Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! - Well, it has been a while! But I know Tonya wrote a post a couple of weeks ago, so that gave me a break. I've been fairly busy the past couple of weeks. I've been working as many hours as possible, could still use a few more hours a week, but none the less, I am thankful for all the hours I can get.

As Tonya wrote, we've moved to the "Rockin E Campground" as Camp Hosts. That simply means we help out with things at the office and around the campground. Right now Tonya is doing most of that helping, while I am working as many hours as I can get. The owners of the campground are really great people. They have a great attitude about life and are quite funny most of the time. The campground itself is a nice, small, and quiet place. Despite having other campers close by, we never hear any of them. They are respectful and thoughtful. We are getting many more opportunities to talk and get to know others who live this lifestyle. I've been meaning to get some pictures but have not completed that task as yet. I'll try to have them for the next blog update.

I am hoping that once the holidays are over we will be able to take some day trips around to areas we'd like to see. On that list are to visit San Antonio and the Alamo, we'd also like to visit Austin, Galveston, and get up to Dallas - Fort Worth area to visit an old friend of Tonya's. It is difficult because we are also trying to save money for our trip back to Maine in May.

We had "Christmas on the Square" last Saturday here in Coldspring. They shut down the block around the Courthouse and have music and local businesses who set up their tents to peddle their wares. There are quite a lot of towns around here that do that sort of thing every month. They call them "Trade days." We try to go and see what is there and available when they have them.

It really does not "Feel" much like Christmas to me this year. I don't know if it is because there are still leaves on the trees here or if its because the grass is still green in many places, or if it is the fact that I can wear a tee-shirt to work every day. I do often find myself missing family and friends around this time of year.

So in one more week it will be 3 months that we've been Full-Timing. I can't say that I have regrets about our decision to do this, but I do have moments where I miss having the steady paycheck. We will have to do more intense research about where we go when we leave Maine for next winter. We will need to know that there are more opportunities for music where we go next year. In addition to that, I have not been doing nearly the writing that I had hoped to do when we began this journey. It is an adjustment to go from an office to a small space that is used for everything in our day to day life. I will say that I am not really bothered by the cramped space though. Tonya and I get alone well and this has not been a problem for us.

Today, I am writing this from a restaurant here in Coldspring. It is the first place I've been in a long, long time that has a smoking area. Due to the rain that has been falling since about 2 am, I decided to come here this morning so that Tonya may get a little extra sleep. We were woken up last night with the rain and a leak that developed (again) in the rear window right over the bed. I am glad that Tonya was able to get a little extra sleep.

Well - As I've said - we wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. We hope you all have safe holidays. Until Next Time…

Soaring Eagle…

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First Time Workamping

Well, we've moved to the Rock'n E RV Park in Coldspring, Texas. This is our first workamper position. The folks here are all very nice. We've met other full-timers, some workampers, some retirees. The park is small, well-maintained, with a lot of snowbirds - or as Paula calls them, Winter Texans!

The position requires a two day per week commitment. I'll be working in the store as well as cleaning office, laundry room, restrooms, and rental units. Scott will help with groundskeeping and maintenance. Scott is still working for the heating and appliance repair business and I'm still looking for something part-time.

The weather has been great. There have been some cooler days, but then it warms up for a few days. It certainly is warmer than what Maine is right now, and we are thoroughly enjoying it. It doesn't, however, feel like it is almost Christmas. We did some shopping for the grandkids and will be shipping those presents north this week. I decorated the camper by hanging ornaments on fishing line under the cabinets. We don't have room for a tree, but this works just fine. I also hung stockings for Scott and me.

Life here is a slower pace. I've enjoyed some time without working, but am looking forward to being a little busier. We embarked on this adventure as a way of downsizing our life while maximizing our experiences. I'm beginning to feel that we are doing that. Our needs are few, but we are able to meet them without too much stress. Our new surroundings are enabling us to meet new people with their own wonderful stories and diverse backgrounds.

Tails - our 14 year old cat - isn't quite as happy about the new surroundings as he is once again an indoor kitty. But he has adapted well and he gets a lot of attention to make up for his lack of freedom.

Until next time.... Rambling Rose

Not all who wander, are lost.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a Happy & Safe Thanksgiving. We know that our friends and family up in Maine had a rough day of it with some losing power for the holiday and getting substantial snow. We hope you all made it through the day with a minimal amount of discomfort. For us, we had a very quiet Thanksgiving Dinner together - just the two of us. Tonya made Turkey Breast (A whole bird would not fit in our oven) she made Mashed potato's and Gravy, and made the stuffing inside of a halved Acorn Squash. It was simply the best stuffing I've ever had! The great part for us was we were able to eat outside and it was a nice warm day. I know, I know, you are probably all tired of hearing about how nice the weather is here… I am really not trying to rub it in, but it IS why we left Maine, after all. It is the best part of what we are doing and a very important factor for us.

One of the benefits for me living here where the weather is nice during the day, is that my mood has been much better. Typically, around this time of year I tend to become rather depressed and don't want to get out and do anything. Here, however I feel pretty good and I am convinced that it is related to the warmer temps and the increased amount of sunshine that I am able to get. I do find that I miss our family and friends - especially on the holidays - I guess there are pro's and con's to every decision we make.

Tonya had a job interview last week with the local grocery store. It was for a part time position in their deli. She was hoping to hear by now for a second interview, however that has not happened yet. We did interview for a Work-Camper position and the "Rockin - E - Campground" which is located about 5 miles away from where we are now. We will be moving to that campground in the next few days. We will be provided a full hookup site in exchange for working a few days a week. There is a little bit of concern about this move as I am somewhat concerned that my work hours for the paid job may interfere with what the campground is expecting. But nothing ventured - nothing gained.

Our hosts here, Mark & Susan have gone to South Carolina for the week to visit with family for the Thanksgiving Holiday, so we have been watching things and taking care of the dogs while they have been away. Business has slowed down and I had very few hours this past week for work so that hurts financially. I am hoping business picks back up next week.

