Keep It Simple With An RV Staycation – Move Less, Do More!

Summer is nearly two-thirds over already, and we have been very busy “seeing and doing”, despite the fact that we are not doing much traveling right now. It is a staycation summer for us this year, hanging out near most of our family members in Pennsylvania and Maryland instead of launching a high mileage multi-state expedition.

It is not as glamorous and exciting as a big several-month itinerary, but sometimes “simpler” is just what we need to do. The timing is right, based on current fuel prices, and being in one general area for an extended period of time allows us to take care of medical appointments, transportation tune-ups, and allows us to spend in-person time with our family members.

But while our travel pace may have eased up, we are still managing to have a lot of fun. Following is a little review of our summer staycation highlights, past and planned by the time the first leaves fall from the trees in a few month.

While roadside farm stands can be found all around the country, I think there may just be a higher per capita number of them in Pennsylvania Amish country than in most other places. There are roadside farm stands at nearly every turn, and with the help of Google Business and Google Maps, farmers have done a good job of helping us find them even when we travel unfamiliar roads.

Farm Stands

High on our shopping list, and what we have missed the most while traveling far and wide is corn and tomatoes! Maryland Sweet Corn and regional summer tomatoes will stand toe-to-toe with any other regions of the United States. Perhaps only the Jersey tomato has ever come close to the flavor and juiciness of what we find in our home states of Maryland and Pennsylvania!

So perhaps once or twice a week, we take a drive through the country where we are camping in south central and south east Pennsylvania – Gettysburg, Lancaster, Manheim, Hershey – and stock up on a variety of vegetables that will put every grocery store produce aisle to shame! Ah yes, it is good to be “home”.

Crabs, Finally!

If my husband had to make a priority list for summer, there might be three things on it – tomatoes, sweet corn and crabs! They are a Maryland tradition and our family roots run deep with all three culinary delights! We grew up with tomatoes out of our garden (and as a kid, I didn’t even like tomatoes!), and it seems like we ate corn weekly from the farm stand a mile down the road from my childhood home in Fallston, MD. But it was the Maryland steamed crabs at our grandparent’s house every summer that is the epitome of being a Marylander in summer!

Our grandfathers (they were neighbors and friends) would go out on Andrew’s grandfather’s boat early in the morning, probably enjoying the quiet time together on the water with some cold beers, catch some bushels of crabs, and then bring them back to be steamed and seasoned in my grandparent’s backyard. The Schmidt and Herming families would gather and a cookout would ensue for the rest of the day!

Since we traveled out west last summer, it had been since July of 2020 that we had a crab feast! So the day arrived, and better still, it was a spontaneous and wonderful discovery in Hanover on a Friday afternoon. Big Mike’s Crabhouse and Grill is far from fancy, but the crabs were larger than expected (advertised as mediums), and absolutely PERFECTLY steamed. Better still, we now know that the place is BYOB, which saves on cost a bit. I have no doubt that before our summer comes to an end, that another trip to the outdoor covered deck for a picnic table full of crabs is a likely event!

Farm and Flea Markets

We have hit one great market this summer and have plans for one pr two more before the season ends. Roots Country Market and Auction in Manheim, PA is held every Tuesday and is a site to behold. There are nine buildings in total, plus acres of outdoor grounds covered in stands with items for sale.

Every trip there should begin early (as early as 6 am before the summer heat sets in), with a stroll through the outdoor flea market. Filled with antiques, bargain household goods, vintage toys, books, clothes, movies and so much more, you will very likely find something you want or need at an affordable price.

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Once you stroll to the farm market side of the road, you will find an endless supply of produce, meats, cheeses, honey, plants, crafts, knick-knacks and much, much more. On our visit there, we spent hours upon hours shopping, and never managed to set foot inside a building!

Next on our list, we may make a Friday road trip to the Green Dragon Farmers Market and Auction in Ephrata, which looks to be similarly expansive in size, both inside and outside.

Let’s Go O’s!

No summer in or near “Bmore” would be complete without a little baseball, and this season, as the Orioles continue to improve, it is an exciting time for baseball! Andrew and his son, Ben, made it to a game last month, that was rained out after some hours of hanging out under the upper deck. Fortunately, they managed some ballpark food and some good visiting time before the game was called, and they will try again at the rescheduled game in mid-August.

My fav ball player EVER – having the time of his life
at Camden Yards in 2017 as part of O’s Dream Week

Certainly on our fan future list, is a Ravens game as well. As season ticket holders, it is nice to be in the area and be able to use some of our tickets personally for the first time in a couple seasons!

How is this the ONLY photo they took during the entire night?

Princeton, NJ and Bowman’s Hill Tower, Washington Crossing, PA

They don’t call it the Ivy League for nothin’!

The historic and quaint little city of Princeton, NJ had been on our wish list of places to see for quite some time, and we thought we might swing through the area on our way up to the New England states. We found, however, that NJ is severely lacking in decent campgrounds in that area. Therefore, we thought a day trip from Manheim, PA to Princeton would be just perfect.

We also stopped at nearby Bowman’s Hill Tower in Washington Crossing Historic Park. We climbed the 127 steps to the top of a little known stone tower built in the 1930s. It was built as a memorial to the important historical moments that happened in the area many years earlier.

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The town and the tower is a worthwhile visit for a number of reasons, but our visit is worthy of a separate telling, so stay tuned for more on this little road trip through Andrew’s childhood history.

New Hope, PA and a return to Washington Crossing Historic Park

Knowing there was more fun to be had in the region, we returned several weeks later for another day trip to dig into shopping in historic New Hope, PA. The little town sits along the Delaware River (yes, the same one that George Washington crossed just a few miles away). Filled with little stores, restaurants and the well known Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope has become a destination for shoppers that also enjoy the historic architecture and history on these narrow streets near the Delaware canal.

We returned, yet again, to the Washington Crossing Historic Park to dig into Revolutionary War history and the winter raid by George Washington’s men on Hessian forces across the Delaware River. We would have liked to stay longer and see a bit more, but we found ourselves hampered by some specialty dark chocolate honey mints that we had purchased in New Hope that wouldn’t last long in the hot heat of the day. Perhaps a third attempt some day will render the visit to this historic site fully complete!

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Thrift Shops Galore!

As much as I dislike retail shopping, there are some narrow circumstances in which I really enjoy shopping. One of those is in pursuit of the perennial bargain, and one of my favorite ways to bargain hunt is to visit thrift stores in any little town we may visit. One great discovery of this region of Pennsylvania has been that it is replete with thrift shops!

There are the usual shops – Salvation Army and Goodwill, some non-profit and faith-based shops as well as for-profit small businesses. The common theme in Lancaster and Lebanon counties is that they are MANY in number and overall, of a quite nice quality.

One of my favorites this summer was the Humane Society of Lebanon County Thrift Shop. It was neat, organized and affordable. Best of all, it is completely run by volunteers and therefore, all proceeds benefit animals in need.

If clothing is your goal, then stop by Ali Witman Consignment in Lititz! This place is huge and the quality and orderly arrangement of the products makes shopping easy and pleasant.

We have visited many others (and I hope to hit some more before the summer is over, fair warning, DH!). I recommend using your Google Map skills and scratch out a little travel plan for your next shopping spree – you don’t have to go too far to hit several stores close by.

Air Supply and Farm-to-Table Dinner

A red wine flight and a Harvest Peach Old Fashion

For our slightly early wedding anniversary celebration, we donned the biggest 80s hair we could muster, and headed over to the American Music Theatre in Lancaster to see Air Supply in concert. This 1,600 seat venue is new to us, but has been around for decades. It was a musical trip down memory lane, for sure, and filled our love tanks with romantic ballads that we have enjoyed since the 1970s!

Two Less Lonely People In The World – one of my favs
(which grammatically, should be “fewer”, but that wouldn’t sound nearly as grood!

As part of our date night, Andrew arranged for what was a delicious meal at Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar. He knew immediately that this restaurant was totally in my foodie lane, filled with a creative menu of food that was beautifully presented and equally delicious. I cannot recommend this place enough – thoughtful and kind service, impeccable presentation, a clean and stylish building with a variety of seating options, and a menu that is healthy, varied (terrific Vegan options that even this non-Vegan loved), well curated cocktails, and amazing ingredients! With most menu items under 500 calories, you won’t leave feeling disgusted by too much salt, unhealthy oils or a frozen or processed meal. This is fresh and amazing – your body deserves this kind of food at every meal!

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With more than a month remaining in the summer of 2022, our RV Staycation still has a lot for us to look forward to!

Hershey Spa

There is a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket (a gift from my DH several years ago that I didn’t fully spend), so I will surely plan a day for us to visit my favorite day spa ever – The Hershey Spa, since we are in the area. I plan a morning yoga class, use of the sauna, indoor pool and hot tub in the morning (all complimentary amenities when you schedule a spa service). Then Andrew and I will wait in the aromatherapy room in our robes, until our names are called for a pair of luxurious facials! It is quite a day!

Hershey Gardens

Hershey is a great Pennsylvania town, and we would like to make a return visit to Hershey Gardens before the growing season is over. This is the place where our second chance began in 2014, with a “second first date” almost exactly 30 years after our actual first date. It was a magical date that lasted more than a dozen hours before it was all said and done. We love to stroll the beautiful gardens that sit below the historic and equally beautiful Hershey Hotel. It is also a joy to visit the butterfly atrium where we can feed, hold and look with wonder at the lovely little creatures that live an all too brief life spreading cheer and love wherever they flutter.

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Revisiting a special place in 2016
The butterfly atrium is now larger than in 2014
“Flutterbys” landing lovingly
A winter beauty visit
Fountains and flowers galore.
Be careful to not make any sudden moves!

Our 2022 RV Staycation plans will continue to grow as the weeks meander their way through the hazy heat of summer. We will make the most of our time in the area, visiting with family and friends, but it isn’t all just adventure and day trips. Despite perceptions to the contrary, the RVing life is not just a perpetual vacation, but surely, that is what I like to plan for, experience and record in this little digital journal.

There is still plenty of laundry to do, bills to pay, meals to prepare, groceries to buy, dishes to wash (and no dishwasher, yikes!), a little business to run and other projects to complete. But what is the fun in writing and remembering the mundane in life? Instead, we are in relentless pursuit of the fullness of life – companions on our journey.

Safe travels wishes from Tina and Stencil!

Safe travels, and may your journey, both the vacation time and the mundane alike, be enjoyed deeply.

