By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | | No Comments»
Elk at Rocky Mountain National Park
Today we decided to take a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. Most of the park was closed due to snow, but we were able to have a nice drive anyway. Just as I said, “I wish we would see some wildlife,” we looked off to our left and wouldn’t you know it, a large herd of elk! It was more elk than we’ve ever seen at one time. We sat and watched them for a while before moving on.
This photo is a 10 picture panorama stitched together using PTGui.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Day Trips, Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, boondocking, bureau of land management, colorado, day trips, royal gorge, rv living | | No Comments»
We have been in Colorado for two weeks now and have called St. Vrain State Park our home during that time. It’s been a very busy two weeks as I had to put in very long hours at the office I manage in Louisville. Since CO State Parks only allow 14 consecutive days of camping, and we could never get ahold of the park manager to see if we could stay longer, we decided to head out Saturday morning. I wanted to get away from it all and not think about work. Robert wanted to do a little road trip.
We were mighty low on propane, so we woke up early Saturday morning and drove the motor home to Longmont. I followed in the Jeep. We decided to park in the Super Wal-Mart parking lot and do some grocery shopping while we waited for the propane business to open (practically connected to Wal-Mart’s parking lot). Robert invited some Missouri friends who happened to be in the area for breakfast.
By the time we shopped, cooked, ate, visited, and got propane, it was about noon and we had no idea where we were headed next. We got out the Colorado state map to decide where to go and after a few minutes of study and discussion, we were headed south to Canon City to see the Royal Gorge. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid in the mid-80s and it had been more than 10 years for Robert.
We had such a nice drive and arrived in the Royal Gorge area about 4:20 p.m. Wouldn’t you know it…all the campgrounds were closed for the season. We called a couple that might have been open, but didn’t get an answer we assumed they were closed.
We still had a bit of daylight left and wanted to park the motor home, unhook the Jeep and tootle around a bit. The more pressing question was “Where to park?” Thought we’d drive back into Canon City and park overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but when I called them, I was told they no longer allow overnight parking.
As we were driving aimlessly, we ended up making a wrong turn off of Highway 50 and went down Highway 9. By the time we found a good place to turn around, we crossed into public lands. We realized later we were on the Gold Belt Scenic Byway passing through a Bureau of Land Management area. Since dusk was fast approaching, we decided to forego any last minute sightseeing for the day and stay at the roadside turnout for the evening. We unhooked the Jeep and turned the motor home around so that we would be all ready to go in the morning. The turnout was huge and we decided that it was as good as a place as any to boondock.
We decided that we would get up early on Sunday and get to the Royal Gorge Visitor’s Center to park, then we would be free to do the tootling we wanted in the Jeep. In the mean time we thought it was entirely too early to turn in for the evening, but we knew we didn’t want to drive the winding roads after dark. We settled down and watched a movie, slept a bit and ended up having to take the dogs out at about midnight. The sky was amazing. We had never seen so many stars. For too long we had been near cities and hadn’t had a chance to experience the true beauty of the night sky. We just wished it wasn’t freezing, because we couldn’t tolerate the cold outside air too long in our jammies.
Sunday morning we were up before dawn and got ready to go as the sun was rising. What an amazing sunrise. The sky was on fire. We got to the Visitor’s Center at the bottom of the mountain off of Highway 50 and Co Rd 3A at about 7 a.m. The center was closed until mid-March, but they have a huge parking lot, which happened to be empty. We weren’t too sure how the road was up to the Bridge, and we felt better parking the motor home and just driving the Jeep.
Although once we officially arrived to the Royal Gorge Park, we found out there is RV and bus parking available, we were so glad that we didn’t drive our motor home all the way up. We were the second guests to arrive at the park. We were able to take some wonderful pictures with no people before the other attractions opened.
We walked and drove the world’s highest suspension bridge, rode the longest single span tram, and the steepest incline railway. It was a beautiful day and we were glad that we caught the attraction off season and avoided any crowds.
We headed back north at about noon to settle in at Chatfield State Park and get ready for another week of work.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing, Working in RV | Tagged With: alfa seeya, camping, full time rv, rv living, Travel | | 1 Comment»
It was Thursday morning and we needed to hit the road. We really weren’t too anxious as we hadn’t even really started securing things down to have an early departure. The weather forcast was calling for heavy rain in KS and snow in Denver. We studied the map and weather predictions and decided to take a southern route through OK, TX, and NM.
Between doing some things for work and getting the coach ready for travel, we were ready to pull out of Springfield at about 2:30 p.m. We were in need of a dump station and wanted to fill up with fuel before we got too far, so we decided to stop in Joplin, MO. I needed to finish up some loose ends for work, so we hung out at the Flying J for a couple of hours until I could get the immediate tasks complete.
