Travel Thoughts Will Never Go Away

The thoughts of traveling the majority of the year did not go away when I tried pushing the ideas away between March 2013 - June 2013. I shut my blog off, moved all the bookmarks out of site and tried not to think about traveling in any form.

Those ideas never went away. I really doubt they ever go away.

As some of this blog's recent readers have seen, I stated a few days ago I was done, finished writing on this blog. I decided to do that because I wasn't traveling, I had stopped thinking of buying an RV of any kind and I didn't think it was fair to my followers to write about something they had come to expect from me .... traveling and traveling with the hounds. That was not only the title of this blog but one of the reasons I started this blog.

Instead I started a 2nd blog to cover living with the hounds, maybe touching on some retirement information or thoughts but there will be no travel stories and no RV stories. It fulfills my urge to write and 'over there' I seem to be writing daily, as in the tone of a personal journal. It will be easier to find information and photos years from now just by searching the blog, instead of searching the hard drive though a million different files. I like that blog and will keep blogging there.

Ok ... so why I am posting here on this blog, when I said this blog was finished? For various reasons I guess. Those reasons ranging from online friends, blog followers, new people sending emails  of suggestions ... photos of what rigs to buy ... photos of where I could be ... and some hoping that I will stick around here and blog on occasion when I have something to say about traveling and/or RVs. Other's telling me by email they are willing to wait for my decision to read about my future travel adventures with the hounds, even if there is a chance that may not happen. While others suggest the best thing to do is stand pat and enjoy where I am.

I really do appreciate all the suggestions, photos and the different ideas.

I can also add myself to that list of reasons. I still have thoughts of both of those topics, RVs and Traveling. So at least today I am writing a new post. I can't promise where or when the next one will be  but based on my past frequency, it will not be long.

I use to bet on horse racing out in Del Mar Calif, Santa Anita and Hollywood Park on a daily basis as they moved from track to track for different seasons. So I tend to bet on past frequencies. If I were betting on my blog, I would bet that I don't stop this one nor will the idea of traveling in some sort of RV stop. It's easy to see reading back through the history of posts here.

In March 2013 I shut everything down and pushed away the thoughts of traveling with my hounds. Two months later at the end of May 2013 I was back reactivating everything and the search continued for the last year of working a job ... because? ... The plans, the urge to travel all over the Western states would not go away. Like now. Some will say today that I haven't given it enough time to go away, but I tried that for two solid months in 2013.

When I picture living where I do and no traveling or RVing is involved, I think of one word ... BOREDOM! In the past couple of months of my freedom, I will be driving down the road locally thinking "I need to get out of here" ... only to get home and soon after think "there is no reason to leave here". That's insane!!!

Thinking that way may prove that I actually need professional counseling or heavy medication.

I've sat here for another week not doing one thing out of the norm and I know that isn't what I am suppose to be doing with my new found freedom of retirement. It's doesn't feel right. I'm not a couch potato, nor a tv watcher but I am most likely a computer junkie. I always have known in the back of my mind, if I were to retire here I'd have to do some traveling of some kind, go cabin fever insane, or move.

What about the hounds? They don't care about the hot muggy weather or how deep the snow is, they do ONE THING during their daytime hours, 12 months a year. Here is their favorite positions. I don't believe they are wondering about traveling in these shots.

A lot of snow outside - Winter 2014

May 2014 - All Winston needs is sun

All Winston needs is a soft leather couch

Heidi sleeps 23 hours per day in various spots in the house.

Sadie continues to think just like her owner while she sleeps - notice the frown

The hounds are a factor though and maybe more than I want to admit when I have tried to decide about whether to travel or not. I read recently that animals adapt better to change then people. In that case, they will not care if I trade their 7 acre field for traveling to different locations with different smells in the Western states. Or will it make a difference to them if their environment changed every few weeks?

I just know today is one of those days I feel like I am going ding bat crazy when I think of staying here, doing the same things I do for enjoyment over and over and over. That gets to be dull dull dull.