OUTTAKES:

There has been much more to this “stationary” or “less traveling” phase of our live on wheels. Here is some of the other stuff we’ve been keeping busy with:

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A SC roadtrip with friends to see the Eagles (they still got it!)
Abby graduates from Towson University!
Proud Omi and Abby
Omi rides an ATV!
Sending out Easter love packages to family that we miss at Easter
A simple Easter (picnic) table
A friend visits our campsite in Manheim PA
An Easter feast for two in Jackson Springs, SC
It isn’t Easter without a ham
Grammy’s bittersweet chocolate covered cream eggs
My forever weding date at our nephew’s weeding in March
Wedding reception
Dear old Bug always loved his walks.
Happy Easter, y’all, from Sycamore Lodge Resort in SC!
A TT campground on our way north to PA/MD
A sure sign of spring
Beautiful Sycamore Lodge Resort is part of our new Coast To Coast membership
A dog jam on travel day (why does he do this?!)
March snow in PA
We haven’t seen snow in three winters!
Stencil gets a break from the crate on travel day
The Eagles
Dad and Ben in their fancy duds (fancy as compared to RV living, that is)
Wedding date night smiles
Movie date (Top Gun)
A simple Easter (picnic) table
One of the most meaningful weddings I have ever attended – Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan and Madison Schmidt
When your son gets a motorcycle
Calvin wants to join the graduation party meal
Ella fishing at “The Mill”
Family visits to celebrate Abby
Ella gets on her “country girl”
Mom leads, Christy takes it slow and steady
Eagles awesomeness
Congratulations Grad!
Abby and Diego roll out
Vince Gill has been on tour with the Eagles!
He reminds me of my dad…if Dad could be a rock-n-roll star

Full-Time RVing Is A Life In Phases

This is our new rig, part of our very busy Phase II season! Does anyone have a name for her?

One of the best things about RVing, and full-time RVing in particular, is that there are endless different ways to do it! Common terms you may see are “full-time stationary”, “snowbird”, “weekend warrior” and even “full-time traveling”. They each describe the approach that camper(s) have taken for their RVing life. Within each traveling style, there are additional descriptors, such as “retired”, “remote employed”, “work-kamper”, “volunteer RVer” and more!

RVers, including full-time RVers, come in all shapes, sizes and groups! In our travels, we meet retired folks like my husband, part-time small business operators like me, families with children, young singles and even single travelers of a “certain age”! There is as much diversity among RVers as there is in all of society! What is most remarkable to me are the many people we meet that had little or no experience with camping before they launched their travels (like my DH).

It has been two years on the road – When will it end?

My dear husband and I are cautious planners, so we developed our full-time RVing plans over a number of years, researching the perfect rig (there is none!), the right tow vehicle (you don’t wanna get this wrong!) and developing our camping style (boondockers, state and federal parks, membership camping, etc).

All of this camping diversity is important to know about so that if you have ever dreamed about FT RVing, you also know that it can be done in a wide variety of ways! Just don’t end up with the “shoulda, coulda, wouldas” and fail to ever take those first exploratory steps or set a concrete goal. If you fail to set a goal and make a plan to get there, you will miss your FT RVing target every time.

We recently celebrated our 2nd FT RVing anniversary, and like last year, we took some time to reflect upon our lifestyle and touched base with each other to see “how we are doing”. The consensus – two years in and we aren’t yet ready to come in off the road.

So today I thought it might be good to share our “state of the RV union”, so to speak, looking at how our travels seem to have changed from our original vision, and how our traveling life has made its way through different phases, giving us contentment in our nomadic lifestyle.

Phase I – “Pandemic-Modified Plans”

We launched our FT RVing adventure in July of 2020, in the middle of the infamous worldwide pandemic, so whatever plans we had made for travel, needed to be modified before we ever left our driveway. Our campground membership with Thousand Trails saved us a lot of money and gave us a reliable place to stay that first fall and winter, since sightseeing was highly restricted and many campgrounds had limitations as well. While we had planned to explore Florida and the southeast during those first months to stay closer to my youngest child, Ella, who had just left our nest after high school, we instead found ourselves “hanging out” in central Florida most of the time with limited sightseeing because of our Covid cautiousness (thankfully, we stayed safe and well!).

Our Thanksgiving and Christmas campsites were close enough to Ella that she had a holiday place to visit (a goal of mine for those first holidays), and we decided to postpone our first big “kid visit” to Disney that January and instead, made a quieter visit with just the two of us. As the pandemic took its course, we felt most comfortable remaining in this Phase I hiatus until the vaccine became available. It was a great time to shake out our nerves and plan for Phase II.

Look here for our months of memories during Phase I:

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2020/07/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2020/09/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2020/10/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2020/11/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2020/12/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/02/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/03/

Our backyard view at TT Clerbrook
A little open air roadside shopping for our next visit to MD
I guess he should fish more often
A happy, modest, Thanksgiving table
A beautiful Tybee Island Thanksgiving
Christmas on the FL panhandle
Dog on a beach is certainly Covid safe!
Disney lost a little sparkle b/c of Covid
We missed the kids on our first visit together! (but we will solve that problem!)
VA historic triangle was lovely

Phase II – The “Honeymoon”

Phase II began in spring 2021 as we emerged from the worst of the pandemic, drove north and swung by the PA/MD area to visit our family members before heading west on a summer adventure. It took weeks to make all the reservations and build our itinerary, because as our country re-opened, RVers were ready to move once again!

This is the romantic side of FT RVing that we all dream about – seeing amazing sights and having tremendous experiences of a lifetime. We traveled across the midwest through Illinois, Indana, Missouri and Kansas, out to Colorado, and then circled up into Wyoming, Idaho and Montana before making our way back east in October of 2021.

Throughout the extended summer season, Andrew’s adult children took us up on our invitation to visit, along with his brother and family and his best friend, Steve!

Another state, anotherfriendto visit
Mining history remembers
Not just passingthrough, but exporing
Colorado beauty
Resting atGarden of the Gods
More Garden of th Gods
Surprising fun days in the midwest
Kansas dress ups for fun
Mountaintop achievements and sibling time
Love is in the air at Glacier NP
Glacier NP beauty
A CO hike in the woods for two
Our first official bison sighting…
…was a herd in Kansas
Morning beauty out west.
We loved Denver!
That CO hike was gorgeous!
Ahhh, what a summer.

Phase II continued with a great visit to Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving, where we were blessed to be able to entice five of our six children to visit, followed by a return to Florida where we celebrated a quiet Christmas and ramped up for a big visit to Walt Disney World in January 2022. We spent ten days preparing for, hosting and recovering from visits from five of our six kids and our future SIL as well.

A little Disney magic returned on our 2nd pandemic visit
Awwwww!
A return to Disney – this time with “kids” in tow!
Myrtle Beach, SC in November
The sibling tree of life
Holiday decorating is easier in an RV – but fun!
A Thanksgiving feast for ten
Step-sisters hanging out
Some moments are iconic

Just to keep us on our toes in Phase II, we managed to stumble upon a new Grand Design Solitude fifth wheel layout that we fell in love with (Solitude 346fls), which we ordered in August while in Montana and picked up in February in Missouri. Finally, the honeymoon was over, and we slowly headed back east and into what we now call our Phase III of our FT RVing adventure in March 2022. Look here for our memoirs from our months in the honeymoon phase:

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/06/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/07/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/08/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/09/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2021/10/

https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/2022/03/

Phase III – “Reality Reset”

With many new state stickers on our travel map and a brand new RV in our possession, we initially thought that the time we had in the spring of 2022 would be spent planning our next big summer adventure (who doesn’t want a second honeymoon?!). But we found that doing too much “go-go-go” may not be the best approach. As we looked at our calendar, where we had already scheduled a summer exploration of the New England states, it became apparent that it was time to make another adjustment.

Our Phase II “honeymoon” really fille up our map – but there is sooo much more we want to see!

Our nephew, Jonathan, was getting married in March. Andrew’s youngest child, Abby, was graduating from college in May, my brother, Mike, was set to celebrate retirement from a 25 year career in law enforcement (good riddance!) in July, and our favorite future son-in-law, Chris, was scheduled to become part of the family in early September. At the same time, we found good reasons to visit our mothers and children for a while, helping where we can and reconnecting in a way that is best done with more regular in-person visits and fewer video calls.

So we took advantage of our best asset as FT RVers – we can be extremely FLEXIBLE. The New England plans were canceled and we made reservations for the entire summer via our Thousand Trails Membership and our recently acquired Coast To Coast membership. As we pass our “two-year mark” and head into the fall, we change campgrounds every two to three weeks, sticking in the Gettysburg/Hershey/Lancaster region of Pennsylvania. In doing so, we eliminated nearly all campsite fees for the summer (C2C costs us $10 per night, TT is free).

We have used this time that is sort-of stationary, to schedule dental cleanings, wedding-prep shopping, health check-ups and oil changes, dinners with the kids, visits to our moms and day trips to Princeton, NJ, New Hope, PA and every farm market and thrift shop I can shake a stick at (there are soooo many of both in this Amish/Mennonite/tourist parts of the Keystone state).

One part of our FT RVing life that gives us an advantage is our vacation rental business. We have two properties that can give us some travel downtime if we need it occasionally. But it wasn’t until this summer that we first came off the road for a week and stayed at our rural Pennsylvania cottage (www.CloversCottage.com), where we hosted Abby’s graduation party with family and friends. It was nice to have some time to spread out a bit, take care of some property maintenance, and most of all – TAKE A BATH in our antique claw-footed bathtub (perhaps the thing that I miss the most because of life in an RV).

Before our Reality Reset Phase III is complete, we will also visit our Cape May Beach cottage for a combined maintenance and fun stay. When complete, and as the autumn leaves flutter to the ground, we will wrap up our visit to the area and move on to wherever we decide is next! In the coming weeks, my stories of our new semi-stationary reality will be posted as well! In the meantime, here are some photos:

Fun with fam
ATV R&R
Rural PA getaway
Day trip to Princeton – recognizing the enslaved in their history
Ivy league beauty
Flea Market bargains
Wedding prep purchases
New Hope PA roadtrip
Celebrating family
cloverscottage.com
Doggo loving a yard
A farm to table dinner date in Lancaster
Love is in the “Air Supply”
My girls at our relaxin’ place
Another roadtrip!!

Phase IV – To Be Determined

As we look ahead to this fall and winter, we are still deciding where the road will take us. Where do we want to visit? How close to Mom should we be? When is our next medical appointment? How much cold weather do we want to face? How will we next be able to see the kids? Will we finally make it to New England next summer?

No matter our direction or destination, we have learned that the journey will be special and our time together will be treasured. I have my love by my side and though the plans will vary, and we must be willing to make adjustments for the challenges in life, we know we are blessed to live this life and can make it through to the end of the road, wherever that may be.

Beauty and serenity can be found in many ways in your RV life.

POSTSCRIPT

We often get questions about “where or when does it end”. For us, we went into FT RVing with a general exit strategy in mind, but we had no preconceived notions about how long it may last. There was always the possibility that we could hastily return to “sticks and bricks” living after only six weeks on the road, but we also knew that it was quite possible that this lifestyle could be open-ended.

There will come a time when FT RVing is no longer our first choice, but we envision a hybrid in our future, while our health permits it, where we can both travel and have a “sticks and bricks” home base. We dream of a nice little mountain plot of land out west with RV hookups or a lakeside cottage on the east coast that may be big enough for family to visit. I would like to once again find a community that we can really feel a part of, with a little church family where we feel like we are a part of something bigger than just our little home on wheels. We don’t yet know how our story ends, but we welcome the journey every day.

Safe travels, and be sure to make all your RV dreams come true!

