Kelly is 31

Those of you with kids probably are very proud of them.  We are blessed to have Adam (32) and Kelly (31).  I always love reading what they write.

Today Kelly is 31 and I wanted to share what she wrote in her blog today:  13 on 31  (or you can click on the House of Gold on the right panel under "Blogs I Follow".

Hope you enjoy it.

Tomorrow's post:

What I learned from going to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to renew my Driver's License.  

Hope you'll you'll join me for that.

Until then...

Applebee's Thank You

For the last couple of years, Pam and I have visited Applebee's for their annual 'Thank You Meal to Veterans'.  We went to the one nearest us in Huntington Beach.  It was crowded but after 25 minutes we were asked if we minded having others join us at our large table.  'No, that would be fine' we said.

Shortly we were joined by Ken and Alan, who didn't know each other.  Later we were joined by Russell.  Thus began one of the most interesting times of camaraderie we have had in a while.

After introductions, Ken pulled out a couple of photos he had of himself as a young man in Korea during the Korean War.

What a fascinating story:  he got drafted into the Army in 1949 and was selected after Basic to go to Advanced Basic Training.  Then he was shipped out to K-2 (Taegu Korea).  From there as an infantryman, he marched north, crossing the DMZ in the frozen winter.  It was very hard.  He said he didn't think about it much, he just did it, in the cold, sleeping under his poncho with his field gear.  It is hard to fathom what they went through.

Then, after going north, they were driven south back to the tip of what became South Korea near Pusan.  With the landing of MacArthur in Inchon, tide of the war turned in the favor of the UN forces.

I found this at koreanwaronline.com

During the war, he suffered frostbite and almost lost his trigger finger which was a common problem. Medics were going to remove it but when he said he wouldn't be able to shoot his M-1, they took him through a very intensely painful thawing out process.  It worked and he retained his crooked finger.

After the war, he went to college, determined to get make something of himself.  He got a degree in Chemistry, and got a government job at the Atomic Energy Commission.   He found he wasn't really enjoying it there, but he was stuck.  He said, "once you are in, they don't let you leave the AEC".  But they let him get a masters degree, so he pursued that.  And then a PhD but this time in physics.  He ended up in the Northwest working for Boeing near Seattle for a few years before returning to Southern California.

After retiring from his professional career, he pursued a Master of Divinity Degree at Biola and then has been active in starting a number of Asian congregations in the area.  He bought a house in the 1960's for $26,000 far from Applebee's and it is now worth a lot of money.  He has had an interesting life and is still going strong at 84.

Alan is an Army Viet Nam vet and has done a number of things over the years.  After the downturns in the economy he became a local realtor.  He has sold property in a lot of places including California and Hawaii.

Russell was in the Navy and grew up in Southern California.  He recalled trips growing with his family throughout the West.  His dad would pick small towns and they would hang out at the local soda fountain shop to learn about life among the regular folks throughout California and Idaho.

Before we left we got a group photo:

Alan, Randy, Pam, Ken, Russell

It was a couple of hours having a wonderful evening making new friends.  And hearing each other's stories and enjoying a fantastic Veteran's Day meal.  I don't know how they do it, but there were hundreds of Vets through out the day getting fed.  A BIG thank you to Applebee's.  It was special!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And thanks for the comments and emails, we appreciate them.  Hope you all have a great week!  Until next time...

Veterans Day

Travel Schedules?

One of the first questions I get when I talk with friends and family is, "Where are you??".

Over the years I have debated on how best to let folks know where we are and where we will be in the coming months.

How do you keep your friends and family informed of your location and upcoming plans?

I also have trouble remembering which week we were where and next month where will be... so we'll try this.

Google Calendars and been around for years.  I have used them a here and there, but never really was consistent with it.  Friends (husband and wife team in the real estate business) with four kids have relied on Google Calendars to keep appointments for years.  But for some reason, I never really embraced it.

But I think using this may be the answer.  I fiddled with it for a few days came up with something.  I have more tweaking to do, but here it is.

Roadrunner Travel Calendar

I added a new 'Page' which has our travel schedule embedded into it.  I created a Google Calendar and then looked up on-line how to embed it into a blog.  I did a cut and paste of the code, saved it and there it is.

Anytime you wonder where we are (or have been), you should be go to the 'Travel Calendar' page and see.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And thanks for following and thanks for those comments!  We love them!  Until next time...