Today is our 23rd anniversary for Tonya and I. We are going out tonight (whether we can "afford" it or not), to dinner and to a little place in town that recently opened. They are having live music and so we want to check it out to see if our show would be a good fit for them. Hopefully that will open some doors and we may be able to get a couple of shows booked with them. That would be Great!

That is one of the most difficult parts of what we are doing. The places where there would be lots of music to play are in the bigger cities. And typically, the campgrounds around the larger cities are much more expensive so therefore a Work-Camper position requires a commitment of more hours worked in exchange for the RV site.

More hours for the RV site translates to less available time to work for wages. Plus the bigger RV parks around the cities are more likely to have far more noise and other distractions. As I've said before - this is a learning experience so we will eventually try someplace closer to a bigger city. That is the beauty of what we are doing - we can change it up at the drop of a hat!

Stay tuned for whatever comes next! As time goes on we will try to visit some different places and have some photo's and information for you about our adventures.

Soaring Eagle…

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Fall is Here in Texas

Sorry that I did not write an update last week. The truth is that we are all settled in down here and things are a little slow. LOL we are just simply working and not doing a whole lot other than that. Because work has not been full time, we have to watch our spending very carefully and therefore don't get out into the community to do other things.

We did have a nice visit with my Niece Angela, her husband Mike, and their daughter Trinity last weekend. Although it got very cold after the sun went down. Poor Mike was freezing and we kind of picked on him a little bit about being so cold. But we had a nice visit with them and look forward to our next visit, whether it be here or at their house in Houston.

The past week has been somewhat cold here in Texas. We don't have it as bad as they do up in the Panhandle. We are more central & eastern Texas so our lows have been reasonable. The lowest I've seen it here in Coldspring is 30 degrees. We've had this weather for the past week or so and while it is chilly, I've endured much worse in Maine.

Last week was a very busy week for the company I work for. With the cold temps people are turning on their heating systems and finding that they are not working properly. Some people are simply scared when they smell the dust that collected over the summer (there is LOTS of dirt and dust around here). Those calls are simple, we go we fire up the system let the dust burn off, ensure the system is running properly and that’s it. Sometimes we have to change out a part then its all good.

I ran my first 2 service calls on my own last Friday. It is good to know that I can start doing some of this to help the company keep up when it is busy and bring in a little money. For the most part though my work here has been part time. I've been able to make enough to cover my overhead for the month but will need to find other work to ensure we have what we need for the springtime travel back to Maine.

Some of the work that we do is located in a development where you have to stop at a guard shack on your way in. If the customer has not called them to alert them to your arrival you don’t get in. It is a very nice area, but I would not want to live in that type of controlled environment. Because their rules say that you cannot have guns or discharge a firearm in the development, the deer there are very overpopulated. Here is a picture of a deer grazing on a lawn. (Facebook readers will need to see the blog).

Picture of the Deer Grazing on people's lawns.

So last week I worked nearly a 40 hour week and Tonya helped out in the office while the owner spent a week away with her husband. It was a hectic week - but nothing to really write home about.

The weather is supposed to remain cold for the upcoming week and then return to normal temps for this time of year in this part of Texas which will mean cool nights and nice warm days. We can't wait although we are not really complaining about the weather we've been having.

So, with the hours not being full time Tonya has been looking locally for part time work (or full time). We are beginning to look at the ads on the Work-Camping Sites for work in Maine and/or New Hampshire for the summer 2015 season. We are hoping to find something close enough to work for us while we are in Maine for the summer. Someplace close to friends and family. Now is the time to start looking.

We are also watching for other opportunities here in Texas. If we were to find something which provided a RV site and paid hours we may re-locate for the remainder of the winter. We'll have to decide that on a case by case basis. It does no good to relocate if it is only going to provide 20 paid hours and 20 hours to pay for the site. There does not seem to be much close by for music venues although I continue to search for those opportunities as well.

So our lives have become somewhat dull in that we are simply working whatever hours we can scrounge together and looking for other opportunities. We have kind of just traded locations - but the weather continues to be better here than in Maine. We are still learning the ropes of what works and what does not work. It is becoming difficult for me as I have had the urge to travel more. But I realize that I must stay put long enough to make some money to continue on this journey.

All in all, we still do not regret our decision to embark on this journey. We are enjoying spending some quality time together. We are not driving each other crazy and we continue to get along very well despite the small space.

Soaring Eagle…

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A Little Cold Here in Texas…

Hello all. It is about 9 am here in Texas (that would be 10 am in the East). We had a chilly night last night. It got down to about 44 degrees. Well, we've had a few of them actually. I know Tonya posted yesterday on Facebook that it was chilly enough that she had to put on socks. LOL It has actually been chilly in the mornings here. I've had to wear a light jacket when I first head out to work for the past week. But it warms up rather quickly with most days topping out in the mid to high 70's. I am truly feeling sympathy for our friends and family in Maine right now. It is November 2 and you are already getting snow - and plow-able snow at that! I am so glad we decided to take this leap of faith and become full time RV'ers!

Life is not all fun and games though, In fact we have to watch our spending very carefully. We live in a very quiet town and while there are lots of things to do which do not necessarily cost money, gas does cost money so we are careful in what we choose to do.

Our first two weeks here have been challenging with Tonya coming down with a cold in the first week and me right after her. We are both on the mend, but continue to have some residual coughing at times. As I had promised before in a previous blog post, today I will be posting some pictures. Some of these pictures will cover more than just this area. They were pics that I had forgotten that I had taken during our 3 weeks on the road to getting here, and some will be from this area as well.

All in all, we are doing well. We are very fortunate to have friends here with about 10 acres of land who have been so gracious to let us stay here. We have electric and water hookups and have to take the rig to empty tanks about every 7 to 10 days. There is a place to empty the tanks about 5 miles away so it is not too much on an inconvenience. We topped off our Propane yesterday for the first time since we left Maine - it took about 5 gallons. So that was about $18.00 for a month of cooking, a little heating, hot water etc. That’s not too bad! I can live with that. It sure beats the hell out of paying what we were to heat hot water and heat the house in Maine!

