Some Thoughts on Exiting the Full-time RV Life

Anyone who has gone full-time as an RVer can relate to the large amount of effort it took to make the dramatic transition. Downsizing, living in cramped quarters, and always being on the road can have a big impact mentally and emotionally.  Similarly, making the decision to reverse course and rejoin the more traditional community has some challenges too.

I’ve thought about this topic awhile.  In fact a day may not go by before my thoughts return to the RV life and I relive some of those great memories.
That said, I know some friends who are thinking about making the same decision and I wanted to share some thoughts from our experience.

We were on the road for almost 10 years and sold the Roadrunner 15 months ago.  This is from our perspective so it may or may not apply.  My hope is that it might useful in some way.

Here goes:

1. Becoming full-timers takes longer than making the big change to get off the road.  It takes a lot to put yourself into a viable position to live on the road and go full-time.  For us it was a two year effort.  Others have done it more quickly.  It really depends on your circumstances and personal risk tolerance.
2. Reversing that situation is easier but can be no less risky or scary.  But it doesn’t have to be. With a right amount of consideration and forethought, it can be done well with little pain.
3. In our case, we found that once you say it out loud and discuss it, everything changes.  It becomes inevitable, sooner than later.  Up until that time, it was a “someday” thing but not an item that we concerned ourself with much.
4. Transiting off the road my be more pleasant if you had a good full-time experience.  We found it easy to cherish those times.  Likewise, we were and are hopeful as the next chapter continues to unfold it can be equally as good.
5. I find that our circumstances may be different and I have always thought it is OK to “feel sad’ about leaving the road.  Really -- we gave some of the best years of our life to a great experience, and it is normal to have feelings about changing things.
6. I think it helps to sollidify thinking as to why we make the big change.  Once we determined the “why” -- it was easy to come back to that when I had misgivings or other thoughts.  Remember the “why" you are doing this despite the mixed emotions.  There may be times when the transition 
7. It’s ok to have changing goals after you become part-timers or no-timers.  We thought we’d be getting a smaller RV.  Then we spent that portion of our budget on a truck and still have no RV.  And we are OK with that, though we loved every minute of life on the road.
8. I know of friends who found it helped to write out pros and cons of a decision to leave the road.  It may clarify things for you.  
9. Make the change with minimum financial impact if you can.  A series of costly financial moves at this stage of your life is not helpful.
10. Don’t be surprised if others “don’t get it”.  Despite your enthusiasm for RVing, some folks just do not understand.  And they don’t understand why you ever did that in the first place.  But that’s OK.  
11. Be flexible.  Be patient with your new circumstances. Once you are settled back into a more “traditional lifestyle” there may be those days when it is not going so great and you wish you were still RVing.  
12. Make sure this is what you really want to do, so you don’t have regrets. Leaving the full-time lifestyle and going traditional is not irreversible, but I’m thinking from what we have seen it is improbable.
13. We intended to have an RV parked nearby at a storage lot or in the backyard and have it ready to go for many short 4-6 week trips.  But that hasn’t happened yet.  For us at the moment it is not feasible.  But we are OK with that.
14. Manage your expectations.  Just as RVing is not a panacea, going back to traditional living isn’t either.  It will have challenges and setbacks.  
15. You can't move if you don’t like your neighbors like you could in your RV, unless you are renting.  Hopefully you will be able to get into a great neighborhood or situation suits you.
16. Whatever cash you set aside for the transition will go fast.  Other priorities may pop up that you didn’t plan for.  Some are knowns but there are the many unknowns.  Be thrifty if you can so you have more options.
17. Set up a way to remember your wonderful times.  Photos, a blog, emails, are all ways to remember the great (and not so great) times you had on that very unique time of your life.  Review them like an old scrapbook. 
18. You may want to keep in touch with your some of your RV friends.  It is a wonderful way to remember and connect with that important part of your life.
19. Key in on the things that you deal with as full-timers that are an undertone of stress.  If you leave the road, you are free from those pressures.  It could be little things that you didn’t realize but definitely create some element of burden for you:  Major RV breakdowns, places to get a camping spot during the busy season (or COVID-19 lately), doing your laundry at a laundromat every week, or being apart from family.
20. Maybe you don’t have to get rid of your RV or you can downsize and still get out and camp from time to time.  That seems like the best of both worlds.  Become a half-timer, some-timer or when-ever-you-can RVer can be a great option if your situation allows it. 