Our Dog Bug Journeyed Joyfully All The Way

Once our daughter, Ella went off to college, every time we saw her, she would implore our old dog, Bug, to please live long enough for her to see him again. “Just live another four months, Buggy, so we can see each other again”, were her words to him as we said goodbye. Her sad farewell was during a brief visit we made in the Gainesville, Florida, Walmart parking lot where we saw her on a work break as we were passing through the area in January (since becoming empty nesters, we have been traveling full-time RVers). For several years, it was clear that Bug was showing his age and slowing down, so this visit, like the last several, ended with tears in Ella’s eyes and a crack in her voice as she nuzzled his face before returning to work.

Now it was suddenly four months later, and Ella had to accelerate her travel plans by a day just to increase the likelihood that she and Bug could keep their promise to see each other for a final visit. He had just turned 13 years old two days earlier, and just days before that, had taken a turn for the worse. It was clear now that he had lost his pure and innocent joy in living and that it was now our duty as his family, to relieve him of his earthly pains and send him on to “greener pastures”.

Fortunately, we were already camping in Pennsylvania, in a region near all our family members (except for Ella). With kids, siblings and parents living in Pottsville, Felton and Hanover, Pennsylvania and Parkton, Jarrettsville, Towson and Baltimore, Maryland, so everyone had the opportunity to visit with Bug (and us) in the weeks leading up to his last days.

But it was Ella that had always expressed strong feelings about being with Bug at the end of his journey. Unfortunately, she managed to sleep through her alarm and miss her early morning flight! She spent the next 18 hours in airports – booking, canceling and waiting on standby for a number of flights, finally arriving, with the help of her brother, Lorne, just before midnight on the evening before Peaceful Paws Passage was to arrive to help us send Bug over the Rainbow Bridge.

Lorne and Ella slept overnight in our fifth wheel trailer where we live full-time as RVer travelers. They were both exhausted from a long week of worry and sad news, each on one of our two guest beds in our home-on-wheels, and each with a dog (Calvin and Bug) beside them to quite happily keep them company.

Once we gently lifted him into bed, Bug waited patiently for Ella to join him in our guest bed for their final sleepover together.

Morning arrived too soon and it was a pleasing, sunny day at Gettysburg Farm Campground (full of earthly “greener pastures” we knew Bug to love). Ella and Lorne took Bug and Calvin for a final walk around the working-farm-turned-campground while their sister, Adalie, drove down to meet us all for Bug’s looming appointment (Lorne and Adalie had already visited Bug for the afternoon two days earlier and they were able to take the doggos on a nice walk through all the sights and smells as well).

Lorne visiting Bug in his last, tired days…

…but no matter how tired he grew, he ALWAYS wanted to go take a walk!

Bug was always a dog that was led by his nose, and in his final weeks of life, taking a walk was just about the last remaining happy part of his day. Now that he was older and slower, he would lead us out to the farm fields that surrounded the outer edge of the campground and we would let him off leash, allowing him to fully follow his nose and natural inclination to sniff his way along the path. Because he was slower, he finally listened to us well; a little verbal cue from me was all that was needed to slow him down until we could catch up to him. With his head covered in as much grey fur as black and white, and now hanging low and slightly to the right from his disabilities of age, he journeyed joyfully through the fallow fields.

When Bug was younger, he was more likely to “turn off” his ears once his nose took over, so his off-leash time was strictly limited (outside of our fenced back yard at the time) to days at our weekend cottage, and even then, he couldn’t be completely free to roam. Instead, our country-bumpkin solution was to attach a lead to him on one end, and a bucket or large piece of pvc pipe to the other. It was just enough drag and resistance to cause Bug to not wander too far too fast while we enjoyed the rural acreage of our cottage property. It was ridiculous, but highly effective in giving him both freedom and protection.

All three of my kids gathered together, along with me and my husband, Andrew, for the first time since Thanksgiving. Now that we all lived in separate states, such get-togethers were extra special, but today, while special, was not going to be easy. We laid out a blanket in the lush green grass, offered Bug some of his favorite treats, and encouraged him to lay down and relax on the ground. Relaxing had become difficult for him in recent weeks and he often looked disoriented and unsure of how to settle down, rotating in circles a number of times, or trying to dig a little hole in the dirt before finding his place.

The kind and gentle veterinarian waited for our signal, and after about ten minutes of the five of us crying and giving Bug encouraging words in an effort to not cause him concern, the vet gave him a sedative that would render him unconscious over a 10-15 minute period. It was in those minutes that I could see the pain and worry slowly melt away from his body. Bit by bit, he got lower to the ground; first his tail, then his chin, and slowly his body settled softly and peacefully into the blanket on the grass in the breezy sunshine, with Ella lying beside him, Lorne sitting next to him, and Adalie standing, and then sitting nearby, all three kids petting and touching him.

It was at this moment that I realized just how tense Bug had been these last weeks. Even while sleeping, he was always unsettled, and seemed slightly distressed. A dog seems to know, often better than his humans, when his time and purpose on earth is ending, and his sleeping moments in recent days, weeks and months now contrasted greatly with how relaxed and calm he was with a little help from the sedative. His body was finally, truly resting, and he breathed quiet breaths in absolute serenity.

The vet waited patiently again, and having already explained clearly how the process of pet euthanasia worked, we knew that the next injection would be unfelt and would result in a quiet cessation of Bug’s breathing. Each of us took a moment to speak to Bug as the sedative quietly helped him fall asleep. Adalie told him what a good dog he had been for our family. Ella reminded him that he could soon see our old dog, Jake, who had passed several years earlier. Lorne sat next to Bug on the blanket and quietly petted his soft, gray ear. Andrew stood nearby with our ten year old dog, Calvin, who soon would be a “single dog” for the first time in his life. I stood beside my loved ones and tried to absorb this “life moment” that somehow represented something much more than the loss of a loved family pet.

By the time Bug came into our family as a puppy, it had been 18 years since I had a puppy. I had not forgotten about the work and commitment it takes to raise a puppy, but for my husband at the time, Dave, having “one last puppy” was a dream fulfilled. He reminded me what a treat it would be for our three young children to have the “puppy experience” now that they were old enough to understand the responsibility of having a family dog. So Dave insisted, I relented, and Bug became a part of our family as a puppy in the fall of 2009.

Bug’s first puppy outing to Knoebels Grove Amusement Park for a scouting event.

October, 2009 – Ella and Bug Halloween camping in Hershey, PA

Bug was there for all the big moments, including this first day of school in the fall of 2010.

Adalie, Lorne, Ella and Bug enjoying the outdoors at extended Thanksgiving weekend at our cottage in Hegins, PA, 2009 (at the start of hunting season, thus the orange woodsy outdoor attire).

His mom was a Beagle mix, rescued by a non-profit organization made up of foster families for dogs saved from high-kill shelters, and Bug was a part of her litter. He had his mother’s Beagle bay, and certainly the strong “nose” of a Beagle, but he was black and white, perhaps the colorings of his unknown father. He joined our family at the perfect time, when life was a full and busy family of three children, ages 7, 10 and 13. It was the best of times for our family, and my husband finally had his puppy companion to ride in the truck with him and be his most loyal friend.

Bug took up his role quickly, as he was clearly a “man’s dog”. He was not needy or outwardly adoring of his humans, and showed little overt interest in other dogs, other than to give them a quick sniff, but he was rather a relaxed and friendly buddy to his favorite man. Always interested in his next meal or playing with his dog toy (usually a squeaky plush toy whose insides could be disemboweled in a matter of minutes), he was neither high strung or overly affectionate. He played his love a little cool, and as such, Bug fit in well with our family. My husband finally got to have “his puppy” for what he promised would be our “one last time”.

A year and a half later, the promise of “one last time” took on a new meaning as tragedy struck our family and my husband of 18 years died suddenly. Bug was with him that day, and it was Bug’s panicked barking that alerted a neighbor nearby to the accident that had taken Dave’s life on a small acreage of wooded land we had purchased only months earlier. “Dave’s puppy” was brought home to us that day as we suddenly tried to figure out how to now be a very different family than any of us planned for or wanted.

Bug was with us through those terribly difficult years and the innocent and pure love of that dog helped to normalize our life that felt anything but normal. He would cuddle with Ella as she no doubt cried herself to sleep, missing her dad as only a nine year old little girl could. He ran around the yard chasing bunnies as Lorne tried to find his place as the “man of the house” at age 11. Having just turned 15, Adalie worked her way through high school without her dad to help guide her, as Bug’s care gave us a simple unified purpose. Bug remained the ever-present family member with a playful and contented demeanor in our home, modeling a pleasure in life as only dogs do, and giving us hope that we each might someday find the same for ourselves.

Don’t stress – roll and relax!
Ella and Bug at our Hegins cottage
Joe Cool
The dining room and kitchen were perhaps his fav rooms in the house!
Ella’s 8th birthday party – AKA Bug’s naming party!

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My father (the kid’s “Morfar”, Swedish for mother’s father), quickly became Bug’s natural next favorite man. Morfar was a great source of excess treats and “people food” that Bug probably shouldn’t have been eating, and in those years, my parents and siblings did their best to be more present in our lives, even though we lived hours apart. My dad picked up where Dave had left off, and they had a special bond that benefited my dad as much as Bug. Each visit began with Bug wiggling with excitement as he realized that Morfar was nearby. Even after my father’s death two years before Bug passed, Bug would show great excitement each time we visited my childhood home, no doubt because Bug expected Morfar to be there to greet him.

Bug shows his loyalty and preferences for Morfar

Eventually, although not easily or elegantly, we made it through our most difficult years, with Bug by our sides for each challenging step we took. The children grew older, we moved from our home in Pennsylvania to my home state of Maryland, and I remarried. The children grew into young adults, leaving home one-by-one to pursue their adulthood dreams and to build their independent lives.

Cape May with our dog pack
Apparrantly, Bug became a Ravens fan
June 2020 at Ella’s “home graduation”
Always of fan of sleeping places he shouldn’t
Ella the doggo trainer
What a great scene to come home to
Ellas love bug

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My new husband, Andrew, quickly became Bug’s new favorite man, and as we joined our families together, Andrew’s two dogs, Jake (Golden Retriever mix) and Calvin (Bassett-Plott Hound mix), became Bug’s “dog pack”. As had happened each time our family changed, Bug picked a man to which his loyalties and love were placed. Andrew was that “best man” for Bug for the remaining eight years of Bug’s life and they were great companions, with Andrew always ready to show love and affection to our furry family members and Bug ready to go absolutely anywhere with Andrew.

Our last vet visit – and they were so good!
Laying outside was always his fav – in the sunshine for as long as he could stand it
The retired life of an old-man dog
I wonder where we get to go next?
RV life is more cuddly
The RV sofa belongs to the doggos
Sandy paws were more favored than wet paws
They would drive if we let them

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Bug continued to be the steadfast yet lovingly standoff-ish part of our ever-evolving “family life” with a wagging tail and a happy nuzzle to come home to; he was our only constant in the 13 years we loved him. His life corresponded to the best of our lives, the worst of our lives, and a return once more to goodness and pleasure in life as Andrew and I, newly empty nesters, took our family pets (Bug, Calvin and cat, Stencil) on the road to see the country from our cozy home base fifth wheel RV. He had been through it all with us – riding the wild adventures of life at its worst and best. For nearly two years, Bug saw many states in the United States with us, always thrilled to ride in the truck anywhere our travels took us.

