Pages

Monday, May 10, 2010

Games We Play

There are a number of things I do as a full-timer and I thought I'd share them.  While you read the list, please consider responding as I ask the question:  
What games do you play?  What kind of things do you find your self doing on a regular basis?  ~ Thanks!

Track expenses.  In a strange sort of way I guess, I love finding out at the end of the month what our expenditures are. I love to see where we were under budget.  I love to see how we did on 'guessing' how much it would cost us each month to live.

Try to increase readership.  Another game I play is trying to figure out how to get more blog readers.  I guess there is supposed to be some shame in that because it is kind of an ego thing.  Be that as it may, I am blown away that folks would be interested in what we do every day.  To me it has been fun and encouraging to know that some how, there is something interesting enough in what we do and how I say it that hundreds of people read the blog every month.

Solitare.  I don't know why, but I recently started playing solitaire with a deck of cards again.  I started at the Bradley cottage in Canada last week and have played a few times

Blood pressure checks.  I usually look for the blood pressure cuff and chair near the Wal-Mart Pharmacy when we go there.  And we go to Wal-Mart alot.  I have this inbred goal of seeing it at 120/80 or below. Surprisingly the last few months it has been creeping upward.

Miles per gallon.  When we started with our 40' Allegro Bus, I was planning on about 7 miles per gallon.  I have finally learned how to reset the gauge on the dash for each 'trip'.  For months I watched as our mpg didn't change much because our 'trip' was being calculated from a long time ago.  Things improved when we got our fuel filter changed.  Now we hover around 8.5 mpg.

Mexican Train.  Not so much really.  We learned how to play from new friends and fellow full-timers Mike and Gerri.  We have also play with fellow Habitat for Humanity friends Bill and Marty, but we rarely find ourselves pulling it out and playing.

Links to other blogs.  From time to time I really enjoy adding comments to other friends' blogs.  I know the the best way of all to increase readership is to have others include a link to your blog in theirs, so I do that sometimes, hoping others will do the same.  One of the biggest days of readership was when Howard Payne of 'RV-Dreams' put a link to our in his blog in his.  Sometimes if I remember, I look at new 'Followers' and see if they have a blog and either Follow their blog and / or put a link to it.

Finding more space.  I don't know why but we are always looking at things we haven't used very much and clothes we never wear and we love to clear out the coach to find more space.  Somehow we got the bug when we downsized and got rid of most of our stuff.  I love clearing a drawer or a cupboard or a bin in the basement and get more space.

Visiting states.  Early on we loved to add another state to the places we have visited.  But lately we have not been to new states so that has taken a back seat to our priorities at hand.  We look forward to visiting the Northwest but probably won't head that way until after the first of next year.  We will see.

Cooking smaller portions.  Pam is great at coming up with great meals.  I am amazed at the variety she comes up with all the time.  She is always thinking about how to cook smaller portions for the two of us and how to store leftovers in the small refrigerator.

Boondocking.  Also know as dry camping or as Adam says, "dry docking".  We really like camping out somewhere with no hookups.  It's fun to see how long we can go and how we can avoid using power.  It helps when you have a 100 gallon fresh water tank, a solar panel on top and a 7500 diesel generator.  We like the idea of saving some $$ and 'roughing it' so to speak.

Click on ads I find in other peoples blogs.  Yup -- I figure they are doing that to generate a little income (and I do mean a little) so sometimes I spend a few minutes and click away.  And I hope it adds a little bit to there account.  Try it!

That is all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  We love it that you stopped by and hope that this week is a great one for you.

7 comments:

  1. Hmmm..food for thought..so to speak..

    I will answer your questions in my blog..maybe some others will do the same.

    Have a great day..Cindy and Walker

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are many things that you mentioned that we enjoy doing as well, here are just a few.

    We love doing the budget thing, and tracking our gas mileage. Have done both of these things from day one.

    We love reading others blogs, adding comments and we do click as often as possible so other can make a dime too.

    Visiting all states and taking photos of all state line signs without stopping has been a goal of ours, including getting a pin for our map. Another goal is to do the same for all NASCAR tracks we visit.

    We love purging our RV...there were so many things when we first came out here that we thought we could not live without. The amazing thing is all the things that we do live without that doesn't even bother us anymore.

    Life is Grand and we are having the time of our lives. Our main goal is to have as much fun as we can along the roads we travel...so far that has been the easiest goal to reach.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This was a fun and interesting post, Randy - good job. I do a lot of the same things you have mentioned but I can't say I've gotten around to "smaller portions" yet. I guess I'll have to add that one to my list!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Since Donna & I have still the ordeal of selling the house we haven't really full timed yet, we try to watch our expenses, but since Donna works as an accountant I trust her judgement there, with me driving the bus part time and her working two jobs still, there isn't much time for much else, add into that my Son and Grandson living with us till we leave or school is out in the Grandson's case, and we have a pretty full life.Your ideas are very note worthy and will be saved. We too enjoy the comraderie that is very much a part of blogging. Be Safe out there. Sam & Donna.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great questions! I think I am gonna copy and paste them along with my own answers into a future blog post of my own if you don't mind. Cindy mentioned them too on her blog, with her answers:

    http://fulltiminglikeacfd.blogspot.com/2010/05/answering-some-questions.html

    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. This was such a fun post. Thanks! I guess we need to get together again for a rematch of Mexican Train. Ha! We haven't played much lately either.
    I love to try to "beat the budget." Some categories don't lend themselves too much for that but my food budget does. I try to stay under budget and beat it the following month...without getting hungry!
    We love staying connected through blogs and really appreciate folks reading and making comments. This interaction helps you to really get to know each other.

    Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
    http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sure can identify with you on the 'Boondocking' one for sure. Can't think of a better place to spend our time while traveling than in the natural surrounding arms of Mother Nature:))

    ReplyDelete