A Brief Introductory Word. If you are more into the pictures, you may want to skip over this blog entry entirely, for there are many ways to give expression to this past year and this entry will be only in written form. The blog entry after this one will be primarily pictures, so you chose, or chose both. And, yes, be forewarned, I will talk a bit of about my experience as a follower of Jesus Christ.
February 4, 2011, -16F nighttime low, we escape the cold during a break between snow storms and start our travels south not really knowing what was in store for the three of us -- all 60 feet of us, truck and trailer. Today ends that first full year since we pulled up stakes and hit the road - and what a year it has been something beyond what I had ever imagined, and mostly good! The three of us have traveled 16 states, including Alaska, and four Canadian provinces or territories. We started off with less than 88,000 miles on our old 1993 Ford F-250 and we are now soon to break 110,000 miles. We have paid as little as $2.99 a gallon and as much as the equivalent of $6.00 per gallon in the Yukon. We have just about worn out a full set of tires for truck and trailer. Our largest monthly expense on the road was gasoline, followed by RV space rental, and then food. Oh yes, truck and trailer repairs, painful but necessary.
What seemed like a radical departure from the norm of standard living in a stick-built house with four bedroom, two baths and 2000 square feet to a 266 square feet 8ft. by 28ft two axle travel trailer with one slide-out, a small bedroom and an even smaller bathroom, was a grand experiment in how three of us, Floyd, Louise and I would manage in close quarters and an even tighter budget. Well, I am still married and my dad has no intention of abandoning ship indicating that he would like to live to be at least a hundred. Adjustments, of course, needed to be made and continue to be made, but overall we are doing just fine. Yes, we miss seeing our grown kids and our grand-kids as much as we would like and the many fine friends from neighbors to church folk and those others we have met along the way living in Colorado for close to 30 years. Colorado is still in our blood, the state that has been so good to us in so many ways; the state where we did most of the raising of our five children and where I gained my livelihood and career. And it was a good meaningful career. I love Colorado, its beauty and its people. And yet, we love the open road, the freedom to chose where to stay and for how long. We continue to enjoy the new roads traveled. We joke about that if you don't like the neighbors, you can just pick up and leave within an hour. We have yet to run across anyone that we did not like so this little common saying lies around unused. In our experience everyone sharing in this lifestyle of travel has been helpful, neighborly, and welcoming. If you have a question about anything related to RVs or where to stay (or to avoid staying) folk are more than glad to share what they know. A five minute conversation with new neighbors can easily turn into an hour or more. Generally, no one is in a rush. Their warmth and sharing improves our knowledge and the comfortable feel we experience when delving into new territory and new activities.
What we have discovered on the road is a large community of fellow travelers, most of whom will stay out on the road in south lands for a few months and then they will go back to their northern homes, apartments or farms for springtime. There are fewer travelers who chose to do what we have done this past year, but many of those same conventional "snowbirds" have done what we are now doing. The path we follow is new to us, but well worn by many many others. So, we have discovered have lived and traveled this way for over 20 years and it is not that uncommon to find couple who have been on the road for several years.
The one year mark we are celebrating this week has now moved us in the category of seasoned travelers. Sometimes we are now inquired upon by rank novices of their own journey. That seasoning we have experienced was not always pleasant. The woes ranged from severe negative cash flows traveling to the Yukon and Alaska and back (otherwise known as pain in the pocket book), to an unexpected expensive overhaul of the truck transmission, to having dad in the hospital for nine days. Don't mind the smoking trailer tire on a busy four lane road in southern California or the nail in another trailer tire that cost us $34.00 to have fixed (that was an expensive nail) or the 100 miles of which 80 were in mud traveling out in the middle of nowhere in the Yukon and eastern Alaska with two-way traffic on a lane-and-a-half-wide roadway! And, I cannot forget my momentary unraveling, experiencing a dreadful terror only slightly calmed by prayer and closed eyes as we rode in a school-bus-type tour bus on a road in Denali National Park 1500 feet above the valley floor below on the side of a mountain, the dirt road only single lane and no guard rails and the potential of traffic coming the other way. Oh, that experience I hope to forget...some year. How phenomenal beauty can be mixed with such fright, I do not know.
On our journey, we met several hundreds of wonderful folk, mostly happily married and appearing to be healthy good souls, down-to-earth, not full of themselves, enjoying the fruits of their labors, enjoying retirement, visiting new places, spending quantity and quality time with family, and many doing volunteer work along the way - a true community of folk that is without borders of state or country or economic distinctions (other than externally the rigs they are driving and some toys they are hauling. Those we have yet to meet are no strangers, but just future friends. They have added so much to the journey we are on, helping warm our experiences, prepare the road ahead a bit through good counsel or warning, and sending us along with the best of wishes as we hit the road again. We also return the favors.
