...the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

We are off in the morning on our Oregon adventure, a kind of working vacation. The refrigerator is cooled down to operating temperature, the water tank is full as is the propane and fuel, black/grey tanks are empty, clothes are packed. The only thing left is to go grocery shopping, do the departure checklists and have some fun.

Being that this is our first long journey I am looking forward to logging some hours behind the wheel. Getting just a bit more comfortable behind the wheel would be a good thing for me.

Wendy said:

I like that.

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I like how you put that Wendy

I thought I'd just chime in and say that we're off in the morning on our first long adventure...d?j? vu...

After a three week delay due to a transmission "anomaly" we're ready to start the adventure one more time, so we're off tomorrow morning. Here's to hoping for a grand adventure with a minimum of technical glitches...God willing.

Good luck...

We did our first leg of our long journey, and we are sitting in the Desert Rose RV Park in Fernley, NV...The only thing that went wrong is we lost the signal to one TST TPMS Sensor so I am calling today a victory...Yea, Thank You Lord Jesus...

Warranty call to TST TPMS first thing in the morning to see if I can get a replacement sensor mailed to our destination...they say they have great Customer Service...

Well. we made it to Roseburg, OR and back to Las Vegas, our first long journey is completed. Our total miles were somewhere around 2,000 (round trip), just a short jaunt for you seasoned pros, for me it was an epic adventure. I learned a valuable and yet expensive lesson, I/we've decided to sell/trade the Fleetwood Bounder 33U and move into something smaller. I just did not enjoy driving the big Class A coach. I drive an F550 with my Lance Camper and I am as happy as a clam...driving an E450 chassis, or a Sprinter Class motor home is more to my liking.

Susan and I love RVing, so it's off to the shows this fall and there will be the dreaded dealer...looking is so much fun.

We only had two issues with the motor home and related systems the entire trip. I lost the signal for one of my TST TPMS valve caps, and our cable system (TV) is the pits, pure static when our neighbors had clear television. So all in all a good trip.

Just about to start our first trip - thanks for keeping us posted!

MicheleF said:

Just about to start our first trip - thanks for keeping us posted!

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I hope that you and yours have a safe, fun-filled, journey.

Sounds like your trip was good.  My MIL is having more issues.  Not anything she can't handle yet, but I was planning on going to Florida for 3 months after Christmas, not sure this is practical. 

Why is it when you finally can do things other stuff happens, maybe because we have to wait until we
are old to do it.  We were to afraid to spend the money in earlier years and before that we plain didn't have it.  So now we do and what happens.

I'm not sure how well she can make it alone.  She has close neighbors, she can still drive but she is doing things like going to her ins office 3 times in 2 weeks to pay her insurance.  And even after I had checked for her to see if it was paid! Right now I am ordering duplicate checks for her so she can see
what she is paying but I think she pays a lot in cash.  My husband was going to talk with her before
he left, but we were so darn busy trying to get the rest of our stuff here and we did.  We left our DD
with her 3 days.  We drove to Houston, loaded stuff, put a TT in consignment and got back in 3 days, talk about a flying trip. I was afraid to be gone longer.  I bought our DD, Sue Anne an expensive pill dispenser as she likes to go to grandma's and stay a few days but neither are capable of figuring out
pill schedules.  I can load the thing for 7 days up to 4 doses a day, you program the time and it has a
belt that rotates and dropped the number of pills for that time.  It locks so they can't tamper with it.  It gives an audible tone when the pills drop so this has been a Godsend for me and makes Sue Anne and grandma feel like they are more in control.

We will keep working with the situation and see how it goes.  I know at some point she will have to go into some type of facility.  It's really sad as physically she is healthy, she is just having mental issues.
But we will work something out.  I think she sat to long after FIL died with no mental stimulation and he
had been pretty verbally abusive too so I think she was struggling and we didn't realize it.  She enjoys having DD, being able to come here and visit and even having the dog stay with her at times. We all need a purpose in life, without it you are just adrift.

PatrioticStabilist said:

Why is it when you finally can do things other stuff happens, maybe because we have to wait until we
are old to do it.  We were to afraid to spend the money in earlier years and before that we plain didn't have it.  So now we do and what happens.

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I have been asking myself this very question...four years into my retirement I've taken two trips, one with my son on our Harley Davidson's, and one in our RV this summer. During our early years we worked paycheck to paycheck so we never took a vacation. I counted the other day and I cheated my self out of 31 annual vacations so far in our 33 year marriage (we've taken 2 vacations in 33 years).

Well no more...I've promised myself a minimum of 60 days with the hope of 90 days a year on the road traveling the USA. Even though it looks like I will be coming out of retirement soon, since I was made an offer yesterday that I would be foolish to turn down. I'll work October through April, but the summer months are mine.

You need to schedule your recreation time with the same fidelity you apply to your working time. Took me too many years to learn that, but relaxation is important too. Crises never stop at work and there is never a good time to be away, so just make your plan and stick to it. Work will still be there when you get back, despite the guilt trip your boss (or you yourself) lays on you. Besides, you owe it to your family.

Gary RV Roamer said:

You need to schedule your recreation time with the same fidelity you apply to your working time. Took me too many years to learn that, but relaxation is important too. Crises never stop at work and there is never a good time to be away, so just make your plan and stick to it. Work will still be there when you get back, despite the guilt trip your boss (or you yourself) lays on you. Besides, you owe it to your family.

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You're absolutely right, I'll never look back and wish I had spent more time working, but I sure look back and miss the missed opportunities to connect with my family.

Well, I'm going to go in January, I know this thread is a couple of months old, but decided to update it.
I have taken over all the bill paying for MIL and before I go will get it all where its paid online from her checking account.  Actually I think she is a lot happier about it and took away some of the anxiety.  We have to do a couple while Tom is home as some things are in his name.

I have almost all ours paid that way now and the couple that aren't I will just pay ahead.

Going to talk with one of her neighbors and give her my cellphone number so if something happens they can call me.  But I think the coming months will be ok, just have to take it a few months at a time.

Tom is really happy with this 8 week turnaround and 3 weeks home. They fly home business class on a charter, so he said its very comfortable and direct from Angola to Houston then to Indianapolis. The one thing that bothers me is this is a 2 1/2 year assignment, but he and the project manager over it know each other well.  He said this job will last a total of 10 years!!!! and if he wanted to he could very likely stay a lot longer.  I told him if he does Sue Anne and I will likely come to.  I doubt that but not to crazy about him even mentioning that.  Well 2 years is a long time and a lot could happen.

He said the job site is something like 5 miles by 5 miles.  They are building a new refinery there.  It's to refine their own oil they are producing as they have to import refined product now I believe, and could be producing their own.  That civil war there for years and years took a heavy toll.  There was a nice port facility there and rail lines that ran to the interior.  Tom said they are rebuilding those too.