There's A Story in Every Square Inch - The Quilt

Here's the end result -- One terrific T-Shirt Quilt.  What a treasure!  There must be a better word for it but this masterpiece is really something!

Here's how we got it --

I have often looked at the Roadrunner and reflected on how many stories come from walls and contents of our motorhome.  I look at the door lock and remember when it wouldn't open.  I look at the smooth panel near the steps and remember when I caused a two foot crack in it as I tried to back over a small post.  I look at our new carpet and the excess pieces we had made into throw rugs to cover our cold ceramic floors in winter time.  There are hundreds of stories in this place!  And wonderful memories.

Now another series of evens that generated this story in the past few months.

~We have our own unique T-Shirt quilt made by super seamstress and friend Susan ~

Here's how the story goes.  You may remember our front of the dash center console tray table that her husband Kirk made for us that fits securely below our radio on the front dash.  This is one talented couple that does nice things for friends for fun.  They are amazing!

Here's one gift that we will forever cherish.  Susan had had a sewing hobby for years and taken many classes to make her professional quality Bernina machine doe some amazing things.  This project was  a labor of love and we really appreciate it.

Last September when we stopped by Oklahoma City to see Kirk and Susan, she showed us a number of T-Shirt quilts she had made for family members.  I had never heard of a T-Shirt quilt but this was intriguing.  I have often thought I have way too many T-Shirts and one thing leads to another.  Next thing I know, I have 'purged' my overflowing T-Shirt draws and those memories are gone too.  But Susan's idea had some possibilities.

I remember years ago when Pam made a couple of quilts for our two kids when they were little.  It took a long time and it was a lot of work.  I hated to have Susan go to all that trouble.  But she offered to make one for us and said more than once she would love to.

Some times you have to let friends be nice to you and after a little bit of convincing we decided it would be a really cool thing to have.  We thought about it for a couple of weeks and then asked if the offer was still on the table...

It was --- and we pulled out old T-shirts and decided which we could use and which needed to stay.  We can up with about 35 T-Shirts and boxed them up.  After she got them in the mail we discussed colors of backing materials and front matter borders and those kind of details.

We also measured our current bedspread and adjusted the numbers to come up with the exact dimensions we wanted.   We went back and forth on positioning of shirts and logos.  After she got a general idea of what we were thinking she cut of the shirts and laid them out.

Over the course of a few weeks, she got the one side done, then the other and then finished it off and boxed it up.

Here are some of the steps pictured below:

Here she has organized all the T-Shirts and cut them into sections.

Some color planning was required to enlarge with a back border for some sections to match the others.

 Things are getting into the same sizes.

 One shirt was used to make a couple sections a few times

 Some options of the layout

 The shirts were sewn onto the backing with border strips in place

 The front side pretty much done.

 A closer look at the small sections made from pocket logos

 Then the choice on the quilt sewing design:  free flow or square

I think I left out about 47 steps and how she adjusted, adapted and managed to pull it all together with this beauty.  Each time we talked on the phone or got a text, our anticipation grew.

And then the quilt arrived and we were stunned!  What a masterpiece!  Wow - we were totally awe struck.  And to Susan it was like, "Yeah there were a couple of things I had to figure out but really no big deal...".  That's how it is with people that really know what they are doing.

They make the hard and complicated things look easy!  Except it doesn't look easy and its not a hobby I would choose.  But Susan is great at it and she enjoyed doing it.

The quilt arrived like so many other packages.  In this day and age lots of packages arrive on the door step at Kelly and Jon's house.  Although it was in an Amazon box it wasn't a product we got off the internet.

The first thing you see out of the box is the cool notation section:

Roadrunner Chronicles

The Adventures of Randy and Pam Warner

Pieced and quilted by Susan Waite

December 2017

Can you see the small outline of the United States Susan sewed in there?  

Next, we wanted to see what we had and Brooks helped us open it and we unfolded in out on the floor.

Harrison was quick to help out also and he jumped right in the middle of it.

Later, we refolded it and brought it back to the motor home and spread it out on top of the bed.

Perfect!

Every square inch of this thing tells a story.

Here are a few on the corner of the bed:
- The Arches t-shirt that I got when we visited in 2011.  And we visited again in 2015.
- Right below it is a Tiffin Motorhomes T-Shirt that we picked up in 2014.  Every May they come out with a new one.  We have been to Red Bay, AL many times.  And love it each time.
- To the right of the Arches T-Shirt is one from Tobermory Village Campground which commemorates our time in Ontario Canada seeing Adam and the Bakers from 2010
- Below that is a T-Shirt Pam got from our time at the Masters in April 2013.

And so it goes -- we could go on for hours...