Having said all this - life after RVing can be just as exciting, just as fun, just as rewarding.  Only different.  It doesn’t have to be the same to be good.  Or great.

It can be another exciting time in your life.  And why not?  You made a big change to go full-time, and you can be happy and successful in the next chapter of your life. After you think about it and develop your plan,  Go for it! and God Bless You!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Selling and Delivering the Roadrunner to New Owners

A little over a week ago, we completed the sale of the Roadrunner.  It started out slowly with an email on December 31, 2018 and culminated in getting the deal done 43 days later with the new buyer.

Roadrunner on test drive with new owner

A friend with the same year, make, and model motorhome sold his in December and asked if he could pass along our contact information to a couple of people who were interested in his coach.  Soon after, I got emails from both individuals.

Thing happened a lot quicker than we planned.  We decided to put the Roadrunner up for sale after out winter trip to Florida.  That would be the first or second week in April.  But since this opportunity presented itself, we figured we could change our plans if things worked out.  After all, “Two birds in hand are worth three in the bush,” ... or something like that?

We never had to advertise the Roadrunner or contact a consignment agency.  We're calling it divine intervention and are as grateful as we can be.  It turned out to be a "win-win" for both the buyer and for us. He got a great coach for less than what he would have paid at a dealership and we got a little more money than many said was possible.

We traded emails back and forth with the two interested parties in January.  I sent each about 30 pictures of the Roadrunner and answered a lot of questions.  One was concerned about the price we were asking and the high miles we had on the coach.  Both of those items I understood.  Our 2007 Allegro Bus had 130,000 miles on it.

When we were in Red Bay after Thanksgiving, I talked with a motorhome broker who said that the two factors that he and most RV dealers consider were simply, year of the motorhome and miles.  Those two factors determine what they are willing to pay an owner for a used motorhome.   He said we would be fortunate to get $85,000 or $90,000.

As owners, we felt our motorhome was in great shape, had minimal issues, and worth top dollar.  We had put a lot of work into keeping it running well and looking good over the years.  May a lot of upgrades. Our original sales plan was to take the Roadrunner back to Red Bay the first week of April and get some odds and ends/minor work done, then park it on a lot there and see what happened.

That plan never materialized. Instead, we cleaned out the coach and got the Roadrunner ready to turn over to the new owner.  Every step of the way, we knew that for one reason or another, the sale could fall through.  Our situation was unlikely from the start but just because we had some unique circumstances to navigate, "unlikely" doesn't necessarily mean, "not possible."

A week before the new owner flew in to see it, we rented a 4' x 8' U-Haul trailer and packed it full of everything we could not carry in the Honda CRV.  We were already were traveling light since we left a lot of our things back at our daughter's place in Virginia Beach before we started on the Florida trip.
For less than $100, we rented the trailer and drove to Virginia Beach for a few days.  It coincided with our youngest grandson's 2nd birthday which was great.

Meanwhile, we were continuing the correspondence and figuring out a viable "change or ownership" plan.

Some of the hurdles we had to get over were his situation and modifications to the Roadrunner.  He was flying in to look over the coach.  Then, if it all worked out, we offered to help him get the coach to a storage facility which was about eight hours from where we were located. 

A number of things had to be addressed:
- High miles of coach
- Age of the motorhome
The broker suggested we ask what we wanted to get for it and see what happens.  Our friend with a coach like ours did that and got more than we did.  But then, he also had a lot less miles than we did.  I think anyone who shops around can see that there are a lot of 11 year old RVs that have not been taken care of very well.  We tried to keep up with things and have made something like 17 trips to Red Bay over the years to stay on top of maintenance and improvements.  We felt it was better to get a few things done each time than pay a big bill all at once.

- Washer/dryer addition
- Lack of table/eating area
- Keeping the recliner
- Purchase price
The buyer was always complimentary when I sent pictures and I ended up forwarding about 75 in total.  Two items on his list were that wanted to install a washer/dryer and to reinstall the Corian table.  We did a little bit of research and offered some recommendations with a couple of shops in Red Bay who could get that done for him.
I also wanted to keep the custom table and the Lazy Boy recliner we had in lieu of the sofa we had removed on the Driver Side.  He was OK with all of those.
After about 10 days of discussions on "how this might work" I thought it appropriate to agree on a selling price.   Better to see where we were in the process than get down near the end only to be surprised.  It only took a couple of emails and we agreed on a price we were both happy with.

