A New Lifestyle

A New Lifestyle

I’m grateful for so many things, including having the Lord in my life, my loving husband, friends, and my three boys. 

Lately, though, I’m grateful for our new lifestyle as newbie RV Full-timers. 

It’s something else to be exploring the US in our 38ft Class-A motor home, waking up to a new view in our backyard every three months or so. See, the longer we stay somewhere, the more gas we save, so we usually spend a season or a few months at a time in one place.

For the summer this year, we are in Colorado, beating the Texas heat way up in the Plato’s Mountains near Mancos. Situated next to a pond surrounded by cattails has us waking to the sound of magpies and other birds. The squirrels here are funny looking creatures with big, tufted ears, and chipmunks run to and fro all over the compound every day. We’ve seen deer in many different areas near our RV Resort, but never inside of it. 

Last year was a different story, parked at a nice but very warm Resort in Port Aransas, our former vacation destination. We were trapped there, inside the park, four days a week, due to the heavy influx of tourists that poured in on Thursday and left every Sunday. Still, it was nice to be so near the beach, when we could get there. A different kind of bird woke us every morning, some so loudly and forlorn sounding, I sometimes rose early in the morning to go make sure one wasn’t dying in the parking lot. Seagulls can get quite noisy you know. I would leave the park and walk down to the ship channel and position myself so I could photograph the sunrise over the water. 

It’s wonderful changing locations often because of what we see and experience at each place. Here it’s still very much the Wild West, rocky, dusty, and hilly, yet a rugged kind of beauty with mountains surrounding us no matter which direction we go. However, in the RV Ranch itself, just walking down to the office to check the mail is a workout. We can’t go anywhere without going up a hill, back down, and then back up again to get back to the bus. We get our steps in most days, that’s for sure! We just got back from Mancos Days, a three day celebration of the town, situated in the gorgeous Mancos Valley. Art galleries, street vendors, contests, raffles and drawings, and parades are just part of the weekend event. Here lately, most afternoons are rainy, or downright stormy due to the monsoon season we now find ourselves in.

We’ve experienced Arizona in the winter, as well as Florida -which is where I was priveledged to meet a half sister I’d never met but did know about. It was a most joyous experience, one I wouldn’t trade for anything. In fact, we got along so well together that I wanted more time with her and her awesome husband Frank. So, we are going back this year, even though it’s the most expensive place we’ve stayed so far. We also made some very good friends in the park, and Jupiter, Fla is a great place to be. Twelve miles from the beach, but that’s ok. There’s a heated swimming pool and lots of activities to keep one busy inside the resort, and so many more in Jupiter itself. Nearby is West Palm Beach, home of former president Trump, and many PGA pros like Tiger Woods and others. 

Last fall, we visited a blogger pal of mine-Anne Mehrling- in the Great Smokey Mountains near Waynesville, North Carolina for two weeks before trekking down to S. Carolina. There, I found out that my cousin Edie lives with her son-Lance close by. She stays in an apartment, but Lance has a home he shares with his partner. We had one day to visit, but tried to make the most of it. We only spent a week there, and she teaches, so we had the Sunday before we left to pack in as much time together as time would allow. Unfortunately, I injured my back sometime that day, and realized it was very bad by the next day. It was now imperative that we get to Florida so I could seek treatment and relief at the West Palm Beach VA. That is a long story for another day, let’s just say my pain is well – controlled for the moment. 

When we need a break, we go back to our home base, my brother Kevin’s house. There, we visit family and friends stocking up on love and fellowship before heading out again. We also try to make appointments and get other business done, like checking on storage, working on the Motor home and plotting future trips. My brother kindly lets us take over his house since he likes the company when he’s home. His job takes him all over the state you see. Much of the time we are staying there, we are alone. He never minds my attempts at cleaning and organizing his batchelor pad, as long as I leave his coffepot(s) alone. When he is gone, however, I slide them back against the wall, freeing up valuable counter space. We aren’t used to so much counter space in our RV, so we make good use of it at Kevin’s.

My husband and I have different ideas about the way we should enjoy our new lifestyle. I prefer getting to know people, helping when I can, group activities, and going new places to visit the entire area while we are there. My husband has his times, but mostly he wants to be left alone to watch tv, or hang out outdoors listening to “his” music and relaxing with a few beers. To me, that is not what I signed up for, but I understand his shy nature, so I try to respect his wishes. I do occasionally succeed in getting him to do fun things and make new friends. Which is why I’m so excited to get back to Florida. The friends we made were many, the park is small enough to know everyone, and we have good relationships with the management as well. The VA is only a thirty minute drive away, and my new found sister is ten minutes up the road from our Resort. 

After two years on the road, I would not trade the lifestyle for anything, and yet we do find ourselves starting to think about what and where our forever home might be. It would be nice to have our own home base, and get rid of the storage and that one bill. The fact that Dave retired and we sold everything, making us almost debt free, is why we are able to enjoy this lifestyle anyway. If we had a home where we could put everything that is in storage now, we would get rid of a bill, and have a new home base to come back to when we decide to. If we did that, I’d need some assurance that we would still take trips in our motor home because I for one love the lifestyle and I’m not ready to end it just yet.