Our Better Practices for Life on the Road!

 

“Better is good!”  

Barak Obama

 

Former President Obama reminded us several years ago that “Better is good!”  Those words have stuck with me ever since. Full-time RV living is a “learn as you go” experience. Life on the road takes what we already know and fills in the rest. We have learned a great deal over the last 6 months. But is this the best way to retire? Is the way we journey the best way to travel? Do we have the best lives possible? To say yes to any of these would be more about my ego than the reality of our lifestyle. Is our present life better than it was a year ago? Yes, for us, it is much better. And better is good! But we still have much to learn. I hope to be able to say that in a year, our lives will be even better.

 

This week I want to share our “Better Practices” for life on the road that we have picked up-up in the last month. These ideas grew from our experiences and reflected a desire for a good outcome rather than finding the way it is “supposed to be done.” There is no one way that it should be done. Instead, these better practices point us toward the goal of wandering, to find a better way of life for us.

 

Formerly, we had our Rules for the road that we learned when we started traveling. A lifetime of travel taught us these three things.

1.         When possible, we planned our daily activities the night before.

2.         We traveled “Blue Highways” as much as possible.

3.         We ate only at locally owned Restaurants or chains we did not have back home.

 

These served us well as long as we were travelers. But there was so much more to learn to become wanderers. 

 

Here is a baker’s dozen of additions and modifications that I call Our Better Practices for Wandering

 

Better Practice # 1 – Safety First

Wandering involves living between the known and the unknown. We do not have much control over our life on the road. Therefore, the first and foremost Better Practice is to be safe. We avoid unnecessary risks. We keep our safety gear up-to-date and readily available. We drive smart. We keep the speed down and avoid driving in dangerous conditions. Being safe allows the road to be a friend rather than an enemy.  

 

Better Practice #2 – Stay Healthy

We also keep ourselves healthy. Getting older means paying attention to our mind, body, and soul. We return to Houston each year to get our annual health exams. We do our best to get plenty of exercise. We ensure we get a good night’s sleep and eat healthy meals. We explore regional cuisines but keep them in balance with homecooked, more nutritious meals. We read and learn about the places we visit. We hope these efforts will keep us on the road for many years.

 

Better Practice #3 – Maintenance, Maintenance, and Repair

There is no way to avoid all breakdowns or repairs on the road. But we can keep them to a minimum by keeping Koko and Nakai in shape. We do not delay necessary repairs. We fix the little things before they multiply. I maintain a maintenance log to ensure I care for everyday items. We are especially mindful of maintaining our tires. I check pressure before every trip and monitor pressure and temperature while driving. We also replace the tires on Koko every four years. (See Better Practice #1)

 

Better Practice #4 – Only Plan Ahead Far Enough to Meet our Goals 

To secure campsites in good parks and see popular attractions, we need to book as far in advance as possible. This is especially true for holidays and weekends when schools are not in session. I will book sites between these destinations but leave room in the schedule to change plans if we need or want to do so. One significant exception to this is planning our gas stops. Google Maps allows us to plan our gas stops. Koko will not fit into most stations, and when we tow Nakai, we can only back up with unhooking. With these exceptions, we let each day, week, and month unfold as it will, remembering the importance of flexibility.

 

Better Practice #5 – Memories are Easier to Store than Curios.

We collected curios from every gift shop we visited on our traveling days. We displayed them in our home or apartment. Now that we are full-time in Koko, our space is very limited. We do collect fridge magnets as reminders. I also like tee shirts to replace ones that no longer fit or are worn out. Otherwise, we take lots of pictures, and I keep a travel journal, i.e., this blog.

 

Better Practice #6 – The Checklist Is Our Friend

During our traveling days, we started using a checklist to break and set up camp. Now, we use a checklist for every move. The checklist only works if I use it every single time. There are too many little items that, when forgotten, can lead to significant issues, so I do not trust my memory. Even if nothing terrible happens when I forget a small item, it can easily fall out of the routine. And, in time, something terrible will happen. Lastly, we review our checklist occasionally to make updates and reflect our evolving routines. 

 

Better Practice #7 – Clutter Is Not Our Friend

Every RV has a weight limit. They also have limited space for storage. It is tempting to fill every nook and cranny. But, exceeding either can make life very difficult, if not dangerous. We have learned to maximize our storage with genuinely essential things. As a rule, we only add something if we can eliminate something. Further, we do our best to keep stuff stowed away when not using it. Moving every few days makes this much more manageable.