- Meeting at the airport hotel
- Test drive
He was flying into the Jacksonville Airport late on a Saturday night and then taking a shuttle to an airport hotel.  We met the next morning at the hotel and drove him back to the campground at Naval Station Mayport.
We took a tour of the outside and then the inside of the Roadrunner, where we went through all the details of operation.  Inside the coach, Pam and I explained the operation of all the systems moving from the front to the back and answering all his questions. Next, Pam explained the procedures for shutting down the DirecTV, pulling in the slides and getting the Roadrunner ready to roll.  I then went outside with him and showed him what I do with the hookups and putting away things.
After that, he and I went for a test drive around the outskirts of the base.  He did fine and carefully returned the Roadrunner back to the campsite so we could connect the Honda CRV.

- Transfer of funds
- Bill of Sale
- Transfer of Title
We did our due diligence to verify that he could get an official check made out to me that I could deposit online using the USAA mobile app.  We are both USAA members. I thought a simple transfer from his account to my account would work.  Instead he had a check drafted that could not be changed or cancelled for 90 days.  A friend in the tourism industry said that some unseemly folks would pay for their tickets by checks and then turn around and cancel their checks.  The USAA procedures in place prevented that possibility.
After the test drive, we signed two identical copies of the bill of sale with two witnesses at the campground office and then filled out the Transfer of Title.

- Departure from Naval Station Mayport
- Arrival at KOA for the night
- Dinner at Cracker Barrel
- Sleeping arrangements
By now it was about 1030 AM.  We hooked up the tow car (Honda CRV) and headed for a KOA off I-75 where we had made reservations for the night.  After a couple of hours on the road, we pulled into a truck stop for some fast food.  He was able to drive the coach for over an hour on the freeway so he got some time behind the wheel.  I liked the idea he got the chance to drive it around base and also out in some traffic.  He did fine and liked the way it handled.
Our stop at the KOA was about 3 1/2 - 4 hours away from Mayport.  The delivery destination (the next day) was an RV storage facility east of Atlanta, another 4 hours away. The overnight stop allowed him to set the unit up at the campground while we were there to answer any questions.  Next, we went out to dinner together and drove back to the campground.  We had bought him a sleeping bag and pillow and we found a motel in town for the night.  He was able to check out the DirecTV by himself plus everything else inside the coach.  When we met the next morning we answered a few questions but it went smoothly.

- Departure for Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport
- Rental Car
- RV Storage
- Adios
He had breakfast of bagels, orange juice and coffee that we had in the refrigerator for him and we grabbed something at the hotel.  We met early at the KOA and he did all the departure set up and procedures with some minimal coaching.
Our next "stop" was the Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport.  He had arranged for a rental car.  We looked up the airport information online and made sure we would have no problem driving the Roadrunner to the airport.  I could not imagine that it would have any low hanging walkways or overpasses that would be a problem.  We checked it out but also kept a keen eye for some surprises along the way.  We had no issues.  As we approached, I slowed and pulled over near the parking garage, and put on my flashers for 30 seconds.  He hopped out and went on the rental office.  We exited the airport and drove 30 miles over to the RV storage facility.  He met us there shortly after we arrived.  We removed our license plates, unhooked the CRV, took one last picture, said, "Adios Roadrunner, it's been amazing!" We shook hands again with the buyer and we were off.

The end of an era.  It was a bit surreal as we drove to the nearest Chick-Fil-A for lunch and pondered our future... 

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  There are more stories to come, be sure to tune in!

   

The Lobster Capital of Maine - Stonington

We spent the day over at Stonington, ME.  It took about an hour to get over there from our Forest Ridge Campground in Ellsworth, ME, on some smaller county and state roads.

It was foggy much of the day but we had glimpses of some interesting things.

First we came upon a Produce Market and had to stop.

There were a mix of crafts and produce on display.

I stopped for a few moments and talked with the owners of the VW pickup truck who brought some produce to the market.

