Thorncrown Chapel and Bentonville

Daughter Kelly is an (among other things) Interior Designer.  In the process of getting her Master’s Degree in that field a few year’s ago, she became acquainted with building design and architecture.  Brother Brad pursued a degree in architecture before serving as a pilot in the USAF.  One of his favorites is the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The architect of the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka, Springs, AR -- was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The chapel and support building reflects his influence.

Kelly knew Thorncrown Chapel and suggested we stop by and take it in.  So we did.  It was beautiful and simple.  Millions of visitors have seen it.

                                      

The design has been labelled “Ozark Gothic” and stands 48 feet tall with over 6,000 square feet of glass and 425 windows.  

You can read more of the inspiration and history of the creation of the chapel here.  Located in the hills near Pine Bluff, AR, Jim Reed bought some land for his retirement home in the beautiful Ozark Hills. Others became aware of the beauty and would stop by and take in the scenic area.  Instead of limiting access, Reed invited others to see it.  

Then he came up with the idea of building a glass chapel there in the woods.  Next he enlisted an architect who followed the design influences of Frank Llyod Wright and the simple, beautiful chapel was built.  Construction began in 1979 and was finished in 1980.

This book is about the chapel.

After an hour or so there, we continued on our way to see Bentonville and the Walmart Museum. Approaching the downtown area, we found the museum and were disappointed to see that it was closed for an 18-month renovation.  But they created a Walmart Heritage Lab a few blocks away to tell Walmarts story.

The town was picturesque. It was a beautiful day and the small town center was full of flowers and color.  

A Walmart Fresh Market was a block away and we picked something up for our microwave dinner.  Not surprisingly, the store was spotless and showcased an amazing variety of choices.  One would expect that in the town of the home offices of the worlds largest chain.

We quickly found out that the town has a number of beautiful murals on buildings throughout the town.  Apparently 19 artists have decorated the town.  But that’s another story...

We returned to Roadrunner 2.0 and drove over to the Walmart Home Offices and the Heritage Lab (temporary museum).

The Heritage Lab museum was a modest but fact-filled presentation of how Sam Walton created the worlds retail chain.  They even had a life size hologram (Mr. Sam hologram) where he speaks.  That must be part of the guided tours but we wandered around for awhile on a self-guided tour.  

We had lunch and continued our day on to Tulsa for the night.

It was a full day and we stayed at Spring Hill Suites.  Once we got into town we found a Costco and filled up.  It was rush hour so it took some extra time to get back to the hotel and relax for the evening.

Thanks for joining us for another day on our Coast-to-Coast trip in Roadrunner 2.0.  

Time in Branson

 The Sight and Sound production of Queen Esther is playing in Branson MO so we planned our stay around that show.  Good friends Kirk and Susan (from Oklahoma City) joined us there at an AirBnb condo that worked out very well.

We met them mid afternoon and hung out for a while.  It was great to see them again.  If you type “Kirk” in the search bar at the right you can see a few other times we have met up with them over the years during our RV full-timing days.  

Dinner at Landry’s seafood was delicious.  They did something we don’t do often enough - split a meal.  We shared a serving rainbow trout and rice pilaf and it hit the spot.

We did more catching up that evening and called it a night.  Our condo had 2 bedroom overlooking a golf course and it was quite nice.  Tuesday morning after breakfast at the condo we went on a hike on a city trail that was fun. 

We found the Roark Creek Trail in Branson which was a short and picturesque trail.  It follows the Roark Creek from Lake Taneycomo up through the Roark Creek Valley.  

It was the perfect way to get out and enjoy the day.  Next we stopped a Panera Bread for a great lunch and then went over to the Tanger Outlet Mall.  We didn’t find anything we couldn’t do without.  We went back to the condo and putzed around for the afternoon.  Kirk and I checked out the golf course near the condo and then we went and washed the truck.  We fixed dinner back at the condo and then got ready for the main event: the Sight and Sound production of Queen Esther!