We got back on the road to make our way through OK. We tried to get some sleep on the west side of Tulsa at about 9p.m., but couldn’t sleep so we thought we’d press on. We finally pulled over at a truck stop in El Reno, OK for the night at about midnight. Just after we stopped and let the dogs out, the rain came pouring down.
We had a wonderful night’s rest and left the truck stop Friday morning at about 8. Before we left, we made sure to take a walk around the coach and to make sure everything was fine for travel. It turned out the wind was so swift the night before that the awning above our living room slide out was wrinkled. We extended the slide out to re-roll the awning and nothing seemed damaged.
We made sure to take our time, not speeding and stopping whenever we felt we wanted to. We kept watch of the weather systems on our phones. What wonderful technology. We knew when we we may be hitting any weather and we could decide if we wanted to press forward or simply stay put until it passed. Mostly we kept watch of what the weather was in CO as they appeared to be getting pummeled with snow. Ideally I wanted to be at the office on Monday morning, but we decided that we weren’t going to push it, if we needed to stay a day somewhere to let the system pass, we would do that. It was only Friday, so we felt we had plenty of time.
We rolled into NM at about 2p.m. and stopped by Russell’s Travel Center in San Jon. Cute little place with an antique car museum. The owner has quite the collection of cars and memoribela. What a nice break.
We stayed on I40 until we were past Santa Rosa, NM then connected with HWY 84 N. We connected with I25 in Las Vegas, NM and decided to call it an evening. Even though it was about 6p.m. and we really weren’t that tired, we decided it would be best to just pull over and not risk traveling after dark just in case we would encounter snow or ice. We thought it would be better to see what we were getting into.
That night was COLD! We woke up to 13 degree temeratures with wind chill -1. Our little Florida doggies weren’t used to that at all. After I fixed us some eggs and toast for breakfast, we were back on the road by 7a.m. According to the weather forecasts, all the snow hit the Denver area on Friday. Since it was Saturday and we were still in NM, we really felt by the time we got there, the road crews would have cleared off the major roads anyway. We looked up the road conditions on the web and they didn’t seem that bad, but still we decided, if we needed to pull over we would. Afterall it is just Saturday, we still had plenty of time before our arrival time goal of Sunday evening.
Travel on I25 was fine for the most part. Once we crossed into CO, there were some warnings to go slow. We traveled about 25mph through those mountains like the semi trucks were. The roads were clear, with just a few slick spots. We didn’t want to risk it going down such steep grades. Once we were out of the mountain pass, the roads seemed dry and clear for most of the way. We ended up getting to the Denver area by 1:30ish. The roads were wet, but cleared off. We were delighted to pull into St. Vrain State Park near Longmont at about 2:30p.m. We made it and could get comfortable and have all day Sunday to unwind before I needed to get into the office on Monday morning.
The miles may have been longer going the southern route vs. going through KS, but we certainly thought it was worth it to avoid the severe weather they had. We also met our goal of not having to call CoachNet because we were broken down somewhere. That was a wonderful feeling.
View of Bald Eagle Lake outside our window at St. Vrain State Park
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, insulation, rv hints, rv living, rv repair tips | | No Comments»
Last summer, when we were traveling from CO back to FL, in the extreme heat, Robert and I were discussing that we should put some sort of curtain to separate the cab from the rest of the coach to try to keep the cool air up front while we traveled. We not only used the dash air, but also the coach air just to make it remotely comfortable for us. Our thought was to try not to use the generator for the coach air while we traveled and keep all the cool air from the dash vents up front.
Now, we are traveling to CO in February and dealing with the cold and wanted to try out the curtains to keep the heat from the dash just up front with us while going down the road. I had kept my daughters denim curtains from her bedroom and we had a curtain rod on hand. For the time being, we thought we’d simply place the curtain rod between the window of the slide-out and the overhead storage above the passenger seat.
There is quite a gap between the ceiling and the slide-out top, but we thought surely any little bit would help. The curtain rod we had on hand is not long enough to go clear across the top of the coach. As we are traveling, we do feel a little cool breeze, but we think it is a bit better. I am anxious to see if it will be better once we get the new rod and place the curtain higher.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing, Working in RV | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, rv living, working at home, working in rv | | No Comments»
We have been in Missouri for the month of January for a well overdue visit with family and friends. The time seemed short and very busy. Between work and our visiting schedule, it seemed as though we didn’t have a moment to breath. Whether we would stay for a week or a month, it seems we wouldn’t have the opportunity to see everyone or to do everything we wanted, but we had wonderful time with everyone.
