friends to come visit us there during our stint.

[caption id="attachment_426" align="alignright" width="300"] Shorebird lesson with John[/caption]

My birding training continued last weekend. We went to Laguna Atascosa to visit John and Cathy and were treated to a trip to the South Padre Island Bird Center. Over a mile of boardwalks out over Laguna Madre gave us up close encounters with many shore birds and ducks. I've  never had much appreciation for ducks till now. They are really quite beautiful and came in remarkable variety.

[caption id="attachment_435" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mottled Ducks[/caption]

I saw alligators in their natural habitat for the first time. (When the kids were little we went on a swamp tour in Louisiana and saw them but its hard to count since they were lured to the boat with raw chicken and marshmallows, much like gulls following a tour ferry.)  A guided three hour tram tour through the refuge treated us to more birds, 4 different eco- systems and an overview of this remarkable coastal refuge of over 100,000 acres that is successfully helping 8 species of animals including Ocelots, sea turtles and several bird species. One of my highlights was a Nilgai running in the field and eventually running across the road in front of the tram.

Our last four weeks of ‘vacation’ will fly by. We are in good company with other folks missing their kids and grandkids but not missing the snow and cold. Our joints thank us everyday that we bask in the warm sunshine of south Texas. Amazon boxes fill the clubhouse lobby mail center each day. You can almost smell the credit cards melting as snowbirds shop online and fuel the retail economy sending packages home. Potlucks abound and new friendships grow.

Being away from all the kids for the holidays is the small amount of bitter in the very sweet life of the full time RV’er.

Until next time...

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Redecorating the RV

Before we even made the offer to buy this motorhome, I was imagining all the updates I would make to it. High on my list was getting rid of the heavy dark valances and paint the walls. The curtains were easy. I bought new panel curtains for the living area and altered them to fit the RV windows. I made Roman draw style black out shades for the bedroom. The painting was another story.

I researched the blogs of those who had painted their RV’s and learned as much as I could before undertaking this project. The vinyl wall board used in RV’s is a challenge. I took my tips from the blogs of those brave souls who went before me.  I taped paint swatches from Lowes all over the camper. After a couple of weeks, I settled on a primary color and a darker contrast to add some dimension.

I hate doing core exercises. I do like the result, so I do them anyway and reap the reward of a strong core and less lower back pain.  Painting is much like Pilate’s for me. I hate doing it, but love the outcome. Painting is tedious, and tedium is the devil to me. Painting in an RV is a level of tedium that is nearly incomprehensible until you do it. A 3” roller is as big as is needed and it’s not needed that much. Small brushes and all the cute trimming gadgets are your tool kit. I even got into my craft stuff and used a couple of small detail brushes. The area is small, so one can easily be tricked into thinking that the job will go quickly. How long can it take to paint walls in a space less than 350 square feet, anyway?  Nine hours, that’s how long. Forget doing one room at a time, all the rooms meld together. Start early and strap in! The space is small, every full-timer knows that. It is impossibly small when you start painting. At one point I realized my love of yoga was helping me stand in some of the comical positions required to get to certain areas.

If you decide to paint your RV let me say, “Go for it, sister!”  My first piece of advice is get a good primer. Don’t let anyone convince you paint/primer hybrid paints are enough. They absolutely are not. I tested the theory by skipping the primer step on the surface under my headboard where it wouldn’t show. The difference was striking and would not have given me a good result had I skipped that step throughout the RV. I was satisfied that I spent the extra time and effort to prime first. I read a good deal about it before starting this project. I chose a Bullseye primer made specifically to bind to surfaces like wall paper.  It was the best time and money I spent for the project. I used my go-to Valspar paint/primer after the primer dried. It performed as well as it has in the multiple houses I have painted over the years. The second piece of advice is wipe down the walls with a good microfiber towel wrung out of warm soapy water. It was amazing how much dirt clung to the texture of the wall board. We had just scrubbed the unit floor to ceiling 10 weeks prior when we bought it. Still open windows let in a lot of dust and pollen.

The weather was cloudy and about 80 today. All the windows were open, and the central fan ran all day to exchange the air, help the primer dry quickly and keep the paint smell at bay. Buster and Annie spent the day outside. They knew something was going on inside and they wanted nothing more than to come inside and rub on the wet walls, drag their tail through the paint pan and track paw prints in the colors of Seashell Gray or Heather around the camper. We did not accommodate their request and listened to them protest most of the day when we went outside to fill paint pans or clean brushes

At noon, the RV looked like a warzone. The driving compartment (the only area with no wall space to paint) was piled with everything from the mattress to the curtains and anything else that was in the way. There was about 9 miles of Frog tape outlining the place. Cups of hardware from taking down towel racks and shades sat around. The litter box was on the porch, Adult Alternative on DirecTV was blaring from the sound bar the cats were mad and we were both working away at the transformation. At 3:00 the painting part was done. At 4:30 we had the bed back in place, the curtains back up, pictures back on the wall and were ready to get cleaned up and go out for dinner. It is 8:55 now and I am sitting on my couch writing this, pleased with the result of the task we set out to accomplish at 7:00 this morning. The vision I had the first time I stood in this space at the RV dealership has been realized.

In a nutshell, here are the key ingredients to getting through this project if you decide to undertake it. Put good music on and play it loud! Keep your work space organized by putting things away when you finish. Don’t have anything out that you are not using at that moment. There simply isn’t the space to let clutter accumulate. If you aren’t typically organized, this is a good time to work on that skill.  Get a good primer. If you think you bumped into something it was probably yourself, get used to it. The spaces are small and fragmented, don’t leave an area till you are completely done with it. Get a good primer.  Take your nose out of the paint pan every now and again, to stand back and take in the progress and delight in the transformation. Did I mention? Get a good primer!

Here are some before and after pictures. If you paint your own RV, keep your sights on the end result but don’t call me to help. I may come and watch from a lawn chair and offer moral support.  I think I’ve had enough painting for awhile 😊

 

Until next time…

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Reunions

After some tearful goodbyes, we left Iowa for the winter on a crisp October morning. We take comfort in knowing we will return to Saylorville’s Volunteer Village in April to join the Natural Resources team and work another season. We also left with pangs of guilt for leaving behind kids, grandkids and friends to endure the Iowa winter and another Christmas without Grandma and Grandpa Jones’ Christmas Chaos Event.

As we made our way south this fall it began to occur to us, our travels are becoming a succession of reunions. In 13 short months we have met a number of people whom we make it a point to see when our paths cross. Throughout our summer time in Iowa, we reunited with everyone we volunteered with in Texas, when they passed through. It helps that Saylorville is a major camping area centrally located in the United States.

