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.

                

Changes of the season... My God it's freezing in here.

It's easy to forget that most of the rest of the country is now experiencing the phenomenom known as Fall.  There already has been a freeze warning in the part of Iowa we came from and it snowed at my sister's place in Montana. With the continued warm temperatures and occasional rain shower the weather has been nothing less than fantastic here.

I decided the other day to get up on the roof and clean out the drain channels for the roof air conditioner and give it an overall look.  We hadn't been using it due to the channels becoming clogged and causing it to drip water inside. Besides, the second a/c had been keeping up pretty well with assistance from our big fan.

Everything checked out up top, I got rid of the few insect nests on the underside of the cover and buttoned everything back up.  I plugged the roof a/c back in, ran the extension from the generator for the second a/c and fired EVERYTHING back up.

I was pleasantly surprised the the roof unit is quieter than it has been recently and with both units running it never got over 72 inside yesterday when the outside thermometer was reading over 90 and we had the door open.  At 4:30am, I had to turn off the main unit because it had gotten so cold in here, chill sides of beef cold, without use of the fan.

I took some time yesterday morning and re-adjusted the lights on the tower, I haven't been real happy with the pattern and I also wanted a larger area lit up.  I am now lighting up an area large enough to cover the rv and most of the area around us, even part of the county road that passes us.

The EMS PT30C from Progressive Industries has been working great!  It's been nice to be able to see at a glance how much power the rv is consuming.  And the piece of mind knowing that if the generator should have a problem, we are protected.  It's not a matter of if it happens, but when.

Toie is going to the Ladies Luncheon today in Kenedy and I hope she has a good time.

Have a Great Day! If you are on a gate, please be safe.