We've only been full time for a little over 5 months now and the first 3 months we were moving around so rapidly due to work, art shows, domicile change, truck upgrade, etc. that we didn't always have time to appreciate our location as much as we would have liked. Before that we were part-timers and never really minded when it was time to move onto the next destination on our vacation or if it was time to return home, we were generally happy to be heading home. Our attitude seems to have gone through an unexpected change now that we're FT and no longer have a S&B to return to.
Over the past month we've stayed at 2 different county parks that we absolutely fell in love with, huge sites, quiet, close enough to town without being too close, wildlife, desert plants to discover and wonder what we were seeing, magnificent sunsets, W/E hooks up for $25/night.
We do plan to go back to each of these parks as we pass through here in February but today we had to relocate to be closer to an art show we have next week. So today, as we were procastinating about leaving and wondering if we could wait until the middle of the week to move, etc. we had to laugh over how attached we had become to our desert campsite. Instead of going "home", we were having to move our home on wheels to an RV park where rigs are closer to their neighbor than we prefer, in a more crowded, densely populated area than we like.
We have no desire to own a S&B at this time, love living life on the road, but we sure are finding ourselves attached to areas where we want to linger longer and feeling sad when we have to leave sooner than we were ready due to work or art show schedules.
Is this normal or are we just being silly? We know we are blessed to be FT before retirement and sometimes that means having to move to be at the next art show or move to get closer to an airport so I can fly out of town for those occasional business trips, but today we were both really not ready to move on.
Lucky Mike said
08:04 PM Dec 1, 2013
in its own cynical way.....yup its normal!!!!!!
there are many more places and faces.....and each time during your journey you will find as Howard puts it.....this is it.... "The IT Spot"
The best comes as you make the second lap.....you get giddy because your going back!!!....you already have plans and you know your going back.....it goes on your premium list of places to stop!!
by the way ....this list becomes a book in which you only share secretly with very close friends!!!...(on the forum of course)
the best part of fulltiming is in the first year.......you get to see and explore so many places each being so different than the last!!!!
Live , breathe , Relax........
PIEERE said
08:31 PM Dec 1, 2013
What is nice Dale and Ruth is you are mobile and can go back! Remember also that the new 'Place' you don't particularly care for is only a temporary spot. I have been in that predicament when I was work camping; staying and working and waiting for the next employment opportunity. It was a lesson though that taught me to ask more questions before accepting future positions!
I also had worked in places I didn't want to leave because of all the friends I met; the places we visited in the off time and the employer who treated us well. Sometimes we have to look for that pot-0-gold at the end of the rainbow a bit harder. Have Fun; Explore; and enjoy each other! PIEERE
Hdrider said
08:54 PM Dec 1, 2013
Yep,,, we have been moving pretty much every week for a year now and we have had that same feeling now and again. But we always say there will be more places down the road that we will hate to leave and we are looking forward to seeing them.
We don't have anything to make us move like you do with the art shows but we just want to move to see what's there. I admit that after a year of moving every week I am looking forward to finding that place with the (IT) factor at setting for a month to see what that's like again.
jrzygrl64 said
09:58 PM Dec 1, 2013
I have thought about this very subject many times recently. I am very attached to my home, I usually look forward to coming home after being gone. I do believe that was due to wanting to see my kids (when they werent' with me), my pets, etc. Since my kids no longer live here and we will be bringing the pets with us, I believe that our home on the road will be very satisfying. I do have some lingering concerns that someday I might want a new S&B's to "nest" in, but hubby feels the same way, so if one or both of us ever feel strongly about that, we have an understanding that we will look into settling back down. I look forward to being able to spend as much time as we want in an area, long enough to become "attached". We have been to many places, sometimes we are ready to move on, but a lot of times there is so much more to see that we don't get to see b/c we have such limited time to spend. We are looking forward to going back to those places, as well as finding completely new ones! Home is where the heart is as they say, which is a bit sad since my kids no longer live with us, but I have to remind myself that this is what they are supposed to do - find their own way and build their own lives. We can visit and/or have them come visit us when we are somewhere wonderful, like maybe Alaska or Yellowstone or Nova Scotia! And, there is always phone calls, skype and FB. Thank goodness for technology!
So, no I do not think you are silly at all! I think it is normal to like being someplace and I think it is great that you have found places that you are not only comfortable with, but can actually call it "attached".
bjoyce said
10:22 PM Dec 1, 2013
As others have said, it is totally normal. But as others have said, you will find more places you want to stay longer at. You can't stay at them all. When you leave you can put the Song, "Time to Say Goodbye" (Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli) on.
