A Drive Through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

With our time running out here at Wickham Park, we had one more place we wanted to revisit. The weather had changed making it windy and chilly with temperatures in the low sixties. I won’t apologize for calling low sixties chilly because for these two people who follow spring north and fall south it is certainly chilly to us. Anyhow we figured the drive over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge would be perfect considering the weather…

After about a 50 minute drive we entered the loop drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. This is in our opinion definitely one of the top three loop drives in a wildlife refuge in the entire USA. The other two favorites are the loop drive at Aransas Wildlife Refuge in Texas and the loop drive at the JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Below are some of the birds and sights we enjoyed…

Heading back we decided to stop in for a little happy hour at a World of Beer in Melbourne and luckily for us we stumbled into something fun, Thirsty Thursday at West Village Melbourne. We were sitting at the World of Beer bar enjoying a beer when we noticed a band setting up outside amongst some tents which appeared to be vendors.. My curiosity got the best of me and I chatted with one of the vendors only to learn about Thirsty Thursday, a free once a month event on the third Thursday of the month. Live music, free food and drink… Score!

Another evening we made a date with John (Sharon’s cousin) and his bride Penny. We chose Squid Lips a waterfront bar and restaurant as a place to meet them since its location is about halfway between where we were and where they live, in Vero Beach, Florida. It was great to see them again and as always time rapidly melted away. Although it had been a year since we last saw them it was like we had never left. Good food, friendship,and great water view from our table made this a great way for us to spend our belated anniversary dinner!

With our time up it was finally time to head a bit further south to Vero Beach, Florida where we wall spend some quality time with John and Penny…

NOTE: We are now near Stuart, Florida…

Rain, more Rain and Our 40th Anniversary…

We are sitting tight here at Dickens RV Park in Moncure, North Carolina watching the rain caused by hurricane Joaquin. With initial forecasts all over the place for where Joaquin was headed we added three more days which will have us leaving on Sunday. Whether or not we leave then depends entirely on the rain and hurricane…

In the meantime we have been sneaking out from time to time for some fun between rain events. One day we were even able to sneak back over to Pittsboro and Rock Ridge Park and played another round of disc golf. We got a whole 18 holes in before any rain and made one more visit to the Carolina Brewery for $3 buck pint night.

Besides running up to Raleigh to make a Costco and Camping World run we haven’t been doing a whole lot else. However, a big anniversary of ours is on October 3rd. We were married a long, long time ago when we were just children. Once Saturday rolled around we have now been married 40 years, yes that right FORTY YEARS! How did we get to be old enough to be married forty years!

What a great ride our forty years have been. The day we got married in San Antonio in the early 1970’s we were pretty poor. I had just gotten out of the Air Force and was attending college on the G.I. Bill. Sharon was waiting tables in a Pizza Inn. Money was indeed tight but we always found a way to have fun. We even rolled newspapers for a weekly circular on Wednesday nights just so we could have some fun money.

Sharon went to dental assisting school and I kept getting college degrees (after all school was fun to me). We moved from San Antonio to College Station for me to finish my schooling. Our son was born in Bryan and after getting by Bachelor’s Degree we moved to Austin so I could work for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Disgruntled with all the bureaucracy after a few years we moved back to the Bryan-College Station area where our daughter was born.

The next several decades saw us raising children and making a living. Once both of our kids left home and got on with their lives we started planning the next chapter in our lives… and here we are! Forty years of ups and downs, sideways and laterals. Was it all fun? Heck no! But I wouldn’t trade any of it for any other life. Through all the trials and tribulations a forty year marriage takes on two young people there has been nothing better than the forty years we have spent together.

In retirement, forty years after we first got hitched we are probably closer now than we have ever been. Do we still have flaws? Of course we do but the only difference now is that we not only more tolerant of each others flaws we actually embrace some of them. I love my bride, Sharon, heaps and hope to remain married to her another 40 years or whatever I am so blessed to get…  No better place to spend those next years than with Sharon in the passenger seat on the road of retirement…

Wheeler NWR, Town Hikes and Celebrating our Anniversary…

Well it looks like the Government won’t settle their dispute before we leave Decatur so we won’t be able to finish up our hiking in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.  Fortunately we did visit the Visitor’s Center before the shutdown. The visitor center at the refuge was very informative and welcoming. After checking out the exhibits we went just outside the center where bird feeders were set up and the goldfinches were partaking in the offerings.

