Thoughts on Fulltiming (Extended Travel)

[honda03842]

Last night we had dinner guests that 'asked' to see pictures of this year's travels. I put a 10 minute slide show together for them.

The wife of our friend really showed no interest in our travels and clearly stated she couldn't travel like that.

First it was great fun for Ginny and I to re-live last year's trip. It really was our best year ever.

Afterwards I wondered why and how our trips are so much fun, in virtually every picture we're happily smiling like two kids who've been fooling around in the barn. (No I never had a barn but I can dream.)

There are two parts to our successful travel. First we are continuously trying to keep each other happy, engaging each other in the day, by seeking adventure and the new. One think we've learned is that there is so much still new to us.

Everywhere you look, in the geology of the landscape, in the local climate, the wonderful tiny wild flowers, there is the opportunity to learn and wonder. We are not specialists in anything but are interested in everything.

This year we collected a few fossils. The following is a picture of one we picked up in Oregon and still wonder what it is trapped in stone for the eons. Someone suggested it's a horseshoe crab. Do horseshoe crabs have the little teeth one can see between the two 'appendages'? (Double click the picture to see the teeth.)

Wishing all well.

[cpaharley2008]

Norm,
If that is a horse shoe crab, that would be the tail or spine protrusion, it has barbs on the outside, the mouth is towards the front, closer to your hand. For some reason this picture is inside out of the horse crab. almost like it was cut in half and then split open?

[Gilda]

Hi Norm and Ginny,
I always look forward to reading your posts whether they are about modifications, your travels or your witticisms. You always share pearls of wisdom and show great enthusiasm for the trailer travel lifestyle.

That is an awesome fossil you found! We, too, are also interested in everything natural. There is always something new to observe and learn. We keep some nature study books in our camper so we can look up things we've found. Among our small books are subjects that include North American birds, wildflowers, mushrooms, rocks and trees.

I, for one, would love to see your 10 minute slide show! Could you please share it with the rest of us?
Gilda

[honda03842]

We also carry similar books, virtually our only books, on Trees, Birds, Rocks.... This year we barely used them finding that the Internet can do most everything the books do. We're both also e-bookers.

As to sharing the slide show. I'll consider it though I think this particular show was very family oriented because we were showing it to family members.

Thank you for the kind words.

[TaniaD]

I too enjoy reading of your adventures. Over the years we have taken our kids camping (the longest trip was 6 and a half weeks in the South West) We have tried to share with our kids the love of learning and exploring. One day I hope my spouse and I can share more trips like that. That is one reason we got our little TrailMite. We aren't ready for the full trips like yours, as I love my gardening and animals, but we love the together time it allows when we leave and go camping and exploring.
Keep up the sharing! Also love how it comes across that you enjoy your time with your spouse. It is so sad how so many people find that now that they have the time to spend, they don't do it with their spouse. Yours is an uplifting story.

[honda03842]

Tania,
Though we haven't had animals since the kids left, I used to love gardening but it's part of the past we have surrendered.

My dad died at 45, I was 24. I thought I might die young so made a list of everything I wanted to do in my life and went for it. (I had never considered RVing.)

I also realized that it's hard to extend the number of years in your life (hence my fascination with the movie Blade Runner) but it is possible to have more lives. In my career I only stayed with a single company for 5 years and moved from industry to industry.

I think one of the best part of RVing is recognizing how little in terms of stuff I need to live, really only Ginny. We've given up old hobbies, collections and so on.

What I'm trying to say is that my life has been wonderful, I liked all the components, I just want something new and different. In a sense it's like being reborn.

The only thing we really preserve is family and freind relationships, hence we come home for 2-5 months. With respect to family we have gotten to spend more time with them because of RVing.

I don't mean to criticize others choices but to explain our view of life.

As to Ginny, she is probably the best person I have met. Her mother was the same. I think genetics is more critical than we imagine. My dad did give me one piece of good advice before he died... "Get close to the mother, more likely than not the daughter will be like the mother".

Ginny forever tells me it's not for everyone. I do know it but I also want to share how wonderful it can be and it can be new everyday.

Love and joy to all.....

[mary and bob]

When does the next trip start? We still regret that we missed you by only one day last year at Myrtle Beach. We head south the day after Thanksgiving.

[honda03842]

We're staying home a little later because we were gone so long. We plan to leave before the end of Nov. FL and TX this year and the Newfoundland rally in the spring of 2013.

[TaniaD]

Norm,
We have too many hobbies, but are not ready to give them up. I know there will come a time, but for now it works (kinda for us). My husband keeps asking where do we want to go when he retires, but I know it will never be far from the kids and hopefully grandkids. So RVing gives us options.

I like your dad's advice. Generally I think that's true, but boy do I wish I had a little more of my mom in me..think I got my Dad's stubborn streak

Sometimes I try to get us out of our comfortable selves and we go do some of those other things that we hadn't tried before. Some of the best times we've had have been to not have an agenda on a vacation and just say, let's go this way or turn here. Opened up things we would have missed. Some of our friends would die before they went out camping without having a reservation first. Not in their genetic makeup for sure.

I commend you and Ginny on clearing out the clutter, we could stand to do a little more of that ourselves

Again, thanks for sharing!