Roadrunner Financials - October 2013

We continued our time in California taking our time along from the Bay Area heading south to just north of Los Angeles

Roadrunner Recap

We wanted to see the Monterey Bay area because of its beauty and history.  It gained notoriety in John Steinbeck's famous novel "Cannery Row" and was close to the fantastic and memorable Pebble Beach and Carmel coasts.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.  Moving south, we stopped in San Luis Obispo.  We were quite a bit more isolated there and had some good downtime.  Next, we went farther south to Port Hueneme where we spent a couple of weeks.  While there, we played some golf and went to see the Ronald Reagan Library. Finishing up the month, we stayed at March Air Reserve Base FamCamp.  The best thing about it was its close proximity to Redlands where we spent lots of time with old friends from our time at Norton AFB in the 1980's.

Specifically, we spent time at the following sites:

• A - Monterey Bay (Monterey Pines Navy Campground) -  6 days
• B - San Luis Obispo (Camp San Luis Obispo Army National Guard) - 8 days
• C - Port Hueneme (Fairways RV Resort Navy Campground) - 14 days
• D - Moreno Valley (March ARB FamCamp) - 3 days

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget

Biggest Expenses
Our campground fees in California continue to be higher than we like, but not much we can do about that.  
- We finished up the month at March ARB FamCamp which only cost $17/night but we the Navy campgrounds are $30/night.
An upgrade on the MacBook laptop cost me $216.  
- I found a Mac Superstore in San Luis Obispo that was great.  They said according to Apple I can only get 4GB of ram on my machine, but they actually doubled it.  That sped things up a bit so it was well worth it.
We were pretty close on groceries this month but still went over.
We were $179.83 over in Misc.  
- I wish I could point to one thing but it was a lot of things:  new comforter for the bed, hats and sweaters and ball markers and gifts from Pebble Beach, more golf than we usually play in a month, a Presidential Pass (that gets us into  other Presidential Libraries)...

Large One Time Cost Item
Our yearly RV and car registrations are due, so we paid an even $700. I logged it into the RV Maintenance row with a comment to note what it was for on my spreadsheet.  It was easy to do online as a South Dakota resident.
Another big one was a new RV CD/Radio we had put it at Best Buy.  While it was only $216.56, it accounted for a large part of the overage in that area.

Monthly Average

 We are into the 5th month of our 5th year and are about on track with our monthly spending.  If I had prorated our upcoming car and RV registration over the entire year, we'd be right there.

That about does it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Really appreciate all the comments and to those that emailed me separately, hope you find the budget spreadsheet helpful.  If anyone else would like a copy, I'd be glad to send it out to you ~ just let me know.
Until next time...

2 Cents About Finances

A while ago, Pam and I were with friends and she said, "Let's talk to them about finances".  That send an immediate panic attack flashing through my mind!  My reaction was, "What!? The number one thing you should do is never get financial advice from your friends."

I still think that is true.

Another thought was, "What the heck do we know?" - we aren't financial people...we're just regular folks.  But the more I thought about it, - she probably didn't want advice on the latest stock picks.  Or where to buy gold.

I think she might have meant:

"How do you handle finances in retirement?"  

Or, 

"How do you manage your finances now?"

I should have a better answer to those simple questions.

The more I thought about it, here are 6 things I came up with:

• 1 - Expenses 

To get a handle on our expenses, you need to know where it is all going.

We decided to track them.  It took a few months of stops and starts.  And a 'process' to develop some easy habits.  But we did it and now it is no big deal.

Some suggest you track expenses for a month - 30 days.  Then you know where the big checking account drainers are coming from.  

(My guess is eating out.  A hamburger here or there, a dinner now and then etc etc -- it adds up for us to be one of our biggest expenses.)

• 2 - Income

Next is the income stream.  What is filling my bank account each month?  Hopefully it is two or three things.  For us it is:

- retirement:  USAF and a modest EDS (now part of HP) pension.

- online income:  I work 30 or so hours a month.

Your situation is probably different, but I share this to say there are many many ways to live the RV lifestyle.  Ours is just another situation.

• 3 - Insurance

We decided to forego any life insurance.  We needed it to protect our family for a length of time.  If something happened to me, we had a policy that would take care of Pam until after the kids got out of college.  And we had a policy that could cover day-care/after-school expenses in case something happened to Pam.  

