RV Boondocking the Good Life

Boy-O-Boy, the price of diesel ... or gasoline ... could really get your ticker to thumpin' if you let it, couldn't it?

Don't let that happen. Get your ducks lined out now, so you know just where you stand, and where you are going to be standing, down the road a ways. Don't wait to get 'behind', tryin' to catch up under pressure. Sit down now, and write a new budget.

Only, don't write it using what fuel cost the last time you filled the tank. Use a higher number. I'd suggest $4 or $4.50 a gallon. Even higher if you want to plan out further (or have a deeper margin for error). Get out in front of it. That way, whatever happens, you've already dealt with it, at your liesure.

Do it now and you have time to adjust in front of your income, not after you've gotten in the hole! You can slow down your travel. Drop a restraunt meal or two, here and there. Postpone bigger expenses that are discretionary. etc. etc. There's a whole lot of ways to shave a little extra out of a budget without ruining the whole deal.

I don't plan our travels to awful much. I prefer to just follow my nose, when we're wandering.The finances need to be watched fairly close though.

The point I'm making here is that there is no reason to give up your lifestyle. All you have to do is adjust to changing conditions.

If we ever succeed in getting this gol' durn house sold ...!!!... our expenses will actually drop considerably. Let's face it, I can buy a lot of diesel with the cash NOT PAYING the mortgage! If we got foolish, I'm sure we could consume that money burning fuel. But, the cost of diesel really won't be very painful, as far as I'm concerned, When I'm sitting on Rob Roy reservoir in Wyoming, fishing, for two weeks before I move only a few hundred miles, over two or three days, to another ten day stay, in another mountain camp.

What ever it costs, it will be far below the (4) digits the mortgage is costing us now!

So, don't listen, too much, to the hysteria around the price of fuel. Keep it in proper perspective, adjust to the realities as they are, and keep on RV Boondocking! As I've said before, just do it slower! Heck, that would have been a far better way, thirty years ago when fuel was still less than a dollar!

You're likely to see things, smell things and such that you never did before. Look at being 'forced' to slow down a mite as a blessing, not a burden!

See ya', somewhere in a camp down the road.
Brian

May 3, 2007 07:52 - The continuing ordeal .... to go RV Boondocking Full-time

It just keeps getting better. Back in the first week of April, we extended our marketing contract on the house for another 4 months. Three weeks later, we recieved an e-mail notifying us they were going out of business.... AAARGGHHHH!

The buzzards were in business for 23 years. It's just not credible they didn't know that a couple weeks earlier when they took my check for the advertising. I guess it takes some less then shiny 'characters' to demonstrate how good the 'good' ones are!

So, last night we signed a contract with a traditional agent to sell the place. For us, this time, FSBO, was just not getting it done. That's what I get for trying to save some money. Ends up costing us a whole bunch more! It's why they changed the name to Murphy's Law.

That's right! It used to be named after me. They just changed the name so they don't have to pay me royalties on all the calenders and books, and little note pads they sell!

The realtor we are with at this point is one who had brought some folks out a few weeks ago. They had to go home to Washington State to sell their property there. As it turns out, my e-mail to her inquiring about her listing this place, crossed paths with an e-mail from the Washington folks letting her know they had a contract.

So, on the weekend of the 12th .... right in the middle of my daughters wedding, they are coming back to look at the house again! :-) Geez! From famine to feast. You think everything is circling the drain and then good things bury you! Leave it to me to complain about that! :-)

I guess the whole point of this is that lot's of roadblocks can be expected as you try to break loose from the old 'system' to start a new life, RVing along the backroads. If you just take a deep breath and don't let the frustrations get to you (in my case as in .... don't do something stupid cuz you're ticked off!) you'll get through it all.

This ordeal of ours has dragged on for a mite over a year, since we made the decision to sell out, and bug out! We believe we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can hear a rumbling though. Hope is, it's just some thunder from a refreshing spring storm .... and not a train!

If you're in the same boat, just keep thinking of that last beautiful camp you had on your last trip through Idaho. Remember how sweet the prize is. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually, you ... and I ... will find ourselves, where we are working so hard to get!

Take care people
Brian

May 6, 2007 06:33 - Seems like everybody is on the move

The hyped up price of fuel is not causing the RVers I see to let any moss grow on their wheels!

