Hi Friends,
The weather is getting warmer and a girl starts to think about hitting the road again. Today was an exciting one and not just because my 2007 Mah Jongg card arrived in the mail. Jeff and I received an e-mail telling us that we were hired as tail-gunners on an Alaskan RV Tour. Jeff already wrote with the details and we are really thrilled to have this opportunity.
We are having a busy couple of months. As Jeff told you we have purchased a home in South Carolina and in the process of selling our Yardley house. The movers are coming on April 30th and between now and then we have to finish packing and fly to Japan for a 15 day tour and visit with Brian. This trip is truly a highlight of my life and I am so happy to spend some time with Brian and see his home and his lifestyle so far away. We'll have a few weeks after Japan to settle in and then we are off on our Alaska expedition.
Check out the web site in Jeff's column and remember to check in often as we'll be posting all the adventures during our trek. We are feeling so lucky to have all these wonderful opportunities and happy to share them all with you our dear readers.
Happy Trails,
Judy
Monday, March 26, 2007
OMG!
We got an e-mail from David Baxley this morning. "Who is David Baxley?" you might ask. He is the owner of Alaska RV Adventures. He offered us a job as tailgunners on a 50 day RV caravan to Alaska.
Let me explain some of those terms. An RV caravan is a group of RVs (in this case about 15) who travel the same itinerary as a group. Think of it as a wagon train. With this particular company, however, the RVs do not have to stay together.
There are typically 2 types of professionals that travel with the group. Trekmasters lead the way. They are responsible for making sure the arrangements are all made for campgrounds, tours, etc. Tailgunners (that's us) follow behind. We are the last to leave the campground in the morning and are not allowed to pass any member of the caravan. We make sure no one gets lost or breaks down. We help with minor mechanical repairs, medical problems (God forbid!), and anything else that the tour members need. It is a training position for trekmasters for future caravans. We get all of our gas and campgrounds paid for and we also receive a small stipend.
This caravan begins at Dawson Creek, BC on June 22 and ends at Prince George, BC after traveling 50 days in Alaska, British Columbia, and Yukon Territory. We are so excitied we can't even think straight right now. This adventure is what I was referring to in my last post when I said we had something "cool" in the works.
Oh - I forgot the best part - we can bring Ziggy with us! If you want to see more details, go to www.alaskarvadventures.com.
I'm sure Judy will be posting this afternoon. I think she is even more excited than I am.
Let me explain some of those terms. An RV caravan is a group of RVs (in this case about 15) who travel the same itinerary as a group. Think of it as a wagon train. With this particular company, however, the RVs do not have to stay together.
There are typically 2 types of professionals that travel with the group. Trekmasters lead the way. They are responsible for making sure the arrangements are all made for campgrounds, tours, etc. Tailgunners (that's us) follow behind. We are the last to leave the campground in the morning and are not allowed to pass any member of the caravan. We make sure no one gets lost or breaks down. We help with minor mechanical repairs, medical problems (God forbid!), and anything else that the tour members need. It is a training position for trekmasters for future caravans. We get all of our gas and campgrounds paid for and we also receive a small stipend.
This caravan begins at Dawson Creek, BC on June 22 and ends at Prince George, BC after traveling 50 days in Alaska, British Columbia, and Yukon Territory. We are so excitied we can't even think straight right now. This adventure is what I was referring to in my last post when I said we had something "cool" in the works.
Oh - I forgot the best part - we can bring Ziggy with us! If you want to see more details, go to www.alaskarvadventures.com.
I'm sure Judy will be posting this afternoon. I think she is even more excited than I am.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
South Carolina here we come!
Things have been really interesting since my last post. We put our house in PA up for sale. We are planning for the move. We have been running back and forth to South Carolina. Oh, did I mention we bought a new RV?
Well, new to us anyway. Our faithful Popeye was a 98 Sea Breeze, 31' long with no slideouts. Our new one - yet to be named - is a 2003 33' Winnebago Adventurer with 2 slides. It's sort of like moving from Motel 6 to a Hyatt. Not quite up to the Ritz Carlton, but pretty nice! We took it down to SC with a U-haul trailer in tow. At least we have furniture to sit on now. Since we had left my car down there on our last trip we had a car to use (and also picked up or golf cart while we were there!). Then we towed my car back north and completed yet another run on I-95.
The running back and forth is over. We have scheduled a moving date. On April 30 the movers are coming and we are on our way! Of course we are off to Japan for 2 weeks before that and just came back from a week in Mexico, but I meant the running back and forth up and down I-95.
OK - I lied. The running back and forth isn't over. Less than 2 weeks later we will be back up in Pennsylvania. We have several commitments and will be there through at least May 21. It will be weird, but if our house hasn't sold (God forbid!) we will probably stay in the RV in our own driveway! But then the running back and forth will be over.
Well, not quite. We have something really interesting in the works for this summer. It's very iffy, but very cool (literally) if it comes through.
More to come....
Well, new to us anyway. Our faithful Popeye was a 98 Sea Breeze, 31' long with no slideouts. Our new one - yet to be named - is a 2003 33' Winnebago Adventurer with 2 slides. It's sort of like moving from Motel 6 to a Hyatt. Not quite up to the Ritz Carlton, but pretty nice! We took it down to SC with a U-haul trailer in tow. At least we have furniture to sit on now. Since we had left my car down there on our last trip we had a car to use (and also picked up or golf cart while we were there!). Then we towed my car back north and completed yet another run on I-95.
The running back and forth is over. We have scheduled a moving date. On April 30 the movers are coming and we are on our way! Of course we are off to Japan for 2 weeks before that and just came back from a week in Mexico, but I meant the running back and forth up and down I-95.
OK - I lied. The running back and forth isn't over. Less than 2 weeks later we will be back up in Pennsylvania. We have several commitments and will be there through at least May 21. It will be weird, but if our house hasn't sold (God forbid!) we will probably stay in the RV in our own driveway! But then the running back and forth will be over.
Well, not quite. We have something really interesting in the works for this summer. It's very iffy, but very cool (literally) if it comes through.
More to come....
Monday, January 29, 2007
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.
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.
Friday, September 15, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, July 14, 2006
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
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.
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.
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