Hardest part (so far)

For me the hardest part of RV living full-time and traveling about is finding good hair stylist. Last summer I took a chance on the hair salon in a large department chain and received an ok haircut. Two months later I returned and had a different person do my hair, the results were ok, but I wasn't thrill.

Three months later, and in a whole new area, I decided to try the same department chain's salon in the community I'm now near. The person doing my hair claimed they'd been doing hair for 2 years and I thought, hmm, my style is simple, they can't screw it up. WRONG!!!! How one can botch a long layer bob which is tapered in the front is beyond me. I phoned the next morning to express my displeasure and was thrilled (not) to have to speak with the person who had botched things. They felt they did their best and said I should come in for their manager to fix the cut (that would be 2 more days as it's now the manager's days off).

Instead I went to a whole different salon, explaining what happened and was treated like royalty. The stylist at the new salon treated me so nicely and did a spectacular job on fixing the mess without losing any more length in the process.

So what have I learned? Well, I can either let my hair grow out and never get it cut again, I could go for a shaved head and not worry about hair dressers, or I can make sure I don't let them do a botch job again. I'd do that by keeping the overall length longer until I see how they do the cut. If it's being handled right, I can quickly ask for an extra 1/2 inch of length to be removed. If it's not going well, I'm going to stop their work and demand a more experienced person.

Oh, and I'll invest in some more hats.

Time marches on, but we let it pass

Plus side to retirement and living in an RV fulltime: no set plans.

Case in point, when asked earlier this year where we were going, our answer was: Halloween in VA, Thanksgiving in FL, Christmas in TX. Truth is Halloween was in MA where we stayed until mid-November. Our intended Halloween destination became our Thanksgiving location - we spent the week leading up to turkey day visiting family in the Annapolis/DC area, pulling in to our favorite Williamsburg RV park (American Heritage) on the 24th. We spent a week there and headed towards Florida. On the way to Leesburg, we found an amazing quiet RV park just off of I-95 in George (Lake Harmony RV Park) and stayed for 3 nights instead of our planned single.

Most recently, we landed at our planned location in Leesburg FL (Holiday Travel Resort) in early December (a month later than we first thought). Partially because the weather is so mild, partially because time has passed so quickly and we haven't done what we wanted and partially because we can, we've decided to extend our stay for another month.

Another day to just enjoy whatever happens when it happens

Stormy Weather

Although we’ve only been full-timing in our RV for 6 months, we’ve weathered (no pun intended) two potentially serious weather occurrences; Hurricane Irene and a pre-Halloween snow fall.

Because many of the RVers at the campground we were at when Hurricane Irene headed towards New England were frequent travelers to Florida during bad weather times, we received some really good advice from them. Everyone knew to pick up their small decorations and chairs from around their campsites, thus eliminating wind blown items. Those with screen houses either dismantled their units

or secured them with extra weights (btw, that one collapsed).

One couple stopped by our unit and reminded us to fill our fresh water holding tank. This way, if the campground lost electrical power and their pumps stopped working, we would still have access to drinking water. (Our RV holds 84 gallons of fresh, enough to last several days). They also said to make sure our propane tanks were full (cooking and possible heat should it get cold), and finally, since we have a generator, to make sure we had extra gasoline. Those 2 were common sense to us, but still good to hear from a more experienced RVer.

Another camper suggested that if the electricity did go out, to plug a radio, fan or light into the power post and to turn it on. That way, when the power did come back on, we’d have some indication and could discontinue the use of the generator.

Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a Tropical Storm by the time it reached our area. We only had 1/2” rain, but the winds were rather strong. The area did lose power for several hours. We were very comfortable in our rig and had no issues with this storm.

On to Halloween; at a different campground and several days advance prediction of a snow storm. Most of the people at this campground were in just for the weekend activities, and although there was a prediction of up to 6” snow, we were amazed at the number of folks who arrived the day before the storm with plans to stay 2 nights.

As with the Hurricane, we made sure we were prepared with the full water tank as well as propane and gasoline. Saturday the rains started around noon and by 6pm the temperature had dropped and a light film of snow had fallen. Around 8:30, the campground lost power: we just hunkered down for the night while other campers around us rushed to pack up and leave.

Sunday morning we were still without power at the campground and about 4” of snow. Chuck got out a broom and climbed on to the RV to clear it. We walked about in the winter wonderland with the pups and were amazed at the amount of tree damage in the park. This RV park was in the forest, many maples and lots of oaks which all still had leaves. We saw several large branches down across RV units and heard of one family that had a branch crash right into their unit, thru the roof and in to the refrigerator.

We put a light on to our electric box and waited for it to relight, signally us that power was back. In the meantime, we cranked up the generator and pulled out the cribbage board. Wednesday evening, we noticed the light on outside the RV. The campground was back on the power grid.

So one strong wind storm and one adequate snow in the first six months. We feel they were both good tests for us and feel that we’ll be able to deal with Mother Nature.