The guy in the green sweatshirt was the owner of the 1964 VW.  It had been completely restored and painted and had the nice canvas cover over the top.  It was a real beauty and had been in his family for a long time.  I asked how it did on the road and he said it could even get up to 50 mph!

Next, on to Stonington.

Our new friends Randy and Pat recommended the quaint little town and we found it to be a great day trip.  It immediately looked like a Maine fishing town.

There were boats in the harbor and a number of working warehouses in site on the water.

The town is small and we drove through it on Main Street before turning around and finding a parking place.  Parking is free so that was nice.  Just like most of the parking in Bar Harbor.

Our first order of business was to find a place for lunch.  We looked at this little row of cottages and the restaurant associated it.  But we went inside and waited for a table only to find out it was a private dining area for guest at these quaint cottages.  Yikes!

 The fog was rolling in and out and we opted for an inside restaurant on Main Street.

The bay window was a great place to see the bay, enjoy the meal and chat with some other vacationers in the restaurant.
The sights in town were another exclamation mark in our Northeast Trip.

 After lunch, we strolled down to the wharf and went to the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries.

Here's what their website says about the mission and purpose:

Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries is a non-profit organization that works to secure a diversified fishing future for the communities of Eastern Maine and beyond. We do this by developing and implementing innovative programs that provide value for today’s fishermen and drive more sustainable management approaches for future fisheries. An essential component of our work is connecting the knowledge of fishermen, the findings of scientists, and the world of policy makers.

We talked with Sam, an intern from Iowa who showed us samples of some of the fish life on display.
We saw a purple lobster, crabs, mussels and some other sea creatures.

A manager at the facility said that the working warehouse in town were really busy and harvesting a lot lobster.  In 2017, they had a banner year with over 20,000,000 pounds of lobster in Stonington alone.  An average year is about that for the entire state of Maine.

It was a beautiful warm day and we really just walked around and enjoyed the small town feeling on the waterfront.  It was surprising to me that there was not a larger commercial advertising presence.  The only sign I saw that named the town as the biggest lobster port in Maine (and therefore the world?) was the small sign at the edge of town.

I suppose, to their credit, they liked the small town atmosphere and were willing to put up with the high traffic in the summer time, but at the same time they didn't want to bring in huge numbers of tourists and change the culture.

Before we left the area, we drove around the outskirts of town and saw some neat neighborhoods with little homes perched on the side of the hills for good views of the harbor.

We also came upon a large boat repair facility with a huge boat mover.

The whole contraption was being 'driven' by a guy who was walking behind it and operating it from a remote control joystick.  We don't see that every day!

We loved our time in Stonington.  It was a memorable day.

This definitely was a 'find' and a great way to spend the day.  Seeing Stonington was a bit of change from Bar Harbor and Acadia and a chance to see an interesting place.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Reflections: Completing 9 Years of RV Living

Our 9th Year on the Road began in Virginia Beach and here we are again in Virginia Beach.  I still remember that back-porch conversation Pam and I had when we were considering full-timing.  I said, "If we are really going to do this, sell the house, buy and RV and all that, we should at least plan on doing it for 5 years."  Pam thought otherwise.  She said, "I was thinking more like 10."
And here we are.  Living the RV dream in year 10.  It has been quite an adventure.

The adventure has had so many facets to it, it is a little hard to explain.  But I am going to do my best.  I'm writing a book.  Writing a book almost like running a marathon. I've run four of those.  It took me a few years to decide I was actually going to run one and then commit to all the miles and hours preparing to go 26.2 miles.  Writing a book is a bit daunting.  Especially if you want to do a credible job.  I have the first draft under my belt and will probably have drafts two and three before I am ready to take the next step.  The halfway point of a marathon is about mile 20.  Seems as if the last 6.2 miles were as hard as the first 20.  I think the halfway point of writing a book is somewhere beyond draft two.  10 chapters, 50,000+ words, it is coming together.  We will see.  Stay tuned.  I'm shooting for a fall release.

So that is one major aspect of year nine - I became a 'writer'.  I have been a blogger for over 10 years now and have taken it seriously as various times.  Sometimes it seems like a lot of work to be a hobby.  Other times, the words and motivation are there and it comes fairly easy.  Somewhere along the line last year, I was reviewing a friend's manuscript (Wes), who had a collection of short stories he formed into a very readable book.  He has a masterful grip of storytelling.  Me, not so much.

