3/19/13 marks our first year of fulltime rving. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed! We have seen and done so much. It hasn't all been a bed of roses. In Oklahoma we had a break down and our home was towed in for repairs. One mile from our destination in Oregon we had a flat tire on our trailer. And worst of all, we had a mouse in our house! That almost ended it for me!
We will be in Colorado for the summer then returning to Lake Mead Recreation Area in the fall.
Steve and I feel very blessed to be living this life. It may not be for everyone, but if it is your dream, go for it!
-- Edited by FOSJ on Monday 18th of March 2013 10:49:49 PM
phyllen said
06:07 AM Mar 19, 2013
Congrats! We all go through those breakdowns, etc. In 2011 we had TWO blowouts on the rig within three hours. One on I-95 in Connecticut and then on I-287 in NJ. Late on a Saturday afternoon. No spare once we had the 2nd tire go. Also, in 2010 separated the back wall when got too close to a barrier in front on a diesel pump. But we are still moving along.
Mice? Oh yea, them too. Never saw one but have seen "traces". So join the club! Sounds like you had a typical first year. May the second give you smooth roads.
FOSJ said
06:43 AM Mar 19, 2013
Knock on wood we've not had any tires blow out! I've read blogs about them and they are very scary!
bigboomer said
01:01 PM Mar 19, 2013
Congrats Joan and Steve,
My how time flys when your having fun, huh? Keep up the great attitude and take one day at a time is all anyone can ask. If endured the first year, then you are well on your way to more exciting adventures and stops along the road of life! We just hit 7 months last week and it keeps getting easier to get use too!
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary. We are just now in our 7th month. There is nothing like this lifestyle. Safe travels.
GENECOP said
10:30 PM Mar 19, 2013
Congrats......may you have many more years of FUN......
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
11:18 PM Mar 19, 2013
Congrats!
Hdrider said
11:24 PM Mar 19, 2013
Thats great!! Congrats!!
JayKim-no regrets said
01:14 AM Mar 20, 2013
Congrats Joan and Steve!!
We are in Florida this week, meeting up with old friends from Canada. This is our 7th month, but only our 2nd trip.This time with our new Tow Dolly!
We had a little bit of a scare on the trip down here on Friday, we were looking for a 'free' nights dry camping, we saw a Cracker barrel off the freeway and lots of other eateries, gas and hotels etc, looked promising, so we pulled off, big mistake! The Cracker barrel was in the middle of a big mall, no way to get to it without winding through the narrow roads. Jay decided to go past the mall and try and get on a wider road that would take us around the back of the mall and would lead us back to the freeway.
We took a right turn, unfortunately it was a brand new road next to a new apartment complex, they had only opened one half and the road we chose split the two halves, our road was a dead end!!! It may not have been so bad, but the road had an island with high pavements down the middle of it, and each side was maybe 12 foot wide! We have a 40ft MH and a tow dolly with ford escape in back! What an experience that was, unhooking tow dolly, taking car off, then Jay trying to maneuver the RV around that tight road, forward/reverse, then even after all that the island was still under the RV on one side, he had no choice but to go over it! Thank goodness I was not inside, I would have had a nervous breakdown! Seeing the shaking of the RV hitting the ground after going over that island was awful.
We look on it as a learning experience, we will never get off the freeway again unless it is a Flying J, travel center or a rest area!
We do have a Rand Mcnally GPS for RV's, unfortunately, we were only using it on the 'map' page, not the road directions, or it would have warned us not to go down that road...All good practice for our full-time travels next year! You have to laugh huh?
Theres nothing like first hand experience! You just have to be able to go with the flow. Gives you something to talk about later.
Have fun in Florida! I heard the weather has been nice.
It's been a fun week so far, weather is lovely, although today was in the mid 89's which with the humidity, is a little warm for me!
Hoping (praying) for an uneventful trip back to Charleston come Saturday
huggs Kim x
FOSJ said
03:59 PM Mar 20, 2013
Kim,
When Steve and I left Florida I told him I wanted to be somewhere between Florida hot and Minnesota cold. I don't want to sweat in the shade ever again! Florida has three seasons: hot, hotter and hot as hell!
Have a safe trip home!
