We have been home in Bayfield now for over 5 weeks & for the first time in five & half years the spark of living in our little pine forest has dimmed. I suppose we were first aware of something amiss about 4 months ago while we were traveling in the southwest. The thoughts of returning home in March just didn't have the positive impact it used to have. It was our 4th trip to the southwest in 5 years & this winter with the installation of our solar panels, we were able to boondock for the first time & that made a big difference for us. We loved the freedom it gave us. We were no longer dependent on overpriced & overcrowded noisy RV parks. It brought the whole RVing experience into perspective for us. And it showed us we could do things how we wanted to do them. To watch the sunrise over a distant mountain range, to step out of the RV with only Mother Nature to greet you in the morning, to hear the birds welcoming in a new day, to sit quietly by a crackling fire listening to the coyotes in the distance & to be free of people stress for long stretches of time has worked it's magic on us to a point where we are seriously considering some long term changes over the next year or two. It's a conversation we have been having on & off for the past couple of years but since returning home this time that conversation is beginning to form the basis of a plan.
Back in September of last year when first beginning this blog I wrote a piece called, "Why An RV??" and I will re-print a segment of it here. It gives an idea of our thoughts at the time & how those thoughts have carried through & grown..............
WHY AN RV??
From the first day Kelly & I met, it was apparent that we had a lot of things in common. Over the years we talked more & more of someday owning a motorhome & traveling around this big beautiful land of ours & in 1997 the dream began to take shape. We bought our first rig, an old 17 foot 1979 Dodge Centurion Class C. It was kinda beat up but it was a start. Next came a 24 foot Prowler travel trailer in 1999. Nice trailer & our first towing experience. From there, we shifted back to a 23 foot 19?? Gulf Stream Class C . Went all the way down to Big Bend in Texas during the winter of 2003 with the Gulf Stream but sold it when we got back because it was too small & had some problems. Somewhere between then & 2006 we acquired a couple of extra doggy pals so when we decided to get another RV we had to think bigger. After waffling back & forth between a Motorhome or truck & 5th wheel we decided on the truck & 5ver combination & headed off for New Mexico & Arizona in the winter of 06/07. The 2004 GMC Sierra 6.0 & the 2005 Rockwood fifth wheel worked well to-gether but it didn't take us long to realize we should have decided on the Motorhome!! Nothing against trucks & fifth wheels but it just wasn't the right set up for us, especially traveling with 3 dogs. When we arrived home in the spring we traded the truck & fifth wheel in on a 33' 2003 Damon Challenger 329 motorhome. And, that's where we're at to-day. And we love the motorhome:))Now. what does all this have to do with, "Why an RV!!" (they don't call me Mr. Blabberfingers for nothing you know:))For a number of years I drove an Airports transportation van based in Stratford Ontario taking people to & from Pearson International Airport in Toronto. I would quite often hear conversations between passengers & the one common thread I picked up over the years from people heading off, or coming home from vacations, was........... "I wished we had done this when we were younger & still had our health." Women travelers outnumbered men travelers almost two to one because the husbands had died & now the ladies had to travel on their own. I saw this over & over again. In the last 3 years I have been driving a mobility van part time in our area & the people I transport are all in wheelchairs & mostly elderly. I am frequently in & out of various nursing home facilities so I see first hand what the latter years of a person's life can unfortunately be like. Not good!!!!Kelly & I made the decision a long time ago that if we were ever in a financial position to get out & see the country, hike the canyons & trails, walk the desert floors, travel the mountain passes & enjoy the outdoors we love so much, we had better get at it while we were both still in reasonably good health. The financial opportunity presented itself in the late summer of 2006 & we set our plans in motion.We know it's a big gamble & a risk but we've seen tooooooooo many people who have waited toooooooo long to live their dreams only to end up sick, incapacitated, in a care facility, or deceased too early............. and, THAT is WHY we made our decision to travel now while we can!! We may one day regret our decision or we may not. Only time will tell, so stay tuned, wish us luck, & ride along with The Bayfield Bunch as we chase our dream around the next bend, over the next hill & into the sunrises & sunsets of this beautiful land of ours ...................