Every day, as I cross I-25, a few miles west of the house, Fifth Wheels, Motorhomes and a few trailers are rolling. Quite a few roll right by the house, as well, headed off in search of some unknown adventure. It's like living next to a railroad track. Stirs my wanderlust for sure. Gets a fella to wondering where they're headed and where they've been.

I deep sense of excitement is growing inside. Somehow I can feel good things are just around the corner. I pulled up Google Picasa last night, where all my photo albums are collected. That may have been a mistake! Browsing through the pics from Glacier National Park, Olympic National Park and the Olympic peninsula, Yellowstone, Mesa Verde and points in between got me itching pretty badly, to be out there with all the rigs I've seen rolling by already this spring.

I don't know that I've ever felt more at ease, more content, than stepping out of the rig with a fresh cup of coffee, at sunrise, to watch the new day start. I can wake up in a foul mood, but standing there under the awning, watching a crane slowly cruising over the lake .... and then a loon sends out it's cry .... my foul mood just crumbles and is quckly replaced with a grin and the deep feeling of being 'Home'.

Or the afternoon in our camp in Mesa Verde, when the herd of turkeys came wandering through. Not a big event. Just another RV Boondocking moment. But it's the constant parade of moments like that, that have made RV Boondocking the 'shining times' they are, for me.

There may be other ways folks can get to those shining times. But, for me, being 'on the road' with Big Red and the Eagle is what does it. I've searched for my niche for a long time ... it's only in the last few years that I have realized that 'it' was wandering far country with a fine rig.

The folks that go RV Boondocking, and Full-Timing in general, seem to be a restless lot. I guess we must be the decendants of the pioneers who pushed across the plains a couple hundred years ago. We tend to be always looking, always searching.... always restless. I hope that you can find that place that you feel, deep inside, is home.

We're hearing 'noises' on this place. Keeping my fingers crossed, but trying hard to not think on it too much.... or say too much and jinx things. Can you tell I'm just a little superstitious?

6 days from our daughters wedding .... so there is no shortage of chores to do, so I better get with it!

Keep Your windshield clean!
Brian

May 9, 2007 07:07 - Whoosh! Gettin' Buried as the day gets closer

Down to four days before my kids wedding. All the little things that need to be done, and have waited till the last minute, are hollering for attention. We'll all be glad, I think, when it's all just a good memory! :-)

On top of that the realtor we signed on to get this place moved has got all sorts of folks trooping through. Appraisers, inspectors, photographers. I guess I can say, this one, sure seems to work for her 6%.

Was notified yesterday, the previous realtor is filing bankruptcy ... long e-mail with more whining then I do!

All this going on, and all the running around continues to keep me off the stitching horse.... I'm making progress on Albums, but building this collection is proving to be an endurance race! :-)

The timing of the folks from Washington, that are seriously considering the place, makes me think Murphy's Law is in play .... which I WON'T whine about! If it gets us out of here and on the road, I'm a Happy Camper!

Just to add further commotion, I currently have several other projects, on the fifth wheel, in various stages of completion as well. A replacement for the refrigerator roof vent, which has disintigrated, re-working the bathroom door, replacing the cracked, plastic fender skirts, some new drawers, and 'private' toilet facilities for a feline hanger-on that still lives with us. There are other projects I have on my, to do, or wish list ... but this is enough to keep me hoppin' and confused! ... stay tuned for future stories on these projects!

I'm sure anticipating, impatiently, the slower pace we live when we're on the road. Scurrying around like a psycho off his meds is NOT my idea of a good time!!! Sitting in the shade under the awning, alongside some mountain lake, on a hot afternoon, sipping a can of Cowboy Koolaid (Coors) has a much sweeter ring to it, don't you think?

Bonnie, that hanger-on, is an old barn cat from the ranch. Now, I'm not a cat person, not by a long ways ... but ... ANYTHING, that can outsmart the coyotes for more than 10 years is a friend of mine! That and she cleaned the gophers out of what we called the hill pasture, that I had been fighting, unsuccessfully, for several years. They were destroying the pasture where we kept our horses. She wiped out the lousy diggers in her second winter with us.

We couldn't just abandon her when we left .... So ... she's earned a retirement as well..... only problem is .... she's pretty pushy!