The larger prints are from the front or back of the T-Shirts. The smaller logos on some of the shirts come from the area over the left pocket.

Susan did a fantastic job of putting it together and used every shirt we sent here.

Thank you Susan!

That's it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles ~

Christmas came early for us and during this Holiday Season, we hope you are enjoying it and looking forward to a nice time.

Thanks for joining us today!  We would love to hear from you our readers...

Making a Living on the Road

We have been full timing almost 5 years.  During that time we have come across a number of people who also full time and work from their RV.  They make a living while on the road.

Here's a few:

RV-Dreams.com
Howard and Linda Payne created their own business when they started full timing over 9 years ago.  Howard started out with informational items (including personal financial and budget data) that was very helpful to us when we began planning to go full time.  They have expanded their web site and have one of the most extensive reservoirs of RV considerations for new RVers or those thinking about jumping into this lifestyle.

GypsyJournal -
We first met Nick and his wife Terry, they were conducting a seminar at the Life on Wheels Conference in Harrisburg, PA.  We attended the seminar to get an idea of what we might be in for when/if we decided to "really take the leap and do this RV thing".
- RV presentation speaker:  We found his topic "The Frugal RVer" to be informative and subsequently learned of all the other things they do
- Publishes a monthly newspaper (hardcopy and electronic versions) called the Gypsy Journal
- Wrote and is writing a number of books related to the RV lifestyle
- eBook fiction writer and featured on Amazon.com
- He hosted RV Rallys (on in the spring and one in the fall).  Usually one was held in the East or Midwest and the other in Arizona.  He has since given up doing that and focusing on writing.
- Writes a blog and maintains a website of all his offerings

GeeksonTour.com
Chris and Jim have an IT roadshow that caters to RVers who want to know about all kinds of 'technical' things.  They have an extensive offering of hands on training sessions to learn about Androids, iPhones, blogging, Picasa, internet etc etc.  Lots of free stuff and information for folks that are not that savvy on stuff.  A really great resource with forums, a blog, videos and a lot more.  Some for a yearly or monthly fee but lots of great info for free too.

GoneWithTheWynn's
Nikki and Jason have an interesting web site and blog that tell of their adventures and how they are living the life on the road.  They are very generous with their information and their exposure for others that are making a living on the road.  I like their blog and find this talented and young couple interesting.

Live.Work.Dream.com
Jim and Rene are a fairly young couple who decided in 2007 they were going to find a way to live on the road and be debt-free.  Very impressive web site and a number of 'green' and innovative resources.  They offer ideas how to get income on the road and make it happen.

technomadia.com
Chris and Cherie have been on the road since 2006 and live in a converted bus.  They work remotely as app developers, technology consultants, writers and strategy experts.  I looked at a few of their things but mostly found their life style and approach intriguing and follow their blog.  They are another couple with a wide variety of helpful info on all things for RV full timers, including expense logs and informational videos.  And...

They are intimately involved with the hottest thing to hit the internet since we have been on the road - RVillage which is social network for RVers.

Check them out and maybe you will find them as interesting as I do.  I am always fascinated by small business owners and curious about 'how they make ends meet'.   The few that I have listed here are only a small number of folks making a living on the road.  There are hundreds of others -- so I ask you:

Who do you follow?  Or who are some of you favorites web sites of RVers making a living on the road? I would love to hear about more...

That's all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles - thanks for joining us!

Bowl Games Books and Stuff

With Christmas and New Year's both in the middle of the week, it seems like we have two long holiday weeks.  I like the slow pace and have had some time to do some hanging out.

We have seen some bowl games in the evenings which have been quite entertaining with close scores.  I particularly like the fact that many of the lower ranked teams have won!  Good for the underdogs!
Except a couple of the favored teams I was rooting for:  my alma mater Arizona State got beat handily by my brother (and sister-in-law's) alma mater -- Texas Tech.  I didn't have a good feeling about this one and ASU lost 23-37.

We also watched daughter Kelly's Baylor Bears get embarrassed by University of Central Florida 32-42.  They seemed like they came out at the start thinking that they already had the game won.  UCF came to play and socked it to them.

Then there was son-in-law's Georgia Dawgs.  Georgia got down near the 20 and couldn't score against Nebraska.  It was a much closer one but they lost 19-24.

So far my favorite game was Duke vs Texas A&M.  Duke?  How strange is that to see them as a good football team?  Basketball yes -- but I don't remember them doing that great a football.  Even though they came up short it was a great game.

Often times I find myself cheering for a team I normally wouldn't root for but with only two choices, what are you going to do?  Kind of like a presidential election...

