Time off is a relative thing.

Over six months, that is the amount of time its been since Toie and I have had any time off that didn't involve having to rig up or rig down the RV. Not that we haven't tried to have someone come out and keep an eye on things while we take a little much needed time for ourselves, it just seems to be "that" time of year.  We started upon our quest for a bit of time away over a month ago and it seems that the stars have not been aligned to our favor, so we kept soldiering on, the days becoming a never ending blur of traffic and dust.

We actually had an ulterior motive for taking the time. Lacey (daughter) moved from Missouri and has been staying with us so we figured on taking her to the coast and getting all the paperwork done so that she could make a little money and cover for us when we wanted a "date" night.  After many failed attempts of getting coverage for ourselves we finally decided that the girls would strike out for the coast on their own to get all the details taken care of and spend some time at the beach.

Yesterday morning Toie and Lacey made the 100+ mile, 2 hour drive across South Texas towards Corpus Christi. Traveling south on Highway 181 gives a glimpse and feel of what travel was like before the federal highway system existed.  Overgrown and abandoned roadside gas stations along with other "attractions" now barely visible hearken back to a time that the journey was part of the adventure, not just an inconvenient intermission to the destination.

Below are a few photos from that trip.

Corpus Christi Beach

Windmill near Taft, Texas

USS Lexington

Shrimp Boat in the Marina

Along the Waterfront

Standing on the seawall looking for fish in the water below

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.

                

On the way.

Woke up this morning from a mostly restful nights sleep, took Moe for a short walk while Toie got herself put together. The KOA we were at is really nice and we were in the "back" of the grounds so it was really quiet. 

Last night we ran up the road a ways to see Lacey and Todd in Pacific and had a wonderful visit.  Toie even took the opportunity to give Moe a much needed bath.  He was so dirty its nice to see him white again
Today the goal was Joplin and Toie was itching to get started.

Just pulled into Joplin at the time of this posting. The first two pics are of Stanton and the last two are Joplin.