Technomadia said
10:48 PM Dec 1, 2013
Yup, completely normal. I've come to appreciate leaving a place still craving more - it means we found a gem, and it's on the list to return to. The best part? There are LOTS of those gems out there, each unique with their prefect factor for you at the time. And sometimes, you just gotta leave so can discover another.
And yup, along the way there will be spots not as nice. Helps keep them in perspective :)
- Cherie
soos said
11:16 PM Dec 1, 2013
There are SO many places that we have been that we would have liked to have settled in and stayed longer. Many times that happens when we are in a period of moving fast (which is most of the time for us). For example, we spent 10 weeks in Canada this summer. We kept moving every few days so we could see more of the country, but many times we were reluctant to move. We stayed at some great parks and in the end, made the decision to skip a few stops on our list so we could enjoy where we were.
After 4 years of travel, we know ourselves pretty well. We like to move pretty fast for a couple of months, then slow down and stop for 3-4 weeks. By that time we have severe Hitch Itch and are ready to pick up the pace again.
Your feelings may be compounded by the fact that you have to leave due to work. In our case, if we really wanted to stay that badly, I guess we could, most of the time.
So, yeah, its a normal feeling.
Sue
Dog Folks said
08:00 AM Dec 2, 2013
When we move, from a spot we really like, it always has a little "sadness." So far, the excitement of the new place off sets it.
el Rojo and Pam said
08:18 AM Dec 2, 2013
I hear the sadness of having to move, but what I hear more is the excitement of your new life. Ruth, believe it or not, your post instills the desire to FT for those of us who are not quite there yet, we can't wait to have these feelings.
Thanks for sharing.
Red
NWescapee said
09:20 AM Dec 2, 2013
Thanks everyone for the responses. LOL, just booked another week in January at one of these favorite places after we return from Quartzsite, it's nice to look forward to returning to a place we know has the "IT" factor!!
SnowGypsy said
06:51 PM Dec 3, 2013
We have moved around a lot. I started moving 39 years ago when I was 20 years old. While I don't regret it, no place feels like home and I never attach to a location anymore as they are always just a pit stop, despite the length of time we are living there, before moving on. It has been a bittersweet experience but it makes the RV lifestyle an attractive one. "No strings."
manycats said
09:12 PM Dec 3, 2013
Like SnowGypsy, I started moving to different locations (work requirement) in 1963 and I don't think I've ever stopped. Usually the longest stay in one place was 5 yrs. Made many friends during all those years and miss some of them, but, there's always new friends around the corner. Now we've been in our current place (and working for the same companies) for 5 yrs and it's time for new adventures. That's what the RV Dream is all about...
WestWardHo said
08:48 PM Dec 4, 2013
As usual Ruth, you have started an interesting thread! Before we went full-time our experience was that we were hurrying to get someplace and found delightful spots along the way where we wanted to spend MORE time and it was a difficult decision to full-time as we lived in an IT spot. But we wanted to see and experience more. I can totally relate to your last two parks having been to both.
Also I've lived in 12 states and Jesse as many, as well as countries, in his Air Force brat childhood and Navy career so maybe it's a little easier for the two of us to move on. I've grown to love each place I've lived and the next one more (except Cleveland). There have been places we've stayed in our Trilogy that for a variety of reasons we have no desire to return to again, but we stay easily as we know we're moving on.
As Sue said, we're learning about ourselves and what we like. Moving slowly is preferred for us but not always possible depending upon our plans/goals. So it's a mixture for us. We're currently at the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach for a month. It's one of my favorite places not for some IT reasons but for the security, cleanliness, large spaces, convenience, family and friends to say nothing of shopping and walking by the ocean. (Having lived in a very small IT town for 5 years the convenience of having those little items we've been thinking about nearby is a plus).
Guess we like to mix it up and El Rojo, you'll be out there with us soon!
We've only been full time for a little over 5 months now and the first 3 months we were moving around so rapidly due to work, art shows, domicile change, truck upgrade, etc. that we didn't always have time to appreciate our location as much as we would have liked. Before that we were part-timers and never really minded when it was time to move onto the next destination on our vacation or if it was time to return home, we were generally happy to be heading home. Our attitude seems to have gone through an unexpected change now that we're FT and no longer have a S&B to return to.