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That was written over 7 & a half months ago & we still feel the same way, only much more so. It's too expensive for us to maintain a home year round plus travel 6 months of the year & with the age clock ticking now we are having to seriously consider our options. Many pros & cons & most full timing RVers have at one time or another been in this very same position. To stay or to go, & as they all have realized, it's no small decision!!
Back in September of last year when first beginning this blog I wrote a piece called, "Why An RV??" and I will re-print a segment of it here. It gives an idea of our thoughts at the time & how those thoughts have carried through & grown..............
WHY AN RV??
From the first day Kelly & I met, it was apparent that we had a lot of things in common. Over the years we talked more & more of someday owning a motorhome & traveling around this big beautiful land of ours & in 1997 the dream began to take shape. We bought our first rig, an old 17 foot 1979 Dodge Centurion Class C. It was kinda beat up but it was a start. Next came a 24 foot Prowler travel trailer in 1999. Nice trailer & our first towing experience. From there, we shifted back to a 23 foot 19?? Gulf Stream Class C . Went all the way down to Big Bend in Texas during the winter of 2003 with the Gulf Stream but sold it when we got back because it was too small & had some problems. Somewhere between then & 2006 we acquired a couple of extra doggy pals so when we decided to get another RV we had to think bigger. After waffling back & forth between a Motorhome or truck & 5th wheel we decided on the truck & 5ver combination & headed off for New Mexico & Arizona in the winter of 06/07. The 2004 GMC Sierra 6.0 & the 2005 Rockwood fifth wheel worked well to-gether but it didn't take us long to realize we should have decided on the Motorhome!! Nothing against trucks & fifth wheels but it just wasn't the right set up for us, especially traveling with 3 dogs. When we arrived home in the spring we traded the truck & fifth wheel in on a 33' 2003 Damon Challenger 329 motorhome. And, that's where we're at to-day. And we love the motorhome:))Now. what does all this have to do with, "Why an RV!!" (they don't call me Mr. Blabberfingers for nothing you know:))For a number of years I drove an Airports transportation van based in Stratford Ontario taking people to & from Pearson International Airport in Toronto. I would quite often hear conversations between passengers & the one common thread I picked up over the years from people heading off, or coming home from vacations, was........... "I wished we had done this when we were younger & still had our health." Women travelers outnumbered men travelers almost two to one because the husbands had died & now the ladies had to travel on their own. I saw this over & over again. In the last 3 years I have been driving a mobility van part time in our area & the people I transport are all in wheelchairs & mostly elderly. I am frequently in & out of various nursing home facilities so I see first hand what the latter years of a person's life can unfortunately be like. Not good!!!!Kelly & I made the decision a long time ago that if we were ever in a financial position to get out & see the country, hike the canyons & trails, walk the desert floors, travel the mountain passes & enjoy the outdoors we love so much, we had better get at it while we were both still in reasonably good health. The financial opportunity presented itself in the late summer of 2006 & we set our plans in motion.We know it's a big gamble & a risk but we've seen tooooooooo many people who have waited toooooooo long to live their dreams only to end up sick, incapacitated, in a care facility, or deceased too early............. and, THAT is WHY we made our decision to travel now while we can!! We may one day regret our decision or we may not. Only time will tell, so stay tuned, wish us luck, & ride along with The Bayfield Bunch as we chase our dream around the next bend, over the next hill & into the sunrises & sunsets of this beautiful land of ours ...................
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That was written over 7 & a half months ago & we still feel the same way, only much more so. It's too expensive for us to maintain a home year round plus travel 6 months of the year & with the age clock ticking now we are having to seriously consider our options. Many pros & cons & most full timing RVers have at one time or another been in this very same position. To stay or to go, & as they all have realized, it's no small decision!!
Soooooo, stay tuned to The Bayfield Bunch as we move slowly ahead with the ups & downs of our decision making over the next little while. To stay or to go, or maybe consider a move to western Canada where the drive to the southwest wouldn't be so long each winter. I will post our thoughts & ideas & if anyone has some good advice for us, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us via email by clicking on "Contact The Bayfield Bunch" which you will find at the top of the right hand column just above, "Our Rig & Tow Car." Yes, we're on another journey......a journey of decision making:))
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