Well, all those chores aren't getting done with me sitting here talkin' about em'....

See you in camp
Brian

May 12, 2007 06:36 - Wedding Bells at Goin' RV Boondocking!

Well, today is the day. I lose my baby girl. I can still call the most amazing 25 year old woman I know, my baby girl can't I?

Family is taking bets on how much tissue I'm going to need ..... I keep tellin' 'em it's just my allergies.... ain't got nothin' to do with no durn wedding! .... funny, they ain't buyin' it :-) .... I'm in grave danger of looking like some blubbering school girl.

It couldn't be a better day for the shindig. The sky is clear and blue. The snow on the western mountains gleaming in the sun. Family in from all points of the compass. Shining times for sure.

This has the potential to be an absolutely fantastic day.... Those good folks from Washington are coming as well, for their second look at our home place, as they succeeded in selling their place up there, .... They'll arrive just after we have to leave for the wedding. So it's something of a chaotic day around here!

I've probably already said enough to wake up the jinx gremlins, so I'll shut up now!

That and the Boss lady is hollerin' that I better get to goin' if we're gonna git where we're goin!

Take good care, and wish us luck for this great day! .... sniff sniff sniff ..... durn allergies
Brian

May 15, 2007 10:54 - Daddy's Last Waltz

Well Folks, we got 'er done!

Had all the normal last minute trials and tribulations, but when it was all said and done the big day came off better then I could have asked for. It was an outdoor affair, my daughter planned, and in Colorado, in the spring, that can be a risky thing!

But with the day being fairly hot, several threatening thunderstorms rolled past, north and south, and left us dry and cooled off a bit.

Finally got things together, only a few minutes late (to be expected right?) and made the long walk with my Darlin'

Rather than having a regular preacher, the Kids had Josh's Grandad do the officiating. Kind of a non-traditional way to go, but I thought it was kind of shiny, to have an 'elder' of the family do the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we all picked up our chairs and headed over to the barn for a country shindig. After doing my toast to my daughter and new son-in-law,

I danced, Daddy's Last Waltz with my Darlin'

The kids danced until fairly late into the evening and then those of us who were left had to swamp out the reception barn .... so we could get our deposit back! :-)

For those who are curious, and wondering when the devil I'll get my Custom Albums back on schedule here is a sample of what's coming. This is a picture of the Album I carved for my Wedding Present to my Daughter.

I better go now, and get to work stitching the ones I want to make available to you folks!

Take Good Care
Brian

May 16, 2007 06:43 - Working Toward RV Boondocking

With the Wedding finally accomplished I'm hoping to be able to put my full focus back on getting on the road, with a lot fewer diversions.

I'll be spending this day sitting, most of it, on the stitching horse, working on an album. While I am doing that, our new realtor has the house on the Realtor tour today. All the realtors in the area tour around a group of houses they haven't seen before.

Since ~ obviously since we're still here ~ our marketing was somewhat faulty, she thought most of them don't know our place is here. So she got it put on the tour list.

The hope is that once they see it, they'll think of it when their customers want a really fine horse place.... I sure hope she's right. I really need to get it sold. I've already sold off the tractor and it's implements. Without them I have to mow the area close up to the house with a little old push mower .... With all the rain we've gotten this spring and the snow last winter, the grass is growing faster then I can mow it!

But all the green grass, after the last few years of drought, sure makes the place look fine. Makes me ever more confident we'll soon find a buyer, as this market improves a little.

Then we'll be free and easy on the boondocking road!

Like the man said, If at first you don't succeed .... go ahead and do it the way your wife told you to!

It's off to work I go!
Brian

May 18, 2007 07:42 - The continued ramblings of a beached RV Boondocker waiting for an open road!

Ok, So.... I got spanked some. Seems a few folks think I may be a little self involved... Me? Hung up on Me? I know I'm a pretty son of a gun, but I would never behave in such a way! Apparently since ~MY~ picture was in all three, that I posted from the Wedding, while the Bride was only in two ..... and the poor Ol' Groom got left out all together..... some people got to thinking my thinking was a mite flawed!

I can only continue to claim Advancing Old Timers Disease or a simple case of Acclerating CRS! ( Can't Remember .... Stuff!)