Over the past month we've stayed at 2 different county parks that we absolutely fell in love with, huge sites, quiet, close enough to town without being too close, wildlife, desert plants to discover and wonder what we were seeing, magnificent sunsets, W/E hooks up for $25/night.
We do plan to go back to each of these parks as we pass through here in February but today we had to relocate to be closer to an art show we have next week.
So today, as we were procastinating about leaving and wondering if we could wait until the middle of the week to move, etc. we had to laugh over how attached we had become to our desert campsite. Instead of going "home", we were having to move our home on wheels to an RV park where rigs are closer to their neighbor than we prefer, in a more crowded, densely populated area than we like.
We have no desire to own a S&B at this time, love living life on the road, but we sure are finding ourselves attached to areas where we want to linger longer and feeling sad when we have to leave sooner than we were ready due to work or art show schedules.
Is this normal or are we just being silly? We know we are blessed to be FT before retirement and sometimes that means having to move to be at the next art show or move to get closer to an airport so I can fly out of town for those occasional business trips, but today we were both really not ready to move on.
in its own cynical way.....yup its normal!!!!!!
"The IT Spot"
there are many more places and faces.....and each time during your journey you will find as Howard puts it.....this is it....
The best comes as you make the second lap.....you get giddy because your going back!!!....you already have plans and you know your going back.....it goes on your premium list of places to stop!!
by the way ....this list becomes a book in which you only share secretly with very close friends!!!...(on the forum of course)
the best part of fulltiming is in the first year.......you get to see and explore so many places each being so different than the last!!!!
Live , breathe , Relax........
I also had worked in places I didn't want to leave because of all the friends I met; the places we visited in the off time and the employer who treated us well. Sometimes we have to look for that pot-0-gold at the end of the rainbow a bit harder. Have Fun; Explore; and enjoy each other! PIEERE
We don't have anything to make us move like you do with the art shows but we just want to move to see what's there. I admit that after a year of moving every week I am looking forward to finding that place with the (IT) factor at setting for a month to see what that's like again.
I have thought about this very subject many times recently. I am very attached to my home, I usually look forward to coming home after being gone. I do believe that was due to wanting to see my kids (when they werent' with me), my pets, etc. Since my kids no longer live here and we will be bringing the pets with us, I believe that our home on the road will be very satisfying. I do have some lingering concerns that someday I might want a new S&B's to "nest" in, but hubby feels the same way, so if one or both of us ever feel strongly about that, we have an understanding that we will look into settling back down. I look forward to being able to spend as much time as we want in an area, long enough to become "attached". We have been to many places, sometimes we are ready to move on, but a lot of times there is so much more to see that we don't get to see b/c we have such limited time to spend. We are looking forward to going back to those places, as well as finding completely new ones! Home is where the heart is as they say, which is a bit sad since my kids no longer live with us, but I have to remind myself that this is what they are supposed to do - find their own way and build their own lives. We can visit and/or have them come visit us when we are somewhere wonderful, like maybe Alaska or Yellowstone or Nova Scotia! And, there is always phone calls, skype and FB. Thank goodness for technology!
So, no I do not think you are silly at all! I think it is normal to like being someplace and I think it is great that you have found places that you are not only comfortable with, but can actually call it "attached".
And yup, along the way there will be spots not as nice. Helps keep them in perspective :)
- Cherie
After 4 years of travel, we know ourselves pretty well. We like to move pretty fast for a couple of months, then slow down and stop for 3-4 weeks. By that time we have severe Hitch Itch and are ready to pick up the pace again.
Your feelings may be compounded by the fact that you have to leave due to work. In our case, if we really wanted to stay that badly, I guess we could, most of the time.
So, yeah, its a normal feeling.
Sue
Thanks for sharing.
Red
Also I've lived in 12 states and Jesse as many, as well as countries, in his Air Force brat childhood and Navy career so maybe it's a little easier for the two of us to move on. I've grown to love each place I've lived and the next one more (except Cleveland). There have been places we've stayed in our Trilogy that for a variety of reasons we have no desire to return to again, but we stay easily as we know we're moving on.
As Sue said, we're learning about ourselves and what we like. Moving slowly is preferred for us but not always possible depending upon our plans/goals. So it's a mixture for us. We're currently at the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach for a month. It's one of my favorite places not for some IT reasons but for the security, cleanliness, large spaces, convenience, family and friends to say nothing of shopping and walking by the ocean. (Having lived in a very small IT town for 5 years the convenience of having those little items we've been thinking about nearby is a plus).
Guess we like to mix it up and El Rojo, you'll be out there with us soon!
Sherry