One Year Anniversary!

Funny how fast a year goes by. As of this week we moved into our new home on wheels a year ago. No regrets. We love what we're doing and how we're doing it : )

 I'm sending this blog from our extended stay hotel in Sharonville, Ohio. Just outside Cincinnati, home of my beloved Reds (we will be catching a couple games while we're here). The trailer is in Elkheart, Indiana being repaired for the next 2 weeks. (There were a lot of things on our list).

After thousands of miles and dozens of campgrounds these things are pretty clear to us.

1. This type of traveling is not really cheap.

 When we set out to do this, we had a budget and a plan to stay within that budget. We thought this would be a much less expensive way to live and get to see the country. We underestimated the cost of almost everything. We have managed to trim a few dollars off what we were spending before the move, but not nearly what we had hoped...yet. We continue to adjust and learn how to make the most of every dollar. Fuel is the big killer, as you would expect...

2. Drivers in almost every state, on almost every highway, seem to have a death wish.

 We've traveled lots of interstates, highways and county roads. Through mountains, deserts, cities and residential neighborhoods in over 20 states in the last year alone. It's really getting scary out here. Texas so far was the worst, but we have seen all kinds of near misses, fender benders and fatal accidents in almost every state we've traveled. So far we've only been in involved in the near misses...a couple times by inches...it's a crazy place out here in the concrete jungle. We've seen some crazy things with cell phone users, truckers and people texting. Lane change blinkers, breaks and just slowing down are a thing of the past. Because we are over 50 feet in length, most times we get an extra look from crazy drivers before getting cutoff or pushed around.

3. There really is such a thing as Southern Hospitality.
We found that without exception most areas we traveled in the southern states – people were just plain nicer – no better way to put it.

4. We do miss family and friends : )

For the most part we are dealing with family and friend separation, with more frequent visits. Leaving the trailer and flying around (see over budget above : ) or making sure some of our camping selections will be close for visiting. Winter is the hardest, as we will always stay south and have to fly to visit. We also fly Shelby to us if it makes sense in her busy schedule. We are flying her and a girlfriend (Nicole) into Jamaica Beach in June and are really excited about that!


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One of our favorite spots in Galveston to just hang out for a couple hours and shoot some pool was "Woody's".  One of the few places still on the ocean-side seawall, usually completely open with a deck over the ocean. Much quieter than most of the "kids" hangouts further down the beach.

Like my custom t-shirt design? Think I could sell a few of these? Sheila "hand"made it on the spot : )


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Many years ago, Sheila and I had what they call a "trick" or steerable kite. We purchased it in a Seattle kite store. We used it quite a bit and finally wore it out. As you can imagine, Galveston has several shops devoted to kites. We stopped in one, looked around and came out with a $200 steerable kite.
If you enjoy kite flying, your next one really should be steerable. You'll never go back to the single string "watch it blow in the air" kite. They hold competitions with these kites, playing "tag" and acrobatics.

 

This new one is larger than our old one, so it grabs more air. And literally pulled us down the beach when we were in the strongest wind window. You can actually "stack" these kites together if you wanted, but I don't think we could handle the pull. We had a blast though, and look forward to our next launch : )

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Our neighbors had a wonderful outdoor dinner for eight on our last night in Galveston. Thanks Mike and Rose, we had a blast and look forward to our first reunion down the road somewhere.

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I'll close this and keep it short as I'm already working on the next one.

As I've mentioned in the past, Sheila loves to visit our furry neighbors and sometimes brings them home with her. This is Barbie...we spent the afternoon barbiesitting : )

 Thanks for reading!