Northern Idaho, near the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Summer 2021

When the time seemed right, I gave the vet the go-ahead to send Bug on his way, and as we all felt the pain of loss, we knew that Bug was in good hands for his entire journey. “Tell Dad and Morfar we said ‘hello’”, I said as I smiled through my tears and imagined Bug crossing over a beautiful, colorful archway to the heavens. The five of us wept openly, and despite feeling a sense of loss, we knew this was the ideal way to say goodbye to our beloved family member. In a matter of minutes, we watched Bug leave our lives, and move on to a perfect eternity to be reunited with others whom he had loved.

Pet euthanasia is a gift we give to our pets – a thank you for their unconditional love and devotion to us. It was an honor to help Bug cross over that Rainbow Bridge, feeling peace and love as he trusted us to care for him his entire life. We are grateful to have had this little, sometimes ornery puppy to walk through the highs and lows of our family life for thirteen years. He was a gift of unconditional love that we will always treasure.

Safe travels, to Bug and all our furry loved ones – from here to eternity – until we play again.

Safe travels, Bug, and have a joyful journey!

Outtakes

Bug got his name at Ella’s 9th birthday party just a few days after we brought him home. After narrowing down to a few final choices, we asked all of the party guests to drop a name in the jar. Guests added their own suggestions, and after all the votes were in, there was no clear winner. We sort of defaulted to “Bug”, as it was just quirky enough that it fit his personality. He was “as snug as a bug in a rug”, “as cute as a bug”, and sometimes, he just seemed “as dumb as a bug”. But he was our Bug, and we loved him.

Food was a big motivator for Bug, so from an early age, he was always ready to help “clean” the dishwasher when we weren’t looking (a pre-rinse cycle, of sorts). He also loved empty peanut butter jars, unattended garbage bags, broccoli stumps and carrots. We called him our mountain goat, because it wasn’t unusual to enter the kitchen and find him standing on top of the kitchen table in an attempt to see what we might have left behind.

Bug actually was an old dog that could learn new tricks! He was abiyt 7 years old when he learned to “speak” or and ten years old when he learned to roll over on command (both for treats, of course). Speaking generally took several attempts…at first, just an awkward sneeze or two, followed by a little snortle, and eventually a full-fledged “bark” on command!

Bug loved his toys and treats! He would eagerly unwrap gifts of a squeeky toy, would tear apart a stuffed toy with sheer joy, or delicately nibble off the fuzz on a tennis ball. When younger, he would even chase a toy or ball, but he would NEVER bring it back to us. Instead, he would reach the toy, then stay in that spot to enjoy it all by himself.

What kind of mom gives her son only half of a birthday cake? The kind of mom that has ornery Bug as a family pet! At Lorne’s surprise 13th camping themed birthday party with friends, Bug was put in the camper to stay out of trouble…except Mom forgot that the birthday cake had been placed in the camper as well, ironically enough, for safe keeping. Several minutes later, after Bug had found and enjoyed much of the cake, we needed to cut away the dog0destriyed section to be able to sing Happy Birthday and salvage something for Lorne to make his wish!

In all the years that Bug eagerly chased bunnies and squirrels, there was only once (well, sort of twice) that he struck it rich. As Bug came into the house in fall 2011, it was clear he was hiding something from us in his mouth. I grabbed the camera while Adalie (the brave one), donned gloves and pried his prize from his mouth in the kitchen. Minutes later, out fell an ENTIRE RABBIT HEAD! Through screams of disgust, we saw that Bug had found what must have been a very slow bunny (or perhaps an already dead bunny) in our back yard. After the head, he spat up a little bunny kidney, some more fur, and for the next 10 ours, managed to throw up MANY times – both inside and outside the house.

His second infamous bunny incident was hardly “catching” a bunny, but it did nearly cause Lorne to excommunicate Bug from the family. Lorne came into the house upset because he believed that Bug had found a mouse nest and was upset to see him tossing the poor little things all around the yard like play-things. Upon investigation, and to his increased horror, what Bug had actually found was a nest of day-old baby bunnies. He had decimated the entire nest within minutes, and from that day forward, the rabbits in our back yard got smarter, placing all their nests safely under the children’s playhouse – out of Bug’s reach yet close enough to give him hours of fun sniffy and chasing.

It was a sad day in central Florida in fall 2020 when we thought we were gonna lose him too soon. Through no fault of his own (just laying in the grass in our campsite), Bug was backed up over by a campground employee’s truck! Fortunately, the ground was soft from the sandy soil and recent rain, and miraculously, the only injury was a dislocated rear hip. It took six weeks of tender loving care (leg retracted into an sling to keep it immobile, followed by carefully controlling his jumping and sudden moves for the rest of his years (dislocated hips often can pop out of place again). But he returned fully to his cheerful little self and recovered sufficiently to trot along and really savor is “retired, traveling life”.

Montana – The Second Best Of “The Last Best Place”!

To say that Montana never ceases to amaze us would be an understatement. So don’t be disappointed by the title of this post (you will understand later why the best is still ahead!). As we continued with part two of our three segment tour of the Treasure State, we set up camp at a quiet little campground in Island Park, Idaho called RedRock RV Park (which is really close to Montana). We knew this might be a great stay for us when the road took us on a five mile gravel drive past dozens of dispersed campsites, into free range grazing land and around the massive and beautiful Henry Lake. As we approached the campground, the sign said it all – “Shhh, it’s quiet around here”.

The campground has a place for painted rocks…
…so I painted my first rocks and left one behind!
the flowers around us were beautiful
Our “back yard”…and a dispersed camper
The road headed out to Henry Lake
Shhh, it is wonderfully quiet out here
The prettiest sunset this summer was right behind our RV, enjoyed with 2 dozen other neighbor campers
There are many of these cattle “gates” in roads out west

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The campground is adjacent to public land on the back side of the property as well, so our “back yard” for two weeks was filled with wide open spaces, acres of open space for Calvin to enjoy being off lease, hundreds of friendly grazing cows and a smattering of boondocking RVs across the distant panorama. This was our perfect jumping off point and only a 25 minute drive to the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park (which is actually in Montana AND Wyoming).

The magic, as it were, began the next morning when we ventured in the direction of the national park. The campground employees had told us to take our time on the little gravel road out to the highway, as it wasn’t too uncommon to see wildlife. Sure enough, as we neared the end of the drive, out popped four giant male moose, with full racks of antlers covered in velvet. They grazed along the side of the road and allowed us ample time to take photos and video. They jumped the four foot barbed wire fence with ease, casually crossed the road in front of us, posing for more photos along the way. Once on the other side, they continued their breakfast of tree leaves before wandering slowly into the woods again.

We were completely energized, having checked off a big item on our “animal wish list”! We made our way through the little gateway town of West Yellowstone and into the mid-morning line of cars waiting to enter the park. We knew that our late arrival would set us up for a crowded visit, but all along we had planned this day to be just a drive-thru visit to become assimilated and perhaps hatch a plan to maximize the coming days in the park.

Don’t show up at the park between 10 am and 4 pm if you want to avoid crowds…

The first and most lasting impression we had as we drove along the Madison River and deeper into the park was the immense grandeur and diversity before our eyes! Crystal rushing waters, massive boulders, wildflowers in blues, yellows and orange were abounding. It wasn’t ten more minutes before we looked out across a grassy valley along the river that we saw a herd of elk! We quickly pulled over and stood in awe as we watched the huge animals make their way across their perfect habitat. Elk sighting – CHECK!

Watching them move through the grasses and water was a real treat

That day I was able to wade in the Firepole River , where the rounded and colorful rocks under clear waters gave us a little glimpse into the beauty we would be seeing later in Glacier National Park (teaser to an incredible Part III of our Montana journey).

The clear, cold Firepole River on day #1 in YNP!

We stopped along the way at the less-busy “attractions” in the park that day, noting the location of the very popular sights so that we could visit another day at an earlier hour. We quickly realized that this park is different in its topography with each turn we took. Open grasslands, turned to mountain cliffs and misting geysers and smoke-pots.

We left in mid-afternoon, just as much of the park started to empty out, leaving the wildlife to their privacy for the evening. Hungry, we sought some “Linner” (a mid-afternoon meal that combines lunch and dinner into one meal) at the aptly named Firehole BBQ, whose claim to fame was their appearance on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (BIG fans!). SOLD! We were all in! I enjoyed what was perhaps the best brisket I have EVER HAD. Andrew had a sampling of ribs and a pork BBQ sandwich, which were equally rewarding (he had been hunting a good rack of ribs for weeks and after a couple of disappointments, was rewarded well in West Yellowstone).

The restaurant was noticeably empty, and the young man that worked there said that this was nearing the “end of the busy season”, a surprise to us, feeling like mid-August was still the height of summer back east. He went on to explain that the restaurant as well as most of West Yellowstone and even the National Park itself all shut down in the winter months, with cold weather not seen anywhere else in the continental US, and snow piled up as tall as buildings. It was difficult to imagine on a beautiful August afternoon, but it was a solid reminder that this national treasure sits on harsh and precarious ground.

Over our two-week stay in the area, we spent a total of five days in the park, arriving earlier each time than the time before so that we could beat the crowds and find the animals at their most active.

We saw our first bison on day two in the park. Having learned that it can be more important to watch for where cars are parked than watching for the wildlife itself, we pulled over on the side of the road and walked toward the gathering crowd. In our not-so-distant view was a large male bison, laying in the grass in a light wooded area by a creek. It was a sunny and warm day and he just seemed content to lie still while we took photos and admired his vast size and incredible beauty. Wild bison – CHECK! We were satisfied and exhilarated to finally see what Andrew had sought for a lifetime, and had no idea that in the coming days we would see hundreds more of these magnificent beasts.

We were blessed to see animals of all shapes and sizes, nearly every animal on our wish list , and many others that we hadn’t expected (we missed out on seeing any American Bald Eagles). There were many black ravens, as well as some yet-to-be-identified birds (perhaps you bird lovers can help us in the comments). Even the little chipmunks were adorable. We enjoyed a sudden visit by a coyote on a back road we were scouting (another couple had seen a black wolf on this road a previous day, so we were hoping to strike it rich with a visit). More moose, elk, many fish, and then, near the end of our visit, we saw the gathering crowd witnessing a mother black bear and her two cubs. They were perhaps 100 yards away, devouring a huckleberry bush in the comfortably warm afternoon sun. There were perhaps 100 humans looking through their cameras and binoculars for hours as these amazing creatures of God entertained us all. The “oohs” and “aahs” were heard among the park visitors as the bear cubs could be seen leaving the bush and wandering up the hill to a log, where they licked and swatted playfully at each other.

The winner of our two-week visit was most certainly the bison. We found many in both the Lamar and Hayden Valleys of the park. Bison grunted, grazed, rolled in the dusty dirt to get relief from bugs, and occasionally, one male would tussle and butt heads with another as the males were in the rut and busy competing for females for mating.