Somewhere along the line he suggested I write a book.  I don't even remember the conversation to well.  It reminded me of running a marathon.  It took me years, literally years to wrap my head around the idea and then actually take steps to get it accomplished.  About that time I enjoyed running and remember it being a fad.  Lots of people were 'jogging'.  For some reason the idea of 'jogging' never resonated with me.  I decided I was always going to be a 'runner'.  Pace or speed had nothing to do with it.  It was a mind set.  I was a runner.

Other personal challenges included getting my Master's degree.  I remember thinking about it, dabbling in it with a few night classes and then finally one day decided, "I'm going to get this done." It took me over two years and lots of studying on Sunday afternoons, but it paid off.

And I think becoming a writer and changing the mindset from dabbling it in putting together a credible effort will be rewarding as well.  I haven't got the interest in a novel and writing engaging stories, but I do have 10 years of thinking about RV living and writing about it.  I have thousands of pictures and memories to fill up 10 volumes.  (At this point I have plans for 10 volumes.)  Why not?  I like doing it, it is a challenge and we will see.  There is one change in Year 9.  I became a writer.

We have plenty of other reflections about that last nine years and the last year in particular.  The biggest events over the last couple of years are the arrival of our two grandsons:  Brooks and Harrison.  These two little guys are game changers!  Being away from them four or five months is a special kind of tug that we want to figure out.  Maybe the better way to travel and come back to Virginia Beach is to go on two or three month trips and come back to see them for a couple of months at a time.  They grow up quickly.

We are very fortunate to have a daughter and son-in-law that are insistent we be involved in the grandkids lives.  We are glad to do so and are figuring all that out.  It's been a real joy to be around them and help out and we surely will do more of that in the days and years ahead.  Their presence on the scene has caused us to reflect and consider the next step in our RV living...

We cannot say how long we will be full-timing.  But our thinking has definitely changed to where we are actively discussing other arrangements.  We have no timeline in mind and we have one more year before we hit the 10 year mark.  I remember asking the question on an RV forum before we hit the road, "What is your exit plan?".  Most people responded as if I was nuts and if I was already thinking about an exit plan, maybe full-timing was not for me.  What??

I think I wanted to see if there is something worth considering before we started, that would make it better when we moved to part-timing or some-timing.  The bottom line is that I decided just like we figured out how to transition to full-timing, we could figure it out when the time for us to change and 'settle' down.

Not sure what to call where we are now, but we are definitely in a different phase of RV Living - "No Man's Land".

It reminds me of deciding to leave my current job for another one and not telling anyone yet.  I was in that situation after I retired from the military.  I had decided to leave, was actively pursuing new employment, but I wasn't in a position yet to discuss it with anyone but Pam.  I continued to work hard at my current position and I determined the date I needed to offer my resignation.  It was "No Man's Land".

That term may be a bit overly dramatic but we are in a different phase of Living the Dream.  After 9 years of living this life, we know that our life is probably going to change in the next year or two.  We're not sure exactly what that is going to look like but it will probably be settling down here in Virginia Beach.  Our son and daughter in law live in Fairfax VA and work in the Northern VA/Washington DC area.  Our daughter and son in law and two grandkids live here in Virginia Beach.  It makes sense for us to be in Virginia if we want to be near them.

This phase is almost like starting out all over again.  At this stage, I want to do all I can to avoid a big financial mistake.  We are now at Social Security retirement age and on a fixed income. Unless my book(s) are wildly successful and we come financially independent.  😳  Like playing the lottery, I don't think that is a very sound financial retirement plan.

Thinking about getting off the road and brainstorming sets off a whole set of uncertainty, curiosity, changes, risks and research.  While we enjoy our time on the road, we will be working the next phase in the background/behind the scenes.  We will see what happens.  Meanwhile, part of reflecting on our ninth year is a recap of some of the travels we've had over the last 12 months.

We started out going to Ohio and up to Michigan before returning to Virginia Beach for the holidays. After the first of the year, we drove south on I-95 to Florida and then headed west on I-10 and into California.  We saw friends in the San Bernardino are and landed in Arizona for the winter.  It was mostly warm and a great time.  We love Arizona!

We found ourselves doing a lot of things this last year that we did in Year 1 of our adventures.