This my oldest son Jason, standing with me in Greenbelt Maryland. We had a great week spending time with him. He is a great young man and we can talk for hours, and hours, and hours.

Jason with his Step-Mom Tonya.

These were taken at "South of The Border." It is kind of a rest area with a campground, all kinds of stores and things to do. We didn't spend any significant time there because finding a place to park the RV with the car in tow (42 feet long - combined length) was somewhat of a challenge. I had to get a shot of the Water tower because S.O.B. obviously stands for South of the Border, but it could also stand for something I've been called a time or two - NO not since Tonya and I have been on the road… We get along great and have only had a couple of times when we've gotten on each other's nerves.

A shot of the Big Sombrero at South of the Border.

A more comprehensive shot of South of The Border.

We have Dr. Phil her in Coldspring Texas! Okay, so it is not "the" Dr. Phil, but as I understand it, his name is not even "Phil," but nobody can pronounce his name so he decided to use Dr. Phil to make it easier.

This is a shot of Downtown Coldspring Texas. Pop 853 - although I don't think they’ve counted Tonya and I yet. So that would make it 855.

More of Downtown… I really like the "Western Feel" to it.

Again, more of Downtown.

This is part of Historic Downtown Coldspring Texas. This is the old historic Jail house. Apparently they are doing renovations. Either that or someone recently escaped and did lots of damage in the process. I've done some work on the AC units at the newer jail. Well, part of it anyway. The company I work for does the Contract Maint work on the AC units at the ICE unit in Livingston Texas. For those who don't know what the "ICE" unit is, this is where they keep the people who get caught crossing the border from Mexico.

If you look closely at this picture you will see that this is a small tow behind camper trailer which was the beginning of this home. They then built a roof over it and enclosed the back part so they could have a larger living space. There are lots of these types of homes in the area. This speaks in part to how poor the community is and how adaptable the people who live here are.

The area has all kinds of historic markers alongside the roads. Every once in a while we try to stop and see what history has been made here.

Same Marker different shot.

More of Historic Coldspring.

They still have their "Hanging Tree." How great is that?!

The Hanging Tree is a beautiful old tree. Just imagine the story's it could tell if it could speak.

As long promised… This is where we are living. You can see the little orange car and our camper. You can also see the office building where I work.

One shot down the road we live on.

Another shot of the road we live on… The opposite direction.

We even have a pasture with a Horse in it. His name is Winston. Our hosts (Mark & Susan) are boarding this horse for someone. I feel bad for the horse he does not get many visits from the girl who owns him. I try to go out and say hello every once in a while.

There is home sweet home. We are parked under a HUGE car port so it helps keep the rain off of our camper. It is a cozy little place.

So, there you have some pictures. The ones taken of where we live were taken today. The grass is still green, we still have bee's and other flying bugs, the crickets are still chirping at night. While we are headed toward fall here, the warm weather is still around especially during the day. I can live with a little coldness when it warms up into the 70's during the day. I really am not trying to rub it in - I am just so excited that it hit 70 on November 2nd!

Sorry this post was so late in being published. James (the guy who I work with and who is Mark & Susan's Son in law) came home at about 10 am this morning with two deer that he shot while hunting. He asked for help to dress them. When I asked why he had 2 deer he said that here in Texas (in this County San Jacinto) you can get up to 6 deer a year! That is so crazy to me. In Maine you are allowed 1 per year. So I spent the majority of the day helping dress and cut up deer meat. We can't hang them here like they do in Maine for some reason. They cut them into cooler sized chunks of meat and pack them with ice and let them drain for a few days. So I see some Venison in my very near future. I've already told them I'd love to try a BBQ Venison Steak!

Well that concludes this weeks chapter of our lives. Stay tuned next week and see what kind of trouble we get into.

Again if you want to see the pictures you've got to go to the blog and read it there.

Soaring Eagle…

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Regular Life Begins…

Good morning from Coldspring Texas! It is 6:30 am as I begin to write this. It is currently 57 degrees with an expected high of 87 today. I am really not trying to "rub it in," but rather to share with you the realities of our lives now. Okay, maybe I am rubbing it in just a little.

Today also marks the 1 month that we've been on the road. We continue to get along great (not that we suspected that we'd have troubles there) the smaller space really does not seem to impact us in any discernable way, unless you count the impacts of having to pack everything away each time we want to move the RV any distance. Such as later today when we have to drive it out to empty our tanks. But we've come to accept that is simply life on the road or life as a full timer.

We've settled in here in Texas. I have been working steady with work each day this past week. Not quite full time, but close to it. The town we live in is very small with a population of just over 800 people. The surrounding towns may be slightly larger with Livingston's population coming in at a few thousand. Everything is several miles away, much like it was in Turner Maine. This agrees with us just fine. I haven't picked up the local accent too badly yet, but I suspect by the time I get back to Maine I'll have that Texas southern drawl - so don't be surprised when I get home if I sound a bit different!

Tonya spent most of last week with what she thought was a sinus infection, but I have begun to experience a sore throat which started last night so perhaps it was a cold and now it's my turn. Perhaps I'll sweat it out when at work Monday & Tuesday. I'll be working on Air Conditioning units on the roof of the local prison located in the next town over from us. I am told the roof is very unforgiving and hot. And the temps are expected to stay in the lower to mid 80's all week long. Hey, I said I wanted warmer weather - I guess I've got that! It is okay, I'll take it.

So, we've settled into "regular life" here. There is not much exciting going on. We are simply trying to make some money and put it away to pay bills with and to start building up our funds for our trip home in May 2015. At this time we continue to park at our friends home with water and electric hookups. That itself is a big money saver. We have found a State Park located about 11 miles from where we are that is looking for Volunteer Camp Hosts and we are going to contact them and apply for that position. We would work between 20 and 30 hours a week (mostly late afternoon into evening) in exchange for a full hookup site with water, sewer, electric, and WIFI for up to 6 months. That would remove the need to pack everything up every 10 days to go dump tanks. Plus it would give us a reference for future State and National Parks with experience for applying for some of those other positions.