This is a large refuge as it encompasses some 35,000 acres. The day we visited we decided to hiked a couple of small trails adjacent to the center to get a feel for the place. The first meandered through the woodlands and at the beginning of the trail was a healthy invasion of bamboo. The trail then took us through a nice Bald Cypress swamp complete with a boardwalk through its middle where we spied a red eared turtle that appeared to be stuck. I grabbed a piece of bamboo to free him from his confines only to watch it gleefully kerplunk back into the water… it just appeared as if it were stuck. There were many interpretive plaques identifying plant species making the walk all the more enjoyable.

The second walk took us to an observatory for viewing waterfowl. Sadly we didn’t catch a glimpse of any ducks as it is still a bit early for migration here but did see some Great Blue Herons wading and fishing the waters. We especially enjoyed the view from the upstairs windows of the scenic marsh although it did get a little stuffy up there. Next we drove the perimeter of the park enjoying the leaves just beginning to pick up their autumn hues of yellow and red. We figured we would surely be able to return in the coming days to get in some longer hikes but boy were we wrong!

Another day we stumbled onto Mooresville, Alabama which was the first town established in Alabama. We walked around this historic little town as it is quite small.  We enjoyed seeing interesting homes here that are mostly well kept and date back to the early to mid 1800’s. We also found a neat little church and the oldest operating Post Office in Alabama in this quaint little town.. As we drove on toward Huntsville, Alabama we saw Lyla’s Dance Hall and thought that there must be a story behind it. Sure enough there was…

 

Finally we spent some time strolling around the old downtown area of Huntsville taking in some of the interesting older buildings and enjoying some of the history presented on the historical markers. But the main reason we came to Huntsville was to end this day at another microbrewery called Straight To Ale Tap Room, clever name Eh? We especially enjoyed our happy hour brews as we were celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary... Good Beer, Great Life, Fantastic Wife... What more can I ask for…

NOTE: We chose to stay one additional day here in Decatur as heavy rains are predicted today due to the cold front colliding with tropical storm Karen so we will head to Montgomery, Alabama tomorrow…

Have we really been full timing for 2.5 years?

September 3rd, 2013 marked the two and one half year anniversary of our leaving College Station, Texas. What we left behind after living there for over 30 years was our house (which was still for sale, but sold now), a rental house (we still rent it out) and a lot of friends… What we have found since that day 2.5 years later is a new lifestyle full of adventures, experiences and we added some new friends…

During our travels we have been in 32 of the 50 United States and even traveled into one Province in Canada. Will we travel in all the states reachable by RV? Who knows? But we did sit down on our 2.5 year anniversary to discuss our likes and dislikes of this now not-so-new lifestyle we are living. We do this every six months to ensure we are both on the same page and to discuss our future plans.

Most of our discussion focused on the fact that Sharon’s least favorite thing about full timing is moving day! Me, I love moving day since it means I will be able to see something new and experience something different. Sharon sees it as a day that requires lots of chores that revolve around getting the RV ready to leave and then re-setup. She is still a bit uncomfortable on the road in the RV when we go over high bridges or get near the edges of high points. So we discussed a few ways we might alleviate some of her concerns.

But mostly we shared stories about what we loved about what we do and about the many places we enjoyed. We have driven our faithful RV 19,228 miles over those 32 states and have been to a lot of really cool places. We must admit there have been very few areas in the USA that we visited where we haven’t felt comfortable or that we haven’t enjoyed staying. For the most part we now feel that we could probably live anywhere and easily find a nice town with the amenities we desire.To our continuing delight we find ourselves crossing paths with so many nice people as we travel.  They often express to us they love the town they live in and have graciously pointed us toward unique sights or fun places to go. 

