Relativity - Texas Hill Country 2017

It is interesting to travel surface roads. You experience places ‘first thing in the morning, no make-up on’.  No fancy photo-shopped travel brochure images here. This is the real thing with the real people. I make it a point not to travel any other way if I can help it.  What’s interesting, to me, is to compare and contrast (oh god, I just sounded like one of my college professors) the things that define the area I’m in, compared to the one I’m used to being in.

This winter we are in the breathtaking Hill Country region of central Texas.  One of the first things I noticed were Fresh Peach stands dotting the highways. Typically, just on the outskirts of some small town.  We arrived just as season was getting over and most were vacant but permanent enough structures to assure one that they would be returning next season. At home in central Iowa these would have been Sweet Corn stands.  Fields along the highway are filled with Prickly Pear Cacti and the windbreaks are made up of Live Oak and Cedar Trees. In Iowa, it would be Dandelions, Black-eyed Susan and the wind breaks are mostly Dogwoods and Poplar trees. Roadside BBQ stands are as common as Casey’s General Stores in the small towns that populate the county highways, called Farm to Market (FM) roads in Texas.  A quick aside, if you are pulling a large rig and your GPS tells you to turn down a Ranch Road, by all means, stop and figure out an alternate route! These roads are narrow, windy and filled with cattle gates, flood gauges and signs warning you that cattle are roaming free. FM roads are okay, it’s what we would call a County Road such as E-18 running from Ogden to Zearing Iowa. Yes, I tell you this from personal experience pulling our 40’ 5^th wheel 30 miles down Ranch Road thanks to the lady on the GPSs' infinite wisdom in finding us the most direct route!  But, I digress…

Skylines are also very different in Texas Hill Country compared to central Iowa. The most noticeable is the absence, in Texas Hill Country, of grain elevators. What one notices here are very tall crosses marking churches in the hills. Otherwise the skyline in Hill Country is mostly dominated by, well, hills. A site to behold!  The roads here are not only hilly (much like Iowa, anywhere near a river valley) but they are also quite curvy as they wind through the hills and around the, privately owned, ranchland that dominates the area.

People here don’t have front doors, they have beautiful stone and wrought iron gates for their, who knows how many acre homesteads. When driving by a large farm in Iowa the farmhouse is a major fixture seen from the road, as are the out- buildings. In the case of a Texas ranch all you see is a road leading into the hills. The house and buildings are well off the road, maybe miles. A traveler can only imagine what lies beyond the beautiful gates.

A shop owner said to me when I first arrived “Hill Country is where God kissed Texas”.  I must agree, it is indeed a beautiful place and the winter climate is amazing, so long as you figure out how to combat the Cedar Trees as they pollinate and wreak havoc on your histamine system! I love the BBQ and the abundance of fresh delicious, comparatively cheap citrus fruit. I arrived too late for the peaches this year. The people are amazing! It is rare to find oneself in the company of such warm, welcoming and geuninely friendly people.



I do, however, look forward to sinking my bare feet in soft luscious grass, eating Iowa Sweet Corn and smothering my grandkids when I return to Central Iowa for the summer.

What I look forward to the most, is being in as many areas as I can to make such comparisons. Not only, to give me new things to learn to love and more people to meet, but also a reminder of what I love about home.  My Dad said to me many years ago, after returning from a long trip, “Iowa is a nice place to come home to.”  He was right.

Until next time....

 

How We Made The Leap - The Final Phase

Telling our family and friends particularly our three kids of our life change decision was not something we approached lightly. Think of times when someone dropped a bombshell on you. Was it a valued member of your staff announcing they were moving on to another job, a family member joining the military or deciding to end a long marriage?  Calculated life changes come in all forms. The first thing that comes to mind when someone shares this kind of news is the question, “Have you thought this through?”  It’s a valid question and one that often goes unanswered in detail. We are forced to believe them when they simply say “yes, of course” often with a tone of indignation. And the hand wringing begins as we wonder if they have truly considered the consequences, good and bad, of the decision they have made, particularly when their decision effects the way we fit into their life.  Everyone can recall a conversation like this with someone they care about and the various outcomes that resulted.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when you share this kind of news is to be ready to answer all the questions and readily share your thought processes, planning and most importantly your Plan B.  In our situation, we were fortunate to have all three kids living within 70 miles of us. That factor also created one of the biggest challenges for us. Leaving them 5 months out of the year. Some families are already separated by miles, so the dynamics are different when it comes to this kind of news.