We also moved from whole life to term life insurance policies.  We also carried mortgage insurance to pay off the house.  But those days are over. 

Now we carry two vehicle policies:

- RV insurance

- car insurance
We use USAA for our car insurance and Blue Sky for our RV insurance coverage.  Every year we look around on the RV insurance and see if we have the best value, so we have been with three different RV insurance brokers.  Seems like the insurance there goes up every year even with out any claims.

Our medical is covered by Tricare, the military insurance for active and retired folks.  Since our next birthdays will be #61, we have a few years before we move to Tricare for Life and Medicare.

When we die, since we are planning to have our ashes rest in a Veteran's Cemetery.

• 4 - Savings/Investments

Our 'savings' revolves around our 401(k) nest egg and what we have in the bank.  

401(k) - we consolidated our various 401(k) accounts from the companies I worked for after I left the U.S. Air Force in 1995.  We moved all that into USAA who manages that for us.  I look at it every few months but don't get hung up on the ups and downs of the stock market.  

In fact, we live as if we don't have it and don't plan on touching it for another 10 years.

When we sold the house, we bought the RV and the car and put the rest into a bank account.  We carried way to much in their and finally decided a few months ago to move most of it into a IRA type of account.  We can get access to it by going online and transferring funds from it to our checking account if we need to.  But it is getting a couple of % points more than our bank account.

We decided we want our savings account to grow to $10,000 if we can, but I don't know how realistic that is.  We put money in there each month if we can.  Dave Ramsey (who is a no-debt and emergency fund believer) says everyone (if possible) should have that much in an savings account emergency fund, so for now we are pursuing that.  The month long vacation in Hawaii or the cruise down the Danube will have to wait. 

• 5 - The Number

Now and then when you tell someone about the RV lifestyle, they through out a question or say something that causes me to think, "I should know that cold.  I should have a better answer for that."  Such was the case about five years ago when we went out to dinner with Ron and Gerry.  He asked the simple question:  "What is the number you need each month?"

Ugh.... - $2,000? $7,000?  I really didn't have a good idea of how much it was going to cost us to live on the road.  So I started looking at budgets from other RVers.  There were 3 or 4 online that I found helpful.  From there I put together an example budget.  One of the many conversations we had on the back porch before we started doing this was the 

- categories or things we should track, and then 

- how much should estimate and allot in each category.

One of the best and most freeing things we did was to create a budget and track our expenses.  

If you'd think it might be helpful or are just curious, I'd be glad to send it to you.  You can also do a search on the blog here with 'finances'.  A number of posts should come up.

• 6 - Next Steps

After all this - what are the next thing to do?  It may be to find a person (financial advisor/accountant/friend) and take action.  Do something even if it is only to get some ideas.  You don't have to buy insurance or pick a mutual fund when you talk with folks.  But decide if you really want to (or need to) get a better handle on finances.  

We talk about it every few months and see if we have gaping holes or if we are happy with what we are doing.  My guess is that there is something that you have been meaning to do and haven't taken the next step.  

I love this time of year because I can look at some of those items in my life and plan for my January 1  new year changes.  I am in the middle of working through some things now.  

So, even if we aren't financial people, we all have to manage our finances to a degree and keep learning what else may work for us.
We are always interested in learning something that may fit and may help us do a better job of it.  

But we don't want to be dragged down into the grind of a paper tiger and have endless and confusing personal 'financial' tasks we don't see any use for.

Just as we once downsized, we are always trying to weed out those things that are no longer working for us.  And doing those new things that have more potential impact.

While I didn't have a good answer at the time, talking about finances with friends spurred us to get a better handle on where we are with our own.

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

In Moreno Valley

First of all:  Happy Halloween!

For some reason on this day I always remember this joke:  (suitable for 4 years +)

What did one hot dog say to another?

Happy Halloweenie!

I know this is a fun day for a lot of folks and it seems to me that it is becoming more of a celebration/fun day than it used to be.  And I remember it was Meghan's favorite day of the whole year.  Though I am not one to suit up for it, I can enjoy and smile with those who do!