As you meet fellow visitors to the park, invariably, the conversation tends to become an exciting discussion of the various wildlife encountered. Everyone is happy to share photos, video and tips on locations for the best sightings you seek. One couple shopping in a gift shop alongside us in West Yellowstone witnessed the carcass of a recently killed male bison being scavenged by other wildlife. While there, they watched a video taken by another park guest of two bison in full mating battle, and watched as one bison gored the other in the head with his mighty horn, killing him instantly. Seven park rangers then labored to move the body of the huge animal to a safer location where nature would take its course in the circle of life, feeding an abundance of other wild animals.

Beyond animals, the natural features of the land were like nothing we have ever seen before. Old Faithful Geyser is the best known, and was absolutely amazing to see early one morning, but the beauty goes so far beyond this crowd pleaser. The hydrothermal features included mud pots, lesser-known geyers, large swaths of downed trees from previous volcanic activity, bubbly fumaroles of gaseous waters, hot springs, steam vents and the near-constant smell of sulphur (one of the only times in my life the odor has not been offensive). None of them disappointed.

Waiting for Old Faithful…
…on a rainy morning

We stopped at many road turnouts to take a peek at the various interesting spots. Side roads took us to outlying areas that felt like we were part of a secret in nature, and we even found our way to a very, very, VERY old (50 million years old) petrified Redwood tree.

A 50 million year old petrified Redwood tree

We ate and shopped our way through West Yellowstone, enjoying one of our best dinners at the Madison Crossing Lounge (try their cocktails!) on my birthday. We ate huckleberry fudge ice cream one afternoon, and we even had a great check-up visit to the West Yellowstone Vet one afternoon with Bug and Calvin.

In what felt like a great departure from the camping life, we got tickets to see Disney’s Newsies at The Playmill Theatre, also on my birthday. It had been a number of years since we had been fortunate enough to see a live show (thanks, Covid), and this little summer stock theatre was just wonderful! The theatre was only perhaps a dozen rows at center stage and perhaps eight rows on two sides of the very small stage – so small that our seats shook as the actors sang and danced! At intermission, guests remained in seats and the actors brought concessions around for sale! Even as we left, we saw the actors dressed as ushers and ticket-takers for the next show of the evening; they truly did it all!

In the summer, there are two shows each day and three different shows continuously through the summer! The quality of the performance was quite impressive overall, and the small atmosphere made for a very personal performance.

The ONLY challenge we had (on soap box) was feeling comfortable in what seemed to be a warm vat of Covid – approximately 300 people (267 guests plus actors) packed into a very warm, very small theatre, elbow-to-elbow and knee-to-knee, with perhaps only a half dozen people choosing to wear masks. We went into the show knowing that vaccines and masks were not required, but we were not prepared for the tightness of the facility. Thankfully, we are vaccinated, and we wore our masks, and did not get sick, but I have no doubt that performances like these are part of what is driving the severe infection spread throughout the state this summer (off soap box).

Another day found us in Ennis, MT where we had a great lunch at Tavern 287, wandered through the Nearly New (thrift) Shoppe, and Willie’s Distillery, where Andy added to his bottle collection and we chatted with several retired service members that were hanging out in town to watch the 8th Annual Montana POW/MIA Ride To Remember ride down the main street (motorcycles).

We believe these are snowdrift fences…
But tell me if we are wrong.
Ennis, MT – a cowboy town
This was on display downtown
Here is a close-up
Bistro 287 croissant grilled cheese and soup
Beautiful park in the middle of town
…and a cool sculpture
This is a great fly fishing sculpture coming into town
Willies Distillery
Thinking of Dad when shopping at Deemo’s Meats
The owners came from NJ to MT
Picking up some adult beverages for our expected guests
A cool stop to drink and eat
with a cool fence

On a long 12 hour “Sunday drive” road trip with the dogs, we combined a needed visit to Walmart (the best place to buy RV TP, lol) into a big loop south and around and up north again through Grand Teton National Park, which is adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. We saw Jackson Hole and a number of little towns that catered to visitors with cabins, all terrain vehicles, biking, snow sports and much more. We watched sunset at a turnout along another section of the Snake River, formed into layered terraces by glaciers millions of years ago, and then made our way through the evening pitch darkness through Yellowstone Park and back to our campsite by midnight.

Wildflowers are a daily treat
As the sun sets on the Snake Reiver
Terraces in the land formed by glaciers
Blessed every day
Even more beautiful in person

We even took a little day trip up to Big Spring, close to our campground in Island Park, Idaho. It is the birthplace of a river, where we could feed bits of hot dog to the eager and abundant trout that swarmed the warm spring water that is the headwaters of the Snake River.

In the end, Part II of our visit to Montana exceeded our already lofty expectations. Some observations we made along the way, in no particular order of importance:

There are no big grocery stores in much of the state. The stores that are there are expensive and very busy and have a small town feel that made us stand out as outsiders.
When visiting, enter the park EARLY. The summer crowds are excessive frome 10 am – 4 pm, so plan accordingly to see the most sights and to have the potential of seeing the most wildlife.
The population of all these popular areas swells significantly in the summer. Island Park, Idaho, for example, has a population of 268, but has approximately 2.3 million visitors that stream through its main highway each year.
We continue to notice that Montanoans are very friendly and welcoming in their state. Since tourism is their 5th largest employer, they value our presence in their state and take great pride in being a part of such a special place.
Many of the summer employees we met were not Montanoans at all, but rather out-of-state visitors that return each season to spend time in this outdoor paradise, earn some money, and then return to a warmer climate each winter.
There are no sales taxes in Montana – and alcohol is remarkably affordable. This makes for a fun time shopping and dining out!

And finally….we agree – Montana is indeed THE LAST BEST PLACE!

Safe travels, and stay tuned for Part III – we promise this will be the BEST of the “last best”!

The posts on the little grocery store in Island Park were cool.
We sampled some Huckleberry Cordials
BIG camp chai in our campgrpund

Colorado, You Might Just Be Our New Favorite State

Any stop along the Devil’s Head Trail in Pike National Forest leaves you inspired.

“But the Colorado rocky mountain high, I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky…”
John Denver

Since selling our home and moving into our RV in July 2020, we have tried very hard to TAKE OUR TIME! We kept reading this lesson in the blogs, on the websites, and watching on Youtube, devouring online content in preparation for our own full-time travels, and we have therefore done a decent job of not rushing. But our recent 28 day stay in Larkspur, Colorado has been our longest stop yet.

From Red Rocks Ampitheatre and Park, to Garden of the Gods, to a simple Sunday drive to explore the area, the rock formations and colors were always amazing to see.

It might be somewhat premature to say it, with only 25% of our summer travel complete, and another four or more fabulous states on our itinerary. But I think that I have found my new favorite state! Certainly not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the reasons we have become big fans of the Centennial State:

These Aspen trees on Devils Head Trail in Pike National Forest gave me a new appreciation for the beautiful white bark and towering clusters.

Well, it is frankly, GORGEOUS! From Grays peak, to Red Rocks, to Royal Gorge, to Garden of the Gods, to Breckenridge, to just about any place we have taken a drive in our visits, this area and state is beautiful. The clouds just seem to be larger, puffier and hang lower in the sky than back east. The Cottonwood trees shed their fluffy seeds like a summer snowfall. The vistas are ever changing – green and flat topped buttes, snow capped massive mountains, rushing whitewater rivers, deep gorges and vast open space – the state has impressed our senses.

2. The wildlife is accessible and diverse. We have seen so many animals – bison, marmots, prairie dogs, pika, mule deer, white tail deer, cattle and birds of great variety. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge was an easy start to our animal exploration (and remarkably close to the Denver airport), but there are so many places to hike and get close to wildlife that the options are endless. On a visit to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, we were able to learn a bit about the animals in the habitats of Colorado, and also find a number of different ways to seek some of the harder to find animals (wolf, elk, bear, pronghorn, and mountain goat). Even in our campground and a trip to the local post office produced multiple sightings of deer.

3. There are so many options! The diversity of vistas and wildlife are only the start. There is such a variety of things to do, both indoors and outdoors! We checked off a lot on our to-do list for Colorado, but we still have a far longer list of things left undone! DONE: ride a historic carousel, walk a country road, explore Red Rocks, hike Grays Peak, drive through Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, hike Garden of the Gods, tour Cave of the Winds, shop Manitou Springs, eat at Fogo de Chao restaurant, walk the halls of the Denver Art Museum, dine at Ted ‘s Montana Grill with the best server EVER, visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, cheer at a Colorado Rockies baseball game, eat our first Pho, shop fun thrift stores, go to the movies, hike Devils Head Trail, ride a train through the Royal Gorge and much more! YET TO BE DONE: see a concert at Red Rocks, ascend Pikes Peak on a cog train, attend a Denver Broncos vs Ravens game, paint some art, ride on a white water raft, tour some historic buildings, traverse a mountain on a gondola, fly fish on a river, ride an eBike through a beautiful place, tour on a Segway…the list of cool things to do goes on and on and on in Colorado.

4. Coloradans are welcoming, friendly and very proud of their state. Wherever we explored, we ran into some exceedingly friendly residents that were ready and willing to “SELL” us on the merits of Colorado! After all that we had experienced, it certainly wasn’t a difficult pitch, but it was clear that those who live in the state, LOVE living there! We certainly have noted that with each mile westward, the people have become friendlier and more open (sorry. fellow East Coasters, but I don’t think this is any great secret or mis-truth). Coloradans are among the most kind and open Americans we have met along the way. The difference-maker for us, however, is that the pride is expansive in Colorado.

Those that are native, born and bred are especially proud to be so! These folks may be residents by default, but they CHOOSE to remain in Colorado because they believe so strongly in the beauty and wonder of their state. This is a palatable difference than we experience in other states. Then there are those that moved here by choice, years and decades earlier. They arrived, fell in love and remained residents of Colorado. These folks were always so happy to share their story and learn our story as well. Once they heard about our nomadic lifestyle, it was not long before they pitched us all the reasons that we should end up in CO once we decide to slow our travel and plant roots once again.

One similarity we noticed with our home state of Maryland is that state pride flies clearly in the extensive use of the state flag. While Colorado’s flag is not as unique or beautiful as Maryland’s, it is equally ubiquitous – displayed throughout the state, not only on flag poles, but on hats, shirts, housewares and more.

Throughout Colorado, and especially in the Castle Rock area outside of Denver, there has been record-breaking population growth for many years. Economic prosperity was evident in the areas of larger population, but we did also witness some of the inevitable challenges of such growth and success. Housing clearly was in short supply and expensive, we witnessed homelessness in Denver, and we saw traffic problems due to overcrowded roads and construction that seemed to not be able to catch up to demand. We clearly could see that water shortages are becoming an issue as a result of the state’s tremendous population growth and the impact of global warming.

No state is free of problems. The difference in Colorado? Not one single person spoke a single negative word about their state. Whatever difficulties and challenges the great state of Colorado is facing, we didn’t hear about it from the residents. Instead, they wanted to share all that they love about their state, and welcome us – as visitors or perhaps even future residents.