It has been difficult for me to unwind from a career-long focus with its pressures, stresses and schedules. Calendars, palm pilots and Blackberries may be past, but still much too near. Although retired for over a year, I have periodically dreamt about work scenarios and people filling the dreamlike drama and then waking up feeling like I have put a full day of work in before the day even started! I have been reassured by those retirees whom I have met on the road that it takes one to two years to completely unwind, so, I have learned to be patient with myself thinking of this as a normal progressive adjustment. Patience is paying off. The unwind has been slow, but I have noticed that since I bought a Florida annual saltwater fishing license last week and hit the beach to do surf fishing the final vestiges of stress are quickly subsiding. Fishing has always been the best activity in my life to unwind, and it is still working its way with me.
It is a wonderful life we are living to be traveling Canada and the United States. We have enjoy many splendorous days. We all feel tremendously blessed, as if God is smiling on us with His good and gracious gifts as his adopted children. And we bask in this love and this respite from life painful realities we have all experienced along the way.
Update on Dad. Although stricken with the slippery slope of dementia, he has been quite stable most of this past year with the exception of his time in the hospital when things were more confusing to him. His overall health is very good. His short-term memory is worse, but not much worse than a year ago, the regression has slowed. In that diminishment he has taken up a heightened focus and simple interest in the intricacies of leaves and other forest items and seashells, items that most of us take for granted or we step upon without a thought. He still comments regularly about the skys, clouds and sunsets. When our truck and trailer comes to a rest for a stay in a new place, with as much bolting as an 87 year old man can bolt, he is out of the truck searching for new fauna and items of interest on the ground or along the seashore. No doubt good for brain function, he then sorts and categorizes his "treasures" sometimes for hours, occasionally giving Louise or me a present or if there is a passer-by showing interest in his collection, they will usually leave with a gift from the master botanist! One man inquired of him just today whether he had a background in botany. No, he just enjoys the beauty of that leaf, stick, pine cone or shell.
As to physical health, I think we are all getting more exercise, no, I know we are getting more exercise than what we have experienced in the past. The miles of beach walks, trails and museum and antique store musings are not only fun, but healthful. I try to ride my bike at least once during each location stay, even if our stop is for a day or two. This bicycle transport has greatly expanded my range and I enjoy every single ride, particularly when it is one the wet sand. Last week I took a seven mile bike ride on the beach and very much enjoyed the freedom, the breeze, and having only one care, to get back to the trailer before dark.
Apparel Changes. Some of you who read this blog may still think about my characteristic dress, when at work it would be dress slacks, shirt and tie, and often a suit, otherwise at home long pants, shirt and a pair of old shoes. Perhaps, you would not recognize me now in my regular retirement wear since it is warming up the further south we go. Shorts, sandals and a comfortable shirt is my new preferred new dress. I have worn a tie perhaps two times this past year, and both times for church. My dress shoes are stowed safely away for some unknown future need.
Spiritual Movement. This traveling has changed some other things in my life, for the better. I am more sure than ever in the truth of historic orthodox Christian life of faith in Jesus Christ whom I have espoused, however imperfectly, since 1969, and yet I am more respectful of other Christian expressions, much less interested in differences but what we share in common, Jesus Christ and new birth. To those not sharing this Christian faith, I do not personally judge, but my heart is more warmly concerned for each person I encounter out of the love and grace that I have been shown and I want others to experience the same. I am being renewed, ever so slowly, and I want to share that experience with others. I am compelled more strongly by the words of Christ when he declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me." This is either a true statement or not. No middle ground here.
Reading and General State of Mind. Over the past year I have also read more books than any other time since my formal graduate study times and the variety of books is wider in type and scope. With the reduction of daily stress and responsibilities coupled with more flexible time including goodly restful sleep, I am finding that not only is my spiritual life being nurtured and grown, but I feel more calm inside, happier and generally at peace with others around me. Less need for entertainment and more interested in writing travel journal.
I am not one of those who upon retirement is bored. Retirement has been an opportunity to do and learn things that I have only dreamt about for decades. I now have time and energy to tackled new things. Because of this travel and the people I have met along the way, my bucket list is growing while at the same time that I am checking items off that same list. Although I enjoyed the prestige through my work, I am learning more fully that this matters little and it is very fleeting.
I will sign off now. The saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words," will prove correct for the next blog. There will be few words but an expression through pictures used as a recap of my travelswithlouiseandfloyd. Stay tuned.
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