Joan
cherylbrv said
04:38 PM Mar 20, 2013
JayKim-no regrets wrote:
We had a little bit of a scare on the trip down here on Friday, we were looking for a 'free' nights dry camping, we saw a Cracker barrel off the freeway and lots of other eateries, gas and hotels etc, looked promising, so we pulled off, big mistake! The Cracker barrel was in the middle of a big mall, no way to get to it without winding through the narrow roads. Jay decided to go past the mall and try and get on a wider road that would take us around the back of the mall and would lead us back to the freeway.
That IS pretty scary! However, isn't that the norm? I mean, at some point you always have to get off of an exit. How do you get to campgrounds and parks?
JayKim-no regrets said
03:48 PM Mar 21, 2013
FOSJ wrote:
Kim,
When Steve and I left Florida I told him I wanted to be somewhere between Florida hot and Minnesota cold. I don't want to sweat in the shade ever again! Florida has three seasons: hot, hotter and hot as hell!
Have a safe trip home!
Joan
I hear ya! I am a true Brit, love the rain and cooler temps, luckily Jay isn't a sun worshipper either and we both hate the humidity, both of us are more than ready to get out of Charleston and the heat there.
huggs Kim x
JayKim-no regrets said
03:53 PM Mar 21, 2013
cherylbrv wrote:
JayKim-no regrets wrote:
We had a little bit of a scare on the trip down here on Friday, we were looking for a 'free' nights dry camping, we saw a Cracker barrel off the freeway and lots of other eateries, gas and hotels etc, looked promising, so we pulled off, big mistake! The Cracker barrel was in the middle of a big mall, no way to get to it without winding through the narrow roads. Jay decided to go past the mall and try and get on a wider road that would take us around the back of the mall and would lead us back to the freeway.
That IS pretty scary! However, isn't that the norm? I mean, at some point you always have to get off of an exit. How do you get to campgrounds and parks?
Yep, you do have to get off, we just have to be sure that we are getting off in an area that is more conducive to larger vehicles in future, we do not want to go through that again!
It's all a learning experience though, the best way to know you won't get into that spot again is to use your handy dandy GPS
PIEERE said
06:45 PM Mar 21, 2013
Remember back in 2008 when my handy dandy GPS took me down a one way street in the wrong direction in Washington DC with a load of 8 golf carts on a 28" gooseneck trailer being pulled by a 99 Dodge dually. Very Exciting too say!!! Another time it took me to a farm gate in northern Maryland that was suppose to be a country road to the next town. Never did find out where that locked farm gate road would have taken me. The wonders of technologies. I always had road atlases after these two incidences and double checked the routes.
FOSJ said
10:33 PM Mar 21, 2013
The GPS is not always the answer. On our trip to our first RV-Dreams Rally in Tennessee we followed our Garmin. We were on a great road with pastures all around. Problem was it kept getting narrower and narrower. Steve thought it must be taking us in a "back entrance" to the park. It became one lane with no where to turn around and then dead ended! It had fencing all around it so we still couldn't turn around. Steve had to back up 1/4 of a mile. That's when the owner of the horse farm came up and opened one of the gates for us to back into. When he heard we had backed up from the dead end he told Steve he should have no problem backing into the gate. Did I mention that we were trailering three motorcycles in an 18' trailer? It was very intense at the time. I wanted to take a few pictures but didn't dare. We made it to the rally and had a great time. We learned so much that we were able to start our dream a year and a half earlier than planned.
Life is good....no... great!
WestWardHo said
04:14 PM Mar 24, 2013
Congratulations Joan & Steve!
OMG Jay & Kim!!
Cant wait until we can post our anniversary.
Sherry
Hdrider said
04:23 PM Mar 24, 2013
Not so long ago I was trusting our GPS and the next thing I knew it was saying the famous words (Approaching your destination on the left) IT WAS A CEMETARY!!!! I wasn't ready for that stop so we found a wide spot in the road and turned around LOL!!
JayKim-no regrets said
08:39 PM Mar 25, 2013
I think we would have been ok were we using the step by step directions of the GPS, it is the Rand McNally one that is especially for RV's. Unfortunately, we weren't, we just had the map up at the time.
It is a learning experience, it's a good one if you can look back and laugh, having done no damage to the RV or yourselves
After getting back to our 'home base' in SC, we have realized that we now need to buy one of those guards that hang from the back bottom of the RV, the tow dolly and car were covered in sand, grit and dirt from the trip home, I think the storms followed us all the way from Florida!! We had a great week there with great friends, wouldn't have missed it for anything! Just makes us more determined to get everything tied up, so we can get out on the road full-time!
