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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Remember the First Couple of Days You Started Doing This?


Over the years, we have been able to connect with some Roadrunner Chronicles readers.  John emailed me a while back and said something to the effect, "...been a long time reader and wonder if I could ask you a few questions about the lifestyle.  My wife and I are thinking about selling our house and full timing..."

I said Sure! - glad to help if I can.

That culminated in the last few months of John and Cathy selling their house in St. Louis, finding a coach in Texas, purchasing it last month and taking possession earlier this week.

So -- after years of planning and preparing they are into their first few days in their new home.  I am pretty happy for them and thought their enthusiasm was exciting.   I asked if I could share this with you all:
Well we got here (Athens, Texas) around 12:30. Bob ( previous owner) drove the coach over from the storage hut near his old lake house.  

They are just wonderful, helpful, nice Texas people. Beyond nice.!!😄😄😄

They spent a couple hours with us. 
Kathy and Cathy going over inside setup and general galley things, bedroom things , light switches, dishwasher , washer and dryer, etc..

Bob and I tackled the outside setup. Electric hook ups, water hook up, and then sewer hook ups.
Lots to learn but the big picture is getting a little smaller as I begin to understand the systems. Still have a long way to go but feeling more comfortable.

Cathy and I made a quick trip to a local Walmart to get some necessities, wine, water, breakfast items, wine, paper plates, wine, etc.....

We took Bob and Kathy out to dinner for all their help. Went to a local Italian restaurant. Not too many choices here. Food was very good.  Four dinners, salad, and wine...bill was $52.
These small towns sure make it easy to go out.

Got home and Albert was happy to see us. He has managed to tackle the steep in and out stairs. He is such a brave boy!!

The Sleep  number bed is awesome!!  Slept good but since I am still fighting a cold woke everyone up at 3:30 which was better than the night before. Took Albert out around 6:15 for his duties. Temps near 50 so not so bad.   

Drove into town for coffee at The Kitchen Table restaurant lots of locals here. 
Yes mam, yes sir...these Texans are sure polite. 
Cathy and Albert are home watching TV. We get lots of TV stations just with the local antenna.  

The campground owner is blind and has fixed the place up very nicely. Bob ( the previous owner) is good at tricks....he told me to introduce myself to George at the RV park owner and ask him to drive the golf cart to my site. George played along and said he would be right out to take me to site number two. Very nice man, married to a nursing teacher at the local community college. Again more nice folks.

Today Bob is coming by at 10.  We are going to do a camp departure using the checklists he has shared with me. Inside and outside checklists. Then we are going to do some practice driving at one of the local schools. We think they are on spring break. Then do a camp setup.

Then practice hooking up the Honda toad vehicle.

They have invited us out to their ranch this afternoon. Albert gets to go and meet the horses!!

Another Walmart trip to get more essentials and then a quiet evening in our new home on wheels.

Tomorrow we drive to Texarkana TX campground. Get to use my senior "See America Pass" and only pay $10 for campsite. Two days there getting comfortable learning all the new systems , etc..

Friday we head to our first US National Park....Hot Springs AR National Park. They do not take reservations so hopefully we can get a site. Plan to stay 8 nights. Another couple we know from    
St. Louis will be joining us on Saturday.  They have an Airstream.

So far so good. The coach is beautiful and makes roughing it in a campground quite doable. , 
 How about you all?  Remember those first few exhilarating days?   Any words or thoughts you could pass along?

That's all for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for stopping by.

6 comments:

  1. Ah, remember those first days well. Unfortunately, after selling our house and moving into our rig FT I still had 2 more months to work before we actually got rolling. Sitting in a somewhat dreary local campground was not too fun, but the wait was certainly worth it.
    We only wish that we could have gotten started early. LOVE this lifestyle, both good and bad times.

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  2. Sounds very familiar. While we don't quite have the daily zeal for what may come around the curve, it is very nice to when you get full of a place or finish a requirement, pickup and head off to a new adventure. Would not give this up for anything at this time.

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  3. Randy this is a great post. I know you are gratified! We lived in our coach 5 1/2 months before heading out. With all our research, we were comfortable we wouldn't be out here alone and that we would see new places and meet new friends. But after one year our anticipation pales in comparison to the reality. Why didn't we do this sooner?? We plan to be on the road "Until it's just not fun anymore."

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  4. Sure brought back memories. In no time, they will be "old hat" at this. After 3.5 years, we still are excited to head to each new place, but our checklists are now in our heads and we do them 10x faster than we did at the beginning :)

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  5. We've been sitting so long waiting for my VA claim to get processed it is going to seem like our first day all over again when we get rolling on 1 April. Hope the engine starts (but I have to remember where my keys are first). ;c)

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  6. it is so fun to read about the excitement of new full timers. I still get that feeling every time we're ready to head out after sitting for so long in one place. And it sounds like he had a wonderful teacher in Bob.

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