[caption id="attachment_389" align="alignleft" width="300"] Lindsborg group[/caption]

The first stop on our southern reunion tour was Lindsborg, Kansas for their Bi-annual Swedish Festival. The main draw is my Aunt Pat, who has traveled from Denver for over 25 years to attend with friends she brings from Colorado and others, like us, who meet her here to take in the event. This year, our second time, we joined her, my cousins from Leavenworth, her friends Rick and Diane (veteran Hyllningsfest attendees) and new friends of hers Nataliya and Johnnie Johnson, attending for the first time. We spent 48 hours completely immersed in Swedish food, music and culture and interesting people. We’ll take away more good memories of time spent with my aunt.  We stayed on an extra day and visited a Motorcycle history museum in the area and experienced the town when not in festival mode.

We left early Monday morning with me in the driver’s seat. My first time driving the new motor home out on the road with the car in tow. Compared to pulling the 5^th wheel it is much nicer. After 200 miles a construction zone, accident scene and some heavy traffic around Wichita we were both satisfied that I had a comfort level in the pilot seat and I turned the driving back over to Champ so I could dive into the morning crossword in the newspaper.

We set up camp at Chickasaw National Park mid-afternoon. After 3 days in the area we highly recommend it as a stop for anyone traveling through. There is rich history to be experienced at the Chickasaw Nation Cultural Center. We spent half a day there and learned a great deal about the tribal nations’ history, migration story and culture, including watching a traditional Friendship Song and Stomp Dance.  One could easily spend a couple of days visiting all of the historic buildings and sites related to the Chickasaw in the surrounding area.

[caption id="attachment_392" align="alignright" width="300"] Little Niagara- Chickasaw NRA[/caption]

Travertine Learning Center at the park was also a gem. We went into the Visitors Center to talk with the ranger and get the trail maps and when Champ was out of ear shot I got the low down on the local reptiles, knowing this is an active time of year for his least favorite creatures. I took point and kept a close eye on the edge of the trails and the over-hanging tree limbs. Despite the ranger saying they had daily reports of sightings, we had a snake free walk the two hours we were there.  The natural springs, and waterfalled creeks make for a beautiful walk in the woods.

If you are like me, your vision of Oklahoma is wide open planes, oil fields and ranches. This area is very un-Oklahoma like in terms of terrain. The campground is beautiful and well maintained. It is also 15 miles from town making for the best night sky I’ve seen in years. Something about a clear night sky when I can see the Milky Way makes me feel closer to the people I love when I’m away.

After a stop at Waco Lake for a few days, we reunited with the staff at Balcones NWR where we spent most of last winter work camping. We stayed for a week in trade for 3 days work. Jennifer tasked us with checking the 12 hunting blinds, make repairs as necessary, sweep them out and weed eat around them and the gate entrances to the various areas.

[caption id="attachment_391" align="alignleft" width="300"] Champ doing the high work[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_390" align="alignleft" width="300"] Weed eating at a Hunt Blind[/caption]

We saw three tracts of the refuge that we did not see last winter and enjoyed revisiting familiar areas. The work was physical but welcome after a couple of weeks of R&R. The weather was gorgeous all three days we worked outside.

[caption id="attachment_154" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dub Lyon[/caption]

We were happy to see that Dub, a long time, dedicated local volunteer and fixture, at the refuge is still getting around and staying active. The other reason we added Lago Vista to the route was to see Peggy and Lloyd, who we became friends with last winter. We had the opportunity to spend three evenings at their home and they made it out to the refuge to check out the new living quarters.  We also got a bonus and got to see another couple, Joy and Paul who we saw a Taco Tuesday each week. We spent 7 great days before saying goodbye, once again to this special group of people.

 

 

 

 

Three and a half weeks on the road has ended in Mathis, Texas at a beautiful RV resort where we will spend the next two months playing and being retired. As is the case in these parks, we have already met several couples who Volunteer in the summer in northern locations. 24 hours in, I have been recruited to lead a beginner yoga class once a week. My solitary morning yoga routine is very satisfying, but it will be rewarding to have the opportunity to share it with others as a social event.

We are looking forward to a reunion with our friends John and Cathy soon. By the time April rolls around and we find ourselves packing up for the trip back to Iowa we will undoubtedly leave with more new friends and more people to add to the list of reunions to look forward to as we add months, years and miles to this wonderful lifestyle.

I'll sign off with a quote I saw the other day that resonated with me:

"Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable"   ~Mary Oliver

Until next time...

One Year Already

We are coming up on the 1^st year milestone of life as a full time RV dweller. I have been thinking about the content of this post for some time. My thoughts about our gypsy life intersect at the same common places.  Adaptability, community, people and of course CHANGE.

You must to be comfortable, I dare say even like, change in order to truly love this lifestyle. Our very first volunteer gig was fraught with change and compromise and turned out to be a wonderful experience. So much so that we are going to return this fall for a short stint on our way to Mathis. Travel plans coming home last spring evolved with the moving weather patterns, some of them severe. In case you have been living in a cave the past month you know that many snowbirds are changing their plans due to the angry oceans wrath on the southern coasts. We are lucky, our winter destinations will not change as a result, however, our job descriptions may contain some ‘other duties as assigned’; fine by us. The ever-present change of scenery and routine in the winter months is balanced by the certainty that we will return to Saylorville each year as established volunteers and get to live in the geographical nucleus of our family and friends.

One of the anxieties shared by both us and our kids is that something major will happen while we are away. That anxiety lives in the corner of the mind of every full-timer and their families. This past month, our tight-knit circle of friends, was rocked by the sudden death of Champ’s life-long friend Deb.

[caption id="attachment_374" align="alignright" width="300"] Deb Duncan[/caption]

It is a staggering loss for all of us and we are still reeling at the reality that our strong, fierce friend fell victim to what cardiologists call the widow maker. Deb and Chris met the same year Champ and I did and were married just a few weeks ahead of us. They were the kind of friends that we would visit in the winter for dinner and cards and stay the night. At Deb’s visitation, my daughter shared that her biggest fear of us being gone part of the year is that something like this will happen. I remember telling her that whether we were across town or across the country an event like this is going to be awful. We can’t live a static life simply because we fear the inevitable. In saying the words to her I think I finally sold myself on the idea that one must live their life and not worry about things we will never get to choose the timing of.

Our marriage has been tested in this first year. Good marriages come in different shades. Some people love to be together all the time and enjoy the same activities. Other’s like to have their own activities and meet in the middle at less frequent times. We fall in the first category and it is a good thing. I think this lifestyle would be difficult for couples who need their individual alone time and activities. Not only have we adapted to living in a very small space, we are also settling into being retired together. Some of the adaptation would have taken place when I stopped working full time anyway. After a year, I am happy to report that we are still very much in love with each other and the life.

I continue to marvel at the number of people we call friends after a mere 12 months. Last year, we headed south not knowing anyone. This year, we not only enjoyed the company of people we met over the winter coming to Saylorville, we are returning to another area of Texas and will visit new friends on the way to our new winter digs and will know people who are here in volunteer village with us this summer who will be migrating to points not far from our winter destination. We have met couples who have done this for over 15 years and listened to their tales and sage advice about how to get the most out of it.