A view from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

It seems that 28 days was a great way to fully explore the eastern half of the state, including Denver and the surrounding regions. We explored some of the highest elevations of a Colorado “fourteener” in Grays Peak and the lowest elevations of the Arkansas River in the Royal Gorge. We enjoyed our peek into the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain regions. But there is so much more we have yet to see, having not even touched upon the beautiful Colorado Plateau, which lies to the west of the Rocky Mountains and the Intermontane Basin, found in the far northwest corner of the state.

Yes Colorado, we have enjoyed exploring you tremendously. We will be back to finish the job someday. And maybe, just maybe, we will find that perfect little house on a lake, with a mountain view that we are seeking to settle upon again someday – and maybe that little house sits in Colorado.

Devil’s Half Acre at the end of the trail in Pike National Forest

“Colorado has always been a good place to find what you’re made of.”
John Hickenlooper

“Our peace shall stand as firm as Rocky Mountain.”
William Shakespeare

Easy Questions With Complicated Answers

"Where do you live?" - Answers from the road we travel.

3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.
Proverbs 24:3-4

Sometimes it feels like we are giving a loaded answer to what is a fairly innocuous question. “Where are you from” or “Where do you live?”. We answer as succinctly and clearly as possible. “We are full time RVers. We live and travel in our RV year-round.” Then we pause for the reaction. We have gotten it all in response. Stranger, acquaintance, friend or family, it is sometimes difficult to know what reaction we will receive. It seems, however, that the reactions seem to fall into one of three different categories.

Perhaps the most surprising (and thankfully, the least common) reaction is what I call the “Trailer Trash Look”. They immediately look down upon us and the way we are choosing to live. They give us a confused stare. These are the folks that might not understand or have any experience with camping. They might not understand the amazing diversity of campers and camping styles that are found in this country. They might think that campgrounds are like run-down mobile home parks (sometimes they are). They might have prejudged (and misjudged) people that live in trailers or motorhomes as desperate, nearly homeless folks that are under/unemployed and not hardworking. They might be very “inside the box” thinkers. They might just be jerks judging our lifestyle.

How we choose to live might not be what they imagine it to be.

They are easy to handle. Simply smile, end the conversation quickly and move on. No amount of explanation or education is likely to change their opinion, and this type of person doesn’t generally want to hear it anyway.

The second type of reaction we get is the one I struggle with the most. I call it the “Green Is Not Your Color Look”. Envy shows clearly when folks’ initial response is said in a generally pleasant but slightly sarcastic tone. “I wish I could do that” or “Must be nice” or even “Well, aren’t you lucky?”. Sheesh. This lifestyle is usually a choice. It is the culmination of a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice in my choices. It is not simply the result of waking up rich one day. We chose this lifestyle because of its richness in experiences. My husband and I planned for this opportunity. We made financial decisions to be able to prepare for this lifestyle. We live responsibly and aware of our ongoing financial choices, following a monthly budget and sticking to it.

Our lives are about choices, and occasionally about how we react to our adversities.

I am never quite sure how to respond to people who make these comments, but for some reason I feel compelled to try. I say “Well sure, you can choose to do this lifestyle too! People of all walks of life have made it their choice”; or “It is indeed nice, thank you. I’ve been a saver my entire life, so this is the time when we can enjoy those savings”; or “Well, not lucky really, but blessed. This is something we have worked hard for, so we are really blessed to have the opportunity for these experiences.” No matter how we have responded, it seems that our message never quite connects with the commenter. They never quite hear that their limitations are usually of their own making. All of our lives are mostly about our choices, and occasionally about how we react to our adversities.

By and large, however, we get great support and enthusiasm. The most common response is true and genuine happiness and understanding for our choices. “That is amazing.”, “What an adventure.”, or “I’ve always wanted to do that!”. This response is sometimes followed by questions about our favorite places or future destinations. It is a pleasure to share with these folks. We connect with them and learn about their lives as well. Often they have had an equally interesting and different life that they are living, and we love to learn about them. We often connect on a very human level, appreciating our differences and enjoying the time learning about our amazingly diverse world.

By and large, we receive great support and enthusiasm about our nomadic lifestyle.

Regardless of people’s reaction to our life in a 350 square foot trailer and a truck, people usually want to know what it is like for us. They want to understand the day-to-day – the good, the bad and the ugly of it all. What is hard for us? Why are we doing this at all?

People can understand and usually even guess the harder parts. These are the things that stop many others from living this lifestyle for very long, or from trying it at all. You are separated from your friends and loved ones by many miles and often many months. You must eliminate most of your personal items, by either selling them, giving them away or storing them out of reach (often at a great cost). You must live a life of greater solitude (if you are single) or of less alone time (if you are part of a couple), or of very limited personal space (if you are part of an RVing family). These can be the tougher parts of FT RVing.

Learning to live in a smaller space requires a coziness that can be fun, but that also leaves you searching for your own personal space. Here, the “dining table” becomes an office and craft room.

The galley kitchen is fully functional, but a complete “open concept” with the “living room” and “dining room”.

The sofa in the “living room” gives a small bit of “personal space” to our doggos on a daily basis.

Andrew and I have found ways to work through these challenges. We recognize that every so often, we will be returning to our “hometown base” of Maryland and Pennsylvania to see our families – including our mothers, siblings and children. We need that time and they need that time. Life goes on and there will always be graduations, illnesses, marriages, births and even deaths to draw us together. We just work these things into our travels – expected or unplanned, we know they will happen.

We also always leave an open-ended invitation to our friends and loved ones to visit with us. When passing through a certain state, we have met with new and old friends along the way. When visiting a fabulous place, our kids and sometimes our close friends will fly in for a visit/vacation. Because of our nomadic ways, these visits must be planned out, but it really is not much different than millions of families around the globe that live far apart from their loved ones for a lifetime.

We love when our loved ones visit us! Here, two of Andrew’s kids stopped by Colorado for a visit, including a Colorado Rockies game!

My baby, Ella, cooks up some Thanksgiving dinner with us on Tybee Island, Georgia.

Shedding our home was a difficult process that was also very easy in the end. Selling a home that you love or leaving a town that you feel a part of can be a challenge. Ultimately, we have found that the simplicity of life is a positive outcome to our loss of possessions. Having no yard work, property taxes, utility bills and large capital and maintenance projects frees up our finances to create experiences and feel little stress when the kitchen sink springs a leak (yes, those things still happen in a tiny home on wheels).

It took many months of Facebook Marketplace sales, yard sales and donation trips to our local non-profit thrift store to shed us of nearly all our personal belongings.

WHY? So why do we do this full-time RVing thing? Why do we choose to live apart from loved ones and friends? Why do we choose to shed our treasured belongings and live in such a small space? The reasons are many:

Meeting diverse people: The gift of camping in this lifestyle we choose is that we DO meet many kinds of people. They are varied and different from us in many ways. If we still lived in our little neighborhood where our “sticks and bricks” home was located, we would meet mostly people that were similar to us demographically. But because we meet new neighbors weekly, we meet people that come from much more varied walks of life. Campers, we have found, come from very different geographic, familial, financial, political, ethnic, racial and career backgrounds.

This Native American display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science was a great way to show the diversity of people and lives that we have met while traveling the country.

In South Carolina, we met a traveling couple and their three furry family members, complete with a motorcycle sidecar that allowed the entire family to camp and motorbike around the country. Both Mike and Jean were retired from really interesting careers in horse racing, with Mike being part of a world class, hall of fame horse training family and Jean being a thoroughbred rider. He shared interesting stories of growing up while rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars like singer Burt Bacharach, actress Angie Dickinson and many others, with dinner parties, hosted by his mother, being the norm for their family.

In Florida, we met Doris, a single 89 year old full-time RVer who had recently downsized to a 25 foot class C camper. She retired from her traveling jewelry sales career (also in an RV) and declined the opportunity to move in with her daughter. Instead, she spends her free time as a daytrader and self-described youtube fanatic, following other full-time RVers she meets along the way.

We have met camping families that homeschool their children with experiences and discipline. We have met a lesbian couple that travel and blog their way through their adventures and chronic illness, entertaining and helping others along the way. We have met those that are our political polar opposites, and yet, we enjoyed a campfire together. We enjoyed meeting the retired couple in their 70s that were RVing for the first time, making a cross-country trek in their Class B camper to visit their daughter in Washington state.

This interesting neighbor, whom I met Thanksgiving weekend, purchsed this military surplus equipment at auction and converted it into a unique way of camping.

The ways all these “neighbors” we meet travel and live are all very different – seasonal snowbirds, workampers, weekend warriors, location independent full-time employees, traditional 65+ retirees, young risk-takers that fund their travels with an entrepreneurial online presence and yes, even those that are struggling financially and hanging on to whatever stability they can find while living in an RV in a stationary location. We have enjoyed meeting them all.

This globe-trotting traveler was going to circumvent the WORLD in his Unimog before Covid converted his trip to an exploration of the USA.

Embracing a more minimalist life: This benefit of FT RVing wasn’t one of our initial goals, but it has been an unexpected enjoyable outcome. We have grown to enjoy a smaller, more casual wardrobe (we usually wear the same five outfits weekly). We cook simple, (generally) healthy meals a few times a week instead of daily, and we enjoy the extra time to slow down our pace. Most urges to acquire material things are shifted to our loved ones – we love sending care packages of objects found in our travels to those we miss back east. We have left the race to build a career, to have a beautiful home, to drive a nice car. Instead, we have less “stuff” – part time work, just enough to support our lifestyle, a tiny home on wheels with no mortgage payment and one vehicle that is our shared mode of transportation. In exchange, we have more experiences that we value far more than the items we have removed from our lives.

We are more glampers than these minimalist retro campers that we saw in the Casey KOA (Illinois). but no matter how small or big your rig, minimalism is a necessity of life. When something new comes into the rig, something else must leave.

Having incredible life experiences – By and large, THIS is what most people are excited about, and I really must agree. The romance of travel and the beauty of our country is what we were drawn to and what many others we meet think about when we first tell them where we live. The sunsets are indeed a little different in every place we settle for a while. The animals are diverse and interesting – from the swamps to the sandy beaches to the mountains. The really cool things we try are so numerous we will never be able to get through the entire list. But even the simple everyday events of exploring a new thrift shop, shopping at a newly discovered farm market, or chatting with a shopkeeper in a newly discovered little downtown – even in these simple life moments we make discoveries and are amazed by the world around us.

The sunrises and sunsets are indeed a little different in every place we settle for a while. This beautiful sunrise in Myrtle Beach, SC, like all of them, is courtesy of our good and gracious God.

The animals are diverse and interesting – these large turtles lived among us in our central Florida campground.

The Sand Hill Cranes mate for life, dance for joy, and are among the most interesting we lived among while wintering in Florida.

After falling in love and then living three decades apart, and then while we each went through some of the most difficult years of our lives separately, we focused on our children, and simply “getting through” the tough years. When we rekindled our lost relationship, we were finally able to look ahead to the day when life could again be beautiful and full of love. As our children became young adults, our obligations and roles changed, and we were able to instead focus on our life together as a couple. Full-time RVing became a way to quickly reinvent our lives, to step away from past pain, and see what life had in store for us in this next phase of life – finally celebrating “our time”.

