I Wanna Go Back to the Southland, That "Y'all" and "Shut My Mouth" Land

Ok. So we decide that we want to consider moving to a warmer climate. So we do the rational thing. We had pretty much decided on the Southeast, so we planned a trip. Two weeks in December in the RV. A quick stop in Sun City Hilton Head in South Carolina. A week in central Florida (with a stop at Disney, of course) to check out some Active Adult Communities (the "in" term for over 55). Seven communities in all. That's a lot of work for 2 weeks.

Now here's where thinking ahead comes in. We had a time-share week that we had to use or lose before July. Since we KNOW we are not buying anything this trip let's book a week in Orlando in January. We can leave the car there (instead of towing it back behind the RV). Then we can FLY down to Orlando in January, enjoy our week, and take another look at the communities in which we are still interested. Pretty smart, huh?

The best laid plans...

During our stop at Sun City on the way south we saw a model that we really liked. Oh, by the way... They had an almost finished house that a buyer had backed out of. All the options. Killer lot (lagoon AND woods). Great price. OK. That's nice. But we're not buying now. See ya later.

But every home we saw in Florida we kept comparing to that house. So on the way back north we decided to take another look. Gee. The inventory home was still available. Did I mention the killer lot? One thing more I should mention: to get the great price we had to close by the end of the year! Did I mention the killer lot?

So the rest is history. We now own 2 homes. Wanna buy one? But we love the Sun City house even more than the first time we saw it and really like the community (which, of course, is more important anyway). Did I mention the killer lot? Of course now we still had to fly to Orlando to get our car and then drive to Sun City (about 5 hours on I-4 and I-95). Then we flew back from Savannah, leaving the car down there.

I would guess that during the next 6-12 months we are going to become much more intimately familar with I-95 than I ever cared to be. I guess Alaska is out of the question this year.

As always, we'll keep you up to date.

Ah, fall! And thoughts turn to...

Travel. What else?

Now if you have been a regular follower of this blog you know that we haven't posted anything in a couple of months. Of course, since we got back there has been some medical excitement and other stuff.

Last month we hopped up to Maine for a long weekend and stopped on the way back to visit Judy's sister Carol and her husband, Harold, who is in the hospital.

We are now looking to the future. We had hoped to go to Tokyo in October to visit Brian. I don't think that is going to happen, but we'll see.

In December we would like to head down to Florida again. This time our emphasis will probably on checking out retirement communities. If we are absolutely forced to we may have to stop at Disneyworld again. (yes, I know we've been there a lot. What's your point?)

Then there's the biggie. Next summer we want to try to do Alaska in the RV! Lots of details to work out, but we're looking. Best of all worlds? We get jobs up there for the summer - preferably with an RV tour company.

Stay tuned for details.

Some final thoughts

After almost 8 weeks away and over 8,000 miles we start to see some things in a new light. Of course we missed our family and friends, although with e-mail (such as it was) and cell phones it was easy to keep in touch.

We missed our house. But we did amazingly well in our 225 sq. ft. "small home" after living for years in our 2700 sq. ft. "big home." You learn about lots of things you can live very well without.

We learned that there are many beautiful places in our great country and that we live in one of the most beautiful.

We learned just how precious a resource water is. And it will become more so. It will be the "oil" of the 21st century. While Yardley had heavy rains and floods and Wyoming was green and beautiful, we went through areas that would give anything for just some of our water. Santa Fe has been in a drought for 9 years. The Navajo reservation in Arizona was magnificently beautiful - but no water at all. In Colorado the price of hay has skyrocketed because of a water shortage. But it is a different kind of shortage. Some farms and ranches have water rights where adjacent ones don't. So only some can grow hay. This has to do with historical riparian rights and can get ugly.

Did you know that Los Angeles is a desert and survives only because of water piped in from the Colrado River? Because of riparian rights a rancher in Colorado can have cattle dying of thirst while Los Angeles is taking water out of a river near his ranch.

In our RV we learned to take a "navy shower." You turn on the water, wet yourself down, and turn the water off. Then you lather up. Finally you turn the water back on for a rinse. When you have a 6 gallon water heater and a small holding tank these things matter.

We learned to roll with the punches: a broken air conditioner, a dead battery, a brake warning light, the "Bates Motel" campground. It takes a sort of a "glass half-full" approach. Instead of complaining about the negatives you cherish the new experiences.

Would we do it again? You bet! Two changes I would make. First, I would be less tied to a schedule. There were any number of places we would have stopped if we didn't have to be someplace. Second, we needed some time apart. Even though Judy and I worked together for over 20 years, this was different. In the 54 days we were gone we were apart for a total of maybe 6-8 hours. That is an impossible situation for any two people.

