Why We Started RVing

Elkmont, Alabama

Weather: low 28 degrees, high 67 degrees, clear skies

The last three nights, we have been disconnecting our water hose before going to sleep so it wouldn't freeze. It looks like the weather is going to warm up for a few days so we won't have to do the water hose deal. That's nice.

Normally, we insulate our water hose if we're going to be in cold weather for any length of time. I guess the fact that we haven't insulated the hose so far indicates that we're going to spend this next winter in a warmer climate. Then again, maybe not. The reader will know when we do.

When we began fulltime RVing about eight years ago, we did it with two goals in mind: see the country, and find a new place to settle down when we grew up. As we have traveled across the country, we have seen some beautiful places that would be nice to live in. Such as Oregon, northern California, Montana, Wyoming, Washington.... Then there's Texas, Colorado, and even back to our roots in Florida.

We like the northwest states best, but they have been crossed off our list because of distance from family. Northern California also had another strike against it: even though that part of the state is nothing like the part from San Francisco and south, the entire state is tainted to us by the problems the state has and their apparent efforts to run business out of the state.

When we were in Florida over the summer and I was recovering from pneumonia, we looked around our old stomping grounds to see if we wanted to settle down there. Both of us have family in Florida, and we are familiar with the state and the way of life there, even with being moved away for the last 25 years. But, we didn't find a house that clicked with us. We looked at hundreds of houses and were surprised at how expensive a decent house was. What made it even more surprising was all the houses that had been foreclosed on, and the banks were not willing to negotiate.

We think our criteria for a house are pretty simple: at least an acre in an area where we can park the RV at the house, a good neighborhood, no more than ten miles from a town, a house that grabs us and says "Take me, I'm yours"! That didn't happen in Florida.

If we eventually find a house, it doesn't mean that we are through with RVing. What it would mean is that we would have a home base to go back to when we want to just get out of the RV, or need to take a break. It would also be a way to eventually set our selves up for that day when we are ready to hang up the keys.

One more thing: Carolyn says she has that nesting instinct burning inside, and she wants a home she can fix up one more time. Can you spell country?

Hey, I'm getting excited thinking about it.

The blog would continue, but would probably take a different slant when we were at home.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Vallejo, California: Valley Joe

Not all who wander are lost.