We saw museums and state capitols, worked for Habitat for Humanity on a couple of gigs, went to Canada, went to Mexico and spent a lot of time in the Tucson area:

Museums/Zoos/Parks

• Virginia Zoo (Norfolk)
• National Historical Site at Kitty Hawk (Wright Brothers)
• Columbus Zoo (Ohio)
• Jack Nicklaus Museum (Ohio State campus)
• Noah's Ark (full size display and museum near Cincinnati)
• Creation Museum (Petersburg, KY not far from Cincinnati)
• Red Bay Museum (Red Bay, AL)
• Kentucky Horse Park (Lexington)
• Cultural Heritage Center (Pierre, SD)
• Pony Express Museum (Marysville, KS)
• Loretto Memorial Chapel (Santa Fe)
• National Museum of the American Indian (Washington DC)
• Ford Theater (Washington DC)
• Dodge City (KS)
• Natural Bridge (Virginia)

State Capitols

• Columbus, Ohio
• Lexington, KY
• Pierre, South Dakota

Volunteering

• Gold Manor (major renovations at daughter and son-in-law's/Virginia Beach
• Habitat for Humanity/Care-A-Vanner, East Lansing, MI
• Habitat for Humanity/Care-A-Vanner, Sioux Falls, SD

Other

• Solar Eclipse (An event Pam put on the calendar many months in advance so we could see a 100% coverage in Nebraska)
• Golf in Arizona (Played more this year than I have in many years)
• Hiking (Sabino Canyon and Catalina State Park -  Tucson)
• 100,000 miles - we passed the 100,000 miles in the Roadrunner a few weeks ago.  

As we look back on our 9th year, a number of things have changed since we first got interested in RV living Full-Time:

Observations: 

• Facebook - It seems to me Facebook is exploding with RV groups and information.  It is so easy to ask a question about RVing and one only has to wait minutes before a multitude of responses flash on the screen.  
• YouTube - A close second to Facebook is YouTube that has about every kind of video you would want to see on the lifestyle, RVs and "How To" on all kinds of RV subjects.
• Kindle - this device was fairly new 9 years ago and it was not nearly as common as it is today.  Most people (me included) read books on Kindle or the Kindle app on smartphones.
• Travel Trailers - There seems to be a lot more travel trailers on the road.  New RVers are getting the less expensive models and it seem to be much more common to see them in the campgrounds.
• Gas vs diesel Class A's - I would guess that the gas engine Class A is gaining
• Price of fuel - Not nearly what I thought it would be after 9 years of RVing.  Diesel seems to be hovering around the $3.00/gal and I thought it would be over $5.00/gal.  Back in 2008/2009 it was making a steady climb and I expected it to stay at the high cost.  We paid over $4.00/gal years ago, but thankfully that did not last long.

Maintenance on The Roadrunner and tow car (Honda CRV)

• New headlights
• Replaced pitted/corroding air horns on top with aluminum air horns
• New carpeting throughout
• Repainted all bay doors
• New tires 
• Replaced Driver Side (DS) front window that took a rock 
• Alternator in car

I am surprised we have not had to replace our front windshield.  It had a number of chips and small cracks that were repair after they occurred but I thought that it would only last a couple of years.  Not so.  Here we are, many years down the road and the windshield is still doing good.

Each year I pause and reflect and try to note where we are in the RV Living adventure.  We are still loving the lifestyle and yet know it is going to change in the next few years.  We will see what it looks like and embrace that stage of Living the Dream.

Meanwhile, you all, our loyal, frequent and interested readers.  Interaction with you has been one of the huge bonuses of this journey and I thank you. It has been amazing!

Thanks for checking in on this edition on the Roadrunner Chronicles. 

Rocking It In Williamston Michigan with HFH

We wrapped up our week of the 'Rock the Block' neighborhood engagement effort in Williamston.  Throughout the week we were involved with projects at six different homes in the neighborhood.  We also had one or two Care-A-Vanner (CAV) teams out at the new build site in Lansing.

It was a new experience for all of us.  Many times we work as a single volunteer unit on one or two homes.  This time, the affiliate had us merry up with new groups of volunteers who came out each day to work on the neighborhood projects.

It was a fairly large effort and Pam and I were very impressed.  The affiliate has a great group of leaders who organized and participated each day.  They marshalled the efforts of a lot of people on all the projects and got us swimming in the same direction for a productive and successful week.