How much longer will we do this? Who knows?  Since right now we can't imagine doing anything else, the one thing we know for sure is we will do it as long as we are both having fun…

Full-timing for two years–Her Retrospective…

As we do every 6 months we celebrate our retirement anniversary and prepare dinner and open a special bottle of wine. We celebrate every six months in order to discuss our lifestyle and what we may or may not want to change about our lifestyle. To discuss where we want to go and what we want to see. It is in a sense a sort of planning session and a six month wrap up all in one…

We began the celebration enjoying Happy Hour in our “backyard” space behind the motorhome site we are renting in our former home, College Station, Texas. The site gives us a wonderful view of the football stadium, Kyle Field where we have fond memories of attending games since the 1970’s. During the last years of John’s working life, it was especially fun for him as he became a statistician in the press box. As an added bonus I received free tickets to attend the games with friends or family. We toasted to these fond memories and pondered what the excitement level and atmosphere must have been like at the games this year with Johnny Football’s magical Heisman Award winning season…. We will certainly always follow Texas Aggie Sports and hope to attend a variety of games while here for our three week stay.

We also discussed what a surprise it is to realize we have been on the road for TWO whole years now! Our first year was dedicated to watching our daughter’s games her senior year of college in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. We then toured the entire East Coast. This year we explored desert areas in Texas and Arizona, reconnected with dear friends in New Mexico, Washington and Oregon. We again marveled at beautiful sights along the west coast as well as Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake. My favorite place was San Diego because of the expansive water views, the wonderful beach/bay biking opportunities in and around our site, beautiful Coronado Island, breathtaking La Jolla, and just the wonderful walks we found in the harbor and city parks there. It was extremely hard for me to leave that area and I will be anxious to return one day.

After reminiscing about our years in College Station as well as our first and second year of travel we sat down inside our beloved motorhome for a wonderful dinner John prepared: Shrimp Diablo, wild rice, green leaf and spinach salad, and grilled asparagus. John asked as he always does at these 6 month talks whether or not I am still enjoying our lifestyle and asking what challenges I might have. I shared that I would like new dining chairs as they have never really been comfortable and are a little worn. I also said that I might like to take a cruise in the next year because although this lifestyle feels like a vacation every day, I still might enjoy a cruise vacation. I told him I will also feel happier once we complete our, overdue, once a year spring cleaning. There’s just something about a deep clean that makes me really happy. John echoed many of the same feelings as far as continued enjoyment of the lifestyle and we both agreed we want to continue. We also talked about what our itinerary might be for this next year but I think I will let John address this in a future blog…

In conclusion I am so thankful for the time I have spent with my darling husband on this adventure. I tell old friends who cannot comprehend how I could leave my old life behind that I have traded “things” for “experiences” and these experiences have been priceless. Not only have I seen some of the most beautiful sights but I have also cherished the friends and family I have reconnected with as well as the new friends we have met who also enjoy this lifestyle These friends have enriched my life more than I can express. Thank you John for taking me out of my comfort zone for this adventure of a lifetime!

One Year ago today…

 

March 2, 2011… the day we left College Station, Texas as fully retired individuals in a four year old motorhome leaving our house behind. What the hell were we thinking? We must have been crazy? That is what many of our friends thought. Why would they think that? Well for starters this was going to be the first time ever that we were taking the motorhome on a road trip and spending the night in it. Yes it is true, we retired, bought a motorhome (even though we had never RV’ed in our lives before), sold all of our possessions (except what we took with us), put our house up for sale, and took off on our first camping trip the day after we retired.

It was back in the year 2000 that I was in earnest trying to figure out the best way to retire by age 55. The steps we took back then allowed us to be where we are today. In August of 2009 we started talking about where we wanted to retire… Florida, the southwest, and maybe even becoming expatriates all were explored. Then in October of 2009 we created our bucket lists of things we wanted to accomplish in our retired lives.Noticing that many of these items were travel- related the idea of buying an RV and traveling to see many of these places came up. The more we talked about buying an RV the more convinced we became that this life style was for us.

Are we crazy??? Maybe… but as of right now we have absolutely no regrets! So here we are 365 days later after spending one year on the road and we are still loving our decision to do so… What are some of our highs and lows of this year in our fulltiming lifestyle?