Migratory Routes

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I’m noticing a lot more movement towards southern states. We’re traveling along I-95, spending the past few days between Williamsburg VA and coastal Georgia. A lot of the movement seems to be from Quebec and Ontario, although other representatives of the northeast region are frequently seen.

Talking with some of the locals along our way, it seems there’s a bit of a push south now but the heavier migration takes place right at the turn of the year. The most interesting occurrence I saw thus far was the car carrier with 8 or 10 vehicles, and all with license plates from Canadian Provinces. Guessing those snow birds really will fly south for the winter.

Halloween snow

What a difference a day makes - Friday morning there were perhaps 50 units in the campgound. All day long folks came in and there were about 25 open spaces at 9 pm (campground has about 400 sites). Folks were decorating like made all night for the Halloween party pm Saturday. 12 hours later, and we're watching them scurry as some dismantle their efforts and pack up to leave before the storm. Where's their sense of adventure? Or were they just smart enough to decide to go back home to weather the snow in October. We don't have much choice and will let you know how it goes...

If the day goes as planned for the campground, there are Halloween activities for kids from noon to 3, and then tonight is the adults' party. But Mother Nature plans to have 1 to 3 inches of rain falling this afternoon / evening, followed by the snowfall of upwards to 6" during the overnight and morning.

We had fun with the dusting of snow from the other day - Chuck made a mini snowman. But now that there's a considerable amount predicted, things are a bit different. We did keep a snow shovel, windshield scrapers, snow boots and the like when we sold the house last spring. And many times this summer we joked how we thought we were done with snow. Guess the jokes on us...

My biggest consolation is: if I were still working the cruise ships in Bar Harbor, and this was next year...

Road Trip ReCap

I’ve been retired for exactly one week and we’ve been living in an RV full-time for 6 months now. This blog is a quick recap of our travels.

Back in mid-April we moved out of our house and in to the 5th wheel and camped in our driveway for 2 weeks before heading towards Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. From April 29 thru Oct 13, we were parked at the Narrows Too Campground in Trenton, ME. We’ve stayed at Narrows Too the previous two years I did seasonal work on Mount Desert Island and knew it would fit our needs.

In late May we took delivery of our new 5th wheel, a Cameo by Carriage. Although we had to sort through all our belongings when we sold the home, we still had quite a bit to re-sort as we switched RV units.

Last week we finally started the “real” journey of full-timing. We packed up all our goods, once again getting rid of a few more items we decided we didn’t need - many items were repurposed with other seasonal RV friends at the campground.

Our first trip was rather short, less than 100 miles, but was necessary as we needed to stop to see family and friends as we left the area. The first night we boondocked at the WalMart in Rockland, ME. Their primary parking lot is sloped, but there was a smaller lot closer to Rt. 1 that was fairly level. Being after “the season”, ie after Columbus Day, we were the only RV in the lot for the night. Not wanting to take advantage of free camping and to keep with the concept of boondocking, we moved across town to the Lowes in Thomaston (4 miles) for our second night, allowing us another 24 hours to visit people in the area.

Day 3 put us back on the road again, and another short trip of under 100 miles to Portland, ME. We boondocked at Cabela’s in Scarboro as they have designated RV / truck parking as well as a sewer dump station. This night we were not alone, there were several truck campers and tractor trailer trucks utilizing the lot as well. While in the area we visited the “mothership” (our nickname for the L.L. Bean Flagship Store), had dinner with friends and brought the truck to the dealership for standard service.

Our next portion of the trip was the longest yet - a whopping 130 miles, landing us in West Boylston, MA where we camped out in front of my parents’ home for a few nights. We’ll be here another night or two and then will continue our journey, going where the road may lead us.

Cel-a-brate Good Times, Come On

This has been a week of celebrations, both in the U.S., as well as Canada. Today is the Fourth of July, a time for Americans to remember and honor the freedoms so many worked hard for us to have. Because we're traveling in the Canadian Maritime region, the 4th is being recognized to some degree, but mostly as a bookend to a long weekend.

This past Friday was Canada Day, or as it use to be called, Confederation Day - when several regions decided to become joined with others. We experienced lots of patriotism on that side of the border, very much like one finds in the U.S. - parades, flags, cookouts and fireworks.

The biggest celebration for me actually occurred over a week ago. I reached a mile stone birthday - my 50th. Like so many others, to me it's only a number, and an incorrect one at that. I honestly feel that I look and act much younger (for some reason I think I'm in my 30's).

To celebrate that momentous event I've opted to do my celebration with others, but without presents. My "party" was a reverse surprise party. I was one of the key organizers of a pot luck dinner at the campground and we didn't tell anyone it was a party until they arrived. We thanked them for coming and that the surprise was they didn't know it was a birthday party. The potluck was a blast.

Later this month I'll finish my birthmonth celebration with the opportunity to give to others by participating in a Mission Trip with the church, doing Housing Repair Ministry for folks in the Cherryfield, Maine area. We're still waiting to hear what work our group will be doing. I'm excited to be part of this wonderful project and wish I had done something like this sooner.