So, to remedy that little error, and repair my reputation, here is the Bride, My Keriann .... with her Toad Prince Josh! and me .... nowhere to be seen! Oh yeah, that's Black Thunder, the raging Chevy Hot Rod, behind them.

Now, for a word (yeah right... when have I ever spoke ..... A ..... word, about anything?!) about Work Kamping.

One of the work kamping activities I am planning on doing, to help make ends meet when we get on the road, RV Boondocking Full-time, (as old readers probably already know) is to continue my leather work. I've done custom leather for 10 years or so.

Toward that end I've built tool cases and assembled misc. bits and pieces, to fit into the fifth wheel. This took a little scheming and ingenuity but I got 'er done. It takes a little thinkin' to get a 16 X 24 leather shop compressed into a couple boxes and cases!

I'm behind schedule, (Like you hadn't heard my whining right? unrelated 'stuff' took more time then I anticipated) but finally, nearing the finish line. I've got one Album completed and ready, with two more right behind. Over the weeks, running off into the future, I hope to add an Album to the gallery every 10 days, give or take.

I'll be getting that first Album online, in the Custom Photo Album Gallery some time today or tonight.

There is something else, besides a bit of our own income, I'd like to see come out of this effort. it's my hope that a few folks will see what I was able to accomplish ... I'm thinkin' positive here! :- .... and it will give them the confidence to go after their own dream. I know what it's like to feel kind of stuck, and how hard it can be to cut loose and throw caution to the wind. .... and how it feels when the wind .... blows it back and splatters it all over your windshield!

But... you've got to take the chance once in a while. When it works, and that Buckin' Horse can't bust you loose, and the buzzer rings, and you're still on top, there is no better feeling!

Don't let other people, who are too afraid to try themselves, hold you back. Push ahead, and as Thoreau said, or something pretty close to this: "If you built your castle in the sky, that's OK, Now it's time to build the foundation under it."

Now, don't you go jumping off a cliff because you always wanted to fly, not on my account! But take a chance. Know a little adventure. Risk a little. Live a lot!

I realize custom leather work sure ain't something wild and crazy. But, combined with chucking all the regular way of living, and going RV Boondocking Full-time, it's a little out of the ordinary ain't it? Not so many leather shops in an RV, hidden back in the woods, and selling to anyone in the world who finds my site, I'll bet!

To repeat what I've heard in more than one place, and said more then one way, while wandering through this world:
"All men die.... Few men ever really live."

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to stitch I go!
Brian

May 19, 2007 07:02 - WARNING! I'm feeling a little windy this morning... before I head off for the Hardware Store!

Lots happening I guess. That new realtor is working hard. Fancy brochures, video tour, yadda yadda yadda.
No sale yet .... though we have had an offer.... of sorts.

A Mother/Daughter combo moving into the area from out of state want to buy it. They'll pay our price, and have sold their old house. The fly in the ointment is they want us to accept a heavy down payment, let them move in and then wait for final closing .... until they find jobs. Yeaaaaaaah.

Some folks might be able to get away with that. I just see all sorts of ways for the tree to fall on me. Unfortunately, as much as I want to get to goin' RV Boondocking .... I'll have to pass on this one I think.

On another note, I FINALLY got one of my albums displayed on the site. Whew, what a piece of work to find a way around all the 'stuff' that keeps jumping up in front of me! I've felt like I was playin' that kids game, where you wack the frog on the head when he sticks up out of the hole? It's over on the Custom Albums page. Just click on the gallery link at the bottom of the page. Let me know what you think.... OK?

Now, sort of on that subject (making ends meet on the road / work kamping ) ...

I figure, there are a lot of RVers, like me, who though they really hunger to take their rigs, full-time in far country, still need to keep working, to make their modest means stretch to fit the whole month.

I also figure, that if the Sioux could live without a 9 to 5, 200 years ago, a 21st century Cowboy should oughta be
able to git it done as well!.... and if I can do it, you folks with bigger brain pans then me shouldn't have no trouble
at all!

Now, everyone who has looked around much knows there are a lot of opportunities for straight up work kamping. From just a site in exchange for some volunteer time to a site with some fairly low, hourly wages thrown in. These jobs can help contribute to your budget, but they don't exactly make most folks jump out of bed in the morning with an eager giggle, hot to go empty campground trash cans!