 

Best Practice #8 – Chill and Chore Days

Life on the road means taking care of all those life chores. It is not a perpetual vacation. Clothes need to be washed. Groceries need to be bought. The floors need cleaning. Dust needs collecting, and dishes must be cleaned. When our traveling was limited to vacations, we had to cram all the attractions and experiences available to us in the time available. We have learned that when living full-time becomes tiring, we need time to recuperate from sightseeing and adventuring. We set aside days for relaxing and caring for chores each week or 10 days. I enjoy a sense of routine amid our constantly changing lives.

 

Better Practice #9 – 2-2-2 Rule (when Possible) 

The 2-2-2 Rule is a modification of the 3-3-3 Rule many Youtubers use to guide their travel days. For us, it is driving an average of 200 miles, with a break at least every two hours, and we plan on arriving by 2:00 PM. As a wanderer, I can make shorter drives since time is generally unimportant. Since I drive no faster than 65 mph in Koko, this makes for a 4–5-hour drive. We are usually not worn out from the previous day’s drive when we have to go longer. We tend to take a break every two hours. If lucky, we can plan one as a lunch break in the coach or at a convenient restaurant. We will schedule a gas stop on longer drive days as one of our breaks. The scheduled 2:00 PM arrival allows us to enjoy a new location and does not sacrifice a whole day for the move. It also allows us flexibility if something we see deserves exploration. Lastly, it avoids checking in after dark, even if an issue prevents us from making our ETA. This Best Practice makes for safer and more enjoyable drive days.

 

Better Practice #10 – Longer Stays When Possible

Another benefit of wandering is staying longer at a particular campground. Our standard booking usually lasts one week, allowing time to explore and save on weekly rates. Will set fewer days to cover more ground or because a venue is not very exciting to us. But our usual is to give ourselves at least a week to more fully explore and allow for a Chill and Chore day.

 

Better Practices #11 – Walk – Walk – Walk

We try and walk when we can. Beyond the obvious health benefits, walking around the campground helps us connect with neighbors. Hiking and window-shopping through touristy small towns help us learn more about our location. Marlene is better at getting her steps in than I am. She tries for 10,000 a day while I am satisfied with 5,000. But walking is a big part of our daily lives when we are on the road.

 

Better Practices #12 – Don’t sweat It! Stuff Happens!

One of the facts of life on the road is that the unplanned happens. Sometimes these surprises are pleasant, and sometimes not so much. The first response is predictable, and I will leave it to your imagination. But the second response is crucial. I must take care of business. We need to remind ourselves that things will work out. Besides, as a mentor of mine used to say, “Look for the possibilities in the problems!” Every unfortunate circumstance has taught me something important. After six months of tire problems last year, I learned much about tire maintenance and troubleshooting. Stuff happens! Take care of it and learn from it!

 

Better Practices #13 – Stay in touch!

The last of our Better practices is simple: maintain contact with friends and family. This generally means checking in on Facebook when the internet is available. But it also includes email, phone calls, ZOOM, facetime, and routing the trip to visit family and friends. Life on the road can be lonely, so we must stay connected.

 

These 13 better practices make our wandering more enjoyable and fulfilling. Many of them would not work for travelers or vacationers. But, for us and for now, they make our full-time life better than our formerly settled lives. And better is good!

 

Bob

Why Wandering? Part Three - The Journey Begins

Sierra Blanca

“Life’s a Journey not a Race.”

 

After a couple of months of deciding, planning, packing, and cleaning, it was finally time to get on the road. We made our way to North Dakota following the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains and returned along the Eastern Slope. We explored, wandered around, and lived our lives along the way. We hiked trails and drove scenic byways. Museums and restaurants fed our minds and bodies. Sunsets filled our souls. (We did not see many sunrises.) We washed clothes, bought groceries, cooked meals, and cleaned Koko. In all of this, we learned a valuable lesson. To quote several people, “Life’s a journey, not a race.” While destinations are important, they are not all-important. Our sojourn to North Dakota and back again was all about the journey.  

 

Journey is a fascinating word. It evolved out of the Latin word for “a day,” and, in Middle English, it became “a day’s travel.”  Modern usage has lost the daily connotation and focuses on the time/space between two points. It is not about where you are or where you are headed. It is the “along the way” that matters. The journey exists in the ever-elusive present moments as they slip by in time and space. Our first trip was less about destinations and more about those endless moments we spent between where we were and where we believed we were headed. Living our lives became a journey.