It makes my head spin to recall how much has happened in the past year. Making the transition to becoming a full-time RV’er is life changing in every way. It is just as profound as getting married, becoming a parent or being widowed. Every relationship you have changes. Relationships with some fade while others germinate or come out of dormancy, often in surprising ways. We have experienced things we never even thought of doing. 12 months ago I would have never imagined holding a bird in my hand or seeing a mountain lion dart across the road in front of my refuge work truck. I certainly didn’t think we would trade the 5^th wheel for a motorhome and buy a 20 year old Mustang. We covered nearly 3,000 miles, called 5 different places home and met countless people.  We even snuck in a road trip to Atlanta. I know more about Saylorville than I ever thought I would and am hungry to learn more about this beautiful area next year when we shift our volunteer duties from the VC to Natural Resources. We have had a very busy summer meeting people in the Visitors Center and learning their stories and sharing our love of this area. I worked part-time for a good friend in his store and got to know his wife better. One unforeseen benefit of returning to the area (after a 15 year absence )where I raised my kids  is all of the people who have wandered into either the Visitors Center or Strawberry Patch that I had not seen in years. It was such fun to run into old co-workers, neighbors and even a former landlord. Woven into all of that have been lots of visits with the kids, grandkids spending the night, early birthday celebrations for the kids with winter birthdays that we will miss and a flurry of summer birthdays and unfortunately three funerals.  We will have our big family dinner in 3 weeks and the year will have come full circle.

For the first time in my life I feel completely content with my place in the world. As a couple, we feel like we are doing exactly what we were meant to do. Travel, contribute and experience different places. Buster and Annie have adapted very well.

[caption id="attachment_377" align="alignnone" width="300"] Deer? What deer?[/caption]

Neither one of us can even begin to conceive of a life in a house in a neighborhood any longer. The thought of coming off the road is unthinkable to both of us. After a year we know a few things for certain. It will be hard to tear ourselves away from the kids each fall when we leave. We will return in spring with wonderful knew experiences and people as part of the story of us. No matter where we are in the country life will happen and the wheels on the bus will go round and round.

Until next time…

Here are some memories from the past year

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"I'll never own a motor home" and other words I've eaten this year

After 15 years of being outspoken advocates of 5^th wheel ownership over all other types of RV, we started to recognize the benefits of owning a motor home for the full-time lifestyle. I have always hated the floor plans. They all remind me of sitting in a hallway or doctors waiting room. This was no easy sale for Champ to convince me of the benefits. Before we set out on this great adventure our former neighbor, George, predicted we would own a motor home sooner rather than later.  I said, ‘fat chance’ and chuckled.  The truth is, he should know. We spent many hours chatting in our adjoining back yards about his previous years as a full time RV person and our experiences up to then camping and traveling. He always said a motor home was the way to go if you were full timing it.

[caption id="attachment_360" align="alignright" width="300"] 2006 Itasca[/caption]

Six months into full time lifestyle, we quietly began actively looking at different units in. May After visiting 7 dealerships and scrutinizing over 30 units we settled on a 10-year-old unit with very few miles. It was obviously a unit used exclusively to snowbird. After some hard-nosed negotiating with the dealer over who was going to pay to fix the things that needed repaired, we picked it up 6 weeks after we first looked at it. By the way I got everything I asked from them. After bringing it home, cleaning it within an inch of its life and making some of our own changes to it, our 38’ Itasca is now home.

Many who know us were surprised by our decision, given the fact that we had a beautiful 2-year-old 5^th wheel that we acquired as a result of 5 trades and many years of making double payments. It was a hard mental bridge to cross trading something new for something old but several things played to the motor home hand. The decision to change boiled down to three basic things.

• When you pull a 40’ 5^th wheel you need a 1-ton truck, preferably a dually and most decidedly a diesel. These trucks are not only outrageously expensive to replace but can also be quite expensive to maintain. When the power house that pulls your home down the road is also your primary vehicle the miles add up quickly. Not only is it a beast to parallel park downtown when we want to go to a nice restaurant or the Des Moines Farmers Market, but the gas mileage for everyday driving leaves something to be desired. The powerhouse that moves a motor home down the road gets very little use except the 2 or 3 times a year we move from points north to points south, dodging extreme weather.


• The chassis under a motor home is a lot beefier than a 5th wheel. Cargo weight is still limited but it is more generous. It twists and binds less going down the road than a 5^th wheel or travel trailer. In theory, the years of travel will be kinder to it.


• The on-board generator makes it more comfortable to boondock at the truck stop or rest area overnight if we are on a mission to make time and miles, which we do frequently. The 300 miles or 3:00 rule observed by many travelers is still lost on us.


• We travel with 2 cats as you know if you have read previous posts. The idea of being in the unit with them while moving down the road lends to peace of mind for us and hopefully Annie and Buster. They aren’t alone in a bouncing house wondering what’s going on and when it may stop. We will be there with them and know how they are throughout the trip. The temperature will always be comfortable for them as the entire coach will cool or heat as we travel.

August was a busy month of trading. This trade made our sixth, and the first time we have purchased a used unit.  The logistical difference this time was that we didn’t unload everything into the garage and leisurely load it back in over the course of several days. We talked to several who had traded while living full time and listened to the stories of how long it took to move everything in the parking lot of the dealership. We decided to approach it much like a house move. We boxed up a good deal of stuff in the days before we traded. The stuff from the compartments went under the picnic table and was covered by a tarp. The fact that we are in Volunteer Village rather than out in the public campground gave us some flexibility in terms of how our site looked and the security of leaving our stuff out.

[caption id="attachment_361" align="alignleft" width="300"] Moving mess[/caption]

I must admit it looked like Jed Clampet’s homestead for a couple of days.  Lucky for us the weather was dry that week. On moving day at the dealership, we simply moved boxes from one unit to the other, except for the hanging clothes that we carried from one closet to the other. That proved to be a good plan. Our transfer time was about 2 hours. We spent the next several days unpacking and taking our time deciding how to use our new space. Our salesman was surprised when we came inside and said our goodbyes. He said some even spend the night it takes them so long.

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300"] Grandma's hotrod[/caption]

The next task was to sell the truck and find a car to drive and tow. Champ has always driven a truck and I have always driven something practical. This was our chance to do something fun!  We started shopping for something cooler than my Dodge Journey or any of the other mom cars I have driven over the years.  We sold the truck for a good price and stumbled onto a 1998 Mustang with very low miles, one owner, cream puff of a car. It’s fast, pretty, fun to drive and very impractical. We love it!

As we prepare to depart on our trip south we are excited to be doing it in our newly acquired motor home with a sexy black Mustang in tow.  The last year has been eventful to say the least.  I am trying to sum it up for my next post as we near the 1st anniversary of being gypsies.