We left our Port Hueneme campground on Monday about 9:00 or so and went over to the gas station on base before we hooked up.  There was only one diesel pump so we had to wait for our turn.  We inched our way into the lane with over 6" to spare on each side...  So we took it slow and filled up.  Spent $274.23 on tank that was a little less than half full.

I never like drive though busy big city traffic in the middle of the day with a 40' RV towing a car.  But our prayers where answered again and we arrived with no issues.  After four years driving the Roadrunner, I have confidence and love to drive this baby.  It reminds me of using a power tool ~ I like to use them, but I have a healthy respect for them which causes me to focus on being alert cautious.   And I don't want to careless or think the other drivers are always alert.  I don't trust them.

The stress level in busy traffic goes up and it is a bit draining.  We only drove about 130 miles in three hours.  All in all, it wasn't too bad and we got into the base and campground about three hours after we left Port Hueneme.

Our campground at March Air Reserve Base (ARB) in Moreno Valley is fine.  It has been upgraded and we are on a nice site.

There are some things that are so-so but, all in all, it is fine.  We find our campgrounds and the places we stay are usually not exceptional and for the most part have a lot of good things.   Some of the good things about this site are:

• Flat and level spot
• Concrete hard stand
• 50 amp service
• Very reasonable ($17/night)
• Flowers! (I have never seen a with space in the middle, but someone planted some petunias which are nice.)
• Mowed grass
• Plenty of room between sites.

Some of the impressions of the place have to do with it being a Reserve Air Base (more on that on another post).  It is a small base on what used to be a huge base.  So there is a lot of downsized neighborhoods and empty buildings on base.  We are here for about a week so we can see friends in Redlands, CA (about 25 miles away).

We have spent the last couple of days getting acclimated to the area e.g. finding Post Office (where we picked up our mail), Sam's Club, Walmart, CVS, golf course, commissary, BX

In the last few days, I switched to Blogger+ and shared it.  I am not sure exactly what that does, so I gave it a try.  One thing I noticed was that fewer people commented.  I asked my friend Rick if what I did affected things.  As always, he was very gracious and responded quickly saying (if I understood it correctly) that by changing to Google+ I eliminated spam.  I also only can get comments from Google users.  I am not sure I like that -- forcing readers who want to comment to sign in with a Google+ account.  So I changed back.  We will see how that goes.  If you were affected, my apologies.

Another issue I have been having is not being able to hear incoming phone calls on my iPhone.  About three weeks ago, I changed over to iOS 7.  It is a new look and feel and I am getting more used to it.  I like it except the ring issue.  Another friend (John) offered to help.  He also came through!  In addition to helping me trouble shoot and fix my issue, he  recommended downloading the free iOS 7 user guide.  Here is a link.

Another thing we did yesterday was to call around and make campground reservations for some open dates we had for a few weeks December.  Now we are booked through the end of the year.

Hope you have a memorable and enjoyable Halloween.  Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Moving On From Port Hueneme

We have been in Port Hueneme for two weeks and we'll be heading down to the Riverside area later this morning.

We've liked it here in this area for a lot of reasons.

• The campground is a good one.
• Can't beat the weather.  Fall is coming and it has been very pleasant with no rain
• Our internet and phone service have been good
• We are near to shopping and places to see, things to do
• Part of the 'getting settled in' task at each place is figuring out where the grocery store is and what is noteworthy in the area
• We've seen and gotten to know some of the area: 
• Places of Interest, Museums and historic places:  Ronald Reagan Library, port and beach at Port Hueneme, Mission at Santa Barbara
• We visited a couple of swap meets
• Golf and some good practice
• Feel like we have gotten some things done:  
• Planning for the holidays and winter and spring:  where we will be and reservations at campgrounds for the next couple of months
• Riverside, CA area (San Bernardino, Redlands)
• Seal Beach (LA area)
• San Diego
• Quartzite, AZ
• Albuquerque, NM
• Fort Worth, TX
• Red Bay, AL
• Maynardville, TN
• Got caught up on our 'hang out time' and recharged our 'batteries 
• Don't feel like we are rushed at the moment
• In between my 'work for pay' P/T job at the moment but getting ready to gear up for it in the next few days
• Phone session with my brother going through a thought provoking book, sending questions back and forth and then discussing them
• Cleaned out some long neglected drawers and cupboards
• Pam repaired the kitchen drawer that was separated
• I cleaned out a couple of bins and drawers where I have accumulated a lot of junk
• All caught up on the wash/laundry since it is free here
• Lots of reading and goal setting:  Steinbeck's East of Eden and my ThinkTQ stuff
• Regular bike riding and/or trips to the fitness center
• Made progress on a couple of online courses (primarily since I found a Starbucks with good internet-I'd rather use there's than my mine)
• Made two trips to the Apple store to figure out some things on iCloud, IOS 7 and 'synching'

