It's been a year (sort of).

I've been had this rattling around in the old noggin for the last few weeks. 

Its been just a bit over a year since we made the jump into full-time RV living. It was April of last year when our lives were in what seemed a huge amount of turmoil, some of it planned, some not so much.  Everything seemed to have hit us at once, loss of a job, unexpected surgery, making the transition from the stick & bricks to the RV and making arrangements to stay in a friends yard while I recovered, all seemed to be an insurmountable mountain of things to over come.  Some events caused us to accelerate our plans for others and we always didn't accomplish things with as much grace as we may have liked, but we got through it.

The excitement and trepidation felt when we pulled our old 1978 NuWa class C out of the yard in Iowa and pointed it south towards Texas in July was almost overwhelming.  As the miles went by the nervousness went away and I could enjoy the un-folding journey.  Looking back now we made so many choices on that first trip that weren't necessarily mistakes but I wouldn't do them again quite the same way, such as what had seemed like a good first day route on paper was more suited for a smaller vehicle than the 25ft length and top heavy nature of the NuWa. 

This first year has been a huge learning experience of the ins and outs of RV living. Sometimes finding just the right spot for something, that won't allow it to become a projectile while driving down the road, can present a small challenge from time to time. Glamorous chores such as dumping the tanks or checking the batteries has replaced mowing the lawn, although at times I do miss my lawnmower. We tend to keep a closer eye on the weather, being particularly vigilant for severe weather. Upkeep is a bit more intense and at present I have two projects that need completed with a third possibly in the works. We are still learning to slow down and enjoy being in the moment.

We haven't moved very long distances since we became gate guards, mostly moving less than 50 miles at a time but we keep moving.  The scenery still changes every few weeks and that is just fine with us.

                

Time flies when your having... fun?

It has been close to a year since been started fulltime rv'ing in our friends front yard.  From a moving to Texas and becoming oil field gate guards to having to replace the rv unexpectantly in October and the recent birth of our granddaughter Aria, it has been quite the adventure.

Little did we know what challenges awaited, from generator problems to emptying the tanks without making a huge mess. getting sunburnt, freezing temperatures, tire blow outs and the occasional wild animal we have risen to the occasion each and every time.

One of the biggest lessons we have learned is that this lifestyle is definitely not for the weak hearted or the insecure.  This is not a vacation but rather a lifestyle choice, we work just as hard, if not harder than some to be able to enjoy the "perks." 

Another lesson learned was to slow down and enjoy the journey. Society has become so focused on goals and destinations we often forget that the journey itself is part of the adventure and many times we miss out on what happens along the way. We may not move long distances as often as some but in this line of work we move much more often than others.

As we had begin our second year a whole new set of challenges will need to be met.  We hope that the experience we have gained will make these mere speed bumps in our road.

Sunrise

The sunrise this morning was spectacular.

Tablets, Generators and other dis-jointed thoughts.

Tablets.

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, sometimes I think its just the opposite.  I usually post to the blog using my Acer Iconia Tab A200 and most of the time it does a wonderful job of doing so.  I have noticed a few issues with it.

Pop-up menus. For the most part are a huge pain. That reason alone is why I don't post more pictures on the blog.

Keyboard interface.  While the on-screen keyboard is larger than one on a phone, its less forgiving.

Status bar sensitivity. This is an operating system issue, Its way to easy to hit it while trying to type and change all kinds of things.

Other than these few issues and a few others it seems to be useful overall.  The Kindle App is awesome. I check Amazon every couple days to see what they have for free (it changes) and download anything that might spark my interest.  I have downloaded a whole bunch of cookbooks, Native American stories, The Art of War and other titles.  If you ever get the chance, check it out.

I am not writing this blog as a review, just my take on how it works for me.


Generators.

When we were placed on our current gate we had a serious issue with the company supplied generator. It seems that the voltage regulator had worked its way loose and fallen into the case and was dancing around in there causing some rather interesting issues with the power being delivered to our coach.  The Progressive Industries EMS PT30C did its job beautifully and cut the power as soon as the issue arose.  A quick call to our service person and a few houra later we were up and running again.

New Coach.

The "new to us" coach is working out beautifully, it is a 1997 Flair by Fleetwood that is 28 feet long.  We figure we have between 11 and 12 more feet of living space than the old one due to us using the sleeper as storage and the dinette as the bed. It also has a 4.0kw backup generator with only 403 hours on it, while the low hours look great, not running a generator can be harmful to it. Luckily, it has been ran recently and starts great.  I'm going to change the oil and plug though just to be safe.

New Gate and New other things

It's been quite a scramble the last few days.  We were recently informed that our next gate will be a long term one, possibly as long as a year.  We are scheduled to be placed on Saturday if everything goes as planned.

Some of you may have noticed that I changed the photo of our RV at the top of the blog. Thats because recent developments have forced us to purchase another coach.  The old coach was traded in towards our new home, a 1997 Fleetwood Flair.

Two things really affected our decision to replace the old beast a few months ahead of schedule, first being the long term potential for our next assigmment and second the old beast had suffered some damage from a recent windstorm and was quickly becoming unlivable.

I was shocked and amazed at the amount of "stuff" we had crammed into that small little space.  We are still scrambling to get it all in its place before we move again.

Its getting late and tomorrow will be another long day.

Be Safe Everyone.