Until next time…

Sounds of Summer

It’s mid-August already. We’ve been home for eighteen weeks now. The nine weeks till we leave will go by in a flash.  The famous Iowa State Fair is underway, the first day of school is looming over Iowa kids and parents and the weather is beginning to moderate. It has always been my favorite part of summer. My daughter, soon to be daughter-in-law and one grandchild celebrate early August birthdays. The long term intense heat is over. There will surely be hot hazy days before summer is over but they will be short lived and overnight temperatures above 80 degrees are a thing of the past until next summer. August is a feel good time of year for me. One of my favorite things about this time of year is the way it sounds.

[caption id="attachment_355" align="alignright" width="300"] Atlanta Skyline[/caption]

We just returned from an ambitious road trip. We covered nearly 1900 miles in 5 days. All so I could see one of my favorite singer-songwriters perform live. John Mayer delivered in a big way. When the kids gave me the tickets for the concert in Atlanta back on Mother’s Day I had no idea what a stroke of luck it was to see him at that particular venue. The kids didn’t pick Atlanta by design, but rather it was the venue that still had tickets available that didn’t fall on a weekend we worked at the Visitors Center here at Saylorville.  Champ gave them the green light ahead of time to buy them for me.  I have listened to and enjoyed his music since he arrived on the mainstream music scene in the 90’s. He is an incredibly talented guitarist.  His song writing and lyricism is second to none in my opinion. Somewhere along the line I missed that he moved to Atlanta at the beginning of his music career and got his start playing in local clubs there. Where musicians are concerned I focus on their music and talent. I don’t pay much attention to the rest. That being said, he pulled out all the stops to play to the audience at his ‘musical birthplace’ as he called it when he came on stage. Watching a musician perform his or her music live is by far one of my favorite experiences; watching them at an outdoor venue is that much sweeter to me. The two most nourishing things to my spirit are being outside and music. It doesn’t get much better for me, than an outdoor concert. Well played kids!

I learned something about myself on that trip.  I don’t like big cities much anymore. They’re expensive, crowded and noisy.  I sat at my table on the patio of our digs in Volunteer Village after we arrived home. As I sat there eating my Casey’s Taco Pizza (one of my favorite comfort foods) I said to Champ it was good to be home where it was quiet. Just about then I realized it was anything but quiet there in my campsite. At that moment there was a symphony of locusts, frogs, evening birds calling and in the distance the band playing at the marina over the hill and the occasional motorcycle going through the gears across the marina bridge. It was every bit as noisy as the city. The difference was the sounds of summer in a campground in the woods appeal to my spirit. I started to think about other parallels. City streets are narrow and crowded and full of potholes. That annoys me as I drive through them. A path or road through a wildlife refuge of wooded area is also narrow. It has ruts instead of potholes and the crowding is often caused by overhanging trees or fallen limbs instead of parked cars and pedestrians. That doesn’t bother me at all. In the city, cars honk and sirens scream. In the wilderness, the coyotes howl and scream and locusts can be deafening at times. It’s kind of a city mouse - country mouse thing for me these days. I have evolved a lot from the kid who lived in the thick of the mid Atlantic coast for most of my 20’s and loved it to the semi-retired RV volunteer who makes her home in campgrounds and wildlife refuges.

One of the toughest things for me in winter, before I started escaping, was the lack of outdoor sounds. Winter is cold and quiet. Wind and the fracturing sound of ice breaking and tree limbs seizing are about it. Everything sounds hard in the winter in a cold climate.  Summer sounds are soft, flowing and melodic.

For the remainder of late summer I’ll relax in my lawn chair in front of the camper and listen for the cues that fall is coming. The sound of a flock of geese flying over as they migrate south. The sounds of leaf blowers and the smell of leaf smoke. I’ll dream of another warm winter in the south and our next Volunteer gig for Texas Parks and Wildlife. As I listen to the comforting sounds of the woods in summer I’ll sort through my mixed emotions about leaving for the winter and look forward to knowing we will return to this same place in the spring and spend another busy summer in our home state of Iowa.

Until next time...

Home Is Where Your Heart Is

I mentioned, in a previous post, the reality of our lifestyle finally started to sink in on our return to Iowa in April. As we worked our way back we had a deep awareness of the impact of our decision and our status as virtual vagabonds. Yes, Iowa is home in the sense that it is where we have lived our lives as a couple this past 16 years and we both grew up there. It is home in that all three of our kids reside there with their families. The only family we have that is not located in central Iowa are three aunts and a handful of cousins. We consider ourselves lucky in that way.

If you are contemplating this lifestyle and all your social fabric and family are near your current home be prepared for a huge change when you come home the first time.  19 years ago, my first husband died unexpectedly and I learned through that process that a major life change occurs on many planes.  Every relationship you have before the change must also evolve with your changed life. Most of us don’t see it happening. We get caught up in whatever the catalyst is and don’t see the process. We notice after the change has occurred and are often blindsided by it. That is the nature of this beast. I’m not saying it is a bad thing but it is certainly impactful. People go on with their lives, without you present on a regular basis, and before you know it you are a guest in the former space you once occupied in their lives.

When you live the full time RV lifestyle, the whole point is to move around and experience different places. The people who are close to you and supported your decision are faced with the reality that you will return from time to time but those returns will always be followed by an inevitable departure. It’s like the giant purple elephant in the corner of the room when you are ‘home’.

Our experience this summer has been a real eye-opener to the fact that we have chosen a very different path for our life than anyone else we know.  We work our hours here at Saylorville, attend and host family gatherings as we did in the past but we also have a stark reminder of what we missed over the winter. Like the winter birthdays. I figure the adults can deal with it but when your 5 year old grandson starts grieving your inevitable departure in July months before you are scheduled to leave and has trouble warming up to the idea that you won’t be at his birthday party in late November the heart strings pull painfully. We visit our former camping group when they gather in a local campground but we are guests at their site, much like our friends who don’t own RV’s were when they visited our weekend encampments and listened to our stories of the weekend and happenings since the last gathering of campers. We have become guest in our former lives.

During my banking years I had several conversations with snowbirds who had to stop going south for the winter for one reason or another. They said things like, “all our friends are in Arizona” or “our whole social life is there”. I never quite grasped it since I knew everyone they had known throughout their lives and their kids were here. I get it now. Everyone you meet on the road is in the same boat as you.  People become close very quickly. For two reasons, I think. One, you are like minded. Two, you are not in your ‘home’ space. You build ‘home’ around you, in a given place for a given time.

I haven’t been brave enough to have this conversation with anyone this summer, to see what it is like for them to know we are here for now but will take off again. The emotional experience is a little like the grief cycle. Denial, “Maybe they won’t really miss us.’  Anger “ We are outsiders now” Bargaining, ‘I’ll give the kids with winter birthday’s big presents this summer so I won’t feel so guilty for being gone this winter” ( I’ll still feel guilty as hell) Depression “ We are outsiders now.” and Acceptance, ‘This is what we chose and we still have these wonderful ties to come to in Iowa for even if the vibe has changed.”