These things don't happen without a great planning and execution.

Kudos to the affiliate for pulling it off well.

It all starts from the top.  Vickie - the Executive Director and lead cheerleader was on site every day.  We don't see that often.  She somehow made time to kickoff the daily meeting and joined us for lunch each day and was exceptional.  Its easy to see why this affiliate is one of the best we've had the privilege of working with.

Next -- the affiliate team (in no particular order) was great.
Sami, the Volunteer Coordinator communicated with us early on and sent everyone a welcome packet.  And got our T-Shirt sizes so we were ready to roll first thing on Monday morning.

Caroline, the 'Rock the Block' project coordinator (she has other roles in the affiliate I'm sure) was the perfect person to be in charge.  She was tireless in getting us prepared from the start.  We had tables set up for each volunteer organization and CAV team each day so they knew where begin.

After the initial welcoming and announcements, we had a brief description of the day's goals and work.  Next we had a safety brief, and headed out to our house which were all within walking distance.

Each site had the equipment (ladders, paint, drop clothes, fencing etc) on site as well as a notebook of information for the house/project leader.  It took a few minutes to divide of the workforce at each project and determine who was going to work on.
     Some examples included:  painting the garage, digging up weeds and replenishing the flower bed, scrape the brick work, removing (demo) the old garage door or fencing), getting on the post hole diggers etc.  There was a lot to do.

Ron was the man.  He was the Construction Supervisor for us and went to each site to make sure everyone got on track early and then he revisited each home to keep the plates spinning all day long.  And then he worked on and off at the hardest site each day to do the difficult stuff.  Some of that included putting up the scaffolding, showing us how to set a true string line for the fencing and getting everything plumbed.

Shawn was a ball of energy and we got to work with him one day on the job that required scraping and painting on the scaffolding and ladders around the house.  He spent the day making sure everyone had what they needed and also hustled all day long.  He was fun to work with and is a real asset to the construction team.

Julie is brand new to the HFH affiliate but got involved early and engaged with our campground in problem solving an issue we had the first day with no access to the restrooms and showers.  Someone at the fairgrounds inadvertently locked us out and she heard us talking about it and made a couple of calls and made sure we were taken care of before we even got back to the campground.  We appreciated that kind of initiative.

The 'Rock the Block' neighborhood effort ended on Friday with a volunteer group from Home Depot walking around the seven or eight streets we were on.  They knocked on doors and asked if they could mow people's lawn.  No strings attached.  A twenty minute nice thing to do for people that live in the area.  Very nice touch.  Shawn headed up that one and they had done probably 15-20 lawns before lunch time.

A very import feature of this effort was the main meeting facility where we had coffee and donuts each morning, our lunches (which were provided every day) and our wrap up end-of-the day meetings.
The Williamston United Methodist Church graciously provided the facility and allowed us to 'take over' their fellowship hall the entire week.  A big thanks too to their Hospitality Committee who served up all the food each day and especially Pastor Julie and here staff.  They were all great.  We didn't get a chance to meet everyone but everyone we did (including Brenda) were exceptional.

Here are a few photos from the week:

Daily morning registration and meeting at the Williamston UMC.

Finishing the painting at the Cedar house.

Working on the garage doors, siding and new door installation on Leasia St.

The owners at the Putnam House and Ron

Work on the Putnam house and garage

Work at the White house on the fence.

 A group shot and work at the new construction site.

At the end of the week we all went out to dinner which was a memorable event.

It was fun, we all got a lot done for the neighborhood and met some great folks.   Pam and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

That's all for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for joining us.

Moving On - Tennessee then Red Bay

We left Virginia Beach after six months here.  Its the longest stay in one area of our 8+ years on the road.  We arrived in December 2016.

We were here for the birth of Harrison on January 31 and Brooks' birthday on February 15.  We helped with the kids for a couple of months until Kelly had surgery in April.  A large benign (thankfully) tumor was removed from near her intestines and she had a few weeks before she could lift the kids.  But all went well, she recovered quickly and we are now back on the road and doing our thing.

Some great things happened while we were here:

- We got to spend the holidays with our kids and their spouses.  We cherish those times.  Plus Adam and Melissa a three plus hours away in Fairfax so we have had a chance to see them a few times.  We love it every time we can do that.