We have been on a few hikes and a couple of days ago went to the Bolsa Chica Reserve.  One of the many wetlands area nearby.

It was right across Pacific Coast Highway between Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach.  Nice way to spend a couple of hours.

Also during the last couple of weeks I have gotten plenty of reading in.  I just finished one book and am about 1/2 through another.  I always seem to have four or five going at once so it was nice to finish one.

Then yesterday we awoke to very thick fog.  It stayed that way most of the day.  In fact it was so thick the my weather app said, "100%" humidity.  I learned something.  I only thought that happened when it was raining.

One good thing about the fog is that it leaves everything wet.  Like the dirty RV.  We can't wash our RV at our campsite, but I did take the opportunity to climb on top and wipe all the dirt off.  No soap or any thing else -- just wiped it off and got rid of all the dust and dirt that had settled up there.  Helps get rid of the dirty streaks down the sides.  The Roadrunner looks better and I got some good exercise.

We ran a couple of errands yesterday at the post office and over the HomeGoods and Dollar Tree and Roger Dunn Golf Shops.  Pam mailed a book that Melissa signed for my brother Brad.  She did all the photography in a book of vegan recipes from StickyFingers Bakery in Washington DC, so while she was here she autographed it.  Then we found a couple of bucket hats at the golf store and Pam mailed them off.

And yesterday I spent half the day doing some work, so that kept me busy.  That's about it for the last few days, a little this and a little that.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Two weeks in Brookings comes to an end

We finished up our two weeks at the Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanner build in Brookings, SD.  We began each day gathering at the sign-in table for morning coffee, devotions, and getting our daily instructions.

We really like the folks on this build. Four years ago when we thought the RV lifestyle we thought about having good times with good people like these.

In addition to working all day, we frequently got together in the evening for a 'Mix and Munch'.  And we went out to eat together a couple of times.

The work here has been great.  We all felt like we contributed and we were all surprised at how fast the house went up.

After we got the walls up and the rafters on, most of our time the last week was spent on the roof and doing the siding.  Pam spent a lot of time on the chop saw.

Two weeks went fast but at the same time it seems like a long time ago from this:

To this:

This build has been one of the best we have participated in.  The local Habitat guys on site (Steve and Dave) were great.  They kept us moving in the right direction and were good teachers and patient with us.
A big plus on this job was the scaffolding.  It was a lot of work putting it up but it really helped.  The temporary fall protection around the facia was another great idea.

Last night we had one last dinner together and went the annual McCrory Garden Party a block away from the restaurant.  The Gardens have many beautiful plants and flowers and a place for plant research.

McCrory Gardens is said to be 65 acres of the most beautiful land in South Dakota.  It serves as an outdoor laboratory for students at South Dakota.  

Today, we move on about 50 miles down the road to Sioux Falls for a few days.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

South Texas - Fort Clark Springs

We have a couple of friends here in Bracketville, Texas that live in Unit 37 at Fort Clark Springs.  The town and nearby Fort Clark were established in the early 1850s.  Later, the town became a stop on the San Antonio - El Paso stagecoach route.

The first day we arrived we took a tour of the museum on post.

Some famous people were stationed here at one time including boxers Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis.

General Wainwright of Corregidor and Bataan fame was here.  Lt Col George Patton was also stationed here at one time.

Fort Clark was a major calvary base of the U.S. Army and the last active calvary base in the Army.  It ceased training here in 1944.  The base today is on the U.S. National Register of Historic places and a large part of the buildings are intact.  A civilian community of approximately 2,000 people currently live here with a town council and full city facilities.  On the base are a number of permanent RV homesteads that each have an RV pad, RV shelter, full hookups and attached RV buildings/storage facilities.

Our friends Joe and Frances live here three driveways away from Jerry and Kit.  There are RV loops/streets (called 'units' here) and it is a very unique place.  People live here full-time in their rigs while others live here during the colder months of the year and travel during the summer.

Jerry and Kit currently are 90 minutes away working as gateguards for a drilling company and invited us to use their place while we are at Fort Clark.

They put in an extra set of full hookups for visitors which is a pretty sweet deal.

We are here seeing Joe and Frances who gave us a golf cart tour of the Fort.  It took us along the river, down some back roads and we saw some of the older buildings, different neighborhoods and an armadillo.

We joined a large group of about 30 at lunch on Monday.  In addition to it being Valentine's day, the wood carving club at Fort Clark wanted to have a surprise birthday party for Wallace who teaches and leads the group.

We traveled up the road to Bill and Rosa's Steakhouse and Saloon.  It is one of those one-of-a-kind places with excellent food and a lot of atmosphere.  The chicken friend steak was great!