 

This picture serves as a good illustration of journeying. It was taken at Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in South Central Colorado toward the end of our trip. Was this an intended destination? Not really. Our original route for this trip had taken us through the New Mexico Mountains, but a threatened snowstorm led us to change our course. We had driven through Alamosa many years before and seen it on the map. We decided to stop and see it the next time we were in the area. We had 4 days available before our next stop in Albuquerque. We stayed in Alamosa and checked out Great Sand Dunes National Park. If you look at the picture, you will see a narrow band of sand-colored dirt at the base of the Mountains. That was our destination. 

 

We did go to the National Park, and it was interesting. But it was not four days’ worth of interesting. In fact, we went one evening and thought it might be nice to come back and explore more, but, as it turned out, other things in the area were much more enjoyable. 

 

We visited two National Wildlife Reserves nearby that were stopovers for the Sandhill Cranes on their way South. We saw a few cranes and other critters, including a Bull Snake that I nearly stepped on. We learned about that mountain in the picture. It is Sierra Blanca, one of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo. It is a place of significant spiritual presence and power. I enjoyed photographing it from various angles and at different times of the day. We met up with a couple of our friends, Charlie and Paula, who were staying in Alamosa while returning from Oregon. We met up at a local brewpub, where we enjoyed a nice meal that included a local beer that was quite good. We also met one evening and feasted on good food and fellowship around the campfire, surrounded by snow-covered peaks. All of this was, in the words of Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins, a “fortuitous circumstance.”  Alamosa was a great example of journeying, not hopping from destination to destination.

 

Alamosa was not an isolated event. It was one of many examples of learning to journey along the way. We saw beautiful county museums in Hardin, MT, Rock Springs, WY, and Fort Collins, CO.  We saw wild horses roaming the free range of Utah. We ate a Five Star Gourmet meal at “FarMesilla,” a friend’s cousin’s restaurant in Las Cruces, NM. We met the artist David Behern, who designed the artwork on a shirt I had bought in South Dakota while walking through his shop in Old Town, Albuquerque. In Montana, we visited with a childhood friend I had not seen in over 50 years. We spent a week being shown the beautiful Big Horn Mountains by friends old and new, Doug and Marcy. We ate a Duck Hoisin Pizza at a bar in Bernalillo, NM, while enjoying a band of old guys playing Rock and Roll. We shared a Pueblo Slopper. (Look it up. You won’t believe it!) Marlene climbed a Hippie Castle in the Rockies. These are just a tiny sample of the hundreds of fortuitous circumstances. Most of these moments would have never happened if we had been focused on the destinations. Time after time, I learned the importance of the journey and left the destinations to take care of themselves.

 

Now that we have been back and wintering in Galveston, I have a few reflections to share. 

 

First, destinations make up a fraction of our lives on the road. The journey makes up the bulk. If we had focused on them, we would have missed so much. We enjoyed the spectacular, the mundane, and everything in between. But it was that “everything in between” that made the journey worthwhile, and they happened most frequently between the places we were headed.

 

Second, a journey is always filled with pleasant surprises. Destinations seldom really surprised us. We went there expecting to see things. Usually, our expectations were met, but occasionally we were disappointed. But we were rarely surprised. But the incidental “happenings” were almost always unexpected and surprising. They happened along the edges of all the plans and expectations where the unknown lurked. The mystery that accompanied us along the way offered us the most delight. But this was possible only if we were open to those incidental times and places.

 

Third, we learned to appreciate the quiet moments of the ordinary comforts that graced our lives. I looked forward to our “Chill and Chore” days, where we did our maintenance, cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry. They offered a sense of routine and continuity amid constantly changing lives. I would spend a quiet evening with Marlene sipping the last of our favorite Texas wines while watching a New Mexico sunset. It was pure grace, a gift of a moment that resonated with the heartbeat of the universe. They happened every day along the road.

 

Finally, being on the road allowed my heart to glimpse the great mystery in our lives. I found much more than the outer world along the road. I met up with my inner world, as well. The journey became a two-step to the music of the universe. I danced and spun, explored and marveled at the wondrous world around and within. I sang a song of wonder and awe that echoed through the canyons and mountain peaks of my body, mind, and soul.  

 

My days of racing from one destination to another are done. There are journeys to be made. Breath-taking vistas to behold and hundreds more fortuitous circumstances to enjoy.

 

I look forward to sharing this journey with you as we wander through the coming months. 

 

Thanks for coming along.

Bob

 

Why Wandering? Part Two - Getting Ready for the Road

 

Once we decided to live in our motorhome full-time, our wanderlust fever began to grow. We informed our Apartments that we would move at the end of July and set a whirlwind of activity in motion.