The play/musical did not disappoint!  It was fantastic!  The story is an account of Mordecai and Esther from the Bible.  As described in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Esther is a Hebrew Bible heroine who catches the eye of the hard-drinking King of Persia, during a royal beauty contest of sorts, and becomes his queen.  She uses her influence to save herself and the rest of the empire of Persia’s Jewish countrymen from the evil Haman who seeks their demise."

The whole production was so well done.  We had a great view of every scene and it was a fast-moving story in the Bible.  The mesmerizing, captivating tale was so well done.  The singers were strong and always on key and the music was great.  The pageantry, costumes and stage was top notch.  Just excellent. It might have been the best musical production I have ever seen!

Not surprisingly I highly recommend it.

It was a great time in Branson and we headed onward the next morning.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

The Amazing Gateway Arch - St Louis

St Louis is so full of history.  

We knew when we were planning this trip there was going to be no way to absorb all the history and story in the founding, growth and development of the city.  We remembered some accounts of the influence of the fur trappers and traders back in the early days (1700’s) when they traded pelts there with the Indians and French along the Mississippi River

We couldn’t with to get there and stayed mixed it up some by staying in a Fairfield Inn hotel in Collinsville, IL, about 15 miles east of the Gateway Arch National Park.  We ordered tickets on line and printed them out a month ago.  We arrived in plenty of time for the 9:10 tram ride to the top of the Arch.

We could see the Arch from miles away as we drove into town.  We found a parking lot a few blocks away and arrived before the visitor’s center opened at 9:00 am.  

The park commemorates a number of things in our country’s history.  First it is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson’s role in opening the West, most notably commissioning Meriwether Lewis (and William Clark) to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific Coast. 

The expedition left in 1804 and returned triumphantly in 1806.  After reading Stephen Ambrose’s account - “Undaunted Courage” I was stuck by their courage and Clark’s ability to pull it off.  I think it is no less significant for their time than landing men on the moon has been in our time.

Our ride to the top on the tram was at 9:10.  We got in line and it was well organized.  The guide offered a few historical facts as we climbed into our tram. I was surprised how tight it was and had not read about that in the reviews.  It was a 4 minute ride to the top which went fairly quickly.

Once at the top, we had 7 minutes to go from side to side to take in the spectacular views.  It was awesome.

Interesting Facts:

The Gateway Arch is a symbol of the role St. Louis play in the westward expansion of the United State in the 1800’s. It is 630 feet tall and 630 wide.  The Arch is designed to withstand earthquakes and lightning strikes and designed to sway up to 18 inches in 150 mile per hour winds. Construction of the Gateway Arch began on Feb 12, 1963 and completed on October 28, 1965.  Here’s a 3-min YouTube video of the Gateway Arch National Park: click here

After the tram to the top we spent more time in the museum.  First we saw the orientation movie: Monument to the Dream. We watched the movie on YouTube the day before in our hotel room.

After that, we walked around the museum and could have spent hours.   It was very well done and reminded be of the museums underground at Ford’s Theater and the nation's capitol Visitor Center, both in Washington D.C.  The Gateway Arch underwent a $380M upgrade/renovation in 2018.

We enjoyed our time in St Louis and got some ideas of things to see if we can revisit at some point.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles, Coast-to-Coast 2023 travels!

Take Me Home, Country Roads

It’s been a couple of good days of driving.  We got on the road about 7:30 AM and then headed west.  Our first destination is St Louis to see the Gateway Arch.  Day 1 was a beautiful drive along I-64 to West Virginia - about 480 miles.

We made regular stops at rest areas ever hour or two so we don’t wear ourselves out.  I don’t recall what the rest stops in West Virginia were like but after seeing these, we were very impressed.  

We had a picnic lunch and took a sun-grin selfie.

We got to Huntington WV and our Hampton Inn about 3:00 PM.

* Note to Jim and Sandie - We checked out the Priceline App for lowest same-day rates and to my surprise they were MORE EXPENSIVE that our regular Hilton App or Marriott (BONVoY app).  

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fitness center in the hotel had a Peloton.