3/19/13 marks our first year of fulltime rving. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed! We have seen and done so much. It hasn't all been a bed of roses. In Oklahoma we had a break down and our home was towed in for repairs. One mile from our destination in Oregon we had a flat tire on our trailer. And worst of all, we had a mouse in our house! That almost ended it for me!
We will be in Colorado for the summer then returning to Lake Mead Recreation Area in the fall.
Steve and I feel very blessed to be living this life. It may not be for everyone, but if it is your dream, go for it!
-- Edited by FOSJ on Monday 18th of March 2013 10:49:49 PM
Mice? Oh yea, them too. Never saw one but have seen "traces". So join the club! Sounds like you had a typical first year. May the second give you smooth roads.
Knock on wood we've not had any tires blow out! I've read blogs about them and they are very scary!
Congrats Joan and Steve,
My how time flys when your having fun, huh? Keep up the great attitude and take one day at a time is all anyone can ask. If endured the first year, then you are well on your way to more exciting adventures and stops along the road of life! We just hit 7 months last week and it keeps getting easier to get use too!
Safe Travels,
Les
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary. We are just now in our 7th month. There is nothing like this lifestyle. Safe travels.
We are in Florida this week, meeting up with old friends from Canada. This is our 7th month, but only our 2nd trip.This time with our new Tow Dolly!
We had a little bit of a scare on the trip down here on Friday, we were looking for a 'free' nights dry camping, we saw a Cracker barrel off the freeway and lots of other eateries, gas and hotels etc, looked promising, so we pulled off, big mistake! The Cracker barrel was in the middle of a big mall, no way to get to it without winding through the narrow roads. Jay decided to go past the mall and try and get on a wider road that would take us around the back of the mall and would lead us back to the freeway.
We took a right turn, unfortunately it was a brand new road next to a new apartment complex, they had only opened one half and the road we chose split the two halves, our road was a dead end!!! It may not have been so bad, but the road had an island with high pavements down the middle of it, and each side was maybe 12 foot wide! We have a 40ft MH and a tow dolly with ford escape in back! What an experience that was, unhooking tow dolly, taking car off, then Jay trying to maneuver the RV around that tight road, forward/reverse, then even after all that the island was still under the RV on one side, he had no choice but to go over it! Thank goodness I was not inside, I would have had a nervous breakdown! Seeing the shaking of the RV hitting the ground after going over that island was awful.
We look on it as a learning experience, we will never get off the freeway again unless it is a Flying J, travel center or a rest area!
We do have a Rand Mcnally GPS for RV's, unfortunately, we were only using it on the 'map' page, not the road directions, or it would have warned us not to go down that road...All good practice for our full-time travels next year! You have to laugh huh?
JayKim-no regrets
Theres nothing like first hand experience! You just have to be able to go with the flow. Gives you something to talk about later.
Have fun in Florida! I heard the weather has been nice.
It's been a fun week so far, weather is lovely, although today was in the mid 89's which with the humidity, is a little warm for me!
Hoping (praying) for an uneventful trip back to Charleston come Saturday
huggs Kim x
When Steve and I left Florida I told him I wanted to be somewhere between Florida hot and Minnesota cold. I don't want to sweat in the shade ever again! Florida has three seasons: hot, hotter and hot as hell!
Have a safe trip home!
Joan
That IS pretty scary! However, isn't that the norm? I mean, at some point you always have to get off of an exit. How do you get to campgrounds and parks?
I hear ya! I am a true Brit, love the rain and cooler temps, luckily Jay isn't a sun worshipper either and we both hate the humidity, both of us are more than ready to get out of Charleston and the heat there.
huggs Kim x
Yep, you do have to get off, we just have to be sure that we are getting off in an area that is more conducive to larger vehicles in future, we do not want to go through that again!
It's all a learning experience though, the best way to know you won't get into that spot again is to use your handy dandy GPS
Life is good....no... great!
OMG Jay & Kim!!
Cant wait until we can post our anniversary.
Sherry
It is a learning experience, it's a good one if you can look back and laugh, having done no damage to the RV or yourselves
After getting back to our 'home base' in SC, we have realized that we now need to buy one of those guards that hang from the back bottom of the RV, the tow dolly and car were covered in sand, grit and dirt from the trip home, I think the storms followed us all the way from Florida!! We had a great week there with great friends, wouldn't have missed it for anything! Just makes us more determined to get everything tied up, so we can get out on the road full-time!