We battled with trying to get local TV stations to come in here. Our host said they'd be surprised if we were able to pull in the local CBS, NBC and such. Our first night here we were able to get CBS, although the picture would freeze and pixilate. I tried every different angle, location and strategy I could think of to get that channel in, but to no avail. I could sometimes get it in first thing in the morning and catch a little bit of the local news. But in the afternoon or evening - no way I could get it to come in. I finally went to Walmart and bought a signal booster for $16.00 and after a few different locations for the antenna I was able to get CBS to come in with great quality and consistently.

We knew when we began that we may have to live without TV and were both okay with that. But when I got it in one time I just cannot give up on it because I knew it could be done. Maybe that tenacity will serve me well on this journey. I think Tonya thought it was funny that I just could not give up until I beat it.

Because I've been working I have not had a chance to get out with the camera yet. I promise I will get pictures eventually. I am going to take it somewhat easy this weekend and try to head off this cold before it gets too bad. I will update again next week at about the same time / day.

Those of you who read this in the blog site, you can leave comments and that would be great if you did! We'd love to hear your thoughts and also know what is going on in your lives. Feel free to leave comments, just please remember that your comments are public and so therefore others will be able to see them too. So use your judgment about how much personal information you share.

Soaring Eagle…

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Travel, Florida, Florida to Texas… Or Bust

Our visit in Maryland was great! I love getting to spend time with my oldest son. He is very busy with a developing professional life and finishing his Masters Degree, but he always makes time when I get the chance to come to see him.

We are currently in Zellwood Florida. It is almost 7 am and the sun is rising in the east. We've been here since Oct 10th in the afternoon. The weather has been perfect, high 80's during the day and high 60's at night. We have had the AC on in the rig since we got here and got hooked up to electrical.

Prior to coming to Zellwood, we had 3 days to visit with Tonya's oldest friend. The visit was very nice and we always hate to see them end. I personally loved the good humored banter between the children and their mother and father. It was very clear that they are a close family with lots of respect to go around. It was refreshing to see how well they all got along. But like all good things… well you know the saying. We stayed at a nice little campground in Jacksonville where we were able to have full hookups for a reasonable price. While I was there I noticed that the front of the roof didn't look quite right. So I climbed up and took a look.

The Water & Ice shield that we had covered the front part of the roof with was coming up and peeling off. It was not a pretty sight. Thankfully our friend was there with her van and I hatched a quick plan to repair the roof. After some thought about the problem, I decided that we'd put a new piece of plywood down on the roof and do the best we could to seal it to get us through to Texas. I'll tell you I was sure glad that I kept my skill saw with me. I had thought about not bringing it due to the space it takes up. It was sure nice to have that to cut that plywood to fit. So far the roof repair seems to be holding up fine, although we have not had rain as of yet to see if there will be any leaks. It should be good but you just never know until you have had a rain to test it out.

The plan today is to assist with the owners of the land we've been camped on for the past 2 days with the clean up after yesterday's concert. We didn't get pictures of the concert. That is something Tonya and I have to get better about. We both don’t think of taking pictures until it is too late. I managed to get a couple of pictures today of the stage and sound system that was set up here. All in all it was a pretty good turn out for the day. We had several different bands play throughout the day starting at about 1 pm and there was constant music until 11 pm. This was a free event to the public and my good friend Dennis Moro committed so much time, money and energy into putting this together. Chuck and Carol hosted the venue and worked tirelessly to set up the sound system, stage and to run sound for all the bands. Dennis had band members who came from all over the United States to play this reunion concert. People came from California, South Dakota, Illinois, West Virginia… well you get the idea.

Once we've assisted with cleanup we will be headed toward Texas. There will be some stops along the way for rest, but for the most part the "Vacation" part of our journey is coming to an end. Its time now to get where we are going for the winter and get organized to start work. We’ve met lots of talented and interesting people over the past few days and had a great time socializing and enjoying their talents.

 

Trip From Florida to Texas

The trip from Florida to Texas was a tiring one and an exciting one. We kept to our word and only traveled 250 to 300 miles per day. The winds were crazy, which did not help our gas mileage at all. We average about 6.25 miles per gallon in high winds while towing the car. Needless to say, when I was told that our rig got 13 miles per gallon, I was mis-informed. But, like everything else in life - you deal with it as it comes and move on. We left Florida on Sunday afternoon. We spent some time helping to clean up the site where we had the concert, it was the right thing to do. It amazes me how people will go to a free event like this and just throw their trash on the ground for others to have to clean up after. Anyway, we helped the guys break down the sound system, wrap cords and generally get things put away. They said that they've never had anyone help break things down after and were truly appreciative of the help.

After some rest Sunday night, Tonya and I set out again on Monday headed for the Alabama and Mississippi State lines. We crossed into Mississippi and got a warning on my phone that there was a Tornado Watch. We pulled off of the highway into a rest stop and stayed for the rest of the night. The winds were high and the rains heavy, but no Tornado! We did however discover another leak in the back window of our rig right over the bed. Luckily we caught it before everything was soaked and were able to take some actions to keep the wetness to a minimum. It just made sleeping a little more difficult. The skies cleared up on Tuesday morning and we hit the road again to cross Louisiana.

Crossing Louisiana was fairly non-eventful. The Bayou's are interesting places I'd like to come back to at some point in the future just to investigate a little more. Tonya kept a lookout hoping to spot a Gator, but she had no such luck. We drove until about 5 pm and found a Walmart that we thought we may spend the night at. We pulled up and there was this old man there sitting in a camp chair outside of his Chevy Conversion Van. He had a sign on the front and back saying: "Need Job, or Dog Food, Or Food… No Alcohol please." Tonya and I did a little shopping for snack foods at the Dollar General and bought him a bag of dog food for his dog. Tonya said she'd cook dinner consisting of pork chops and green beans with Coscoos (not sure how to spell that food). She said that she'd make a plate for that old man as well. So I brought him over the dog food and met Sparky his dog. He was a friendly old guy with a strange name that I can't remember now. We chatted and I told him that he could have dinner with us and that Tonya was making him up a plate. He declined to come inside the camper for dinner - which I suspect is a safety rule of his - which I can certainly understand. So I brought him a plate to his Van and we conversed a short while after.

