March

March 25th, 2006

Well plans have changed for us, we will still live fulltime in our RV but our location will not change much. I have been made an offer to work for my brothers company running the machine shop. Good news for us is that our building will be rented for the purpose. It is a great opportunity with the freedom to do some traveling as long as the shop is taken care of and running un interupted. The building is what originally made us decide to return to work for a period of time as it was due to be refinanced next year. The then current situation did not look good as I did not expect to have a renter for the building and without a job the bank looks at you a little funny when you ask to borrow money. This will solve both issues for now.

The last year was probably the best year ever that Deanna and I have been able to enjoy. We got to do a lot of traveling and see things we had never seen before and do things we had never done before. The friends we have made in the last year are lifelong and we anxiously await when we can meet up with them again. One thing is for sure, in the last year we did not have to look at snow and was always somewhere that it was warm during SOME part of the day. The desert is very comfortable during the day but chills down at night. The California coast was fantastic being 100 yards from the Ocean and listening to the waves crash on shore at night (a sound never to be forgotten) plus our good friends Tony and Charlotte who were hosts there at the park and spent so much time showing us around. Minnesota in the summer was beautiful with cool days and nights and lots of colorful scenery from the forests to the Headwaters of the Mississippi to the bogs. The other end of the Country which we visited was Tampa Florida, the Gulf of Mexico is very nice but no way compares to the California Coast in our opinion (especially beings we got to see the Elephant seals) but was very scenic. All in all Florida would not be a choice of destinations with the exception of visiting our son Mike. We found Florida to be WAY to busy, traffic congested and lots of rude people. Lousiana gets our WORST road trophy and in-humane placing of rest areas on I-10 of 1 rest area per 240 miles! Arizona was great and getting the chance to visit Tombstone was wonderful and memorable. The feeling of what it would have been like back in the old west was inspiring. Oklahoma was always a pleasure to visit plus we got to see Deanna's sister Mae and her husband Terry. They always treat us great even ME! Texas is such a huge state and we really only got to do overnight stays mostly on our travels so it is a good candidate to go back to. So much history there. Tennessee was also just a stop over on the way home but staying at the Escappees park in Knoxville where we met some great people like Gibby and Bette who were great fun to talk to and also new fulltimers! Our best friend and classmate supporter Malia Lane helped make a huge difference. Her inspiration in being a fulltiming single woman was always a inspiring for me. She has become such a great friend to Deanna and I in so many ways! Our best travel buddies Mickey and Patti were SO much fun to travel with and Mickey is such a card! They will come thru Ohio this summer we hope and we can visit again with them. Our other good friends who are just as much fun to travel with are Terry and Dale Pace, we will see them next month when we go to their rally in Elkhart Indiana. The graduation rally we had in Quartzsite Arizona was such great fun after planning that for a year that it will be hard to forget anyone there. With over 55 rigs showing up at one time or another it was good to put faces to names after such a long time. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest was another fantastic place to stop and visit and deserves a week long visit to take it all in! So as you can see so many things we got to do and people to meet that in no way can any of this be considered a setback. Yes it was unplanned but that is due to the fact I was so engulfed with fulltiming I did not foresee the possible issues ahead of me.

Regrets on the past year you ask? The only one that even comes close to being mentioned is perhaps not having enough cash to continue our past habits like being able to eat out as often as we would like with our friends and of course the unexpected rise of fuel costs. Everything else was right on schedule and budget except for those unexpected gotta haves for the RV. So we will bank that extra cash to solve that issue and in the future we will go back at it. We absolutely love the fulltime lifestyle but at the current moment this is a necessary adjustment to our plans. My best advise to upcoming fulltimers is, plan to have more than you think you will need and make sure all your issues are taken care of. We anxiously look forward to our return to the road and roaming of America. To all of our friends we have made, be sure to let us know when you are going to be near! Enjoy the sun!