I told myself in the past year, that if I was going to retire and just stay home and keep the lifestyle I had with a job ... then I might as well not retire, live the same lifestyle and make a lot more money working a job I no longer cared for. Makes sense doesn't it?

The more I think about it the more I feel my reluctance in traveling with 3 hounds is the main reason I am landlocked here in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana. I hate to think they are one of my reasons for not traveling. Yet, when I think of my past many years ago prior to hound ownership, I was on the move all the time. I think I can travel with the hounds that I have.

The mental roller coaster is back online and is slowly chugging up that first long steep hill ......

Itching To Hit The Road

{Note @ 6:57pm - I mean just for the rest of the summer, not fulltime}

Since I decided I was going to keep my house and not prep it for sale, the urge to hit the road has increased a lot. All day yesterday I kept thinking how I have to get out of here. It was a constant thought from the time I woke up and has continued most of the day today. I'm not talking about a one day road trip but out and away ... many miles away and for a fairly long length of time. What has held me up?  Nothing to tow. The Escape 19' trailer I put a deposit on, does not have a delivery date until 14 October 2014.

So I've been thinking about two options.

1.  I load my camping gear and hounds into the FJ and hit the road westward. I would not say tent camping would be recommended in Yellowstone due to bear traffic, but for those that have camped in Yellowstone is that a safe assumption? Other cooler temps (Indiana has perfect temps right now) would be up in the Dakota's, Oregon or Washington.

Anyway, Option #1 would be tent camping --  to get away.

2.  Or I could buy a used small fiberglass trailer. That way I could get some training in the trailer lifestyle with the hounds and learn more about the trailer electrical and plumbing systems which I learned quite a lot from the Class C I had this past winter. Besides, I would find out by experience what it feels like to tow in the FJ. In the past I have towed a small trailer and a friend's boat with my old Chevy truck I had but have not towed a camping trailer with any vehicle I've had. A used hard shell trailer would give me what I need for bad weather, bear country and more shelter than a tent.

With either option I will be taking a separate screen room tent or possibly a larger tent for hounds to sleep outside ONLY in the daytime when I'm around. It would also give me a place to to get myself away from the gnats and mosquitos if there were any.

I DO KNOW, that the urge for a road trip of some kind is strong. I live in between US Highway 40 and 50. I'd find a highway by-pass around St. Louis and then get back on US 40 or US 50 westward. I have no interest in heading south or north for some reason. Both have beautiful country. The Smoky Mts are within a day's driving south of me but for some reason west is always what I think about when I think about road trips.

I'll keep you posted.

This Morning is Like Camping

This morning here in southern Indiana is what I envision some of you going through at your camp sites this morning. It's a bright sunny day, blue sky, but a chill in the air and 47 F. Having a hot cup of Starbucks in my hand, made in the kitchen and just a few steps away from being outside with nothing around. I can't wait to feel that, to see that. What interrupts my "camping" morning is the early Saturday morning traffic on a US highway 125' down the hill.  I use to see a lot of RV traffic on that highway but not nearly as much since 2008.

That decrease in RV traffic made me think the industry was drying up and the short time in 2005 that I thought of full-timing, lasted about as long as my friend's stay that summer, 5 days in his 37' Southwind RV that he had been full-timing in for the previous 3 years. He is the one that told me about workcamping. That visit just barely got the RV fire burning.

So I get ready to start my Saturday with a list of things to do, ALL THINGS that lead me to my departure date. Some of those 19 items can be checked off after today.

I received more local support for "Decision Made", via email this morning. As I stood outside drinking coffee and waiting for the post office to open for mailing a package, I could "feel" myself standing the same way, drinking the same coffee out of the same cup....some where in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Central Calif.

Your RV pictures make me dream.

The hounds within 1 hour....ONE HOUR....had completed their weekend morning routine....go outside to dump their tanks while I make coffee, back inside for the daily breakfast bone (the large ones bought at Costco), back out for a final survey of "their" field....and then within 1 hour of waking up....are all three together sleeping.

It's a dogs life.

I am wondering if RVing full-time is a "dog's life" with a little RV maintenance thrown in just to keep you honest.

Have a great Saturday and be safe if you are traveling.