That worked out well.  I spent a few minutes on the bike and swam a few laps in the pool.

Later, we had some dinner.  We're trying to eat more healthy and save a few bucks so, we got a couple of microwave dinners.  We're looking for those meals that have low sodium, low calorie, high protein etc.  We spent a whooping $9.95 for dinner.

That evening I looked up Huntington WV. Have you ever been traveling and wondered, “What do these people here do for a living?  I wonder what the key attractions in this area are?”   Wikipedia and Google answer those for me.

As we drove into town, we saw that Huntington WV is the home of Marshall University. You may remember the movie - "We Are Marshall” - the tragic story of the 75 football players dying in a plane crash in 1970.  That happened here.

Also - Marhall is the second largest city in West Virginia and located in the Tri-State (Ohio/Kentucky/West Virginia area).  Historically, it is the terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad built in 1871. I was struck again by what an impact railroads had on the growth and development of our country.  At one point coal was shipped from this region all the way to the east coast to Newport News, VA. 

It was the second city in America to feature city street cars (after San Francisco) in 1988.  The main employers in the area include the university, the local hospital and medical center, as well as an Amazon Distribution Center.

Enough on the history lesson....

Day 2 on the road continued with about the same distance and we stopped just outside of St. Louis in Collinsville, Illinois.  This time we hit intemittent rain along the way.  

But a couple hours later we had beautiful sunshine as we drove along some very big farms in Illinois.

We rolled into town about 2 PM and found a local grocery store - Schnuck’s.  Reminded me of Kroger’s grocery stores back home.  We found a rotisserie chicken and a a russet potatoe and see and had a fine hotel room dinner.  Grand total: $10.52.   Enough of that also -- I won’t be posting how much we spend on each meal but I just goes to show you that there are ways to eat well without eating out every meal -- even on the road.  

The indoor pool here was closed and the fitness center is a little sparse so I settled for some very modest weight lifting (I used to laugh at guys that would lift those puny little weights, now that’s me!) We watched some golf and baseball on TV.  Coordinated with our friends Kirk and Susan and called it a night.

Today - The Gateway Arch! and then this after noon a couple of days with Kirk and Susan in Branson, MO.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner 2.0 is Underway!

And just like that we are off!  We departed as planned at 7:30 am this morning. We crossed the Hampton Roads Bay Tunnel over the Elizabeth River looking east toward the Chesapeake Bay.

 We are en route to our first stop - Huntington WV.  Google maps says it will be about 6.5 hours of driving time.  We use a planning factor of about 55 miles an hour to include rest stops, fuel stops, etc.  That gets us there mid afternoon.  

We will see how the day goes but it is supposed to be a beautiful day and the traffic has been good.  A while back I came across this app which I like.

I thought you might find it useful too.  It shows the weather along the route.  Check it out!

Back to getting ready for the trip...

We were scrambling to get everything done before we left.  Maybe you can relate.  The last couple of weeks we were winding up a project st church. I also wanted get the lawn mowed, edged, Pam's garden squared away, flower beds weeded, and the truck packed for a 30 day trip.  We were busy.  We got most things done, but the weeds in the flower garden will have to wait. So will trimming the bushes for the next month.

Two days ago a series of events happened:

1) Stay with me here...I've been thinking over the last couple of years about writing another book:  "Mishaps, Misadventures, and Other Surprises."  I have notes of 25+ things that kinda went sideways while we were RV full-timers. They were not always fun at times, but as we look back they were part of the adventure and somewhat amusing now and were.

Thursday I had an incident that would fit into that same category.  Things are good now but then it was a little stressing.  Which led me to ponder:

2) God's goodness and the fact despite some of the headlines of the day, there are a lot of good and decent people out there...

First "the incident".  I'll never forget this one.....

Short version:

I lost my wallet about 2:00 P.M Thursday afternoon. But…My wallet was returned at 9:34 the same night!!

The only thing missing was my Military ID.  It took us an hour on Friday morning to drive over to Langley AFB and get a replacement. 