It was nearly impossible to get the three kids together at the same time without the chaos of one of our large family gatherings taking place, so we decided to go see each one independently so they could ask the questions they wanted and we could have a meaningful conversation. With a large reunion planned in the next few weeks we needed to have these conversations before everyone came to Williams and saw the Real Estate sign in the front yard.

We went to see each of the kids and Champ’s brother Steve and laid out the news and the plan. They all had a different reaction and concerns, that we talked through. Generally, the reaction was one of support and given our passion for camping and the fact that we had traded the year before for an even larger 5^th Wheel, none of them was particularly surprised.  It took some time for the reality to sink in.  It got real for the kids when we had them go through the house and take the things that they wanted for themselves. I had ideas of things that I wanted each of them to have, but you never know what invokes memories that are unique to each child, so we let them have at it. Our oldest son stated the process felt like a funeral.  It was, definitely, the end of a way of life for them in terms of the family dynamics and our central role as the hub around which the kids interacted together. In his defense, this dynamic most commonly does change with the death of one’s parents.  Instead, it was like a birth for us beginning a new chapter of life.

Our specific plan includes returning to central Iowa each year to work at the campgrounds where we will be close to everyone we know and have more opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Our destination, each winter, will be decided from year to year. One of the biggest reasons we went this route rather than buy a property in the south is our desire to see different places.  I hope to go somewhere different each winter and have our volunteer gig in central Iowa be the constant.

With the news out, the next 6 months went by like a flash. The house sold quickly and well, the sale of our worldly possesions couldn’t have gone better. And some of my most cherished possessions ended up in the hands of people I knew, so even though they weren’t mine any longer, they weren’t completely removed from my life.

On November 15^th we headed to Central Texas to spend 6 weeks at a privately owned RV Park in Kerrville to fill in time before we reported to our first official volunteer ‘job’ at Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge near Lago Vista.  Our transition, despite a couple of challenges not even worthy of mentioning, has exceed our expectations. In the Amos Lee song, Windows Are Rolled Down, the lyric asks, “Is it what, you dreamed it be?”  https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS648US649&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=windows%20are%20rolled%20down

The answer is an enthusiastic yes!

Stay tuned for the stories of our first volunteer gig at the Refuge!

 

Until next time...

 

Making The Leap Part II - When We Knew

 

Champ finished the house, two more grand kids were born and our life became an easy street of Champ being retired and spending his days in town socializing with the neighbors and working in his shop fabricating or modifying one thing or another, ‘piddling’ as he calls it;  me going to work and grandkids coming to stay quite regularly.  Lions Club events, family gatherings, and of course lots of camping trips took up our time and the seasons started to click by at alarming speed.

We were content, yet there was an elephant in the room.  Champ was ready to hit the road, I was having trouble figuring out how to let go of the idea of owning property and my house full of relics from my past and all my previous travelling. We didn’t talk about it much but we both felt the weight of it.

As I talk to people who have taken the step we did last year, I realize the next part is all about the same. One day you wake up and you’re ready.  The catalysts are different for everyone, yet the common thread seems to be that one partner is hesitant and the eager one has exercised great patience waiting for the skittish one to get comfortable with the idea.  Good thing I married a patient man.

For me it was a long process.  In my banking career I got to know many couples who talked about all their retirement plans. I had the privilege of getting to know several couples with a big age difference like ours.  In many cases their dreams came to an end early or were never realized because the older spouse’s health failed or worse.  They always told me ‘’don’t wait to live your life’, ‘don’t spend your whole life working’.  Blah, blah, blah.

Then one evening in June 2015, as my 50^th birthday party was getting underway and I got a phone call stating that my youngest sister age 42 was found dead in her apartment.  The world stopped turning for about the next 12 weeks.  I had experienced a great deal of loss in my life up to that point, including the death my first husband, but this one hit me in places I didn’t know I had. It also made me revalue my life and everything (one) in it. A few months later  I revisited researching the idea of camping and volunteering and the world of work camping opened up like the dawn of a beautiful spring day on the heels of a hard Midwest winter.  I researched quietly and began reading blogs of others and their stories and then one day I saw a John Irving quote on Pinterest printed on the foreground of a pretty picture. It said:

“If you find a way of life you love, you need to find the courage to live it”

