Roadrunner Reflections - Taking It All In

Sometimes I get in the contemplative mode - do you?

Often as an RV full-timer, we meet people who ask how we could do this?  How could we get rid of all our stuff and leave our house.  What will we come back to?  I think more of "There is a lot to see out there, we better get started…"

Truth is, we never really think about what we left behind much.  When we first started, we never missed our stuff.   And we don't wish for those days of a mortgage and all that.  Yes, we do miss our friends at times.  And we will be back and hopefully get to see them then.  But things are always changing back there…they were moving away or getting busy in their things. Moving into this phase of our life has been just the right thing at the right time for us to pursue.  And it still is.

At times, it was almost overload mode.  Starting out, it was almost overwhelming.  But we just learned how to talk it out and work through things.  At first, it was a big learning curve how to do this…how to drive this 40' diesel pusher.  I remember staying awake the first couple of weeks at our campground wondering how I was going to get out of our campsite with out hitting the big tree… Did you ever do that?.

And then we started learning how to operate everything inside.  And how all the systems work.  And what happens when something doesn't work right and ……  It was a lot to learn and everyday we felt like we were learning lots about everything.  It was a lot coming at us when we started out.  It took 18 months to feel like we halfway knew what we were doing.  And we continue to learn new things.  But not at the speed we did when we first started out.

Then there is the adventure of it all.  Being able to see new and exciting and fun places and interesting things.  I think I will always feel as if I am 'behind on my blog' because a lot of times I see things during the day and think, 'that would make a good subject for a blog…'.  I currently have 789 published posts and another 98 'drafts'.  And I have half a dozen ideas of other blogs I wanted to start but just haven't figured out how to integrate them into this.  Like one dedicated only to 'Financials', one to 'Starting Out' showing what we had to buy separately after we bought the Roadrunner.  Then I have thought about 'Campsites' - a review of the campgrounds and places we have stayed…. Then I think, "why do that?" plus it is a lot of work---plus I have way to many books to read.

And the more I see, the more questions I have. It is one thing to see the beauty and the scenery.  I want to learn more about the places, the people, the history.  And we are doing that.  It is a lot of fun to get an idea of how things used to be in an area.  Like Monterey Bay where we were recently.  I am fascinated by Cannery Row, both the fiction part and the real history of how it was booming in the 1920s to the 1940s until the sardine industry was basically all fished out...

So sometimes, after a busy few days, it can be sensory overload.  It helps to take a lot of pictures, but I wish I could just frame it all in my mind and keep it and enjoy it.  A lot of time I forget the views and the smells and the way different places feel. After being in a place that may be one of my all time favorites, it is too much to take in…  The beauty of the crashing waves on the rocks and the beach.  The clear blue water mixed with the curtains of white foam.  I could spend months here taking it all in.

But it is time to move on.  We have an alternating schedule where sometimes we are real busy and other times we aren't.  Right now we aren't.  Another way to say it might be our current slow down time comes at a good time.  And we will be doing that for the next few weeks and look forward to 'projects around the house'.

After seeing lots of family and friends and lots of places in the San Francisco Bay area and Monterey Peninsula the past few weeks, we are here in the San Luis Obispo area.  We will be here for a little over a week before we start slowly making our way south to the San Diego area.

That's about all for today on the Roadrunner Chronicles - Thanks so much for joining us!