I have to say that my faith in humanity was restored and perhaps improved by this experience. In the couple hours we were there this man had like 5 different cars stop to give him food for himself and his dog and some gave a few dollars as well. One woman came back and asked him to follow her to the gas pumps so she could put gas into his van. People were very kind and generous. It was nice to see people helping their fellow human. However after he got gas he returned and while talking he said some things that caused Tonya to become uncomfortable, like perhaps he may try to take from us during the night if we stayed. At first she didn't say much about it but it was clear that she was not all that comfortable. I finally asked her straight out if she wanted to move on down the road to try and make the Texas boarder and she replied that she would prefer to do that. While driving I told her that I need for her to just come out with it if she's feeling uncomfortable in ANY situation so that we could take corrective action. My gut is pretty good at judging people but it is not infallible. We drove to the Texas border and stopped for the night at the Texas Welcome Center.

After setting up our second battery in series with the first house battery so that I may get a solid 6 hours of sleep we slept at the Texas border. I got to sleep for 5 hours straight for the first time since we left Florida. The next morning (Wednesday) we headed out for our final destination which was about 80 miles away. When I did wake up to start the rig to charge batteries, we got a loud knock on our door at about 3 am. This woman was asking for help with gas. She said her husband was abusive and that she was leaving him and was almost out of gas. I think she was looking for a cash handout, but she could have possibly been a prostitute - I am not sure. Either way, I told her I could help with a couple gallons of gas for her truck. I don't think she expected that I was actually going to put 2 gallons of gas in her truck. She thought I was going to hand her money… No Way! That could be way too easy to misconstrue what was really going on. I unlocked the generator compartment of the rig and actually put 2 gallons of gas in her truck. After she saw that I was giving her actual gas, she started talking about how hungry she was. Sorry but there was no way I was opening my wallet in front of her or giving her cash.

We arrived in Cleveland Texas which is about 17 miles outside of Coldspring. We called our friends and the people who were going to give me a job. When I got on the phone with them they gave directions to where they were and we were off again. The same people who have given me a job have been so gracious as to also give us a place to park the RV with water hookups and electric. So we visited for a short while and I found a place up the road a few miles who would let us empty our holding tanks for $7.00. I made the short drive after unhooking the car and tow dolly and emptied the tanks. I returned and parked under a metal car port which is plenty large enough to cover the RV. I plugged in and hooked up the water. I discovered that the water hookup was leaking quite a bit so I decided to replace the water connection to the RV the following day.

Susan took us out to eat a a local eatery and showed us around this little town. She kept saying, "There's really not much here to do, it is a quiet little town." That is something Tonya and I are really okay with. We'd prefer a quiet little town.

Unfortunately, Susan's husband Mark is not here. He is in NC doing Electrical Transmission Line work. I wish we had known that when we were passing through NC because we certainly would have made time to visit with him before moving on. Hopefully we will see him around the holidays at the very least.

So I began work the day after we arrived and went on several service calls with my new company that I work for, Bear Heating, Air Conditioning, and Appliance Repair. I don't know at this point the extent of my work week. It may be some weeks part time, some weeks full time. We DID arrive in Texas when the temps are cooling down and therefore it is their slow season. No problem anything is better than nothing. We are looking forward to settling in for the winter and getting to know this part of Eastern Texas on a more intimate level. The weather is perfect. The days are warm and in the lower 80's and the nights are in the 50's & 60's.

Yesterday, (Friday) we went to Houston to visit with my Niece, her husband and their daughter. We had a very nice visit and did a BBQ in their back yard. It was nice to see them and see how well they are doing. They've lived in Texas for a couple of years now and seem to have fit right in. It was really nice to be able to catch up with them and visit.

For the rest of this weekend we are planning on attending a car show here in Coldspring (Population 800-something). This is a nice little town with sidewalks that roll up around 8 pm and it is very quiet. That suites us just fine. There are several other little towns that are just a few miles away all very small and quiet. If we want the Big City Life, well Houston is about 50 miles away. We saw gas in Houston yesterday for $2.79 per gallon so that is always a welcome sign. I have to say however, that I think it is the calm before the storm. I would be surprised if gas stays that low.

I am sorry this blog post was SO late in coming out and being published. The travel days can be really difficult to find the time to write. I will get this down to a science as we go on. I look forward to getting some photo's for our next blog post so ya'll (sorry - just had to do that) can see a little bit of the town where we are. Until then… Stay safe, stay warm, and keep on living your dreams - whatever they may be.

Soaring Eagle…

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Learning New Things

Good morning from Greenbelt Maryland! We've been here since Tuesday and had some eventful times as we traveled from Connecticut to Maryland. The first thing that we learned is that it is important to stick to our original plan of traveling only 250 to 300 miles per day. When we left CT it was a little over 400 miles to Maryland and we decided that we could do that. Well, we accomplished it but were very worn down by the time we stopped for the night.

We learned that it is almost impossible to sleep at truck stops due to the high traffic and high noise. It amazes me that a group of people who do the same type of job have so little common courtesy for each other. They use their "Jake Brakes" while traveling through the parking lot, which is very loud, they slam doors, have discussions with their partner drivers or others right outside the rigs that have already been parked. I guess I understand if they have no respect for the Campers who are getting some shut eye, (not that I think that is okay either), but I can't understand the lack of respect for their fellow drivers. This is not meant to be offensive to any of the truckers out there - it is simply an observation - and perhaps not all drivers are this way. Rest areas are not much different, but with the addition of travelers who really don't care about others who may be trying to sleep.