- We didn't stay with Jon and Kelly, but we were within 45 minutes of where they live.  We went over to their place almost everyday and sometimes during the weekend.  We had a few days where it didn't work out, but we were at their place a lot.  We appreciate them including us in their lives and letting us help out.  We know that its a privilege to be able to be involved in our kids lives and we know not everyone has it.  We don't take it for granted, nor did we want to overstay our welcome.  We found a happy medium.

- Its been great learning how to become grandparents.  We have a lot more to learn but we are getting the hang of it.  Its fun to be helpful.  And nothing beats having the little one run full speed at you when he sees you yelling, "Paaappaaaa!" or "Maaammaaaa!".  We thought we wanted to be 'Grandma' and 'Grandpa' but "Mama" and "Papa" suit us just fine.

- There's a lot to be said being near our kids.  It is only 3.5 hours from Virginia Beach to Fairfax, so we are glad to make the drive up I-95 to see Adam and Melissa when we get the chance to do so.  It was fun to be around a couple of weeks while they were remodeling their kitchen and to see them at birthdays and such.  We found a favorite place at Bonefish (who would have thought?) and always enjoy seeing them and seeing what they are up to in their busy lives.

- One of the joys in the last couple of weeks has been to see some old friends and co-workers from our old life.  We moved to Fairfax in 1992 and left in the Roadrunner in 2009.  In those 17 years we made a number of close friends at church and work and we were able to see some of them during an Open House weekend.  One friend was having an event for other friends who had moved away.  We were able to see folks we hadn't seen in a long while.  It was great!

- If we had to guess today, when the time comes to 'get off the road', we'd probably end up in Virginia Beach.  In the last six months, we have had the opportunity to meet some people at church who are our age.  Its been fun. We were at a get-together with a few other couples and each gave a short introduction of themselves.  Almost everyone was there because of their grandkids!  That was an eye-opener.  Since that evening, its been easier to develop friendships, so that is nice.

- Another big benefit of hanging around VB for six months is how much we have been able to save.  We have shelled out some big $$ over the past two years with medical bills, RV repairs and some hefty maintenance on our car.  It's been great to finally get over the hump on the finances by not paying for diesel fuel or new repairs.  We've averaged under $20/night campground fee since December.  Also -- I was able to get a lot of hours of work-for-pay online during January-February.

- Another nice (and not insignificant) item we appreciate about being in this part of the country is Wawa coffee.  We love the fact, we can do self-serve coffee (Hazlenut/French Vanilla blend please) almost everyday.  We love Wawa!  They also encourage customer feedback on their receipts. After filling it out (takes about 2 minutes), you get an email that has a coupon which is good for a soda or cup of coffee (any size) for the next week.  Free!  How good is that?

There are more things we loved about being in VB for the last few months.  Watching Brooks grow and learn and developing a relationship with him is the best.  He is one precious guy.  Can't tell you how much of a huge blessing this little guy is.  What a wonder.

And then there is Harrison!  He is a cute little fella with the quickest little smile and big eyes.  He's already rolled over and will probably be crawling by the time we see him next in October.  Such a huggable little guy.  So different from Brooks but he gives you the idea he's entirely up for the challenge.  

One thing we wondered about after seeing Kelly and Jonathon was, "How did we do it?"  It seems a lot tougher in our 60's than it did when when we had two kids 19 months apart.  But we were in our 20's.... It's been great to see K & J and see how they adapt and adjust and move through parenting.  They are doing an awesome job.

We had a nice dinner with everyone last night and said goodbye for now.  Thankfully Brooks didn't yell, "Stop!" as he does sometimes when we say goodbye.  It could have been tougher.  But it is time. Time for them and for us.

Today we were up early, dumped the tanks, and were on the road by 6:30 AM.  We ran into rain early, then about 9:30 it started to clear up.  We headed for Richmond, turned toward Charlottesville and then down I-81 and the Shenandoah Valley.  It was beautiful.  Traffic wasn't too bad and we arrived at our stop at Fort Chiswell RV Park for the night.

It is a great overnight stop, didn't even have to unhook.  And the pool is open which was a bonus.  They have a large group here and I got to talk to 4-5 people.  As one said, "We are so lucky to be doing this!".

Yes we are.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles.