I'm Thankful...

Thanksgiving Day, 2008. A time to be with family and a time to be thankful.

I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for my wife, Kathy. We only met 7 years ago and we both carried a lot of baggage from previous, uh, experiences like ex-wives and ex-husbands. Together, starting from scratch, we created a comfortable life for ourselves. Now we live in a really nice RV, travel the country exploring places and seeing things that most people never have the chance to see or do. "Living the dream" as some people would say.

I'm thankful for our kids. Like most kids in their 20's, they're still "finding themselves" but all in all, they're GREAT kids. Justin is in great health, and Nicole, who has crones, has THAT under control, so life is good for them too. They just don't know it yet. HA!

I'm thankful for OUR health too. Getting old DOES suck, but we're not too bad off. We both can still get around well.

I'm thankful for the life I've lived so far. I can stand before my God anytime and still have my honor intact. Hopefully, He'll give me (us) a few more years in this world.

I'm just a thankful guy today. A very lucky, thankful guy!

The hardest thing about RV'ing...

OK, now I know what the hardest thing about RV'ing is (besides taking it like a man when it comes to paying my gas bill!) and that finding a freaking place to stay and go without spending a fortune.

Now the definition of "fortune" means different things to different people. Before we started this, we had a budget (yes - we actually had an estimated budget) of "around $500 - $600" a month for camping. Don't EVEN ask what our budget was for diesel cause THAT's been blown out the window as well.

We're finding that the good RV parks cost $30 a night and up. Oh sure, we can get 50% off with our Pass Port America membership IF we meet the following conditions:

1. Discounts not valid on weekends or holidays. Only Sun. through Thursdays. ( at a lot of parks)


2. Discounts not valid during race events ( like in NASCAR)


3. Cable TV hook up is $2.00 a night extra.
4. Oh want shade? That'll be another $1.00 a day.
5. What? Oh - you want a site with a VIEW?? Oh boy! That's gonna be ANOTHER $3.00 a night!!!! Hey Mister - need electricity? hehehehe

Then, there's the 30 amp service only ( wee need 50 amp) or the fact that I can't get this big ass thing TO the park cause the roads too small!

So... what I find myself doing is planning camp sites about 4 days in advance. We search for bargains! Like we are staying at http://www.campnbr.com/index2.html at our next stop. BUT - if you stay for FOUR days, then the FIFTH day is free! SWEET!

At $41 a day, it's a really nice park, but a little pricey. But if we stay for 5 days, then it's only $32.80 a day!

I can literally spend hours trying to find specials, discounts, coupons, etc. in an attempt to save $$.

And THAT's the hardest thing to do for me so far!

Oh wait! There's the finding "special" places to eat too (that's hard!). Now, from the DESIGN of this place, you'd think that hot dogs would be their forte. But nooooooo - their hot dogs sucked! Come to find out their hamburgers are what they're famous for. Hey Pal's - put a HAMBURGER up there instead of a hot dog! You faked me out!

We Sold Our Home!

Holy Molly... we got and accepted and offer on our home the other day! SWEET! We fully expected to be on the market for months and months, but we sold in 34 days.

Kathy and I were actually in our car driving to Rivers RV in Jacksonville to kill some time looking at RV's (which seemed to be about the only thing we were doing lately anyway) when the buyers agent called us. Oh crap. Now we actually have to get SERIOUS about finding a RV to live in (providing the offer was OK with us from the buyers). THAT put a whole new perspective on the day. Now we're not just "looking" we're freakin "shopping!" Cool :)

So we continue on to rivers RV to look at some Tiffins, which is the only brand they sell. Up to this point my decision was to buy a used RV (let someone else take the hit on depreciation right?), but a used Tiffin is hard to find. First, htere's a waiting list for them, and also a lot of people who own them like them so much that they just take their RV to Redbay, Alabama and have the Tiffin manufacturer make any updates/mods to their RV.

The pro side of buying new is you get what you want, you get a warranty, no one else has slept in your bed, and lastly... it's MY poop in the black tank, not someone else's. HA! I also wanted to buy from a local dealer and NOT have to drive to TX or Mississippi to pick up a RV. kathy and I talked about it. We decided that this was OUR dream and we were going to buy a NEW RV to treat ourselves for once!

The salesman (Shawn) took us around the lot and we started climbing into the new RV's.

Uh oh... we find one that has everything we wanted:

• The color in nice on the outside, we love the interior colors (not white or a dark brown, but a nice neutral beige).
• It has a king size bed with a HUGE closet in the bedroom
• A STACKABLE washer & dryer so we can do our own laundry. Much better than the "all-in-one" washer/dryer combo units.
• A BIG shower that I can actually move my fat butt around in it. The shower has a little garden tub that's big enough to give our dog, Elvis, a bath, and even big enough that Kathy could take a little soak if she wanted to. Way too small for me though! HA!
• The toilet is in separate room (split bath) which gives us and any traveling companion privacy.
• Lot's of counter space in the kitchen
• A convection/microwave oven PLUS a regular baking oven.
• Two couches so we both can lay down and watch TV!
• An outside LCD TV already installed.