It found itself squarely in the middle of my vision wall above my desk at work. I continued to research the lifestyle and the dynamics of work camping and worked up a budget.  Then one Friday night after a terrible day at work I opened the dialogue with Champ and I laid out our current budget next to the full -time work camping budget and the light came on.  The sum of the costs of maintaining the property and my car for commuting to work was almost exactly the amount that I made. I hated going to work and all it was doing was keeping us static!   It was then, that we looked at each other and said “What are we waiting for?” Financially, we were ready, emotionally I was getting there. It was time to do this. We let it marinate for a couple of days and realized we were, indeed ready. 10 years of dreaming and a year of thorough research was about to come to fruition.  Before I got cold feet again, we called the realtor who sold us the house and had it listed within 48 hours.

Now, we had to break the news…

 

 

 

Fish and Wildlife Services... Our first gig

Here we are at Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge https://www.fws.gov/refuge/balcones_canyonlands/. We are about three weeks into our first work camp volunteer gig.  What an experience this is going to be.  This is our campsite.  Despite the remote location we do have full hook-ups, our satellite dish gets excellent reception and the cell phone and Internet hotspot work well from our perch on the hill overlooking the headquarters compound.  There are basic things like a grocery store, gas, hardware store and a restaurant that our group frequents each Tuesday night, just 5 miles away.  20 miles out are the northern suburbs of Austin Texas and all the modern 'civilization' one could possibly want.  It's perfect, except for the pollinating Cedar trees that are wreaking havoc on about 60% of the population, including me.

The kitties are pretty happy here.  This is my precocious calico Annie sitting on a rock watching a bird behind the camper.  They are 'aloud' to roam free here, however, their roaming is very limited by us and only during certain times of day for their own safety. Coyotes, wild boars and rattlesnakes are aggressive predators here and the cats don't know any better. We let them roam free in short spurts but for the most part they are tethered on collars and 20' lines. Afterall, the saying "curiosity killed the cat" wasn't coined for no reason!

I found this opportunity on http://www.volunteer.gov .  If you want to work for a federal park as in a Corps of Engineers, Wildlife Refuge or National Park this is the place to find and pursue volunteer opportunities.

We share RV quarters with 4 other RV volunteer hosts. 2 couples and 2 single women.  Among us are a retired middle school guidance counselor, two communications engineers, a retired events coordinator ( who was in charge if Iowa State Center in Ames for several of those years... small world) and a couple from the mountains of Washington who have done about everything related to professional hunting and fishing.  We are becoming fast friends and are spending lots of off time together socializing. There are enough mutual interests and skills to give us plenty in common.  Again, I go back to the analogy of summer camp. You are thrown together as strangers and within a few days become friends.  Some would call it a lack of options, I say it is a wonderful stroke of serendipity. This lifestyle is truly about the people you meet along the way. By the way, between all of us we have 9 cats and 2 dogs. That's right cats rule!

We are quickly learning the key to being a happy volunteer is the willingness to be flexible and stay focused on the needs of the facility. In our case we were offered a position for Champ working in the motor pool maintaining refuge vehicles and equipment, and for me working in the Visitors Center and Early Education Program.  When we arrived, the needs were quite different.  Champ will probably never touch a wrench in the motor pool but is keeping busy helping renovate a refuge house that has been unused for some time and will be living quarters for new fire crew.  I am doing one day in the Visitors Center and spending the rest of my days work on different landscaping areas and outdoor work, that I love and miss having sold the house and thus given up my yard and gardens. One day a week Champ and I work together going to the various Public Use areas and picking up litter on the trails, stocking maps and brochures and cleaning the Vault restrooms ( not nearly as bad as we thought it would be). This is not even close to what we thought we would do here, but fulfilling, none the less.  To stay focused on the big picture is key to satisfaction.  We get to live in this beautiful wild place for the next 3 months and they get our skills and elbow grease 3 days a week in return.

In just three short weeks we are becoming acclimated to the refuge and the wonder of its existence.  Winter is mild, the sun shines almost everyday and we look forward to going home to Iowa this summer, to give back to one of the parks we love and prepare for another winter at some other area doing something similar next year. I can't wait to find myself in June and look back on these three months.  Adventure, wonderment and much learning is surely in store for us . Like the Dr. Seuss book line goes...  "Oh, the places you'll go.  "

Until next time.....