The Full time RV lifestyle is full of rewards and challenges but so is any other lifestyle. Is it hard to accept some of the changes? Sometimes. Have I cried about it? Yep. Do we regret our choice? Not for a minute.  Someday, when this chapter ends we’ll have heads and hearts full of people and experiences we would not have otherwise had. We will still have our close relationships with our kids, siblings, friends and extended family. Like I said, we are very fortunate to have them all in the same geographical area. We see them 6 months straight each spring/summer.

My paternal grandfather was a snowbird throughout my childhood. I knew he would leave each winter. I loved when he came home in the spring and I’m sure bugged him constantly since he lived nearby. I hold in my heart two memorable trips to Texas in the winter to see him.  I always felt close to him despite his seasonal absence. I hold onto that when I think of our own young grand kids experiencing one set of grandparents who leave in the winter.

We depart in three months, almost to the day. We are very excited to see friends we made in Texas last winter, my Aunt Pat and cousins that we haven’t seen in a year or so on the way south and of course we are very excited to miss another brutal Iowa winter.  We’ll complete our first full year around the time we leave in October. The sociologist in me is looking forward to a little field research this winter among other snowbirds who go home to their families in the summer. I’m not sure how to approach our close family and friends about these feelings, maybe next year. Strangers hearts are much safer to explore.

Until next time.....

 

 

 

The Other Side of Saylorville

I’ve mentioned before that we are learning there is a great deal going on behind the scenes here at Saylorville, than we ever would have imagined the past 15 years of sitting around the campfire, boating on the lake or going for walks. It is so easy to be in your own ‘back yard’ and never really know all the things the area has to offer.  This past winter a very common conversation starter at the Visitor’s Center at Balcones NWR were local people coming in saying,  “ I’ve lived here all my life and never been out here.”  We hear the same thing here. and I'm guilty of it myself. Locals come in and discover all that has been here for them all along.  We get busy with our everyday lives and routines and forget all the intrinsic benefits of our hometowns. Everyday I get more excited and fall in love a little more with one of my favorite local campgrounds. Here are some of the reasons why.

I have learned that Saylorville Lake is an Internationally recognized Important Birding Area. That means that the ecological diversity and the aggressive habitat management taking place behind the scenes here create areas that attract not only one of the most diverse bird populations in the Midwest, but we are located on a major migration route and Saylorville acts as a giant rest stop area for birds to stop and feed on their journey each spring and fall.

As avid boaters, we have always been disappointed that the lake level north of the  bridge, where we could once navigate our boats up into the Des Moines river for a pleasant day of boating, has dwindled over the years and we can no longer access the area. I have learned the reason is that the area called the mudflats is now a managed area for migrating waterfowl and raptors,

[caption id="attachment_313" align="alignright" width="300"] American Pelicans in morning fog[/caption]

including the American White Pelican that come by the thousands on their trek from the Gulf Coast to points north from Iowa and back. The Rangers lower the lake several inches around this time of year and areal seed Japanese Mullet that will grow to maturity by the late summer migration to provide food for the resting  birds. It’s an incredible site to see the Pelican numbers peak in late summer. We've experienced this boating. Now we know why they come here and how important this area is to their migration. Having been born with the heart of a conservationist, I can appreciate their efforts and am happy to share my boating activities in the summer with the birds.

[caption id="attachment_321" align="alignright" width="300"] Fish pond at Sandpiper after the release into the Lake[/caption]

The small ponds around the Sandpiper boat launch area are not storm run off as we have always assumed, they are fish stocking ponds. They released babies into the ponds early this spring around the time Champ and I  arrived, and just this past week opened the gate and released the, fry sized, wipers, striped bass and largemouth bass into Saylorville. It will take some time for the pond to refill on its own. But now we know why it mysteriously drains from time to time.

Throughout the 26,000 acres of Corps managed land that make up the Saylorville project there are a number of specific habitats being actively maintained, including Oak Savannah (what most of Iowa was before the westward expansion)  prairie grassland, woodlands and wetlands. All for the purpose of promoting safe habitat for native animal species. There are bobcats, coyotes, deer a wide variety of other woodland creatures and of course the birds. This is their safe haven in the middle of the voracious urban sprawl that is consuming once rural land in Des Moines and the surrounding communities.

I learned just last night from Will and Judy, 15 year Natural Resource volunteers, that the fields I see them plant throughout the area are not all native grasses as I had assumed but some are things like peas, turnips, kale, sweet grass planted for the express purpose of providing food for the wildlife.

The most remarkable thing to me is that this is all occurring in an area that is visited by over 1,000,000 people a year. We boast 4 campgrounds with over 500 campsites, dozens of day use facilities 2 beaches and even with the heavy public use the Corps and the DNR are having consistent success maintaining and improving populations of a number of wildlife species both flora and fauna. This link will take you to their website if you want to read more about the efforts here.  http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Saylorville-Lake/Natural-Resource-Management/

[caption id="attachment_332" align="alignnone" width="300"] Me talking to a visitor about the bike trail[/caption]

I’ll end with some pictures of what I have noticed as an active volunteer this summer. If you are in the area, by all means come out to the Visitors Center. We work every Monday and Friday 10-2.  I’d love to share this special place with you.

[gallery ids="330,329,328,327,326,325,324,322,320,318,317,316,315,314,309"]

 

The Other Side of Saylorville

I’ve mentioned before that we are learning there is a great deal going on behind the scenes here at Saylorville, than we ever would have imagined the past 15 years of sitting around the campfire, boating on the lake or going for walks. It is so easy to be in your own ‘back yard’ and never really know all the things the area has to offer.  This past winter a very common conversation starter at the Visitor’s Center at Balcones NWR were local people coming in saying,  “ I’ve lived here all my life and never been out here.”  We hear the same thing here. and I'm guilty of it myself. Locals come in and discover all that has been here for them all along.  We get busy with our everyday lives and routines and forget all the intrinsic benefits of our hometowns. Everyday I get more excited and fall in love a little more with one of my favorite local campgrounds. Here are some of the reasons why.

I have learned that Saylorville Lake is an Internationally recognized Important Birding Area. That means that the ecological diversity and the aggressive habitat management taking place behind the scenes here create areas that attract not only one of the most diverse bird populations in the Midwest, but we are located on a major migration route and Saylorville acts as a giant rest stop area for birds to stop and feed on their journey each spring and fall.

As avid boaters, we have always been disappointed that the lake level north of the  bridge, where we could once navigate our boats up into the Des Moines river for a pleasant day of boating, has dwindled over the years and we can no longer access the area. I have learned the reason is that the area called the mudflats is now a managed area for migrating waterfowl and raptors,

[caption id="attachment_313" align="alignright" width="300"] American Pelicans in morning fog[/caption]

including the American White Pelican that come by the thousands on their trek from the Gulf Coast to points north from Iowa and back. The Rangers lower the lake several inches around this time of year and areal seed Japanese Mullet that will grow to maturity by the late summer migration to provide food for the resting  birds. It’s an incredible site to see the Pelican numbers peak in late summer. We've experienced this boating. Now we know why they come here and how important this area is to their migration. Having been born with the heart of a conservationist, I can appreciate their efforts and am happy to share my boating activities in the summer with the birds. 