The Highs

• Watching every fastpitch softball game of our Daughter’s final year in college
• Finally selling our house in July
• Living in the Florida Keys
• Meeting new friends on the road
• Spending time with our new friends in their house in the Shenandoah Valley
• Seeing old friends in the New York Adirondacks
• See Penobscot bay from the top of a mountain in Maine
• Visiting Acadia National Park in Maine
• Spending a week visiting Cape Cod
• The Pennsylvania Amish Country
• Spending four months visiting many different beaches in Florida
• Bonita Springs, Florida and the fact it could be a future home for us
• Visiting the Everglades

The Lows

• Leaving our friends behind in College Station
• Not being able to tow our car when we first left
• Getting our first scrape on the motorhome at Long Key, Florida
• Storms and hail in Spartanburg, SC
• Hurricane Irene in New Hampshire
• Having to unhitch the car the first time at a gas station
• Driving through Atlanta

As you can see the highs outnumber the lows and the lows really weren’t all that bad… As a result we are ready for Year 2…. so bring it on…

Nearing our 1 yr anniversary, thoughts from the lady of the house…

Rainy day here in Bushnell, Florida so it was a great day to do taxes. We are even going to get a refund for the first time in a long time. I guess it pays to be poor… :)

We are also just a few days from our one year anniversary of full timing in our RV so to kick things off Sharon has contributed her thoughts about what it has been like living this dream…

Our full-timer adventure began March 2, 2011 and yet it seems like yesterday when John drove the RV to our front door in College Station taking my breath away.  Once it rolled up to the front door it seemed so gigantic that I began to second guess our ability to tame this beast.  It certainly helped that we had only a few days to get to our daughter’s collegiate softball tournament.  That all- encompassing desire to be at each and every game of her senior year trumped my usual reluctance and fearfulness (even after realizing I would have to drive behind in the tow vehicle since we were missing a crucial towing part). 

After softball, we traveled south to the Florida Keys, then all the way up the Northeast Coastline, back to North Carolina for a short return visit with our daughter and then four months wintering in South Florida.  The scenery in the Keys, Vermont, Maine and Cape Cod all brought tears of joy from experiencing sheer gorgeousness. (We enjoy the countryside whizzing by side by side, now that we have all the parts and can tow the car). I really love sitting next to him in the cockpit!  The enormousness of the bus still gives me pause on mountain roads, bridges and tunnels. I also feel a little stressed on moving days, however the freedom afforded us this past year makes me love this lifestyle more and more each day.  We have no schedule and no set itinerary.I look forward to waking up and sharing every day with John exploring our new locations. 

The view outside our dinner table window is different every week or two.  How fun is that?  The simple things are also very joyful such as washing dishes by hand, everything having its place, planning and cooking meals together, as well as our daily walks or bike rides.  Mostly I love reflecting on our day and laughing with John.  I realize now that former lives kept us much too busy to really enjoy each other. We have become a solid team.  It makes me very happy.

So what are the challenges? Sometimes we are a little careless.  We have lost or broken our sun and eyeglasses, we have left behind things at campgrounds such as our double faucet attachment, our 30 to 50 amp converter and somehow lost a part to the brake buddy (yes, we have checklists and still these things happen).  Another challenge is too much togetherness. Our adjustment to this came naturally since I get “me” time late at night after John goes to bed and his “me” time is while I sleep later than he.  Another challenge is living within our budget. I am highly motivated to stay within the budget because I do not want to have to go back to work., Therefore, I figured out how to do my own mani-pedis, John learned from my hairdresser how to color my hair, we get haircuts at cosmetology schools, we have our dental cleanings at dental hygiene schools, and consolidated our medical visits to one facility (the Mayo Clinic). The budget also makes finding a site much more difficult.  We underestimated campground fees because in some locations, the site fees equal what we would have paid for a hotel!  It can be really frustrating and tedious to find a place to land especially in destination locations,but yet we have managed.

The last adjustment was time away from my kids and grandkids, especially during holidays.  I am discovering, however,that I am not seeing them any less than when back at home.  In fact had we stayed back in our home I know I would miss them just as much and possibly interfering in their lives much more.  Instead we are living full, interesting lives and have exciting experiences to share with them when we do see them.  Plus, with Facebook, smart phones, Skype, email, etc.,  I feel quite connected.  John reminds me this is as it should be.  We are, after all, meant to raise them to lead happy, independent lives.

In conclusion, despite my fear of mountain roads, finding the right place to stay, careless mistakes, and time away from family, I am living a life with my soul mate that feels to me like a vacation each and every day…