However, we got the best sleep in a Walmart parking lot. There were several trucks there, as well as multiple RV's. we never heard a peep from any of them. They were courteous and quiet. To those who travel, please use common courtesy for truckers and other fellow travelers out there on the road. After all, if these people who are stopping to get some much needed rest do not get it, you may meet them out on the road and you wouldn't want their lack of sleep to cause and accident with you and your family.

Other discovery's made have been that the RV gets better gas mileage when running "high test." Yes it is more expensive and realistically probably does not change the final dollar amount when compared to the cheap stuff. But the rig runs better and has more power with far less "gas knock" which I assume is better for the motor.

When we left Hagerstown MD headed for Greenbelt, it was supposed to be an easy 50ish mile drive. We were going to get to the National Park by noon, set the rig up and relax until my son Jason got out of work. Well, we were driving along I-270 towards Washington DC and had a blow-out on the inside rear on the drivers side! When it blew we thought for sure the car had come off of the tow dolly and was rolling over and over down the road! It was LOUD! But once I heard the tire slapping against the fender well I knew it was a tire. Of course we were in the far left lane following the directions from our GPS which kept insisting we needed to be in the HOV lanes. Because of the GPS's insistence I felt sure that HOV lanes must branch off of the main highway and would therefore reduce the congestion of traffic. So, once the blow-out occurred I had to shoot across 4 other lanes to get into the breakdown lane. Honestly, I have no memory of what was around me but I managed to get across those lanes and come to a stop. I don’t know who was the unlucky person who was up my tail-pipe when that tire blew, but I bet they didn't like getting the chunk of tire in their windshield. Oh, and by the way… The HOV lanes never did branch off from the main highway! I think we become too reliant on the GPS.

Here is a picture of the blown tire. The Bang was impressive, and scared the hell out of both Tonya & I.

We called our Roadside Assistance program through Good-Sam's camping club and they dispatched someone who said they'd be there in 35 Minutes. We were quite impressed with this timely response and sat patiently waiting for their arrival. Meanwhile, cars, trucks, dump trucks, and about 15 police cars and 20 police motorcycles all passed us by without slowing, or moving over to give us room. This is why I didn't just change the tire myself! Each time someone would fly past us at 70 + miles per hour, the whole RV would roll side to side. My fear was that the traffic would blow the RV right off the jack! So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after an hour had passed I called Roadside Assistance again and had them check on the hold up. We received a call from the wrecker driver who stated that he could not find us. So I explained where I was again. I don't know if this Latino with a thick accent couldn't understand my Maine accent or what, but we continued to wait. After he called us back 2 more times he finally found us. He came over looked at the back wheel and said, "Hmm I don't know if I can change this!" I said "Huh???" He said, "well, lets see if I can." He didn't have a screw driver capable of taking off the deep seated hub caps that are on the rear wheels of our rig. I said "you hold on, I have tools." There was no way I was going to let this guy leave the scene before we got going again. So I went to work unstrapping my very large tool case that is strapped to the back of my rig. I found something that worked to remove the hub cap. I then presented him with the 1 inch socket that was required to remove the lug nuts and a breaker-bar to help. When the tow driver saw the tool box open he said, "man you got lots of tools there." I said "yeah, I hate to be broken down and not have tools to fix things."

So despite his tardiness, this young Latino man who must have had a death wish - because he never left any flashing lights going on his wrecker while he worked on the rig - worked diligently to change the tire. The rear mud flap was caught up in the tire and pretty much destroyed. He stated that he thinks that is what caused the tire to blow. I am not sure if I agree with him, but the mud flap was destroyed anyway so I handed him my hunting knife that I carry most everywhere now, (NCIS - Gibbs rule number 9 - always carry a knife - LOL), I warned him that it was very sharp. He began to cut the flap off and looked up at me and said, "you aren't kidding, this thing is sharp." The look on his face was hard to describe - sort of wondering why someone would be carrying a knife like this mixed with perhaps fear that he hadn't noticed that I was carrying it. It's probably a good thing that I was wearing my small hunting knife instead of my K-bar survival knife which is almost the size of a machete. LOL

So, after a 3 hour wait beside the road, we were on our way again. We drove (very carefully) to Greenbelt to the Greenbelt Park which is part of our Nation's National Park System, found our site, set up and paid the $96.00 for a 6 night stay. Now I began to worry about the other tires on the rig. Especially the front tires. They had great tread life left in them, but did show some weather cracking as did the rear that blew out. I made the decision that before we left Maryland, we'd have spanking new tires on the front of the RV. A blow out on the rear is bad enough, but I don't want to experience one on the steering tires. My oldest son Jason visited with us for a few hours after he got out of work and the following day I began searching for tire dealers who could set us up.

Customer service in the area of our Nation's Capitol sucks! (Another lesson learned). I called about 8 places for tires and got pretty much the same reply. "We don't stock that size." Not, well let me see if we can get them. They simply were not interested in working that hard. A couple of places asked for my number to call me back… I am still waiting to hear back from them 2 days later! Finally, I called a place in Marlow Heights Maryland called AC Tire Company. I spoke to a gentleman named Lou. Told him what I was looking for, but I mis-quoted the tire size. He said, "that can't be right." Of course now I am frustrated because of all the other calls I had made and was somewhat short with him and stated, "well, that is the size stamped into the sidewall of the tire." This guy, Lou never missed a beat, he continued to talk to me like I hadn't been a rude jerk. He said let me cross reference and get back to you - what's your number?" I gave him my number (of course thinking I'd never hear from him), and he said "I will call you back in 15 minutes."

So as I sat doing a slow burn, angry about how difficult it was proving to be to find tires for this rig. I got up and looked at the tire size again - I had mis-spoke, Lou had been right I had mis-quoted a number on the tire. So I called him back and he said, "Yeah, I found the tires, they are ordered and will be in tomorrow can you come in at 1 pm?"