[caption id="attachment_321" align="alignright" width="300"] Fish pond at Sandpiper after the release into the Lake[/caption]

The small ponds around the Sandpiper boat launch area are not storm run off as we have always assumed, they are fish stocking ponds. They released babies into the ponds early this spring around the time Champ and I  arrived, and just this past week opened the gate and released the, fry sized, wipers, striped bass and largemouth bass into Saylorville. It will take some time for the pond to refill on its own. But now we know why it mysteriously drains from time to time.

Throughout the 26,000 acres of Corps managed land that make up the Saylorville project there are a number of specific habitats being actively maintained, including Oak Savannah (what most of Iowa was before the westward expansion)  prairie grassland, woodlands and wetlands. All for the purpose of promoting safe habitat for native animal species. There are bobcats, coyotes, deer a wide variety of other woodland creatures and of course the birds. This is their safe haven in the middle of the voracious urban sprawl that is consuming once rural land in Des Moines and the surrounding communities.

I learned just last night from Will and Judy, 15 year Natural Resource volunteers, that the fields I see them plant throughout the area are not all native grasses as I had assumed but some are things like peas, turnips, kale, sweet grass planted for the express purpose of providing food for the wildlife.

The most remarkable thing to me is that this is all occurring in an area that is visited by over 1,000,000 people a year. We boast 4 campgrounds with over 500 campsites, dozens of day use facilities 2 beaches and even with the heavy public use the Corps and the DNR are having consistent success maintaining and improving populations of a number of wildlife species both flora and fauna. This link will take you to their website if you want to read more about the efforts here.  http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Saylorville-Lake/Natural-Resource-Management/

[caption id="attachment_332" align="alignnone" width="300"] Me talking to a visitor about the bike trail[/caption]

I’ll end with some pictures of what I have noticed as an active volunteer this summer. If you are in the area, by all means come out to the Visitors Center. We work every Monday and Friday 10-2.  I’d love to share this special place with you.

[gallery ids="330,329,328,327,326,325,324,322,320,318,317,316,315,314,309"]

 

Settling In

We’ve been here a full two months and are feeling very at home in volunteer village. We have already had to say goodbye to Bob and Janice.  I met them through our blogs this past winter and we had a great time being ‘neighbors’ here until they left last week, to spend the rest of the summer visiting their kids that no longer live in Iowa. We’ll look forward to seeing them here again next summer.

[caption id="attachment_305" align="alignright" width="300"] Hosting Happy hour at Volunteer Village[/caption]

Summer is in full swing, the container garden is flourishing and producing food. Work at the Visitors Center is easy and fun. The weekends are long days in here but it’s a good gig overall. Shortly after we arrived it became apparent to the Rangers that we had skill and desire to work outside. Bob, our neighbor, worked with the Natural Resources team and immediately began ‘recruiting’ Champ.  As it turns out the team has been short a couple of people in recent years.

[caption id="attachment_308" align="alignleft" width="300"] 2017 Volunteer Breakfast[/caption]

At the annual volunteer breakfast, Bob told the Ranger we were interested in working on the NR team next year.  Later that afternoon I got an email from her asking if we were indeed interested and asking if we were willing to work an extra day here and there to become familiar with their projects and other team members. She expressed her ‘sadness’ that we wouldn’t be in the Visitors Center but agreed that we were a good fit for Natural Resources as well.  So, 2 months in we are already evolving into another role.

I figured out pretty quickly, that I had a more idle time than I really wanted, so decided to look for a part-time job. I looked up an old friend to has a local business that includes a retail location and in a few minutes I had a summer gig lined up. I’m working for my friends Jeff and Cindy at their store Strawberry Patch a few hours a week in Ankeny.  It’s a good outlet for me and will give us a little mad money to blow on our 2-month hiatus between Saylorville and Texas Parks and Wildlife this winter.

Champ started working on Tuesday’s with the NR team. He is loving it. Doing man’s work cutting down trees, trail maintenance and a host of other things. They found out he has many years experience operating heavy equipment in his former work life and will be getting him formally certified to operate their equipment. One of the staff shortages is their former operator. Needless to say, Champ is quite pleased that operating an assortment of loaders, bob cats, large ag tractors and the like will be his new ‘job’. Very manly!

I am going to take a more laid-back approach. We talked extensively and I think my role here at Saylorville will not be as a full time NR volunteer but rather, keep with my butterfly garden adoption, be a part time weekday volunteer at the VC.  That way I’ll get my mix of people contact and good old fashion manual labor, both in small doses, that make me the happiest. If Jeff and Cindy want me from year to year I’ll probably do that as well when I come back.  The adaptability and variety of volunteer work still amazes me at these early stages.

[caption id="attachment_309" align="alignright" width="300"] Trail leading into the woods next to our RV[/caption]

It goes without saying, we are quite happy with our decision to go nomadic.  A year ago, I was not working, we were still waiting to get an offer on the house and there were still a number of unknowns. This life was still a fabrication of our imaginations and conversations with seasoned RV volunteers. Now a mere 9 months into what we hope will be a 20 year adventure we can’t imagine living any other way. It is simply a perfect fit for us both. We know there will be bumps and challenges and maybe even a tragedy or two along the way, but such is life weather you live in a brick and mortar house or live like a nomad in your RV.  This life isn’t for everybody and we weren’t even positive it would be right for us. We couldn’t let the opportunity pass without at least trying and we couldn’t be happier or more content.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite mantras:  If you can dream it, you can do it.

Until next time…

 

 

Hello Summer!

Summer finally arrived in Iowa. If you are from the Midwest, you are well acquainted with the feeling in mid spring when the weather waivers between cold and wet to almost warm. Your rational mind knows summer will return but part of you starts to wonder if you will ever shake the chill in your bones. Then one day you wake up to 65 degrees at 6 am and the temps soar to 90 degrees with around 70% humidity and summer is upon Iowa with its usual vengeance and unrelenting humidity for the next three months.  I welcome the hot sticky air, many run indoors to hide in the conditioned air. It’s almost like Mother Nature says “oh crap I forgot about Iowa”, and flips a switch to turn on summer. Even though we are all begging for it, our bodies aren’t quite prepared for the initial assault and we wilt a bit the first few days.