Longer version:

Thursday about 2:00 PM I remembered I put  my wallet on the back bumper of my truck while at church. I was answering a text from the pharmacy on base as I was loading stuff in the back of my truck. I pulled the tailgate down to load things and didn't see my wallet on the bumper.  I finished loading the truck and drove the base to pick up prescription. I reached for my wallet. I immediately had that sinking feeling.  It was not there.  Ugh. 

What followed was that voice in my head which said, "Calm down, this will work out."   I stopped, searched the truck just in case I was "mis-remmbering" then drove back to church,  I looked around, retraced my steps --- no wallet. Ugh...

I drove back the 6 mile back home looking on the parking lot, roadways etc.  Pam and I decided to see if we could get a new driver's license on short notice.  On the way there I cancelled two credit cards and my debit card.  

The people at the DMV couldn't have been nicer and more expeditious.  It was refreshing.  I got a temporary one and will get the real one overnighted to us in a few days.

Later that evening I was trying to think what all was in my wallet.  Medicare Card, National Park Pass, Lifetime Virginia Fishing License, Norfolk Botanical Garden Pass plus a couple of pictures and notes of Pam and Kelly that I have carried through the years.

And there was more cash than I usually carry since we were getting ready for the trip.  Then I thought next time, I'm going to make it easy and take a picture of what's in my wallet.  

None of this is earth shattering or even rises to the level of anything more that inconvenient. It got my blood pressure up I'm sure but I'm in the best shape I've been in for years after my heart attach a little over a year ago.

About that time, the doorbell rang. What?? It was 9:34 PM.

It was a guy returning my wallet!!!

He had come by the house 2 other times but we were gone canceling credit cards, getting a new driver's license.. Then we went to daughter Kelly's house for dinner at the last minute with Jon and the grandsons. 

So there I was trying to figure out what was going on.  

This random guy who drives for Door Dash found my wallet on the road near Northampton Blvd and Diamond Springs Road over 3.5 miles from church and 2.5+ from home. 

Is that amazing or what??  That is what I call divine intervention

I checked my wallet and everything was there -- all my cash and cards etc.  I gave him the biggest tip I've ever given anybody and stopped thanking him after about 5 or 6 times.  Wow.  I was so stunned.

Friday morning I came across Psalm 44:8. - "...in God we  make our boast all day long, and we will praise our name forever..."  I will tell this story for many years to come.  

So there's our excitement before our adventure on the road even began!  

1) First entry of "Mishaps, Misadventures, and Other Surprises," on our coast-to-coast trip; and

2) A vivid reminder there are still good people all around us in the world and I will praise the name of the Lord for His amazing care.  

That's all for now - thanks for joining us on the continuing adventures of the Roadrunner 2.0.

--

Getting Ready to Hit the Road

 I feel like I should be labeling this,”The Continuing Adventures of the Roadrunner Chronicles...”. 

It’s been ages since I’ve written and we no longer have the Roadrunner (see previous posts...).  But we will be embarking on a coast to coast road trip in the next few days.  Seems like old times.  Sorta. In some ways. And I decided to fire up the blog and see if I could remember how to do this.  

We’ll be taking the “southern route” which looks a little like this. 

According to my calculations, it will be over 6200 miles and we will be taking 30 days to do this.

The main event of our time will be a “Brothers and Wives Reunion” in Albuquerque NM.  We’ll spend a week there and enjoy time together playing golf and hanging out.  Another thing we'll do along the way will be to see Antelope Canyon which is something we said, “We’ll see that on another trip around the country.”  

Silly us. We ended up getting off the road in 2019 after spending 10 years aboard the Roadrunner.  You might remember that was the name of our 2007 Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome.  We thought we’d be settling down in Norfolk to be near our two grandsons and take shorter RV trips in a smaller motorhome.  Things changed though and we never did buy another RV.

Instead we bought a second vehicle - an F-150 Ford King Ranch truck.  

We thought we would get a travel trailer and continue our travels.  That plan changed also.