 

We had downsized once when we sold our home in 2018. But, in many ways, this second downsizing was even more challenging. We went from 2,400 feet and a full garage to our 1,300 sq ft apartment with a garage. The sheer volume of stuff we had to give, donate or sell made this problematic. With this move, we had to make even more painful decisions about things we had chosen to keep in 2018. This meant getting rid of things we had an emotional attachment to and things we believed we could not live without. 

 

Koko, our motorhome, had limited storage space. We knew we wanted to keep most of our furniture from the apartment because we expected to return to a new apartment or house when our wandering days ended. Anything that did not fit in Koko, Nakai (our Jeep), or the storage unit would have to go. This led to some tough decisions. We located a 10X20 storage unit on the 3rd floor of a storage facility in Houston.

 

We also started changing our domicile from Houston to a Full-time RVers mail service in Livingston, Texas, Escapees, Inc. I did not know there was a difference between the home address and the domicile. They were the same as long as we lived at a physical address. But voting and other legal requirements require a domicile address where we are considered legal residents. The physical address is where the Post Office delivers our mail. The mail service allows us to use a mailbox as a physical address and domicile.

 

I contacted Escapees and started the process of changing our address and domicile. Since we had already established a domicile in Texas, this process was easier than for people who needed to change the State of their domicile. They would also have to establish legal residence before their domicile could be recognized. We became "residents" of Polk County, Texas. We would be subject to call for jury duty in Polk County, and our insurance rates would no longer be based on a Houston address. These changes presented their own unique challenges, but Escapees helped us through all of them.

 

Next, we started working our way through the stuff in the garage. We packed what we wanted to keep. Then we found a Resale shop in Houston that would take some of our stuff. We were thrilled because it would use the proceeds to fund meds for AIDS patients. We also gave some things to the resale shop in Stafford, where I had volunteered when I served in Sugar Land. We sent much of our stuff from the apartment to our daughter in Galveston. But, as always, some stuff would not find a new home.

 

I grew up in a family that did not like to waste anything. It is not that we were hoarders with narrow trails through our house, but I do not like to get rid of things that "might come in handy." We also had some large appliances that would not be needed and some items of furniture that held special meaning to us. We found homes for the appliances, but the furniture had to be tossed. That was very hard. We grieved as a family for a few of the items. By the middle of June, we were getting down to the last bit of stuff that needed downsizing. We started moving things into storage, one carload at a time. After several weeks of constant activity, we knew we needed one last push to get on the road. So, we did what any reasonable person would do. We took a vacation!

 

We took a week-long trip in Marlene's car to benefit from the 50 MPG. We went to NW Missouri and visited an old friend from Seminary. Even though we had placed our wanderlust in the back seat, it was still with us, pushing us to get back to Texas and finish our preparation. It was a welcome and enjoyable respite from all the planning, sorting, deciding, packing, and hauling. It was time to relax before the final push. Dale and Terri offered us that breather. We wandered our way back from Missouri and talked constantly. Along the way, we saw places we would want to return to when we hit the road.

 

When we got back, Marlene researched and sold her car on Carvana. We started packing up the apartment. Marlene had already scheduled a mover to help with the furniture and heavier items. We had already moved the bulk of the other stuff with daily trips to the storage unit. We did Target and U-Haul Store runs to buy packing and storage supplies. This broke up days of packing and hauling boxes to the storage unit. As the unit began to fill, I grew fearful that the 10X20 would not be big enough. I set up spreadsheets that helped us estimate how many cubic feet of space we would need and had already used. We knew that anything that did not fit in Koko, Nakai, or the Storage would have to be tossed. The next four weeks were very stressful.

 

We moved Koko to an RV park next to the storage unit and started getting Koko ready for full timing. We traded out some of our small appliances and kitchenware. We now had a week before moving into Koko and another week before we would need to be out of the apartment. It was crunch time.

 

As I look back, that period was a blur. We spent time with friends and family that we would not see as often once we hit the road. We took stuff to Galveston for Melissa and did our best not to kill one another in the chaos. The occasional wounding was inevitable, but we could forgive and forget for the sake of the road. Surprises popped up and reminded us that life on the road was not about being in control. The RV Park where we were staying "fried "our surge protector with a cross-wired pedestal. The Resale Shop refused to take some things they had previously agreed to take. In many ways, we realized our new adventure had already begun. However, instead of sucking the energy from me, these little reminders energized me. They invited me to look ahead at life's unknowns on the road. It was all part of the joy of wanderlusting.

