Moving Slower Than Planned

It's been an interesting week since my last post. No earth shattering news to send you, just normal living. That "normal living" led me to wonder at times this week, if I should shut down this blog. I wrote a couple of different long posts this week explaining why I was going to stop blogging. I kept them in the draft mode, then ended up deleting them. A commenter a few months ago suggested taking the word "RV" off of my blog title because I was really posting nothing about RVing and my hounds were more interesting anyway. In a way she was correct.

My subtitle states: "Researching the rv lifestyle, deciding whether to travel with a bloodhound, two basset hounds and what kind of rig to buy".

Basically that research is done. Maybe I need to update and change the subtitle. I verified the definition of "rv" was a recreational vehicle. The word "vehicle" led me to look up the definition of 'recreational vehicle' because ... would that include trailers? By definition it would include trailers. So by reverse engineering, the RV stays in the title of my blog.

I know that will disappoint a few of my recent new blog fans that like to email me, telling me how screwed up I am, that my blog deals nothing about RVing and the lifestyle. They have a point ... I'm not traveling. For those few that have voiced their opinions the loudest, making comments and sending emails, I found that most of them don't travel either ... except through other people's blogs.

A recent commenter told me "You need help". That is something I have said to myself for a lot of years, so nothing new there....lol

Back to the subtitle. My research is basically done. I know with my current tow vehicle will not change, I am limited to a trailer with a GVWR less than 4,500lbs to play it safe. I have a non-refundable deposit on an Escape trailer but I do not pick it up until October 14, 2014.

In October 2011 the plan was to leave by May 2014, when I would officially retire from my job. Well I did retire a month early but I had not decided on a trailer. It's a good thing I didn't as I don't have the same tow vehicle I had in May.

So where did the thoughts of shutting down this blog come from? Not from the disenchanted commenters/emailers, that's their DNA so to speak. It came from thinking the 'research was over'. I know what I want to buy and how I want to travel with the hounds. Many followers are waiting for the daily posts with pictures traveling the USA, yet I am still in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana doing nothing more than normal activities. Doing normal things just like some readers of this blog.

What's there to blog about?

This past week my effort to prep the house for sale slowed considerably. One day I loaded the hounds in the FJ and we took a 22 mile trip south to a nice State Park sitting on a nice lake. The hounds spent most of the day sitting next to me sniffing the air or sleeping in the shade. I knew then they could be travelers even if State Parks are not in my plans as a place to stay the majority of the time. While there I just relaxed, thought about the 'what if's' and enjoyed the scenery. It was a great day but I wondered if I should be taking pictures and posting about my day on this blog. I didn't want to, didn't have the urge to. The trip was just something I did for my own personal enjoyment. That is where the conflict comes in as far as blogging goes.

I'm a fairly private person, live in a area where neighbors rarely get together if at all and will wave at the mailbox if we are there at the same time. It's a private area. I've never felt the need to plaster a website with pictures of what I have done or am doing. The times I did that were blog related. All that did was open myself up to strangers telling me what I should or shouldn't do. Why does it matter to them what I should do? Why do they get emotional when I change my mind? I find that to be an interesting concept. For those that scream the loudest, I cannot reply in a 'politically correct' way, so I'll not comment.

The day after hanging out at the State Park, I decided to buy something I have thought about for a year. Nothing major but another bicycle, only this time instead of something built to go fast, I decided to buy a mountain bike. This bike would be a bike I could ride while traveling or here at home. Instead of changing into all the bike gear I would wear while riding my high speed 'road' bike, I can hop on wearing my every day shorts, tshirt, road glove shoes and ballcap and take off. I've ridden this bike every day since I bought it, to town a couple of miles away. I've taken off on the rough asphalt roads nearby, over gravel or dirt roads and down a path to the back of a nearby field.

So it's serving the purpose. It's a GT Timerbline 1.0 29er. I don't know all of the mountain bike lingo, nor do I plan to upgrade or modify components ... I just wanted a bike I could cruise on, enjoy the scenery and at my age would even increase my pulse rate for a little work out. So don't expect me to post pictures of me airborne like you may see of other younger mountain bikers online. Like I told the salesman who was trying to get me to buy a more expensive CycleCross bike, "if I am airborne that only means I am in trouble and soon to be hurting when I land".

I did not intend the color of the bike to match the FJ but noticed it after I got it home. Here is a picture of my new toy.

If you have read this far you may be asking yourself "where is he going with all of this"? This past week as I started to enjoy activities and places where I live and those within driving distance. I realized that I was not going to put the house up for sale. I don't see myself moving westward and buying a fulltime residence BUT I do see traveling for part of the year and having this house as a base camp. There was a lot that went into that decision. Some of the reasons are the same as before but mostly it was because of what happened this past week ... "started to enjoy activities and places where I live and those within driving distance".

The short explanation is, I live in a pretty neat location. I have more campgrounds located near me than I realized. The new McAnally map I bought a few weeks ago showed a lot of new places to check out that were close to me. I live within a 30 minute drive to a college town with a major university (lots to do). One of my favorite fall activities is going to IU football games.

I am 70 miles between two large cities if I need to shop or visit. The local stuff  you know about, and it's a great place for the hounds.

Sadie Doesn't Eat Sticks - She Breaks Them Up Into 1" Pieces

Heidi Is Always On The Hunt

Hounds Enjoying The Weather - Sadie Never Likes Her Photo Taken

I realized this past week as I recycled, cleaned out, did minor repairs to the house from the winter weather ... that I didn't want to sell my house. Do I want to get away for the winter? .. definitely.

What about the blog? I don't feel the urge to blog about everything I do every week. The only traveling I will be doing until September will be local trips most likely and tent camping. It all gets back to ... do I need to blog what I do when it's just normal everyday stuff? 

May 2014

The blog itself will stay online if I decide to stop blogging. It can be a reference for those starting out and maybe curious about different rigs or trailers. New readers might have the same questions I had a few years ago. I do have some reviews on what I found with different rigs they could use or people have used. When I started I found very few blogs about full time travelers with hounds. I have only found one traveler with a bloodhound, on Facebook, and they travel in a monster size Class A. So I thought this blog might be of some value to people that have dogs and wonder if they can travel with them.

The ONLY things I know about traveling with MY hounds are, they ride well in the different tow vehicles and the Class C I had. They also handled the State Park well. They didn't bark at everything they saw walking by, such as other dogs or people in the State Park. The only thing they did was whine while wagging their tails ... wanting the kids to come over and pet them.

I am going to keep getting rid of stuff here at the house. I may do some interior painting. I will be riding the bike daily and enjoying the places nearby. The past couple of weeks it seemed for everything I finished on my list I added two new things to it. The list never decreased. At least the weather has been fantastic this spring and early summer to enjoy and get things done.

I wonder if I have a case of "destination addiction" that some of us may have.  I still want and need to see all of the places out west that I have not seen yet, except on other blogs ... I just don't have to sell out and relocate to do that. 

To blog or not to blog?