Andrew’s surprise 50th birthday party (four years ago) – about the time that we started to actively plan for “our time”, to begin in July 2020.

We are Andrew and Tina, husband and wife FT RVers, living in our 36 foot fifth wheel trailer, traveling the country with our two dogs and a cat, missing our loved ones, and living a very blessed life.

Home Sweet Home – at a Harvest Hosts stop near Leavenworth, KS

1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Corinthians 5:1

How Covid and FT RVing Showed Us New Ways To Share The Love

In my family of origin, there were a lot of little details that were “traditions” we cherished during holidays throughout the year. At Easter, we Holmstrom’s took the obligatory photos dressed in our Sunday finest and with our baskets at our feet. At Thanksgiving, the dressing and sauerkraut played just as important a role as the turkey. Finally, Christmas morning gift opening always began with all four of us kids piled in our parent’s king-sized bed, digging through the stockings that Santa left before we explored what he left under the tree. Much of the rest – the bigger components that fill in a holiday experience, would be altered a bit each year to meet changing family member’s needs – varying locations, attendees and menus. We treasured it all, but we weren’t very prone to consistency.

My brother, Steve and me, visiting Granny and Pop-pop (maternal grandparents) in Baltimore, MD in 1970.

Granny (Albertina Heming) and my mom (Diane) in 1968. That mid-century modern silver tree is a holiday detail that has survived and was used for many years through my own parent’s retirement.

My husband’s experience was a bit different. Many aspects of the holidays were a re-creation of the year prior – decorations, menu, guests and celebratory details were a great annual tradition. Change was eschewed, conceding to it only when absolutely necessary. The Schmidt family traditions run deep and long and are equally treasured.

*Every big holiday in the Schmidt family included a visit to Grammy’s house (and many times for my family as well, but that is a blog post for another day).* Here is Andrew at Grammy’s house for Christmas in 1967.

When Andrew and his brother started their own families, the tradition continued. Here is Abby (Andrew’s youngest), Grammy (his paternal grandmother), his neice Elia, and MomMom (his maternal grandmother), all dressed up for a Christmas visit.

As adults, we each continued our “holiday styles” in a similar manner, with my holidays moving with the ebb and flow of family member geography, the growing up of me and my three siblings, the loss of grandparents, the start of marriages and the birth of grandchildren. Andrew’s experience was a bit more steadfast and certain. Despite many of the same family changes over time, his family endeavored each year to keep every holiday the same at its’ core. Each style seemed to work for each of us….and then we got married! Cue the David Bowie music…”Cha-cha-cha-changes!”

When we married in 2015, holidays became a new conglomeration of step-siblings, new step-cousins, and a mix of guests that varied with each holiday and each year. With my family moving form PA to MD, and the sort-of blending of two households, the holiday table looked a little different each year. This photo shows the “kid table” at Thanksgiving, circa 2017.

We always tried to lasso a few of our kiddos each year to celebrate in different ways – this was the day in 2019 we got a small group of us together to pick our Christmas tree – with Ben (Andrew’s son), and Chris (Christy’s best guy).

So when we declared our full-time RVing plans and as Coronavirus descended upon our world, it quickly became apparent that our big holidays were going to be much different for a while. And so far, different they have been! Initially, I had one goal in mind – to make sure our kids all had a place to spend and enjoy each holiday no matter where we were in our RV.

We also intended to find enticing travel locations that might create a holiday option for any of our six children to visit if they wanted. Even though all our kids are now young adults, it was important to me that each of our kids had some holiday options. Despite all the intentions and planning, we realized much of it was beyond our control.

The inability to travel during a pandemic created a quiet heartache as treasured holiday time with our loved ones was relegated to texts, phone, and video calls. I have learned that Covid had a far greater impact on holidays than full-time RVing ever would. I expect to miss seeing most of my loved ones when I travel. But there is an added level of sadness when I know my stationary-living loved ones also cannot see and do most of the things they would like to do to celebrate.

These are the types of holidays that everyone around the world misses – a gathering of generations and households. This was Thanksgiving 2016, the last that we enjoyed celebrating with all of our parents. Fathers and fathers-in-law have since passed, placing another change upon us that we wish we didn’t have to face.

So as we wrap up a year of Covid holidays and six months of living on the road, I am grateful for whatever time I can get with my loved ones. Brief visits with Ella, my college-student-youngest did happen – masks on and hugs withheld, before she had to return to her new “school home” in Gainesville, FL to work her part-time job at Walmart. It has become clear that holiday familiarity is suspended for a while as everyone’s adult responsibilities, Coronavirus, and our geographic distance take their toll on our family, like so many others.

It was our thought that our other children and parents, all currently based out of Maryland and Pennsylvania, would have family members nearby to give them a “holiday home”. Unfortunately, with Covid, that couldn’t always happen. My two older kids both work every day in high-Covid-risk food service environments, so Covid really prevented them from being able to do much holiday visiting at all, in an effort to keep other more Covid-vulnerable relatives safe. Instead, my oldest, Adalie, delivered Thanksgiving dinner from her place of employment to her brother, Lorne, since they both worked through the extended Thanksgiving weekend. Lorne made a pumpkin pie and visited a local friend’s family. They had recently lost their son/brother and it was important to him to help fill their holiday with some happiness.

Andrew’s children each varied their own plans slightly, knowing that we could not all be together this year. Christy was moving into a new apartment and kept busy with her boyfriend and his family. Ben and Abby, still living at their mother’s home, had a place for a more traditional, albeit, smaller Thanksgiving.

Our mothers each had perhaps the most challenging Thanksgiving celebrations of all of us. My mom spent her first Thanksgiving as a widow, having just moved out of her home of 55 years – and into her own adorable in-law suite in my sister and brother-in-law’s home. My mother-in-law spent her first Thanksgiving ever without anyone else at the table. Our moms enjoyed meals provided by our siblings, but the holiday differences most certainly were the dominant theme. We all did our best exchanging calls, texts and special flower deliveries, but watching all these changes unfold was certainly the most difficult part of the holiday to navigate.

Easter 2020 was a Covid-bust – with a full lockdown and stay-at-home order in MD, so we were bound and determined to make Thanksgiving on the road special in whatever way we could. Here, Andrew and I walk the beach with Ella on Thanksgiving Day in Tybee Island, GA.

Our Thanksgiving had some really nice moments despite all the limitations. Andrew and Ella and I enjoyed a pot-luck meal hosted by the campground where we were staying, so I was able to cook our favorite dishes, without having the full load of a turkey and a dozen side dishes. We ate at a picnic table at our campsite, with a tablescape of seashells, pine cones and mini pumpkins. Instead of hosting 15 – 20 guests, our family-of-three walked off our meal on the beach of Tybee Island, GA on a warm afternoon, exchanging “Happy Thanksgiving” greetings with strangers instead of our parents and most of our children, all of whom we missed dearly.

A Thanksgiving 2020 freast for three- safely outdoors, with our feet in the sand, at Rivers End Campground, Tybee Island, GA

Where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic Ocean at sunset. Sometimes different can be great, and at the same time, you miss your people even more.

Christmas was a repeat of a similar scenario. We met Ella at a campground on the gulf panhandle in Carrabelle Beach, FL for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was a treat that included long walks on the pure white sand, collecting seashells and walking the dogs. I made many of Ella’s favorite meals and put all my “Mom efforts” into her, unable to host or dote on any other kids or parents. Facetime and Zoom meetings replaced a trip to someone’s house for a day-long visit. Gifts were mailed, with a hope, but little expectation that the USPS was going to deliver in time. It was quiet. It was relaxing. It was still lovely. But It was very, very different.

Christmas tree hunting was a trip to Goodwill, and decorating took only about an hour in our tiny RV home. But something about the twinkling lights helped give us the warmth of Christmas even when we missed nearly all of our loved ones.

Even a visit by one is better than a visit by none (she still needs to practice her mask-wearing as part of her adulting lessons). What we lacked in wrapping paper for gifts (as shown in photo), we made up for with shipping packages of love to those we missed.

I filled my 2020 “Mom-tank” by cooking special food for Ella and Andrew, and visiting with all of our kids on Facetime or Zoom on Christmas (this was a breakfast casserole).

By the time our second Covid-impacted Easter rolls around and we wrap up a year of traveling-holidays, I am not sure that much will be “back to normal”. We hope the Covid vaccine will be widely available by then so that flights can be booked and larger gatherings of loved ones from different households are once again safe. But if it isn’t, I know it will still be okay, despite the differences. The holidays have to change every year, but the core of every holiday will always be the same. These important days of the year are about sharing love, and we will all find new and different ways to share that love with those we love and miss.

Safe travels – and happy holidays all year-round, wherever you are planted!

The gallery of photos shared below is a walk down memory lane from the 1950s thru the present, showing how our families and our family traditions have evolved over the years. It is a digital family photo album of resilience and love.

This is actually a socially distant “bon voyage” crab feast we hosted in summer, 2020; I included it here because we were actually having an Easter Egg toss that had been Covid-cancelled in the spring! It was a day that marked the beginning of life on the road, as well as the continued crossover of generations of the Schmidt and Heming familes that began in the 1950s and continues four generations later

There Is A Garden Full Of Roses and Thorns In “Empty Nest Full-Time RVing”

Take the good with the bad – and you will be rewarded with grand adventures to remember always!

We didn’t expect empty-nest full-time RVing to be life in a bed of roses. We knew to take the good roses with the not-so-good thorns, because this is still “real life”, even if it is less conventional than other ways of living. While many roses and thorns were anticipated, there are a few interesting, unexpected or less significant roses and thorns we have discovered. Here is a list of some that come to mind after five months on the road with just me, my Sweetums and our three furry pets.

Murphy was right (again) – the flat tire won’t happen until after you buy $1734 in new RV tires. But rose-colored kudos to Goodyear who agreed to replace the ruined nearly new tire at half price. They didn’t need to do that but we appreciate that they did.
You will grow a renewed appreciation for sunrises and sunsets. You have more opportunities to see them, and fewer distractions (#taketimetosmelltheroses). Gosh, they are awesome.

A little bit of cheating here, but this is the St. Augustine, FL area taken the summer BEFORE we went FT, as we conducted our College Campus Tour 2019. (she chose Santa Fe College and University of Florida in Gainesville!)

3. You can still be very busy as an empty-nester on the road. It is a different kind of busy, but there is still a lot to do. The difference is, the totality of the items are less “mission-critical” and are generally more fun than “before” (e.g. gather and send care packages to loved ones, download and organize photos, work on itinerary details, etc). Besides, you get to look outside the window at your workspace and see an ever-changing scene.

Not a bad “office with a view” – and a cat! If I MUST work, this is a great place to do so (of course, the next place we go may be even prettier!)

Even in the early morning hours, windows with a view that changes with every campsite are a nice treat as you take care of mundane tasks such as balancing the checkbook.

4. A cold, rainy day by the (electric) campfire in your RV can be cozy and warm and relaxing, but a tropical storm with sideways rain and 50 mph gusts can be a bit too much white knuckling as your rig sways and shakes.