Don't get me wrong. They're honest, jobs that need doin'. If one of 'em floats your boat, for you I am happy. I guess I'm just more 'particular'..... though some folks can think of a less diplomatic name for what they claim I am! .....

At this point in my journey, I want a little more pleasure out of what I'm doing, then I can find a way to squeeze out of a trash can.

The point I am slowly workin' my way around to is this. If I ... or you .... keep on waitin' for something better, that's probably about all we'll ever do. Wait. At some point, if we want it to happen, we need to take that chance, push the envelope a little and MAKE IT HAPPEN.

The first thing you have to do is polish up your selective hearing! The moment you start off in a 'different' direction, somebody, guaranteed, is going to try to talk you out of it. They'll bury you with tales of woe and how it could never work. They'll advise you to just keep on plugging away for the 'man', and put your silly dream, of living a life of Freedom, on the road, away.

They only do that, because they want to do it just as much as you do, but lack the nerve to try. If you try, and succeed, it just puts the spotlight ever brighter on their fear of trying. So, they try hard to shut you down so they don't have to feel bad. Turn on your selective hearing, and ignore them!

Just about everybody I talk to has some skill, some art, some 'thing' they are passionate about. Some 'thing' that puts a grin on their face and gets them up in the morning. For me, I really enjoy story telling and leather carving.

The TRICK, is to find a way, to take that 'Thing" and put it to work for you.

Do you like to paint? Carve? Tie flies? Work on Computers? Put your noggin' to workin' on it. Create some ingenious way to put your passions and interests to work for you...... but in a way that doesn't squeeze it so hard it changes what you love into the same old drudgery we're all tying to shed.

Teach painting at a resort? Sell wood carvings at shows? or on ebay? Set up a computer tech consultant website? Look at your 'skill or interest'. Find out ~WHO~ is making any money, in anything relevant to your interest. List all those 'pieces' and then figure out how you can tap into that market in a way that fits into your RV Lifestyle, and into your interest.

Years ago, that's how Heidi and I started our Bead Store..... she fed us all one tough winter with her Bead Work. Even made a Custom hatband for Bruce Willis! But, it didn't pay very well.... until she figured out, that the folks making money in the Bead business, were the folks selling the Beads and findings! Not the finished pieces. I know of more then one wholesaler who travels around, nearly full-time in a large motorhome, selling what they import, to Bead Stores all over the country.

Keep looking. Open up your imagination and you'll dodge right around that "quiet desperation" that Thoreau warned us all about!

I warned you I felt a big wind brewing!
Time to sell some nuts and bolts ....
Brian

May 22, 2007 15:22 - Another project done.

Raining today, so I can't mow or do much of the other work I'd hoped to accomplish today. In between bursts of liquid sunshine how-some-ever, I did manage to complete the installation of my fancy, Cowboy engineered, high dollar, scrap built, RV Refrigerator Roof Vent.

It'll take a few trips to see if it holds together as planned, but my confidence is high! :-) .... It may not be as smooth as that plastic thing was, but I expect it to be stronger. I cut the sides a mite high. I don't think, too high, but I'll need to watch it and make sure all is well, just in case it needs a little tinkering.

If I can, I'm going to get the rehung bathroom door trimmed out in the next day or so and I'll have that little project posted as well.

Nothing much happening on the real estate front. There is a little commotion working with some folks, but I'm not holding my breath.
It's beginning to look like my hoped for Alaskan expedition will get postponed until '08. Geez. That makes 36, consecutive postponements I think!

I don't want to make that trip, if I have to do it in too short of a time. A "National Lampoon journey on the Alaskan Highway" is not my sort of ambition. When I go, it will be slow and comfortable. That's OK, if we don't make it out of here in time this year, we'll roll on up to the Olympic penninsula to cool out for the end of the summer, before we start working back east.

Heidi really wants to spend the fall up in the New England part of the country. I'm a little anxious about the 'crowded' east, but I figure, if I can keep us up in the woods for the biggest part of the time .... I can deal with it. :-( .... lol.

But then, by God, next spring, I'll be parked on the Canadian Border, big Cummins idling, waiting for the Ice to break up, so I can roll on into the Northern Mystery! Yes Sir!

'Till Later
Brian

May 23, 2007 07:55 - Another ..... Anniversary!