Our plan was to head back south on the first of February. Just a week or so prior to our anticipated departure date, I get some calls from the office I manage in Colorado. It seems as though my staff of almost ten years were making life changes and had decided to term their employment. It is a small office, so when one or two folks decide to quit, it is a big deal. This office is also undergoing ownership changes, so with the task of hiring new staff in front of me, my project just got bigger.
Robert and I discussed all the events going on at that Colorado office. I explained that I didn’t feel I could do be an effective manager from a long distance right now. Neither one of us really wanted to go to Colorado in February. Spring or summer was fine, but February wasn’t exciting us. Mainly we are concerned about how the RV will hold up in the cold. However, we both agreed that Robert’s job is much more flexible and I’m being paid to do a job and we have to go where I’m needed.
Breaking the news to our Florida friends was hard. Robert has a great following with his music and we certainly hate disappointing his fellow band member friends. He is a regular at Mahuffer’s a little bar in Indian Shores and we didn’t want to disappoint the owner as he not only is Robert’s boss, but also a dear friend. It was like ripping off a Band-Aid, Robert made his phone calls and everyone was very understanding. Unfortunately we couldn’t tell our friends exactly when we are headed back, because I have no idea how long my job will take to get that office back on track.
We prepared the coach as best as we could by adding more insulation to fill in any gaps. Robert’s dad had several strands of heat tape that we installed and a wonderful space heater to borrow. Since we’ve been in Florida for so long, our winter wear supply is quite small, but I think we’ll manage. We’ll just shop for a few things here and there as needed.
So we are off to Colorado and we’ll make the best of it. We’ll be around the Boulder area and neither one of us has been there in the winter for any length of time. It will give us an opportunity to photograph new subjects and explore different areas. At every opportunity that I’m not working, we’ll play tourist and explore. I know winter boots and gloves are the first things on our list to buy.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | | No Comments»
The time finally came to travel to Missouri for the month of January. We had been planning this trip for three or four months and we were anxious to get on the road for a change of scenery. Although we had sold a ton of stuff at our garage sale back in September when we moved out of our rental house, we still had some stuff that we wanted to hang onto, so we placed it in storage. Since our plan is to live in our RV for several years, we did not want to rent storage space long-term. Our solution was to purchase a storage building to place our family country property in Missouri. So, this trip to Missouri was to not only be a family visit, but also move our storage items.
Robert’s Dad and brother traveled down to Florida to help us drive the UHaul and RV. It was nice to have them so we could take turns driving. First thing Wednesday morning, we packed the UHaul and by the afternoon, we were on the road.
View Missouri Trip in a larger map
Our travels were pretty uneventful, up until we were only about 180 miles from our destination. We decided to sleep for a while in Hayti, MO so that we didn’t arrive in Springfield in the middle of the night. We were at a truck stop resting and woke up about 2 a.m. to get back on the road. We topped off the fuel tank and took off. After being on the road a bit, something seemed wrong with the RV. It wouldn’t accelerate properly and was extremely sluggish. By the time we arrived in Poplar Bluff, we decided it would be best to pull over. We saw a 24 hour self-serve diesel station and a Freightliner sign next door. We thought that would be the best place to pull off and get off the road. Robert thought the turbo quit working. He and his dad got out and checked the water separator in the fuel filter. There was some water that he drained, but then the engine died. It seemed that we got air in the fuel line. We had no idea how to prime the system. We got out our manuals and took to the net. We really were at a loss as to what to do. We called our roadside assistance. It was only 6 a.m. and the service technicians arrived at 7 a.m. We slept and called them back in an hour.
The roadside assistance technician was helpful in steps to try to prime system by turning the ignition on for two minutes then cranking for a couple of minutes. It didn’t work, so we decided to have him call a local technician to take a look. Luckily, the technicians were just walking distance away in the Freightliner service center. They came out and got all the air out of the line and suggested a new fuel filter. Since they didn’t have one in stock, instead of waiting until the afternoon for one to arrive, we decided to risk it and be on our way. We would replace it during our stay in Springfield.
Even though the RV wasn’t acting completely normal, at least it had more power to get up the hills. We finally made it to Springfield and pulled in my parent’s driveway (our new home for the month) at about noon on Friday.
We wanted to turn in the UHaul as soon as possible, so first thing Saturday morning, we were off to unload our stuff in our new storage building in Stockton at our family’s country property. What a beautiful day, sunny and cool to accomplish our task.
It has been a very busy past few days and today has been so relaxing. Although we’ll miss our Florida friends, it is so good to be back on our old stomping ground and look forward to seeing our friends and spending more time with family.