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignnone" width="300"] Old and sturdy[/caption]

Right after we got back I bought a bike from a Craig’s List ad. I love the old thing. It’s a Raleigh 10 speed probably nearly as old as me. The guy I bought it from was younger than my kids I’m sure, and apologized throughout our interaction for its age and the fact that it was made of steel and heavy by modern standards. I looked at and said' it’s perfect.' The color, which happens to be Drake University Blue / White and Silver (another perk) appealed to me and it has been impeccably maintained. I gave him the $40 he was asking he gave me a bunch of extras and let me know it had new wheels and he had just had the brakes and gearing tuned at Kyle's Bike Shop in Ankeny.  Even better! We loaded it up.  Saylorville boasts 13 miles of one of the nicest bike trails in Iowa so I have plenty of safe pleasant trail to ride along the lake and through the timber.

[caption id="attachment_297" align="alignright" width="300"] Morning me time[/caption]

Our RV pad is large and backs up to woods. My new morning routine, now that the weather has turned the corner, is to go for a ride in the early morning, then do my yoga practice outside on the patio, with the sun coming over the tree tops and the birds singing.  A very Zen routine for this old hippie. I couldn’t be happier.

The container garden is underway and doing well. I bought a book years ago for my mother, called “The Bountiful Container". At some point she gave it back to me and it sat on my bookshelf for years collecting dust. It was one of the few books I kept when I unloaded a car load of books at a donation site last fall. It was a good choice!  The authors, Maggie Stuckey and Rose Marie Nichols McGee, did a great job and I highly recommend the book for anyone who is planning to try their hand at growing vegetables in containers. I won’t have the large harvest I’m used to in late summer but there will be plenty of fresh, organic goodies for me to eat. I have been eating spinach and lettuce since March and will get a few more weeks before it is too hot for it to thrive.

I’m getting as much time as I want with the kids. The grandkids have visited regularly and we’re seeing friends and socializing as normal. Like every other summer, plans are starting to take shape and dates on the calendar are filling up. Before we know it, we’ll be hooking up and heading back south to a 2 month break from ‘work’ and then on to another Volunteer gig further south in Texas where the  winter days and the people are warm.

Until next time…

Dirty Laundry

I’ve written a good deal about my thoughts on this wonderful lifestyle and shared the fun projects we’ve been a part of so far. This time I decided to be more practical and address the oft-brought-up issue of laundry.

One of the few things about the full-time RV lifestyle that poses a challenge to almost everyone is laundry. Not only the dilemma of whether or not to give up coveted closet space to install the compact, relatively inefficient washer/dryer, but the larger question, “what does one do with all the dirty laundry before it is washed?”.  Even a weekend warrior has this issue. Sitting by the campfire, fishing or swimming in a lake will produce some pretty rank clothes!

Let’s face it, worn laundry stinks. No matter how inoffensive it seems when you first take it off and throw it in the basket, cumulatively, dirty laundry stinks.  Only one of the five 5^th wheels we have owned over the years came with a laundry drop built in.  However, Champ has built one in all our campers and has perfected his design over the course of the other four, including the one we currently call home.

One of the perks of a 5^th wheel is the large storage area under the ‘upstairs’.  It is almost always located directly under the bathroom / hallway area and at least the front part of the bedroom. Therefore, the solution is simple in most cases.  Those of you in travel trailers and motorhomes will have to get more creative or trade for a 5^th wheel!

He puts his talent for using vertical space to work in a wonderful way when he builds these.  Usually the floor under the sink is the ideal place.  In our beloved Puma that we owned for many years he cut a hole in the floor in front of the stool and made a lift up hinged, trap door out of the flooring he cut out. A strap for a handle and the bathroom rug over the top and no one, but us, was the wiser.

[caption id="attachment_290" align="alignright" width="300"] Under the sink chute[/caption]

In our current Montana under the sink was the sweet spot. He used the section he cut out of the floor to make a partition around the whole. It not only keeps things from falling through but it creates a ‘chute’.

In the compartment area below the hole, he built a raised platform to set the basket on. This way you don’t lose valuable storage space for things like chairs, tools or whatever you store in your front  compartment. The pedestal is made from a steel plate with a flange bolted to the floor and PVC pipe as the vertical lift.

[caption id="attachment_122" align="alignnone" width="300"] Raised basket in front compartment[/caption]

The platform itself is made from OSB and some 1” x 2” trim to keep the basket from sliding off. The whole thing is painted gray.  In the picture shown the lift has a bend. That was designed for our previous RV that had an obstruction to work around. If it is a straight shot from the floor to the whole you can simply make the lift a straight vertical line.

Another hack I came up with is the issue of line drying. Some parks won’t allow you to dry laundry outside under any circumstances. Even the weekend warriors face this issue with wet swim towels and suits. Or, if you’re lucky, the kids come up from the lake or creek muddy from head to toe and you literally hose them off in their muddy clothes before you let them inside. Those clothes need somewhere to go. Enter the shower rod. I bought a simple $10 tension shower rod. If fits nicely on the top lip of the walk-in shower enclosure and will also work with a small tub style. If you have a corner shower it won’t work very well.  Clothes can hang entirely inside the tub or shower to dry without dripping on the floor.

[caption id="attachment_291" align="alignright" width="300"] Shower rod between the slides[/caption]

If you have two slides on the same side, like many do these days, and the campground isn’t snobby about drying things outside, the rod fits nicely between the two slides and acts as an easily removable outdoor drying rod. Some small sections of 1" foam pipe insulation fit perfectly around the rod and keep space between the hangers so they don't blow together in a clump if it's windy.  The fancy clotheslines that mount to the back of the camper are expensive and can only be used outside in the place where you permanently mount it. This is cheap, easy and flexible. Favorite adjectives of all RV’ers.  After living in ours for a couple of months and dealing with doing laundry in public machines that tend to fry the clothes dry we opted to install a combination washer/dryer with a vent-less dryer.  For the most part it works well. The big challenge is not overloading it. Even what we consider a small batch is a bit much sometimes and the dryer doesn’t dry the clothes completely. Partial line drying speeds up the process of getting multiple loads done in a single day or couple of days.

There you have it.   Our dirty laundry solution, perfected over the course of 15 years and 5 campers.   If you want more detail on how to do this send me a question!

Until next time…

Planting for Butterflies

I have said, many times, one of my apprehensions about launching into the Full Time RV Lifestyle was giving up my yard and gardens. Gardening has long been a preferred method of therapy and I get great joy and satisfaction doing yard work and planting gardens that both feed me and make my surroundings pretty.  Our lifestyle decision has not only allowed me opportunity to continue to get my hands in the dirt, it has actually opened the door to even more opportunity than I had as a homeowner.  Who have thunk it?

My latest gardening adventure is adopting a bed in the Saylorville Butterfly

[caption id="attachment_285" align="alignright" width="300"] Entrance to the Gardens[/caption]

Garden. I have always known it was here but never fully understood the scope of the project, it's mission or how many people it takes to make this little corner of  Saylorville Lake the butterfly paradise that it is. A couple of other ladies who also live in volunteer village  this summer also adopted beds so it has become another way to get to know my volunteer companions and engage in a activity that we all enjoy.

The gardens boast over 30 beds that hold varieties of flowers both perennial and annual as well as herb gardens. I'm learning very quickly about the difference between host plants for the caterpillers and nectar plants for the butterflies to pollinate.

