About That Bittersweet (April 17 - 24)

Bittersweet is definitely the word this week! Moving out of our house or "sticks and bricks" in the RVing world, and into the Embark has been most exciting. The "sweet" part is that we are finally following our dream, the "bitter" part is saying goodbye to our son, Michael, his wife, Bridget, and our friends in Tucson.  This week found us busy with actually moving into the Embark. In fact, we have spent two nights in our home on wheels and love it.
Our week has involved learning how the towing system works, finding a way to transport the bicycles with the towed vehicle (full time RVers call this the toad), getting rid of furniture and finally moving into the Embark. Even though the closure on our home is slated for May 4th, we now consider ourselves true full time RVers.
Our first stay is at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. Roger was the wing commander at DM in 1994. That wonderful assignment lasted for 13 months. It is a thrill to return and experience life on base.

Roger and Tim installing tire pressure monitors

Where would we be without Tim???

Leaving RV Central and heading out to DM

Bear and Roger love moving!

The Galley

Davis Monthan Air Force Base

The Warthog or A-10 at DM

Thank you for taking the time to see what is going on in our lives. This coming week involves signing the papers to sell our home and all of those last minute things involved with moving.

About That Cycling

Roger and I started cycling six years ago. Friends in our Tucson neighborhood taught us the basics about road cycling, including clip in shoes. Tucson is a great community for cycling and it wasn't long before we were doing lots of cycling events. At one point, I was riding 200 miles a week. I knew it was a passion when the bike shop people became my close friends. Three bikes later, plus over 25,000 miles, proves that I am an enthusiast. We leave behind wonderful cycling friends and I will miss them and our many adventures together.

Part of the reason for full time RVing is to be able to take our bikes and ride them in other parts of the country. With our Sprinter, we were able to do that in areas in the Southwest. With the larger Embark, we will be able to travel longer distances with our bikes and continue this cycling passion.

About Bear (April 15, 2011)

One of the major reasons that we decided to go full timing in our RV is because of our labradoodle, Bear. Bear came into our lives in January of 2010. We picked him up at the Phoenix Airport because he came(at the age of 9 weeks) to us from Bakersfield California. The following pictures show that nine week old Bear at the airport. It was love at first sight!


Bear is now 16 months old and is adored by his family. The thought of leaving him in a kennel is just not possible. With the amount of traveling we want to do, RVing made the most sense. 

A New Beginning: April 11 - 17 (Tucson, Arizona)

 

Roger, Bear and I have made the decision to go full time RVing. This blog is designed to keep family and friends informed regarding our travels. My goal is to make it as entertaining as possible, but I have lots to learn about writing and publishing an interesting account of our new life on the road. Stick with me as I fine tune this blog and learn how to add pictures. Let me tell you how we came to our decision. 

In September of 1998, Roger and I moved from Washington DC to Tucson, Arizona. Roger completed 32 years with the Air Force and began a new career as a certified financial planner. Tucson proved to be a warm, welcoming city that saw us improve our golf games, develop new friendships, renew old ones, serve in several volunteer capacities, discover a passion for cycling that continues, be delighted when family 

members joined us and finally getting Bear (our 17 month old 

Labradoodle) whom we adore.

 We discovered that leaving Bear in a kennel would not work for us when we travelled for cycling trips, so the three of us began RVing in a Sprinter van. This 24 footer allowed us to sleep in the same bed while moving around. The trips were magical and we had so much fun that it was hard to return home. In fact, we could not wait for the next trip. A year ago we started thinking about the possibility of living full time in an RV. After much research learning about the lifestyle, talking with full-timers that we would meet on our trips in the Sprinter van, reading blogs written by full timers, deciding on a coach, taking classes and driving lessons, we decided that this was what we wanted to do with our future. At the time of our decision, we had several issues that precluded us from beginning this adventure. Amazingly, those challenges resolved themselves and we are two weeks away from beginning our dream.

This week finds us tackling the many projects associated with a major move. Our first outing as full-timers will be to Davis Monthan AFB where we intend to stay until the closing on our house, May 4th. 
The questions we get asked the most concern how are we disposing of 40 plus years of stuff and how will we get mail. The former is easier than you might think. We are fortunate that we have a son and his family in Dallas that want some our furniture, we have sold some furniture, but most of it has been given away to charities. We have a 5 x 10 storage unit that will hold some irreplaceable items, but the rest must fit into the coach. Going from 3400 square feet to 300 square feet has simplified our lives. 


With over a million full time RVers, the mail is easily delivered with the help of services designed to forward mail. We will let you know how that works out. 


Thank you for visiting this fledgling blog site. I hope to post once a week.