 

Finally, the day came to take our last bit of clothes, etc., into Koko and start our lives in that 175 sq. ft. The apartment held the last of the boxes and the furniture. When I closed the door, I felt something very different. I was closing the door on a lifetime of living in a settled place. For the foreseeable future, our home had wheels. We would shop in strange grocery stores and adapt to a new climate and environment every week or so. When I heard that door catch and the lock engage, I felt free to live a life that had only been a dream a few months before.

 

For the next week, we settled into Koko. We moved the last of the boxes to storage. Met the moving truck and oversaw moving our stuff from the apartment and garage into the storage unit. The picture above is a testimony to the power of an Excel Spreadsheet to calculate Cubic Feet. We got everything into the storage. Two very professional movers made sure we could close the door on the storage unit with a whole inch to spare.

 

When we returned to the apartment to do one last cleaning, we felt like we were sweeping away an old life. Relief and excitement bubbled up inside when we returned to Koko after everything had been done and the checklist was complete. All I could think about was, "The adventure begins. It will be what we make of it." All that remained was to prepare Koko for the road and make our first trip as full-timers. It was time to start scratching our wanderlust with every mile of the open road.

 

Bob

Why Full-time Wandering? Part One

 

“Not all those who wander are lost”

J. R. R. Tolkien

 

This is our motto for our life on the road. It comes from a poem Gandalf wrote to Frodo about the man they would meet in Bree, Strider. Strider was the king-in-exile who roamed Middle Earth until the time was right to reclaim his Throne. He was a wanderer whose destiny awaited him. When we first met him, wandering was his destiny.

 

For many years, Marlene and I have enjoyed traveling. But now, our destiny is less about traveling and more about wandering. We have traveled by car, tent, tent trailer, plane, travel trailer, and now in our motorhome. Most of these trips were vacations. A few were for work. But it was always about the destination. As we approached retirement, however, something began to change. We were increasingly disappointed when the trip was over. Going “home” had lost its appeal. Traveling just was not enough. Our destiny awaited us.

 

When we finally retired, we traveled more. We traded our travel trailer for a motor home and our pick-up for a Jeep. We made plans and built itineraries. We wanted to be on the road for 6-9 months a year with a return to our apartment to rest up and prepare for the next trip.  Then came the COVID lockdown.  We spent the next year in our apartment, planning, craving, and dreaming of being on the open road.

 

We resumed our travels when the lockdown ended. Our hopes and dreams became a reality. And it was better than we could have anticipated. But, when returning from our 2022 Spring Trip, we looked at each other. We did not want to go back to the apartment. We even toyed with making a few stops, but we had obligations and responsibilities back home. We got our lease renewal letter from the Apartment Complex within days of getting home. They were raising our rent by nearly 20%. Fate helped us make our decision. We resolved, then and there, to begin exploring life on the road. Our destiny as wanderers presented itself.

 

We spent the next two months looking for reasons why we shouldn’t go full-time in our motorhome. We looked at the finances. It was feasible. We talked with friends who were living full-time in their RV. They helped us see that there were no insurmountable day-to-day problems with living in our motorhome. We spoke with family and friends. Again, all were supportive and encouraging. I looked at the logistics of planning life on the road and found that we had the tools and skills from our previous trips. Then we sat down with all of this and discussed our hopes and expectations. The next day we notified the Apartment Office that we would not renew our lease. We were ready to move from being travelers who went from destination to destination to becoming wanderers who lived on the road. It was time to claim our destiny!

 

We had plenty of destinations on our bucket list. But we both knew that traveling would not be enough. We were ready to wander. This blog is called “Wanderlusting” in celebration of this way of life that has chosen us.  

 

I want to clarify what I mean when discussing wandering as a lifestyle. The dictionary defines wanderlust as” itchy feet, a very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.” It comes from the 20th Century German word wanderlust, meaning “taking pleasure in roaming about.” Wandering emphasizes the space between where we are and where we intend to be. It is all about the in-between, the places where dreams emerge and grow. Wandering is living on the edge of time that offers surprise, wonder, and awe. It is all about the unknown, the mystery that surrounds us every moment. When we are wanderlusting, the destination and direction are not as important as the adventure of the day. We were ready to let wanderlust take the lead in our lives.

 

I hope to share some of our experiences with you when we get back on the road in 4 weeks. Until then, I will share a bit more about why we live on the road and introduce you to our companions; Koko, Nakai, and friends. If you would like to follow along, please follow us on Facebook. You can also bookmark this page in your browser and check back each week.

 

We look forward to traveling with you as we follow our wanderlusting souls.

 

Bob