(edit) Uhhhh.... more evidence of advancing senility!.... Somewhere in the middle of typing in the title my brain went on vacation... and I didn't catch it until I came back to do another post!... very very sad! :-)

(second edit) ... so I came to correct the unfinished title block, did that, and then didn't say what that darn anniversary was! ... :-) If I get any worse I'll have to wear a name tag... so I can read it!

The anniversary was our 28th Wedding Anniversary.... Tough Ol' gal I got, to put up with me for that long! LOL

I think this will be the end of the fixes for this post.... now if I can just remember where to find my bed to go take a nap....

Some little while ago, a reader sent me an e-mail asking me to pass on a link to his site about RV Toy Haulers if I thought the readers of RV Boondocking would find it useful.

He sounds a little like yours truly, what with getting stuck and all. Me thinks you might find some useful information there if Toy Haulers are your cup of tea.

Heidi and I actually considered them for a while. My only problem was that to maintain the same seperate living quarters we have now, required a rig a lot longer than I wanted to drag around. So we had to sacrifice the toys one of those special rigs can haul.

I don't think I told you, Big Red just got home from the body shop the other day. Cooper Auto Body in Fort Collins corrected a couple 'blemishes' in his hide.... Did I tell you about that? Can't seem to remember a lot these days!

Somebody.... and it wasn't me.... didn't put the truck in gear .... or set the parking brake one morning. OOOPS! We had just stepped out of the rig and were walking away when the 'driver' (not me!) heard something, looked back, and saw Big Red taking off across the parking lot, beside the barn we were at.

I couldn't do anything as I was lame with a busted knee ..... about three months ago now I think. All I could do is stand there and watch my prized truck ... Roll Away! So.... 'the driver' of the day, took off in pursuit. It was a little wierd watching that truck as it weaved around, actually swerving and missing a couple trees, before it flattened a 4" sapling and slid it's left fender down a board fence..... I swear that truck looked like it was trying to miss obstacles before it just flat ran out of manuvering room!

I figured for sure, the 'driver' would be knocked down, and flattened herself, as she scrambled to catch up, open the door and hit the brake with her hand, all while the truck is weaving around and bouncing over parking barriers. Luckily that didn't happen. The gouges to the fender and the bent bumper hurt enough though.

But then, I got in trouble for saying .... Nothing! Geez! If I'd complained, you know for sure and for certain I'd have been skewered for being a mean, insensitive grinch. Knowing that, I just bit my tongue, and even attempted, partially successfully, to keep my head from shaking back and forth.... So I got chewed out for not sayin' nuthin' !

So guys, Nick, over on the Gypsy journal had it right the other day when he advised that the best thing you can learn to say is "Yes Dear".

Adios
Brian

May 25, 2007 20:06 - What's RV Boondocking like? What's the big deal? What's the 'Draw'?

For me, it's what I call "Shining Times". Imagine, living just like you are now, except for the fact that you have no mortgage to worry about (you paid your trailer and truck free and clear right?... or your motorhome). Your utility bill is minimal, since solar power provides all your electricity and all you need propane for is hot water, the refrigerator, and cooking... most of which you'll do on the barbeque outside anyway. Even when it's raining... 'cause you pull your BBQ in under the awning!

You have no grass to mow, no siding to paint, and you ain't got to worry about where they're going to build that gol dang new Hiway!

The view out your 'picture window' keeps changing, from mountain meadow, to alpine lake, to desert vista, and your back yard is thousands of acres of Far Country. Even if you stay in National Forest Campgrounds most of the time, they're spaced out so well, most of the time, that you still have as much privacy as you did in that little lot in town... except for the fact that if you take a, very, short, walk... you are out into those thousands of acres of RV Boondocking Heaven!

That's my idea of shining times! Rain misting down. Fresh scent of the wet pines filling your lungs. Absolutely gorgeous view out across the lake. The smell of BBQ mixing with that coming out of the woods. Monte Walsh on the stereo... or for you classier folks, maybe Brahms?:-) A hot cup of black coffee keeping your hands warm.

Bone tired in that pleasing, all is well with the world sort of way, that you get from that long hike you made up the mountain earlier in the day, or maybe from paddling your canoe clear around the lake!

.... or landing that 40lb Salmon up in the Land of the Midnight Sun!

No-one telling you where you have to be. Fantastic places you've been. Nothing but dreams of where you're headed.