This morning the plan is to depart the campground sometime after 8:00 and go fill up the Roadrunner at the gas station on base.  We've already done a site survey to see if we can get the motor home into the pumps.  It will be a tight squeeze.  The height should be fine, clearance is 13'6" and our height is 12'6".  (Do you know what height your RV is?)

Next we will go south to the Riverside area and be there a few weeks before we head down to the San Diego area for Thanksgiving.

Hope you are having a good week.

Thats all from this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles - thanks for joining us!

Seeing the Ronald Reagan Library

The Ronald Reagan Library is less than 35 miles from our campground and a few days ago, we visited it.

Our initial impression was good.  It was not hard to find, good roads into the facility and the parking was not far from the front entry.

The facility and front door area looked like a ranch hacienda type of area.  It was large and had lots of floors and I could image a few evening functions being catered out here.

When we entered the facility, we were greeted by a volunteer who told us about the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.  We became members for $62.  Our admission to this presidential library was $32.  But as Presidential Foundation members, we get free entry into any of the others we see this year.  My guess is we have a shot at seeing four more this year.

But they are scattered around the country.

So far, we have seen the Presidential Libraries of:

• Gerald R. Ford - Grand Rapids, MI
• Herbert Hoover - West Branch, IA
• Harry S. Truman - Independence, MO
• George W. Bush - Dallas, TX
• Lyndon B. Johnson - Austin, TX
• Ronald Reagan - Simi Valley, CA

That means we have a few left to see:

• Richard Nixon - Yorba Linda, CA
• George H.W. Bush - College Station, TX
• Dwight D. Eisenhower - Abilene, KS
• William J. Clinton - Little Rock, AR
• Jimmy Carter - Atlanta, GA
• Franklin D. Roosevelt - Hyde Park, NY
• John F. Kennedy - Boston, MA

I think this, the Ronald Reagan may have been our favorite.  I liked the grounds, the setting and the layout of the facility.  I found this map online that gives a pretty good perspective.

I found a couple displays especially interesting.  One was the video and information surrounding his time (1964-1962) as the spokesman for General Electric  and the host of GE Theater.  I spent some time in there learning about his travels across the country, visiting many of the 140 GE plants nationwide.  

It provided him time to meet regular people and engage with them.  It was during these years, that he gave hundreds of speeches developed his political philosophy and ambitions.

I also saw a display of his personal collection of note cards.  Over the years, he kept his thoughts and ideas on 4" x 6" note cards that he carried in a re-purposed photo album book.  That really impressed me for some reason.  Every time he heard a quote, or a statistic or a joke he wanted to remember, he jotted it down on note cards for later use.

We spent a couple of hours wandering through the museum and saw his whole life story.  Some galleries included some great film footage of him and some scary moments during his presidency like the assassination attempt.

It was all very interesting.  I could have stayed longer.  Reading about his days as Governor, the accomplishments, the 'agenda'.

One thing I believe at all presidential museums has been a replica of the Oval Office.  We spoke with the ladies there for a few minutes.  I always try to thank the volunteers.  Without them - it would be quite different.  Whether they are at the Information Center in downtown Napa or at this Presidential Library, I appreciate their contributions.  Their contribution makes a difference in my day.

Next, we headed over to the Air Force One display.  It was quite impressive.  We got a chance to walk through it although photographs were not allowed.

Then we went through another part of the museum

Around back, we saw a piece of the Berlin Wall.  

And his final resting place

It was a great afternoon.  Sometimes during the tour I got goosebumps and our time there was very uplifting.

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

Reflections on Reflecting

This could be a title of a mirror photography, or deep thinking or just enjoying the moment.

Today I read this and just thought I'd share it with you without any additional comment.  It is on a site I visit  regularly. -Just for a change of pace....

Thanks for visiting today on the Roadrunner Chronicles! As always, I really appreciate and value your comments. Happy Friday! Until next time...