The following day, we made the rig ready for travel. Tonya and I left at 11:15 am for what was supposed to be a 30 minute drive. Not knowing the area we wanted to ensure we got there on time. The short trip went without a hitch and we arrived a full hour early. I went inside and the guy at the counter said, "your tires just arrived." I stated that I knew I was very early and that I didn't expect them to take it in until they were ready at 1 pm. I was told that they were glad I was early and that they would start work on it right away. I asked if they could fit in an oil and filter change while they were at it. He said that would not be a problem. I had them replace the oil with full synthetic oil as I've read that it improves gas mileage by up to a couple of miles per gallon. So two tires and new synthetic oil and we were on the road again. The RV handles much better than it had and it runs smoother after having the oil changed.

As a side note: I was planning to keep the extra dis-mounted tire for a backup. Tonya walked by the rig while it was being worked on and noticed the tire had chunks missing from it in places where it was showing steel belts. Whew we were lucky that we didn't blow a front tire!

So I am so very impressed from the level of service a AC Tire Company that I want to be sure to tell everyone. If you are traveling around our Nation's Capital and ever need your car, truck or RV serviced - give these guys a call. They are great people all the way from management to the techs that do the actual work. They were courteous, fast, and will meet your needs. I can't say enough about them. Thank you Lou and the rest of your crew at AC Tire Company their address and phone info is here:

A.C. Tire Company 4424 Beech Road Marlow Heights Maryland 20748 Telephone: (301) 423-4424 Tell them Scott & Tonya sent you.

So we drove back to Greenbelt Park, emptied our holding tanks, topped off with our water reserve and re-leveled the rig for a few more days. We will be leaving Maryland on Monday October 6th. We will drive to Dunn NC and spend an overnight at a friend's place and leave the following day and continue on our journey to Florida. We expect to visit friends in Jacksonville on the 9th and morning of the 10th, then continue south to Zellwood to Jam at a Reunion Concert on the 11th with our friend (and great guitarist) Dennis Moro. We will stay overnight on the 11th and leave the morning of the 12th to head into Mississippi or Louisiana. (Although, we are considering a possible additional night in Jacksonville to re-visit our friends there since we won't have much time with them the first time). Once we hit New Orleans we will probably stay for a day or two before continuing west to Texas - our final destination for the winter.

We have also learned some things about the RV itself. We were having trouble with keeping our battery power charged and had to start the rig every 4 hours to re-charge. The Generator is not charging the batteries when it is running. This is an aftermarket gen set that is not hard wired into the RV - I am thinking this may be the problem. It seems that I have found a work around until I can get a friend with lots of electrical knowledge to look at things. As I had stated in a previous post, I had replaced the House Battery before leaving Maine. However, I kept the old house battery. So I have wired them in together following the instructions that came with my power inverter to double the energy that we have available.

And finally, I have learned that I can make my batteries charge time last FAR longer by unplugging a power strip that we use to charge laptops, cell phones etc at night. I unplugged (as opposed to just turning off) the power strip last night and the house batteries charge lasted throughout the night. I am sure we will continue to learn these little things as time goes on. Give us 6 months and we'll be old pro's.

When we first arrived at the Park, we had a gentleman stop and ask if there were any full hookups here. We informed him that there were not, and that you could not run generators after 10 pm. He asked how people are supposed to stay warm. We laughed as we stated that we were from Maine and the low this night was supposed to be 61 degrees. We told him that we considered anything over 40 degrees to be a heat wave and typically wore shorts in that weather.

Speaking of weather; it rained the first night here and on Friday night. The days have been warm but not hot, the nights have been mostly in the 50's except for Saturday night into Sunday morning. It got down to 40 degrees - a little crisp in the early morning, but tolerable for sure.

Pics of Greenbelt Park:

Our Campsite

We don't have an Awning for our camper, so we sue this instead… Donated by family. Thank you, it worked great when it rained.

We had a very spacious Campsite with lots of wooded area.

Lots of Dead wood to choose from for campfires. But it had gotten pretty wet from the rains.

Taken from the front of our Campsite.

Again, I plan to write about weekly. Sometimes it may be 8 days others it may be 6. But I will try to ensure I am keeping it close to weekly updates.

Soaring Eagle…

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The Journey Begins

Well we have begun our journey. We started off by traveling to southern Maine to spend some time with family and say our farewell's for the several months that we will be away. It is admittedly an adjustment to be staying one night here, and one night there. We don't end up setting up the whole of our living area because we know that it will all have to be taken down the following day. We are continuing to work out the logistics of life on the road. But we felt this would all be good practice for when we are actually out there doing it. Plus it gives us a chance to get the feel for what we need to be doing and the most efficient way to do it.

We are currently in Stafford Connecticut where we are visiting with friends and family. We will be here until Monday morning. We have the good fortune of having friends here who have let us park on their property for a few days. Unfortunately, they have to work on Saturday. They are both career soldiers in the U.S. Army and this was a drill weekend for them. We thank them not only for their hospitality in hosting us for a few days, but we also thank them for their selfless service to our country for so many years.

Some of you may wonder why we don’t tend to use the names of our friends and family that we visit, or why we don't share pictures of them. We may share that information as time goes on, but will only do so when we've specifically asked permission to share such details on social media. We feel that we have a responsibility to protect and respect the privacy of our friends and family. Not everyone feels comfortable with having personal information out there where just anyone can read it. Add to this the fact that some clever souls are able to get at location information in pictures, either for curiosity's sake or for more evil purposes - we want to do everything that we can to protect this information

So what we've learned so far in our journey.

It will always take you longer in an RV to reach your destination than you first anticipate.

The gas mileage is never as much as you had hoped it would be.

You CAN NOT back up while the car is on the tow dolly.

People do not want to be behind you when you are driving an RV.

We will continue to learn more and more as time goes on. We will also eventually post pictures of our adventures. That is more likely to start when we are visiting our Nation's National Parks and State Parks rather than when we boon docking on the lawns of our friends homes.