 

 

How We Made the Leap to Full Time RV Living Part I

It is human nature to dream of a different reality than the one we occupy at the time.  Many of us dream of the freedom of traveling, exploring this vast world, without giving much thought to, actually executing a plan to make the dream reality.

For me the dream to travel started at a very young age.  I was a voracious reader as a child. My elementary school library had a series of books about different countries as well as regions of the United States. I remember there were about 20 or so large coffee table style books dedicated to a specific place with lots of pictures and information about the natural wonders, culture, food, society, wildlife etc. Each time I checked out one of those books and read it at home I was left with an intense longing to see that place. Additionally, my folks subscribed to children’s literature such as Disney’s Wonderful World of Knowledge, a kid oriented version of an Encyclopedia and National Geographic, all of which, I read cover to cover when they arrived each month. I couldn’t get enough.  Yes, I was a book nerd.

While I was reading these books in grade school around ages 8 – 11, my husband who is 13 years older was embarking on a career as a tower crane operator that took him all over the country and gave him a unique perspective of different places from his perch 140 feet above the ground. It also placed him in these different areas, sometimes, for months at a time.   While I was reading about different places in books, he was experiencing our country and its varied landscapes first hand overlooking the area while setting steel and concrete precast to build everything from grain elevators and water towers to hospitals and condos. We were simultaneously nurturing a yearning to travel long before we would meet some 30 years later in life.

We bought our first 5^th wheel about 6 months after we married in 2002. We were hooked.  We had several friends and family who owned campers and went as a group several times a year. But more weekends than not we went alone. We just wanted to be in the campground where things are simple. We began taking our vacations with the camper and visited several areas for a week or so at a time and found we were quite comfortable in our space. Over the years our campers grew as our lust for traveling grew.

One night about 5 years into our marriage we were camping solo one weekend and pulled an all-nighter sitting at the campfire talking.  The topic was ‘wouldn’t it be cool to be one of these people who lived in the campers and worked in the campgrounds?’  We talked and talked that night and before we knew it the birds were waking up and dawn was breaking, it was 4:30 in the morning and the seed was planted. This was a lifestyle we would work toward.

Over the next 10 years we became the “diehards”, who were commonly the first to go out in the season and the last to winterize for the final time. One mild New Year’s Eve we pulled the camper to our friend’s home where we normally spent the night anyway on that night and guess what? They weren’t the least bit surprised at our impulsive move to un-winterize and bring it out for the weekend. We were on mission to use it in each calendar month in Iowa.  Not an easy task if you are familiar with Iowa winters. To date we have 11 months covered. February continues to elude us. The two years, when there were decent temperatures for a couple of days, they fell during the week and I couldn’t get the time off work to go. Boo!

The next step in the process was when we sold our acreage. When we first talked about selling it the original intent was to make the transition then. As we talked more seriously I got cold feet about giving up the brick and mortar home and we shifted gears and bought a place in town and decided we would become snowbirds at some future date. The acreage would be too much to manage being gone 5 months out of the year and we bought an old, neglected house in Williams, Iowa in dire need of a great deal of work. Champ was up to the task and worked tirelessly to take the poor old house and rehabilitate it back into a nice home.  We lived in the camper in the back yard for 8 weeks until the house was livable (barely) and the cold drove us inside. The camper was working fine it was the water freezing in the hose running from the house to the camper water hook up that was giving us fits in single digit overnight temps and highs barely above freezing. But the lesson we learned is, there was no doubt in our minds we could live comfortably in the 5^th wheel.  We even had one of the grandkids for 4 days during that period and he was totally unphased that we were in the small confines of the camper versus the house.  By this time, we had traded 4 times and were enjoying a 35’ Montana with many of the conveniences sought out by full timers.

Moving to Williams, we thought we had given up on the dream to go full time. In hindsight, it was just another step that got us to the place we are today. Champ had retired about three months before we sold the acreage.  Soon after, I left my position as Operations Manager at a credit union, a job that was literally sucking the life out of me, and took a job as a secretary for a construction company.  Champ worked on the house we lived our life.  Two things came out of those 3 years.  The first was the wonderful experience we had as residents of Williams, Iowa. I wouldn’t pass up the experience of meeting and getting to know our friends there for anything.  The second, was I really wanted to stop leaving Champ for 10 hours each day to go to work. I was really starting to resent the fact that I had to continue to work full time as his retirement years started to click by.  The next step was about to happen, we just didn’t know it yet.