5. You can cook anything in an RV kitchen. I thought I might not bake cookies or tackle a big batch of Thanksgiving dressing (AKA stuffing if you didn’t grow up in my family) once we moved into our tiny new RV home. It takes practice and sometimes some creativity (fewer specialty tools, utensils, and appliances), but anything I have tackled has been possible and enjoyable to make as well! Counterspace is always a challenge, and two people in the kitchen at once can be a tight fit, but it works!

Steak (thanks to my personal grill master!), mashed cauliflower, roasted brussels sprouts and a glass of deep dry red wine- RVing YUM!

If the little RV galley kitchen isn’t enough, remember that bacon cooked outdoors is among the best you can get!

6. You might just miss old-man winter. We headed from Maryland to Florida at the launch of FT RV living (taking a kiddo to college), and then made our way north again while summer was still in full swing. We weaved our way south again but seemed to always keep slightly ahead of the fall season to which we are accustomed. We actually MISSED the full, slow transition from summer to fall and I think we will miss the snow and cold weather as well. That is not to say that it wasn’t awesome to walk the warm Georgia beaches on Thanksgiving day, or that we will choose to spend January and February in Maryland any time soon. But I think that we might just plan our future travel so that we can enjoy some seasonal changes a little bit more (and avoid Florida every summer!).

7. If you enjoy a regular bath in your sticks and bricks home, you will really miss it in your RV home. Now I understand why bath-loving RVers see an occasional hotel stay, spa day or hot tub soak as “essential”.

I really do miss our giant bathtub…but any tub would do – sunken, claw foot, whirlpool, whatever – I miss it!

8. It still feels good to make your bed each day – it is just a little more exhausting.

9. You really can live with only three of each type of clothing (three t-shirts, three shorts, three long pants, three long-sleeved shirts, etc). You really need fewer items of clothing than you packed in your rig.

10. You might just miss having your old yard. We miss our backyard for our dogs as much as our dogs miss their backyard. It was a far easier task to let them outside on their whim, without committing to a leash walk or trip to the dog park.

Bug and Calvin miss our backyard perhaps more than we do, but we can make a leash walk and dog park work now that we are FT RVers.

There are no dog parks quite as wonderful as this grassy hillside for Calvin to chase…and NOT retrieve tennis balls!

11. A shorter visit by your kids is best once you become an empty nester. We love to have our kids visit us (six of them, ages 19 – 28), and a couple of them have done so several times since we began living on the road – for a few hours and for overnight stays. We have discovered (and perhaps they did also), that a short stay is just about right. One recent 24-hour visit by our youngest resulted in one item left behind and three cups, a plate, silverware, a bag of cookies, a bottle of OJ and cookie wrappers being left lying around. This was all despite the fact that said adult child slept at least 14 of the 24 hours of her stay! Conversely, it was a real treat to cook for her and hear her appreciation for Mom’s food!

It was great to have her visit – for 24 hours – and great to cook a feast – and also great to return to our empty nest – and I am SURE she enjoyed returning to her apartment and “college adulting” (which really is like “Adulting, Jr.”.

12. You might miss driving or you might not. I miss driving. My dear husband does not (because he is doing it all!). Backstory: I have a growing history of vision limitations that makes me uncomfortable driving in in the dark, in unfamiliar places or with unfamiliar vehicles. Therefore, driving a massive F350 long-bed, dually truck (after driving a small Volvo SUV for years), ALWAYS in a new, unfamiliar place, and sometimes towing a 35 foot trailer, leaves me with few options to drive. I have practiced, and will do so some more, with the hope that some of my vision problems of recent months can be improved over time. But in the end, I miss feeling as independent as I did previously when I could easily hop in a car and just go.

13. RV propane stoves and ovens aren’t so great. I have had a strong preference for gas stoves all my adult life, but not in the RV! Adjusting the flame is difficult (burning hotter than they need to and impossible to achieve a good “simmer”), they warm up the small space of the rig on already warm days, and the oven is so uneven in its heating that it is generally useless. On the rosier up-side, I LOVE our portable single burner induction cooktop and our convection microwave oven! I use the propane oven for pan storage and can often cover the stovetop to create additional mission critical counter space. I prefer to cook for the two of us on the induction burner (using free campground electricity instead of purchased propane) and I do nearly all my baking in our convection oven (microwave). Both took some learning, but the results are very satisfying.

RV propane stove on the left (3 burners)….portable electric induction cooktop on the right. It is nice to have options.

14. The time between each freezer defrosting is shorter than you might expect. It seems that no sooner do we defrost the freezer, it is time to do so again (monthly, on average). This is a task we did not have with our previous electric residential fridge but it is a necessary evil of an RV (propane/electric) refrigerator.

15. The countertop ice maker makes ice that is ALMOST as good as Chickfila ice! It is also my favorite appliance (we use a lot of ice). I suppose if we had opted for the residential fridge in our RV (that is an option in camping now that didn’t exist years ago), we could eliminate the previously mentioned defrosting issue as well as the need for a counterspace-eating ice machine (the residential fridge comes with an ice-maker), but for now, this setup works for us.

16. The sound of a hard and steady rainfall on the camper roof feels sooooo peaceful and safe and relaxing. Yep, roof rainfall, especially in the evening, cuddling with my DH (and perhaps a dog or cat) evokes feelings of great comfort. It reminds me of the feelings I had during my childhood when our entire family would gather on the back porch of our home during thunderstorms, huddled under blankets, just to hear the roar of the rain on the porch’s plastic corrugated rooftop.

17. RV air conditioning is loud and temperatures are somewhat erratic. I miss the quiet consistency of traditional central air (and I only had central A/C twice in my life – in a townhouse I rented in my mid-20s, and in the last five years of our “sticks and bricks” living!)

17. You will miss your loved ones…but appreciate them so much more. Being apart from your children, after spending their entire childhood WITH them is perhaps one of life’s greatest changes we face as parents. It is expected and takes some time to adjust to a new way of living. When we added a nomadic lifestyle on top of our empty nest, I began missing them in a whole new way. It also has grown feelings of great appreciation for the young adults they are becoming. They make me so proud of where they are headed and how they got there. Additionally, I miss my mom, my sister, my brother, my stepkids and a whole host of people that I haven’t lived with for a really long time – or never lived with at all! To all our extended family and friends – WE MISS YOU and we CHERISH the time we get to spend with you.

These are our people – well, most of them. And we miss them every day!

Safe travels – roses and thorns included!

The Moment We Became Full-time RVers Was A Little Surprising

Becoming a “full-time RVer” was a piece of cake in the strict definition of the words. We moved out of our house and into our 35 foot fifth-wheel trailer on July 17, 2020. We have not returned to sleep in our “sticks and bricks” home since. So by that definition, we have been “full-timing” for a couple of months now.

But in my gut, full-time living didn’t feel real to me until recently. We are still adjusting and finding our way there. That is because living in your camper, trailer, motorhome or RV of any kind is more a state of being or a change in mindset than the place you lay your head each night. It is a much larger and more significant process of change in your life and in your heart. “Going FT” took us about six years.

The idea of living full-time in an RV began as we dated and then married in 2015 and were talking about how we might spend our time together. When you marry in the middle of your life (late 40s) rather than in your youth, you feel compelled to increase the quality of the time you spend together. You have an appreciation for the brevity of life and gain a desire to make up for the time you lost together. So we began dreaming about our time together.

Marrying in mid-life grows appreciation for the quality of time you spend together.

We had about six years of at-home parenting to do with the youngest of our kids before we became empty-nesters. We already were not the traditional family, the typical marriage or the couple we expected to be. With different backgrounds, we needed to explore the possibilities. I was always drawn to travel and had been camping my entire life. My desire to see the country and the world had always been a part of my life, adjusting the distance and types of travel I did along the way for life changes such as college, career, marriage and kids. I always felt like there was a lot of travel ahead for me. Andrew had traveled occasionally for work but aside from a few plane trips to Disney when his children were young, vacation was often a “staycation” and work had been his focus. Before we married, he hadn’t seen himself much outside of the success and growth of his career.

We were both open to great change – heck, our entire lives had been DEFINED by change for years (death, divorce, remarriage). We wanted to really be able to plan these changes carefully and to take our time.

What began as daydreaming about our future travels, turned into an idea about camping together. “Let’s try it!”, we said. My kids and I already had a Coleman pop-up camper, so we took a long-weekend trip to see if camping might be “our thing”. Then we decided to try some nice resorts as well. So we took a couple of fly-in, international, “all-inclusive” vacations. We enjoyed it all. What we quickly realized was that we wanted to see and do a LOT. Our daydreaming evolved into a plan – “Let’s take an extended trip once the kids are on their own”.

We started small to explore camping as a couple…and saw great potential.

All-inclusive resorts are too-short-lived but really wonderful.

Recognizing that we couldn’t afford to travel long-term at high-end resorts, and acknowledging that camping in our 50s would be more pleasant if we focused on the “glamping” end of the camping spectrum, we hatched a rough plan. Let’s upgrade our camper and use these next few years to learn to camp together. We visited an RV show and spent a full two seasons deciding which style of camper would best meet our needs. We joined Facebook Groups, devoured blogs and Youtube videos of people that were taking epic long-term trips around North America. We discovered “full-time RVing” and felt like we had found our plan.

That moment of realization created great anticipation and excitement and created even more fun over the following years as we planned for our plan! We are by nature, big planners and very deliberate decision-makers, but with this big lifestyle change, we made a point to try to NOT plan the travel. We wanted to breed spontaneity and flexibility into our lives as we became empty-nesters.

So we used the preparation years to place our focus on getting ready for “our time”. We wanted to buy the right rig, the right truck, be safe and secure and set ourselves up for great success. We wanted to be prepared financially and made big decisions, such as selling our home, selling our vehicles and shedding nearly all of our possessions. We did all of those things and spent the next three summers building up our camping and travel repertoire and paring down our lives for the big launch.

That takes us, once again, to that summer day in July when we moved out of our house and into our camper. Literally years in the making and all it took was an afternoon to schlep our remaining clothes, food and most important possessions into our 350 foot square home on wheels.

From “sticks and bricks” to Codorus State Park, Hanover, PA – July 2020

We meandered within 25 miles of our starting point for two more weeks, visiting with family, emptying out the house and putting it on the market and REALLY PACKING the rig with everything the last little chick was taking to college. Down to Florida we went to deposit her at school, help her get settled in her apartment, and to just sit and settle down for a while. Life had been frenetic and exceedingly busy for months and we were exhausted. It had been difficult to enjoy the day-to-day because there had been so much to accomplish in those last weeks and months and years.

Through it all, it took a full month before my dear husband and I looked at each other and referred to our place as “home”. In the end, it had nothing to do with the rig we chose, or the things with which we had parted. It did not matter where the camper sat on that particular day. Instead, it had everything to do with a feeling of contentment. For us, it was grabbing those feelings we sought – slowing down, reducing responsibilities, changing the type of parenting we did, eliminating “stuff” and reconnecting with each other in a way we hadn’t really felt since we had been teenagers. At age 54/53, we now have a simpler life with fewer worries which has given us a giddy feeling of anticipation of what lies ahead of us. We are full-time RVers, exploring life fully – and we are so blessed to experience this lifestyle.