On our travels this time we will be staying with friends and family with a few hotels along the way.  We are going to see how Priceline same-day reservations work out.  I’m hoping it will be cheaper than standard reservations.  That’s it this time.  We’ll be updating this every few days, so stay tuned.

Until next time...

If You Are Just Starting Out....

 I was thinking about some things I’m glad we did when we were starting out living the dream* in our motorhome.

There were three things I found especially useful:  

• This blog, 
• A spreadsheet, and 
•  Pictures.  

    The first thing I tinkered with is this.  The blog.  I had never written a blog.  I didn’t know if I could figure it out.  But I fiddled with it before a couple of weeks and got the hang of it. It took me a while to come up with “The Roadrunner Chronicles” and I got stuck with my initial experiment, “warnerrvnews.blogspot.com”.  So I still have the same URL though it became the Roadrunner Chronicles after a few months giving it a go.  I wondered if I could do it - write something each day.  I tried doing that daily and had pretty good success a couple of years before it became work and I trailed off and did it more occasionally.

I’m so glad I challenged myself and noted our travels.  It because a daily quest to try to find something interesting to say, plus I wanted to become a better writer.  Early on, I wished I had taken Creative Writing in high school.  It would have been very useful.

Writing was fun before it became a chore and I think all bloggers come to the point where it gets burdensome.  I gave myself to back off my softly goal of daily writing and then it was every couple of days, then once a week and now not so much.  Since I am writing more, it interests me once again.  

    The other important piece of documenting our new life was keeping a spreadsheet the enabled us to track our spending.  I was very aware of the fact that we might need additional income to make the full-time RV life style affordable.  The last thing we wanted to do was to ravage our savings and be forced back into working again.  

Our spreadsheet helped us see where our money was going and how we could manage.  It also double as a diary/journal because I set it up so that I had columns set up for every day of the month.  I would highlight our campground stays by using different colors.  It made it easy to tell how long we stayed in different camping spots.

Now -- 12 years later our memory isn’t so good as to when we were where, and I can refer to my spreadsheets for every year to figure out wear we were.  It has really been invaluable.  

    The other best thing we did was taking a lot of pictures.  Lots.  Our minds could not keep up with all the wonderful places we saw and people we met and we are so glad we took pictures.  Starting out it was a bit of a hassle but now with the smart phones its great.  

One thing better would have been to organize the photos and tag them for quick reference.  The way my mind works that sounded like a lot of work.  Real work.  It would have been great but it was too much for me.  I can go back and look around and find what I need for the most part so I’m glad we did it.  

For a while I signed up with GeeksonTour.com (Chris and Jim Guld) who teach technology to RVers.  They are the best at what they do (unsolicited or compensated plug). If you have any questions and some time, they can help you learn what you need.

So if I were starting out again, I would really try to think about a way to remember all the experiences by using a blog, and a spreadsheet and taking lots of pictures.

I’d be interested in what some of our readers use in their travels to remember the highlight? 

Some of our readers might try something else.  Today a video log (vlog) aka a YouTube channel is all the rage for serious journalists.  But there are plenty of blogs out there still of RV travelers and their tales.  Some shoot video of their travels for their records.  Don’t believe we did that much.

Others rely on calendars and just keep their yearly calendar which showed where they went.  We did that too but I relied more on my spreadsheet.  I wonder what happened to all those calendars I had?

Instead of a blog we had friends who would keep an email list of the people they wanted to update and would send them periodic accounts of where they were and what they were doing.  

What has worked for you?

Whatever you decide, I think you too will be glad you took the time and effort to document your adventures!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

* The RV dream.  There are many dreams.

It’s Gone By Fast

     Two years! Yes, February 11 marks two years from the date we handed over the keys to the Roadrunner. We look back on the last few weeks leading up to that and are so thankful it happened.  It was  a very unlikely situation but worked out great.