[Ron F]

Mary & Bob, Norm & Ginny,
We'll keep an eye out for you all on the road. We're heading south on Tuesday, taking the Martin guitar tour, stopping at the rally at Burnt Cabins, PA, then ambling down the coast to FL. First stop in FL is Steven Foster for Christmas. No idea where we'll be between PA and Steven Foster.
Ron & Jane

[mary and bob]

Our first stop when we head south is Huntington Beach SC for 4 nights, then Tybee Island GA 2 nights, then Jekyll Island GA until the last week in January when we will go down the east coast of Florida to the Keys and back up the west coast with several state park stops throughout Florida. I'm hoping to get my back problem resolved by the time we leave because Jekyll is a great bike riding place. I'm doing physical therapy now and waiting for MRI results. Bob

[honda03842]

We do have at least 3 planned and a few unplanned stops on the way south. The first day we make it as far as CT where we park at my niece's home, giving and getting hugs. From there we may make it to Chesepeake Bay to stay with a fellow Fiberglass Trailer owner, an undefined stop in NC and SC, possibly Charleston, a favorite.

From there we head to St Mary's, GA to a new favorite we found last year. Followed by a couple of stops in FL to spend a week with friends before heading to the Escapee Park where we plan to settle for a couple of months before heading off to TX.

We'll be coming home early in 2013 because we plan to maake it to the Newfoundland May rally and a couple of months of exploring.

We no longer carry bikes but for the first time in years I bringing golf clubs to FL. It'll take us about 2 weeks to get to our FL destination.

I will say it's feeling cool in NH.

[honda03842]

One of the benefits of RVing that we had not previously recognized was how it would effect our relationship with the kids and grandkids.

We have two boys, one in ME and the other in WA. Both have become RVers with Fiberglass trailers and Escapees, working hard to retire so they can hit the road early.

We have 5 grandkids, all now in their 20s. We have been RVing since the youngest was 11 or 12. We've taken them around Alaska and over the years seen tons of football, basketball and soccer games, literally spending months near them in the Seattle area. I think this wouldn't of happened if we weren't RVers.

Once they went off to college and grad school all across the country we've brought them to college and visited with them numerous times.

The RV has provided a level of freedom and a method of conveniently spending time with them for 12 years now.

My brother lives near Glacier and over the years we have spent a couple of months parking in his yard, a week or two at a time. The advantage of these longer time stays is that were not there to be entertained, but to share their lives and time. We never stay in his magnifacent home, but stay in our rig, keeping a level of separation, I believe good for both him and us.

RVing has worked very well to create stronger relationships.

[Camilla]

Awwwww. You two are so lucky to have each other!

The fossil is really neat. It looks like a giant head of a wasp looking towards the right. Scary!

[honda03842]

A side benefit of extended travel is that you have more time for thinking and sharing thoughts with your travel partner.

First you have more time to think about things, after a week on the road you are less burdened by concerns for family and freinds, you're just not there to become embroiled in what ever. I quickly find my mind extending down new pathways.

Second you have more time to share your thoughts because both of you are together, not working, not house keeping. You have a more shared life and thoughts.

I had not considered this life style benefit before our travels. It has brought Ginny and I closer together.

Lastly, and equally important, though I've known Ginny since I was 15, I have learned things about her likes that I had never expected, not things inconsistant with her essence, but little things that please her. I have developed in the last 12 years an extended knowledge of my wife.

This lifestyle is very interesting to me.

[Night Sailor]

Norm and Ginny's threads and comments are always worth reading. And it is clear also they have a great relationship to survive in the tight quarters of an egg camper. Kudos to you! Keep the posts coming.

[honda03842]

Thanks Conrad,

As difficult as some feel it is to survive in the space of a small trailer, it's certainly true that it is more difficult to survive in the space of a normal living situation.

These day's most families have plenty of space, even the poorest among us, certainly compared to the general world population, yet the stress of life, work and relationship serves to destroy what typically begins as the happiest of times.

We attended the best wedding we've ever attended in Neveda's Ruby Mountains this year. Our nephews wedding was a three day wedding where practically all 60 participants spent, Friday-Sunday deep in the mountains in a campground, 30 miles from a gas station or grocery store of any kind.

Most slept in tiny A frame shelters with a single light bulb hopefully in sleeping bags. The bride and groom and Ginny and I each had a trailer.

The bride and groom supplied everything from every meal to all toiletries. The meals were great and embracing...you really got to know everyone in a joyous way. Games, dancing , meal preparation, hikes, ..... all were a blast for three full days.

Life can be beautiful, the choices we make, our attitdue towards the everyday do make the difference.

[mary and bob]

norm and ginny, i to have know bob since i was 14 and as we get older and change our ways I to have learned new things about him. As far as small quarters go I love it, its not for everyone but it is for us we met 48 years ago camping with our families. you dont need all the space a house gives you, sometimes i go out and just lay in the uhaul becuase i love the feeling of just being in it, we have spent 4 weeks at one time and loved it so this year we decided to go for over 3 months, I have no doubts we will survive, will keep our eyes open on the road for you, would love to meet you.

[honda03842]

Mary and Bob,

I'll PM you when we are near leaving and monitor your travels. If we're anywhere near you we be happy to make a diversion.

It our short time home we cram in our doctor's appointments, today it was the eye doctor. He made an insightful (no pun) comment asking us what friends and relatives thought of our extended travels. I responded some are envious and others think we're crazy/

He commented "it's often is a good sign when some think you're crazy".

[KenandJaney]

We are thankful we met you at the Oregon meet, you two are an inspiration to those of us new to RVing, it has opened up doors for us and our kids. Thanks again for sharing your ideas that make the trip even more enjoyable.