If Thoreau had lived in the 21st Century he'd have been an RV Boondocker.

We only haul, for the most part, what we need. We have one devil of a lot less to worry about in just about any way you want to measure. Fewer possessions to maintain, protect or pay for... including Taxes! Less heartburn, no need to meet the appoval of HOA's! In fact, they have to meet our approval! :-)

If we decide the neighbors don't meet our requirements, we just hitch up and haul to a more pleasing 'neighborhood".

A relaxed life with the time and desire left, from jumping off the treadmill, to stop and smell the roses... the wild ones!

Give it a try, I think you'll come to agree with me. For those of you who already do and are already out there, I'm jealous .... but I may be catching up real soon!

Till then... enjoy the ride
Brian

May 26, 2007 07:42 - Some cogitations on preparing to pull out RV Boondocking Full-time

As anyone reading this blog for any little while might figure out on their own, I'm stuck in just a little bit of a 'holding pattern'.

While we wanted to be out on the RV Boondocking trail one heck of a long time before now, Murphys' Law reared its' rather ugly head and has kept us corralled here.

Our first mistake, I have come to accept, is that we tried to save several thousand dollars, my cowboy tight nature revealing itself, by making the effort to sell our place 'By Owner'.

All the places we've sold in the past were all sold that way. The difference this time is that the Real Estate Market, as anyone who ain't livin' under a rock knows, is less than shiny just now. So what I'd hoped would have been a quick sale and and a quicker 'Hitting the trail'.... wasn't.

Since we made the change over to a traditional RE Broker, we've had a lot more interest, and actually have a couple, couples .... snooping around for a deal ... we're trying to get them hooked
without breaking the line.

I've come to realize that right along with building a house, for stressful, agitating, "why the hell did I get myself into this", sorts of times, sits SELLING a house!

My advice, for anyone making plans to hit the road full-time, who like us isn't in a position to just lock the place up for a few years, don't wait too long to start the process of 'divesting'. It's bound to take a goodly amount of time longer than you'd calculated. Being kind of a stressful time, what with being such a humongous change of lifestyle and all, trying to get it all shoved up into some compressed time frame, adds a bunch of stress you'll have plenty of already.

Don't get down ... I know it's sometimes hard not to! ... just keep puttin' one foot in front of the other, and you're sure to get where you're goin'.

And, what if, contrary to what I'm telling you, your place does go quick? Thank your lucky stars!

Whats the worst that can happen? If you weren't quite ready to pull out, you may need to pull your rig into a nearby park for a while. While you make your final preps, you can live awful low cost, by comparison, until you fire up that big Diesel and ROLL ON BIG MAMA!

And, while still in familiar surroundings, you can work the kinks out of your full-time setup!

Don't worry about not being able to go where you planned 'this year' either. Alaska will still be there in '08 for us ... I expect they'll let you in as well.

When I do finally get there... I'll keep the light on for ya!
Brian

May 28, 2007 06:21 - A Day of Honor

Today is the day I get to thank all my brothers and sisters in Uniform. I am honored to have been a part of their honorable community. Many Thanks for your dedication, and for continuing to shoulder the burden. I know how heavy it can be.

We all, can easily see, what was lost by those who never return, or come home, shattered and broken. My heart breaks when I think of them.

The hardship, loneliness, and sacrifices suffered by those who manage to come home in one piece is little understood,I believe, by the body of our population.

They carry their burdens quietly, and go about living their lives as best they can. They are the backbone, and the elite of this Nation.

We owe everything we have, to the PEACE provided by their sacrfices. It was in that Peace, here at home, that we were given the opportunity to build all that we have.

I am humbled, and know that I am living for those, from whom that opportunity was taken. I honor their sacrifices, Americas Best, living and dead, and will strive to be worthy.

I can only say, I am eternally grateful.
Many, Many,Thanks.
Brian

May 30, 2007 06:47 - The Adventure Begins!.... Finally!

..... or soon will.

Houston... We Have a Contract! YES!!

The deal won't close until August so we can't take off right away... except for the fact we agreed to a pre-closing lease .... and we have to be out by June 11th!

Nothing... for something like 8 months, and then... BANG! Yeeeiiiiiiiiiikkkkes!