Early Days on the Road

Last Days on the Road

    It didn’t take long to make our decision. We started talking about getting off the road and being near our grandsons in July and by February the next year we were RVless. The ultimate motivation was being grandparents near our grandsons. When we first talked about it, if you’d have told us that a couple who lived in Germany were going to fly into Jacksonville one day and write us a check the next day--I’d say that was bit far fetched. 

    You can call it a number of things, but that is what happened.  And a couple of months later after that buyer drove it to Alaska where he was relocating.  Thankfully he wrote and said everything worked well!  Win-win.

    So now we look back on that time two years ago and are very thankful for how it all has worked out.

    It surprised me a little as to how quickly we left the lifestyle behind.  The transition was almost as exciting as getting on the road.  We really looked forward to figuring it all out again.

    And we have 10,000 memories of our full-timing days to look back on and enjoy.  

Sunset at Hilton Head

Lunch at Pebble Beach

So, in a sense, we are still RVers at heart.  I still follow some blogs and YouTube channels and we keep up with a few of our favorites. We also have life-long friends still on the road that we keep up with.  It is like being in the military in that: once you do something you loved for so long it becomes a part of you.  At least that’s what is is for us. 

    Do we regret it? Do we regret getting off the road?  No.  It was the right time and we are building a legacy with these boys and family.  Neither Pam nor I had grandparents near us growing up but that is who we want to be for them.  It is a joy and a privilege to be around those two and daughter Kelly/son-in-law Jonathan.  We couldn’t be happier.  Really.

    Do we think we’ll ever get back to it?  Maybe, but we have no timeline. We will see. One thing that occurred to me years ago was the notion that “planning is everything, plans are nothing”.  I think Eisenhower said that?  We love to plan but we quickly realized our post-fulltiming plans kept changing.  

    At one point we thought we’d get a small “Tiny House” type of situation and be on Kelly and Jon’s lot.  We are so glad we did not do that.  They need their space and we do too.  

    After a few weeks of searching, we found a great little house.  But the little house, was a lot bigger that the Roadrunner!  We have all kinds of space now! A real bonus is that we are only 12 minutes away from Kelly/Jon and the boys.  Its much better than being in their backyard.

    We thought we’d take half of what we got for the Roadrunner and renovate our house and take the other half and buy a Class C. 

We even looked at quite a few and picked out a make and model we liked.  We thought may by the time we were ready to by the Class-C would be down to our price point.  That hasn’t been the case either.  

    Instead we bought a second vehicle (F-150 truck) and are glad we did. Currently we travel in our truck and find hotels we like.  We understand the downside of that but at the same time, we feel safe and it is currently affordable.  Right now we have settled for backyard camping and we’ve given some thought to tent camping.

    Another item we’ve dealt with is Pam’s breast cancer.  What a blessing that it happened here and she had/has such excellent care.  She’s doing pretty great.  The side affects of the hormone therapy that she is on are a little unpredictable (some days she feels good and others she has low energy and some nausea).  All in all we’re very grateful for how it has turned out.  

    Meanwhile she walks around a nearby lake every day the weather is decent and she loves on her grandkids every chance she gets.  

    So this is what we are about these days.  We are living the dream still.  The post-full-timing dream. We have a great neighborhood, great neighbors and live close to Kelly and Jon.  We are busy creating a legacy for the grandkids and have a great little church we are blessed to be a part of.   

Hanging out at grandma and grandpa's

Another visit to the aquarium

    I have picked up writing again and aim to have less time between blog posts.  I am also hard at work on Vol 2 of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  I have almost completed the draft of “Full-timing:  Our first 7 Months on the Road.”  I started last year at this time, but got bogged down.  When I resurrected the manuscript a couple of months ago, I opted for a basic re-write.  More later on that, but look for it on Amazon by early summer.

That’s all for now and thanks for checking in on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Hope you are well and are in a good place in everyday.

A Week in the Life of a Former RVer

I hesitate to hear myself say, “...as a former RVer” because in my heart I still consider myself an RVer. 12-13 years of thinking seriously about it and living it will do that to you 🙂.  Even if you don’t have an RV.  It’s fun to look at pictures and try to figure out where we were when...