By Gayla & Robert
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The time has finally come and we were off to Missouri. We had been planning this trip for the past three or four months. After we had downsized and moved out of our rental house, we still had some things that that we didn’t feel we could part with yet, so we rented a storage building near our RV Park. One thing that we read over and over on other full-timer blogs is the one regret many have is paying so much money for years of storage of things. Instead of continuing to rent storage space, we decided to purchase a storage building to put on our family’s farm. When discussing with my parents who work and enjoy the farm now, they didn’t mind an outbuilding on the property. It’s more like an investment into the property instead of throwing away rent to a storage facility. We know that we’ll always have ties in Missouri as that is where our families are, so we feel comfortable in storing our extra stuff in Missouri rather than any other part of the country.
Our trip to Missouri is for two reasons, move our belongings out of the storage unit to our storage building and to have a nice long visit with our friends and family. We really needed a change of scenery from Florida for a while as we seemed to be getting in a rut and suffering from burn out.
Our plan was to leave as soon as we packed the U-Haul of the contents from the storage unit on Wednesday. We had a slight snag, however, as I had was waiting for a FedEx delivery for work that I had to have before we left. It was supposed to be delivered first thing in the morning, but ended up being mid-afternoon. I stressed myself out because I felt I was holding things up, but all was good with Robert and he wasn’t concerned on the time we took off, which really made me feel better.
Robert’s Dad and brother came down to help us load up the U-Haul and drive back to Missouri. It is very nice to have them along for both the help and the company. My daughter was visiting us for Christmas and will be returning with us as she goes to school in Missouri. So, in the evenings, it will be quite crowded in the RV when it’s time to rest with five adults and three wiener dogs. We’ll see how that goes.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing, Tips | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, insulation, rv living, winterizing | | 1 Comment»
We picked up some self-sealing pipe foam insulation and foil back pipe wrap insulation to go around as many water lines as we can get to. The exposed lines are under our slide out in the storage bay. First, we cut the self-sealing pipe foam insulation to fit around the exposed water lines. Then we cut strips of the foil back pipe wrap insulation for a second layer. We wrapped it in such a way to have about ¼ inch overlap. We secured it with foil tape. Last, we secured the insulated lines with zip ties.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, rv living, rv working | | No Comments»
Having a white vehicle is a pain. It seems to get grimy quickly. The last time Robert gave the RV a good bath was when we were still living at our rental house. We are parked under a couple of live oak trees and those tiny leaves get everywhere. He has swept the roof several times since we’ve parked here, but the grime streaks were really beginning to bothering us.
Robert wanted a hose that he could use just for the purpose of washing vehicles, so off to Lowe’s we went to pick out a simple 50′ light duty garden hose and Simple Green detergent. I can’t be for certain, but it seemed as though Robert was excited about cleaning the RV. To me, it seems like a overwhelming task, but to him, I think he was going to have fun because he seemed gitty.
Yesterday, while I was working in my home office all day, Robert was outside scrubbing. We took some before photos, but the photograph really doesn’t do it justice on how dirty it really was. I know some folks wait longer to wash than we did and you think their white vehicle is really brown, but we want to make sure that we don’t have too much build up of the sap from the trees.
It took Robert practically all day, but he completed his project. It looks wonderful. He got in all the nooks and crannies. He plans to do a quick touch up cleaning right before we leave for Missouri in a couple of weeks. I can see why some people would pay to get this service done. It is certainly a lot of hard work.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Florida, Full-timing | Tagged With: bikes, christmas, florida, indian rocks beach, parade | | 1 Comment»
Today was Indian Rocks Beach’s Parade. We don’t even live in Indian Rocks Beach, but we participated and had a wonderful time. Our close friends Dave, Helen, and Nikki live in IRB and asked us to join them in the parade as the homeowner’s association participated with a posse of decorated bikes.
We took time earlier in the week and decked out our bikes. We were the talk of the RV park. Anyone that walked by would ask us what we were up to. We also got several comments when we would ride around the park decorated all in tinsel. It was fun.
This morning we loaded up our bikes and made our way to IRB. We watched Helen and Nikki decorate their bikes, then we all met up with the rest of the IRB Homeowners Association gang. What a time we had. The parade route went through all the little side streets of town. It was the first parade we’ve ever participated in where not only candy was thrown out, but dog biskets. There were more dogs with thier owners along the route than kids with their parents.
The ride in all was a little over 12 miles and by the end we were famished. We peddled our way to the Red Lion for drinks and dinner. After stuffing ourselves, sunset was calling us, so we walked across the street to relax on the beach. The day was hot and sunny, and beach was relaxing and peaceful, as the sun fell slowly from the sky. A perfect ending to a fun day with the wonderful people of IRB.