One important fact we have learned (this may pertain to only me however), I cannot sleep if the rig is parked with the rear lower than the front. Whenever we've done this I always wake up with severe acid reflux. So we have learned that if we can't be completely level, we need to have the rear of the rig higher up. I have also learned that it is much more difficult for me to write due to not having an "office" and that I really dislike the keyboard on laptops. But I think I may have found my work-around. I am using a Bluetooth keyboard that I bought to use with the Ipad I used to own. This seems to be working much better for me. The problem with the laptop keyboard is the mouse pad keeps getting in my way - although, as I typed that last sentence I found the control key to turn it off. Either way, its just one of those things that is an adjustment to this new lifestyle. I will adapt with time.

So we will remain in Connecticut for the next few days, then we move on down the road further south. Our grandchildren had it right a few days ago when they said we were "hibernating!" I really do have some smart Grandkids! We expect to arrive in Maryland on Monday September 29th. We are hoping to get a site at one of the National Parks there for our stay. Hopefully that will allow us to take some pictures for our next blog post. The visit in Maryland will be for about a week. I am excited to get so spend some time with my oldest son. We haven't seen him since last December and it will be great to spend some time with him.

Well… I suppose that concludes this post. Hey, how about that, this is probably the shortest post I've done yet! Not to worry I am sure as time goes on the posts will get longer again. I've never been accused of not having something to say! Until next time…

Soaring Eagle

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Our New Home!

I fought with myself about writing and posting a blog today. I want to be sure that those who lost their lives 13 years ago today, on 9/11/01, are remembered and that America Remembers the tragedy which occurred on that day. On September 11, 2001 we lost much more than the lives that were taken as a direct result of planes hitting the Twin Towers, The Pentagon, and that field in Pennsylvania, we lost many of our Freedom's. Many lives were changed forever on that fateful day.

In some ways, I guess our decision to become Full Time RV'ers is tied to that event. The massive loss of life that day caused many people to come to the realization that we may not have a tomorrow. Tonya and I have worked to try and make a better, more comfortable life, for whatever reason, it just has not worked out that way. Our paychecks just don't seem to keep up with the rising prices of everything. More than that though, I've felt more fearful since 9/11/01. Not fearful of the Terrorists (whether foreign or domestic, depending on your beliefs about who was truly behind the attacks that day), but fearful of the Liberties and Freedom that was lost that day. Fearful of our own Government who are circumventing personal freedoms in the name of protecting us.

I've grown tired of working and paying so many high taxes. Taxes that are used to fund other countries. Wasteful spending of my hard earned money to help countries who will in turn probably hate us. So the attacks of 9/11/01 certainly play into our decision to make this life change. It is with the highest respect for the victims of that fateful day and their families that we've decided to take back the control in our lives and go on the road to experience freedom.

It has been a very busy past few weeks. We've purchased our Motorhome. We've made the necessary upgrades that fit our needs and we've done it right at our budgeted amount. We've tested all the systems and are very happy that everything seems to be in good working order. We've packed it with most of what is coming with us belongings including clothing and music and PA equipment. The most difficult part of all of this is fighting the desire to just leave now! I've always had trouble with waiting. This is no different. I am in a hurry to begin our new life. It’s a good thing that I have Tonya to reel me back in.

I am not going to bore you with the details of upgrades we made, but perhaps some pictures are in order.

Our New Home - A 1985 Fleetwood Arrow on a Chevy Van 30 Frame. It has a Newer Chevy 350 Engine with about 25,000 miles on it. It has 6 New Tires with great tread.

Here is a side view. The previous owner states that he got about 13 miles per gallon with this. She is 23 feet long, which is tight but will allow us maneuverability to get into and out of tight spots.

This is a sign that a Great Friend made for our new home. He and his other half came to our last show when we performed at the Smilin' Moose in South Paris Maine. On the back side he had others who were present sign it with special messages for us. Such a beautiful sign with lots of love and thoughtfulness.

Tonya has put some personal touches in so we feel more like it is "home."

More personal touches, this is only appropriate to our new lifestyle. A gift from our Niece who is studying photography in college. This picture was given to us like 2 years ago… Hmm maybe she knew something that we didn’t.

As I've said, it is small inside. This is our sleeping quarters. It is a good thing Tonya and I have had such a wonderful marriage for the past 23 years and we know how well we get along.

We had to do some repair over the bunk area. We decided to close off the window as we are only using this area for storage of our PA system and music equipment. We put in new Wainscoting as we both like the way it looks.

Our Dining area. Where it will only be the two of us most of the time, we are going to put our Color Laser Printer on the floor under the table. We'll be able to sit at the ends of the booth without kicking it, and it is a good safe place for it to ride. The Color Laser Printer will allow us to do some desktop publishing while traveling plus it will provide us a method to create our own "press packs" for getting Gigs to play music and make a living.

That Cabinet was re-purposed. It had been in our home and we had this big empty space. Tonya is such an intelligent woman! She saw that space and knew that cabinet would fit perfectly. She went and bought some spray paint to spruce it up and here it is all installed.

A pic from the Dining area toward the back of the home. Shows the kitchen, bathroom and sleeping quarters.

And finally, a pic from the bedroom toward the front of the RV. For such an old rig this thing is really in good shape. We are feeling a little apprehensive about how small it is, but we feel this is the best way to get started. We can make this work for a year or two and see what our options are at that time.

I can tell you that as we get closer to our departure date, we are both chomping at the bit to get rolling down the road. There have been some cool nights but we've been very comfortable sleeping in the RV. We've got lots of blankets on our bed (Tonya likes to be toasty warm while she sleeps).

We've been sleeping in the RV since last Sunday (9/7/14). We now have most of our belongings that are coming with us in the RV with the exception of my office. We plan to have my office belongings out here by Sunday night (9/14/14). That will give us 17 days to "live" in the RV completely independent of the house. That will test our systems and give us an idea of how frequently we will need to empty holding tanks, refill fresh water, and how long our house battery's will carry us. Additionally it will help us to understand how much fuel to expect to burn with the Generator.

My next blog post is most likely to take place once we've begun our Journey. It will be kind of slow going at first. We will be traveling down the Eastern States. We plan a stop in Connecticut, Then Maryland, a couple stops in Florida with maybe an overnight in New Orleans before heading to our final winter destination of Coldspring Texas.

Soaring Eagle

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