So what's next? It's a pretty sure bet we will do another smaller trip this summer - maybe 7-10 days to Great Smokey Mountain National Park in Tennessee or Acadia National Park in Maine. Next summer? We'll see, but we sure would like to get back to Alaska.

I said before we left that one of two things would probably happen when we got back - either we would say we had had it and sell the RV or we would jump in with both feet and trade up. It looks like I was wrong. I think we are going to keep this unit. It worked fine for us. A newer, bigger unit would be nice, but this one has one feature that none of the others has: it's paid for!

Thanks to all of you who followed the blog and sent comments. We really enjoyed hearing from you. We also had fun writing the blog. Now comes the fun - editing the 2,000+ pictures. But don't worry. We won't make you watch all of them!

There's No Place Like Home

However humble - there's no place like home. Dorothy had to click her ruby slippers, but we had our faithful Popeye to take us back to our favorite place. After a few minutes it was like we'd never been away. Everything was so green - it had been raining daily since we left and my plants looked so healthy even if they are covered in cobwebs.

We entered the house with only our basic necessities and turned on some lights and the computers. We had no internet connection so we went to sleep with dreams of e-mail and blogging in the morning. Ziggy seemed so happy to be sleeping in her "big" bed. I wonder if she ever thought (does she think?) we'd be back here.

We had a wonderful time on the road and there are so many memories and pictures in my head as well as the 2000+ photos in our files. We are so lucky to have the time to make such a journey and I hope we can plan another for the future. I spent most of today unloading the RV and sorting mail. Tomorrow will be laundry and cleaning and soon everything will be back to as normal as it gets around here. Thursday night is Mah Jongg and that is a big part of my regular routine and I'm looking forward to the game.

So life goes on. I thank everyone who cared to share our experiences on the road this summer with this blog. All your e-mails, comments and calls made us feel very connected. I hope we can do it again. My most special gratitude to my traveling companions Jeff and Ziggy who made every day an adventure for this stranger in paradise.

Rock 'n Roll is Here to Stay

Tuesday in Cleveland and we are at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum right after it opens. The city is lovely and the museum sits on a site near Lake Erie and next to the Science Museum and Bears Stadium. The building was designed by I.M. Pei with his traditional glass pyramid structure and stainless steel walls. We were very excited as this music is an integral part of our growing up and what we listen to today.

The museum was just okay for us. The whole thing was unstructured and you moved from floor to floor without direction. The ground floor exhibit was terrific and we could have spent more time there listening to the 500 greatest songs of all time and seeing memorabilia from rockers since the 50's. There was lots of attention paid to the Beatles (as it should be) and exhibits on Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison. Upstairs there was a special exhibit on Bob Dylan so we were in hog heaven. We also watched a movie on all the inductees and felt that it could use some professional help and they needed more comfortable seating for us aging rock fans.

We left and had a ceremonial last lunch at a Steak 'n Shake and headed east towards Pennsylvania. One comment on highways. In Texas we had a short toll road, then in Illinois we had a toll road that accepted Easy-Pass. Both Indiana and Ohio have antiquated toll roads that use paper tickets and cash only. When we crossed into Pennsylvania we saw lots of green grass and rolling hills and I thought we live in a beautiful area.

Jeff was feeling good and decided to head for home rather than spend another night on the road. After putting in 8053 miles we arrived in Yardley just before midnight and declared any safe trip a great trip!

The final irony

Well, we're home. Happy, sad, tired, elated. I'll share some final thoughts in a future blog, but I have to report on the ultimate irony.

We got home and virtually ran for our computers. As you are surely aware, we have had spotty Internet service - especially over the last 2-3 weeks. Guess what. Our Internet connection at home was down! Verizon was great about getting it back up in a couple of hours, and I am sure you will be hearing lots from Judy.

Anyway, we are glad (I think) to be home. We are safe and sound. Ziggy was great and is also happy to be here.

Now for the unpacking!

One More Day...One Day More

Today we drove on the Interstate from Chicago crossing Illinois, Indiana and most of Ohio without seeing any wild animals or gorgeous scenery. We are at a very nice KOA campground near Cleveland and tomorrow we go to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. After that we head home arriving Wednesday night. It's hard to believe that our dream trip is over. But the 2000+ photographs will be a constant reminder until we get them catalogued and in presentation form.

I have taken lots of pictures of hay and no I do not have a Monet (or Van Gogh) complex, but love them both. Just fascinated by the rolled hay and its importance in the life of the farm and animals. So here are a few shots I thought interesting.