Well, it is now March 22nd. Just over three more weeks here in Canada and I will be flying 'home' to North Charleston, SC.
There are reasons to look forward to going back, it will be nice to be back in my comfort zone, sleep in my own bed, stay in my PJ's all day if I want too :-) Do my own thing and not have to consider anyone else while doing it. I am ready to go back now, it has been great being able to visit the In Laws in California for 3 weeks, and definitely feel very welcome here in Canada with Chris and Tina and family. They have really helped me get through the tough times and my "Matthew moments'.
I think that is the only reason that I may wish I were staying here longer, or at least until Jay is going to be back home too, I haven't spent any time in the house by myself, since we lost our Matthew, I know I will be fine and if I need too I can always call a friend to come over and visit for a while, I think Jay is more worried about me than I am, after all I am a grown up, well I try:-) Hopefully it will only be about three weeks until Jay gets there, he still doesn't know and probably won't until the end of April.
I have been doing a lot of reading online, especially the RV forums and a lot of blogs written by full timers. There are some really good ones out there, I will eventually put links to some on here, maybe even some photos, just have to wait for Jay the tech' guy to help me with that! Anyway, as I was saying, I am learning a lot about workcamping, I hadn't realised that there are so many opportunities to earn some extra money whilst travelling, it all sounds very cool, we could volunteer our time at a State park etc, where our 'payment' would be a full hook up (FHU) that would include water/electric/sewer, the volunteer hours are usually around 20 per week per couple, so that would give us plenty of time to explore the areas outside the park and to do whatever we needed to do outside of those hours, that sounds ideal to me, it would cut out the biggest cost of RVing, which is the campground fees, perfect!
Then there is the other kind of workcamping, this is a bit more like a 'real' job, you have to commit to more hours actually working, most of these jobs are in RV camp grounds (CG) during the busy seasons, depending on which area in the US they are would dictate when they are busy. You would work on different areas in the CG, in the office taking reservations etc, in the grounds keeping it tidy, showing campers to their site, or cleaning buildings, working in the store etc. Most CG's would give you a FHU for a certain amount of hours per week, and then pay $$ for any extra hours they need you. This sounds good if you need the money and they usually need you from either April to September, or September to March, obviously you can chose jobs in areas you want to be, there is a website that you can put a resume stating what you are willing to do, when/where etc. and any experience you have. Jay says that he would prefer to be in the position where he doesn't have to take a job because he 'needs' extra money, but where he would take one because he 'wants' too, well yeah, that would be ideal, but I am willing to accept that we may have to earn some extra cash occasionally, especially if we have any unplanned maintenance that crops up on the RV, that is not unheard of :-)
Every time I talk to Jay now, he is starting to sound more excited about starting this adventure! He was saying tonight that he just wants to get home and start looking at RV dealerships in SC and having a look at what is out there that will work for us, I have my 'list' of must haves, and would likes, also a few of the not necessary, but would be nice! I think I have written half a notepad full of things I am learning about on the RV forums, Jay will laugh when he sees it! He always laughs at my lists :-) It will be fun though, I am excited about finding our 'new home'.
Take care of you, huggs Kim x
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Spring Forward!
Last night we put the clocks forward, I think that is like saying it's almost Spring? Considering that I am in Canada and the kind of weather I was expecting here, I am wondering what happened to Winter?
Don't get me wrong, there has been snow and occasionally lots of it, it hasn't stuck around for too long though, a couple of days, a week at most. From what I am reading on blogs, forums etc, it's been a pretty mild Winter everywhere this year. I'm hoping that doesn't mean a long hot Summer, I can give or take the higher temps, it's the humidity I don't like. In Charleston we can have high 80's with 100% humidity! That's just too much for me! Along with the heat comes the Mozzies (Mosquitoes) They tend to like me, at least they like my blood! Not sure why, but I can be in a big group of people and be the only one they feast on! I have tried all sorts of repellents, sprays, oils, battery operated things that attach to a belt, even the 'old wives tale' ones that say eating garlic etc will help. No, not so far, but I am open to suggestions :-)
So, to get back on track, today was a lovely sunny day here in Okotoks, Canada. Chris and Tina (the friends I am visiting here) are and have been 'Geo-cache' enthusiasts for quite a while. I had no idea what it was, but I was assured I would enjoy finding out. It was really a lot of fun! It's apparently popular all over the World! Just shows how informed I am huh? Anyway, we set off in the truck with a hand held GPS, a box of 'goodies' and the I phones. Chris had already planned which caches we were going to search for, there is a website that you can go too online, that lets you put in your zip code (GPS location) and you will get a list of caches in your search area. Chris came up with 5. We followed the clues to the first one, it was by a beautiful river, without the GPS coordinates it's probably a lot harder to find the Caches, and with it, it's a little too easy, but you still have to hunt the cache box down, once you are in exactly the right spot! It took a few minutes to find it, it was well hidden off the path and in the roots of a big tree, it was a small round box with duct tape around it, inside was a little book and some little trinket type items. Other people had found this cache previously and left items for others to find. Not everyone leaves something, but you can chose to remove an item, put something in, or just leave a note in the little booklet, to say you found it and write a few words to say if it was an easy find etc.