One of the highlights at lunch was meeting long-time blogger reader and new friend Darlene. She was nice enough to come over and introduce herself and we chatted for a bit.

She and her sister live at the Fort with their husbands who are brothers.  -- Talk about a close family!  All are RVers and have their places in Unit 37 near where we are staying.  Meeting readers of the Roadrunner is a big thrill and it was nice to meet them!

The weather here has been great (high 70's, low 80's) and we played golf on the base course.

It started out overcast but by noon it was bright and sunny.  We had a good time and will try to play again later in the week.

Folks here get together a lot and did so on Tuesday night to say goodbye to a couple that is returning north.  They had a cookout-social for them and we all brought some food to share.  William and Mary hosted the event for about 10 couples.  They are on unit 14? (I think) and have a very nice place.   Their property backs up to the desert with a great view.   They have all kinds of animals that come by every day to check out the bird seed.

We had a great time watching the birds, deer and turkeys wander by.  The cardinal kept his distance in a tree about 30 yards away.

Yesterday we made the 90 minute trip to the spot where Kit and Jerry have their gate guard gig.

We got there in time for lunch.  We had stopped in Eagle Pass to pick up some fried chicken and McDonald's large diet cokes for the occasion.  It was great to see them and visit.  The last time we saw them was in Galveston at a NOMADS project last spring almost a year ago.

We are may be interested in getting a position with this company so we asked a lot of questions.  Jerry and Kit are working a lot to put aside extra money so they can build and add to their RV property at Fort Clark.  The position requires one of them to be at the gate 24 x 7 and the pay is $125/ day.  The job is not hard but they have to deal with the weather and being fairly isolated.

We chatted and got caught up and learned a lot about their job.  We also learned about the drilling that is going on nearby.  We had a fun time in the great weather and had more fun chatting with them.  They are such nice and generous people.  They have told about their experience on their blog at kitandjerry.com.

That is it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for viewing!

Some Tools of the Trade

Welcome! to Joe and Nancy who just signed up to Follow the Roadrunner Chronicles.

We finished up our second week here in Moss Point, Mississippi working with NOMADS.  There are 9 couples on our team and we are divided up into groups to work on four houses in the Pascagoula area.  The house we are working on is about 17 miles from where we have our RVs parked.

 Moss Point/Pascagoula are between Pensacola and New Orleans on the Gulf Coast.

The primary task at our house is to get the sheet rock up on the ceiling and walls.  We have been at it for two weeks so far and it will probably take us another week to finish it.  Then we will have to do the mudding.

Steve and Jerry are unloading this stack that was delivered while I take the pictures...

We have been working with four types and sizes of sheet sheet rock.

The two stacks of sheet rock are 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" regular wall boards and  'greenboard' which goes in the bathrooms and around sinks in the kitchen and the laundry room.

In the garage, we had a stack of 4' x 12' sheets of 1/2" sheet rock that we started with to put up on the walls.  After that ran out we went with the 8' sheets.

Another size,  the 5/8" sheets of 4' x 8' lengths went up on the ceiling.

And this brings me to the Tools of the Trade.

The lift for the sheet rock is one of those Tools that is a back saver.  We hoist the sheet on that guy and crank it up to the ceiling and can maneuver it into place so that all we need to do is get the 'drill guns' (drills with Philips head on the end for the screws) and we are all set.

The drills are indispensable.

Pam and I have a Ryobi and Kawasaki drill.

I think Roger's is a Craftsman.  Though none are what I would consider to be construction 'name brands'
they seem to be doing the job well.  We keep one battery charged while we use the other and have had no problems.

Another tool we use is our beloved tool belts.  In mine today I have sheet rock screws, a quik square, a tape measure, band aids, screw drivers, a putting knife, pencils, a utility/razor knife, and gloves.

My work gloves keep me from busting up my fingers.  After the second time I tried to drill my finger, I decided it was time to try the gloves.  My bloodied and bruised finger is much happier.

Knee pads ~ very useful for as much time we have been spending putting the screws in the bottom part of walls.  And we usually are on the ground cutting pieces to fit in lots of places.

And the ladders.  We couldn't do this with out lots of ladders.  I prefer the shorter one which works great.  We climb up the ladder, find the studs (most of the time) and screw in the top of the wallboards.  Good exercise.

In fact, we find ourselves getting stronger and stronger.  That is not to say that we are not tired and sore each day, but it is good exercise and we are enjoying it.

Working of the sheet rock has been good  and we estimate another week before we will start the mudding.  My goal every day is to get a little better and these tasks and learn something new.

And we love learning how to use different tools.  Next week no doubt we will expand our skill list on that.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Hope you have had a great week.