The next couple weeks are going to be a mite of tension and excitement... then a couple months of simple waiting,
seasoned with our final departure preparations...

and then...

The Leaving!

On the one hand, I am fairly melancholy. This is about the nicest place we've ever lived. For sure the best we've ever owned. We put a lot of work into building it. So leaving it isn't a simple thing.

But, when I look out the front windows, I see the snow capped mountains to the west, and know... soon... we will be there. Back in the mountains I love, not just looking at them, and I start getting pretty excited!

I only hope the new people will care for the place, and respect it, as we have.

Got up this morning and this was painting the western sky, out that front window we see the mountains through. I'm going to take it as a good omen...

There's a lot to get done, and not much time to do it, so I better go and get after it.

Wish us the 'sand' we'll need to climb this next grade.

We'll see lots of you folks soon... on the Boondocking Trail
Brian

May 31, 2007 06:39 - Kicking Preparations for our departure into high gear

Bangin' away overtime.

Buttoned up the RV Bathroom door conversion while I was waiting for the Realtor to call two days ago. Works a lot better now, and frees up some more wall space for use of some sort. I'll have to come up with something really classy!

Finished up remodeling the TV cabinet, yesterday, into a Bead Storage Cabinet for my Beadaholic Wife. I can't complain about her Beadaholism :-) It's what has paid for this place, and that Big Red truck outside. It's a sure thing cowboyin' didn't do it!

Heck, I was driving a '69 Ford with a 100,000+ miles on it then. (and trucks from that year are well wore out with that mileage on 'em!)

After I finished the cabinet, I moved up front and cobbled a cover panel together, over the inverter, in the front compartment. I needed to get something in there so I can pack miscellaneous goods in the compartment without worrying about the inverter getting overheated from lack of ventilation (with 'stuff' packed in around it) or damaged in some way. Sometime, I'll get a pic or two of that. I don't think it's enough for a page of it's own. Probably just put an 'edit' on the solar power page...

Today, I need to get into my shop and kick it in gear, packing up the remaining hardware from the leather shop, and getting things ready to haul out. Some of it will go into a small storage room we need to rent, the rest will be scattered to the four winds.

Some of the tools are going to my daughters in Denver, hoping they can sell them for me. I've had mixed luck here. I guess folks think we're too far out to drive out to look at used power tools. I'm thinking, being right in Thornton, they'll have more luck getting planers, table saws, dust collectors and such sold! Then again, if the new son-in-law wants to keep some of 'em, he's welcome to that too.

I have one great big, 4,000 LB, Hydraulic 'Clicker' from my leather shop, that is proving to be a real difficulty. The market for them is pretty darn narrow. I figure to make somebody an awful sweet deal for what was a many thousand dollar piece of equipment... but I haven't found anybody to even make me a lousy offer that I can say yes to :-)

We're hoping to not need much of a storage room. Just a few boxes of personal things, pictures, art and such. No furniture ... except maybe a saddle stand with my saddle! ... I won't sell that! .... and that gol' durn Clicker! Yuck!

Everything else is being sold, given away or dumpsterized.

We have had a good friend of Heidis' offer her basement for storage. I'm awful leary of imposing on her in such a way. Sometimes such doin's can sour a friendship, and I'd rather not lose any at this point in life :-)

While I'm cleaning out the remains of my shop, Heidi is sifting through the gatherings of 28 years of wedded bliss. She sent three big sacks of clothes to the goodwill yesterday, and plans on culling a lot more today. It's harder for her to part with her 'things' than me I think. I just keep telling her, we can shop for new stuff when we get on the road.... only remember, every time you get something new, you got to cast off something old! :-)

As much as I'm ~ not ~ motivated by goods, it is kind of melancholy 'divesting' ourselves of so many long held possessions. Funny, it's so hard to make the decision to get rid of 'stuff', even though deep down I don't really want it, but once it's been made and the junk is gone, I feel a great sense of release. Like the burden of responsibility has been lightened another few pounds and I can breathe easier.

We'll both be glad when this next 10 days of scrambling is done. The couple months after that should be much less intense! And pretty darn cheap by comparison to what it takes to maintain the place we built here.

Heck, by the time we are cut free to go yondering, we should be well settled into a more measured pace :-) and a happier cowboy I'll be.

Boxes to pack and many miles to go before I sleep..... 'Till later
Brian