[caption id="attachment_284" align="alignnone" width="300"] Blank canvas[/caption]

The best part so far has been getting to take an empty garden and design it the way I wanted to. The ranger gave me a list of recommended plants and I let my imagination take over from there.  I adopted a large triangle shaped bed in the middle. The only thing growing in it was some chive and some sunflower volunteers coming up around the chive. I went out early one morning as the sun was starting to get high in the sky and got inspired to do an entire bed in yellow and orange like a sunrise or sunset since the location of the bed will be bathed in both early morning and late evening sunlight.

Volunteering to garden here is like having a fairy god mother for the garden.  I turned in my plant order and the plants arrived a day later ready to plant. I think Champ appreciates that I am satisfying my gardening itch without the long list of charges on my Discover bill that normally accompany this time of year.  There is also a watering fairy in the form of an irrigation system. All I have to do after planting is keep it weeded and looking nice.  I know that sounds horrible to some, but I really like the work.

This morning the sun came up, it started out about 50 degrees with no wind. I took my I-pod and blue tooth speaker to the gardens and went to work planting my bed. I can't think of a better way to spend a morning.  I set Tangerine and Yellow Primrose varieties of Marigolds, Lantana, Cosmos, Black Eyed Susan's . I also sprinkled a couple of Rosemary and Fennel plants to give some nice fragrance to go with the splash of yellow and orange.

[caption id="attachment_286" align="alignnone" width="300"] Just planted[/caption]

One of the things in Texas that was really amazing to me was the astonishing variety of butterflies.  In my yard in Iowa, I only saw an occasional Tiger Swallowtale, or a Sulfer.  Of course the Monarchs migrate through Iowa late summer and I always had milkweed around and planted Coneflower to entice them to stop at my yard on the way by.  Living in an area surrounded by cropland, the use of pesticides has severely impacted the butterfly and bee populations. Not to mention, the lightning bugs are all but gone in Iowa.

I am excited to see the flower gardens thrive and grow through the summer months, but more than that I can't wait to see what variety of butterflies will call this little corner of Iowa home. This will be a good place to hang out with my camera later this summer.

Until next time...

Spring in Winter Clothing

Spring in the Midwest is fickle as a three-year-old child. Stuck in the convergence of weather systems swooping down from Canada and surging upward from the gulf coast of Texas the day can bring just about anything. Tulips covered in snow is not an unusual scene here. Until the season has officially changed and the jet stream makes up its mind which direction it wants to wander, it can do anything from snow to bathe us in 80 degrees and sun.



This year spring sprung like a broken wind up alarm clock. We arrived in early April to consistent upper 60’s and lower 70’s and sun more days than not. I was keeping my winter Texas tan, woodland flowers  bloomed, birds I saw in Texas started to arrive, then just when I thought Iowa was really in the clear everything came unraveled. The sun went behind the clouds 5 days ago, and the ice water rain started falling from the sky. The last week of April here has been colder than the worst Texas had to offer in the ‘dead of winter’.

I have to keep reminding myself, ‘at least I didn’t have to endure an Iowa winter. The irony for me is, even when I faced winter each year spring was the season I dreaded most and apparently still do.  As an avid gardener,  one would think spring is my favorite season. Nothing could be further from the truth. I detest spring and its inability to make up its mind. Spring is like a bad high school boyfriend, every now and then it does something nice and you think you can trust it, then it turns away and acts like it was never there. We have talked about waiting a couple of weeks longer next year to come back but as evidenced this week, even late April isn’t entirely safe.

Our friends from Texas have arrived to see Iowa on its worst spring behavior. All the outdoor things I have planned will still likely happen but we won’t be in shorts and tee shirts. It will be hotter than blazes here soon, I keep telling myself.  My skin will darken again and I’ll feel healthy and warm. It’s hard to accept that part of the reason Iowa is so lush and green with grass like thick shag carpeting and trees towering over 50 feet and shading an entire yard is this wet cool nastiness they call spring.

My cool weather vegetables growing in containers in front of my RV are hovering close to the dirt waiting for the sun to return. I’m hovering in my RV under my blanky waiting to turn the heat off. One thing for sure is I am thankful we have an indoor job at Saylorville. This is our weekend to work, at least we don’t have people coming in the Visitor’s Center telling us what nice weather we are missing.  If it weren’t for the Mother’s Day pre-school craft booth I’m planning to have and all the prep that goes with it, I would have trouble staying awake at ‘work’ this weekend.

This coming week I’ll do my best to show our friends the real beauty of Iowa, warm up at the Iowa Tap Room with some tasty Iowa craft beer and Midwest comfort food, and maybe I’ll see my legs sticking out of shorts again soon.  In the meantime I'll dream of summer.

[caption id="attachment_279" align="alignnone" width="165"] Summer time on my boat[/caption]

Until next time…

Annie's Diary April 24th 2017

Things finally stopped moving again.  It seemed like every time we turned around the walls started moving and the house would shake all day.

[caption id="attachment_273" align="alignnone" width="300"] Hanging out by the Arkansas River[/caption]

We stopped at a place that Buster and I really liked. It was next to the water and there were lots of birds and squirrels in the yard. We really liked it there but we didn’t stay very long.

Buster and I decided we like where we are now. I hope our humans like it too so we can stay awhile. Barefoot lady still insists on carrying us out and putting the things around our neck. We know how to walk just fine but she insists on carrying us. We have a nice yard next to the woods.

[caption id="attachment_271" align="alignright" width="300"] Keeping an eye on things[/caption]

There are a lot of things to watch. One night we were laying out there and deer came by and said ‘hi’ on their way to their sleeping place.  There is also a piece of tree that I like to sit on and watch everything.

It was fun in Texas since they let us run loose sometimes, but it is nice to be where the grass is thick and the ground is soft to dig in. Texas was hard and prickly. We had burrs stuck in our feet a lot and had to work hard to get them out of our fur. Iowa is much softer.

We are pretty sure we are somewhere we have been before because the little people with the loud voices are back.  Some of them are nice, but there is one who is really loud and I’m afraid of him.  Even when I go in our door under the stairs I can’t get away. He sticks his head in the hole and swings the thing they kill flies with at us. Even when I smack him with my paw or hiss at him, he just laughs at me. He is supposed run away when I do that but he doesn’t.

Fuzzy man is building something out of wood. It smells like the deck where we used to live. I remember that smell I used to spend my days laying on it and keeping an eye on the yard.  It is sitting right by the door of the house and we have to go on it to get in and out.  Buster and I think he must really like us since he is making something new for us to scratch on.

I wish they would just let me walk around outside and go where I want instead of being on a string. Sometimes I just lay in my window in the back and watch or take a nap with the breeze blowing in. Buster and I are happy here. I think our humans are too.

[caption id="attachment_272" align="alignnone" width="169"] Pure Contentment[/caption]