Henry’s Lake in Idaho - 2 hours west of Yellowstone

The fact is though, we left the road 16 months ago.  Hard to believe!  So much has happened.  But then, we are living in a time where the speed of life has quickened.  We were warned this would happen as we got older.

I don’t mean the speed with which we rush through life, it just seems that time is flying by.

Pam and I are well and content with our post-RV lives.  Our days are full and we get to be around good neighbors and our daughter and son-in-law and get to hone our grandma and grandpa skills.  Its one of life’s greatest joys.

So this is what our weeks kind of look like.  Each is a little different but in these Corona Virus days we have a tempo and steadiness centered around our home.  We do a lot of projects.  I enjoy mowing our front yard and large back yard twice a week.  Its good exercise and I like being out in the sun.  I have a science project going in the front yard called rooting out the weeds and getting more grass to grow.  Its coming along.

We’ve planted lots of flowers.  I mean lots. Besides two flower beds in the front, we have a couple of small ones at each corner of our front yard.

We also were given some flowers we from friends that survived the transplant and we made another flower bed along the side of the house.

The deck has hanging baskets and flower pots of petunias, marigolds, and geraniums. We have some more flowers along the fence from Tennessee that may or may not make it.  Finally, we two other flower beds with day lillies and roses.

Then there is Pam’s garden.

There are probably twenty different plants in the ground.  We have harvested plenty of onions and radishes and the broccoli is looking pretty good as is the squash.  Peppers, egg plant, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, jalapeños, and sweet peas fill out the rest of our patch.  It will be fun to see how much makes it to harvest.

We spent a lot of time weeding, hoeing and watering the garden, but we enjoy it.

Then I have a few projects in the woodshed that keep popping up.  My latest is a little cabinet the boys wanted to be turned into an outdoor oven for them.

We see the boys every other day at least and that is why we are here -- for them.  Its about the best reason we can think of to leave the road and we are not sorry we are now doing this.  As much as we liked full-timing, this is a great post-RVing gig!

We keep track of doctors appointments and are fine.  It was about four years ago that I almost lost my left eye with a retina detachment but it has healed well and I have 20/25 vision in that eye and 20/20 in my right (with my glasses.)

We take the vehicles in for maintenance, get materials for projects, check out new home renovation projects that Kelly and Jon are working on.  It’s great fun to seen them turn a place around that needs updating and make it look really nice for re-sale.

Last week went to church a couple times (one for Bible studying the fellowship hall and the other time for Sunday service). Our small church went to two services and we had about 25 people at the service we attended.  Nothing like it used to be, but it was great to see people in person again.

I read that long time RVing friends John and Carol have bought a house in Indiana and are looking forward to their next chapter after 10 years on the road.  They’ll continue tours with Fantasy RV Tours and keeping their RV.  I’m excited for them and know they will enjoy their spacious house!

We continue we some upgrades on our place and are having a gas fireplace and logs put in.  Pam has been doing some stitching/sewing craft ornaments for Christmas and I have been working my way through Chesapeake by James Michener, one of my favorite authors.  Now that we live in the area, it makes reading it more meaningful.

Pam usually goes on a daily walk at one of our nice parks in the area if she gets there early enough and its not too crowded.  We have ventured out for lunch and dinner a few times to support some local restuarants and enjoy that.

We took a trip to Tennessee a week ago and saw Pam’s sister Joan.  She was diagnosed with ALS a couple of months ago.  She’s now in a wheel chair but is doing pretty well and the disease noticeably is taking its toll.

While there we learned Joan and Mike had their 50th wedding anniversary so we had a little celebration in their back yard with their daughter and family, and Joan/Pam’s sister and husband who life in the Knoxville area.




Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending our first ever graduation.  After a couple of long years, son Adam finished course work and was awarded a Master of Science degree in Computer Science.

That’s about it and some of the things we are involved with in our new life as the weeks go by.  We love hearing from you and a day doesn’t go by that we don’t think about our RV friends and the RV life.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

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!