We carried on going to all 5 sites that Chris had chosen, we found 3 out of the 5, some were kind of easy, obviously 2 of them weren't, but it was good fun trying! I am thinking that this is something that Jay could really get into, it sounds ideal for people that travel in RVs or even if you don't. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. As always happens though, I googled 'Geo-caching' after we got back to the house and it was everywhere! Great fun though, definitely something I will educate Jay on :-)
I am still researching everything that I can find on Full time RVing, all the blogs I can find that are written by people already living the life, the forums that have members that answer all my questions, even before I ask them! Jay is still getting at least a dozen emails a day with links to 'the perfect RV' for us! I just want him to come home, so we can actually go inside some of them and see what will suit us both. At least we are past the halfway mark now (I hope) Jay should be home in about two months, I can't wait for him to get home, it's going to be so much fun doing the research together and hopefully going to a couple of RV shows. The Diesel Pusher model is definitely the front runner for me and I think Jay is of the same opinion, it's the options, length, year built and price that we have to think about now. I know our rig is out there somewhere.
Keep checking back and follow our journey, we may find a few bumps along the way, but we will get there eventually :-)
Don't get me wrong, there has been snow and occasionally lots of it, it hasn't stuck around for too long though, a couple of days, a week at most. From what I am reading on blogs, forums etc, it's been a pretty mild Winter everywhere this year. I'm hoping that doesn't mean a long hot Summer, I can give or take the higher temps, it's the humidity I don't like. In Charleston we can have high 80's with 100% humidity! That's just too much for me! Along with the heat comes the Mozzies (Mosquitoes) They tend to like me, at least they like my blood! Not sure why, but I can be in a big group of people and be the only one they feast on! I have tried all sorts of repellents, sprays, oils, battery operated things that attach to a belt, even the 'old wives tale' ones that say eating garlic etc will help. No, not so far, but I am open to suggestions :-)
So, to get back on track, today was a lovely sunny day here in Okotoks, Canada. Chris and Tina (the friends I am visiting here) are and have been 'Geo-cache' enthusiasts for quite a while. I had no idea what it was, but I was assured I would enjoy finding out. It was really a lot of fun! It's apparently popular all over the World! Just shows how informed I am huh? Anyway, we set off in the truck with a hand held GPS, a box of 'goodies' and the I phones. Chris had already planned which caches we were going to search for, there is a website that you can go too online, that lets you put in your zip code (GPS location) and you will get a list of caches in your search area. Chris came up with 5. We followed the clues to the first one, it was by a beautiful river, without the GPS coordinates it's probably a lot harder to find the Caches, and with it, it's a little too easy, but you still have to hunt the cache box down, once you are in exactly the right spot! It took a few minutes to find it, it was well hidden off the path and in the roots of a big tree, it was a small round box with duct tape around it, inside was a little book and some little trinket type items. Other people had found this cache previously and left items for others to find. Not everyone leaves something, but you can chose to remove an item, put something in, or just leave a note in the little booklet, to say you found it and write a few words to say if it was an easy find etc.
We carried on going to all 5 sites that Chris had chosen, we found 3 out of the 5, some were kind of easy, obviously 2 of them weren't, but it was good fun trying! I am thinking that this is something that Jay could really get into, it sounds ideal for people that travel in RVs or even if you don't. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. As always happens though, I googled 'Geo-caching' after we got back to the house and it was everywhere! Great fun though, definitely something I will educate Jay on :-)
I am still researching everything that I can find on Full time RVing, all the blogs I can find that are written by people already living the life, the forums that have members that answer all my questions, even before I ask them! Jay is still getting at least a dozen emails a day with links to 'the perfect RV' for us! I just want him to come home, so we can actually go inside some of them and see what will suit us both. At least we are past the halfway mark now (I hope) Jay should be home in about two months, I can't wait for him to get home, it's going to be so much fun doing the research together and hopefully going to a couple of RV shows. The Diesel Pusher model is definitely the front runner for me and I think Jay is of the same opinion, it's the options, length, year built and price that we have to think about now. I know our rig is out there somewhere.
Keep checking back and follow our journey, we may find a few bumps along the way, but we will get there eventually :-)
Monday, March 5, 2012
A little background.....
Still unsure about Jay's date for coming home, he says there is a 'fair' chance he will be home for our anniversary, but who knows what that means :-) It's not like we haven't been 'here' before. during his 23 years of active duty, we have been separated for a lot of special occasions. We can usually make up for them when he comes home. We have even been known to have Christmas in February, when the boys were little, it really didn't matter to them. During this deployment, we will have missed Valentines, my Birthday, his Birthday and possibly our Anniversary. We will have a lot of 'making up' to do :-)
While I am still here in Calgary staying with our wonderful friends Chris and Tina I will tell you a little of our history with them. I met Tina back home in England, I think it was around 1984, she came to work at Orbro, a retail warehouse, for the Christmas season. I was already working there full time. I really didn't take to Tina at first, but we are the kind of friends now that can go years without seeing each other, but when we do it's like almost no time has gone by. It's funny, we were talking the other day and neither of us can pin down the date we last saw each other! Tina persuaded me to go to W.Germany with her almost 26 yrs ago to the day, she had been there before and had worked for a US military family as a nanny to their children. I was a little hesitant about doing this, but I realised that this would probably be the last time I would get an opportunity to do something 'different'. I promised myself I would give it a year and then come home to England and 'grow up'!
I found a position with a great family, two children ages 7 and 4, I enjoyed the job, but it was hard work, I wasn't just a nanny, I was more like an Au-pair! I did everything! Washing, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids, all for $50 a week! But, that is where I met Jay, it was on June 14th 1986, he actually dated another British nanny (one of our friends) for a couple of days, then she decided he wasn't her type ( I still tease him about that!) so, I got him :-) We started out with one dance and have been together ever since! We got engaged the following Jan 6th and married May 23rd:-) We stayed in Germany until Jay's tour was over in 1990. We had our first Son Nathan there in April 1988. we also introduced Chris to Tina at dinner one night in 1988 at our home, they have been together ever since too, they now have two children, Jamie who is almost 20 and Katie who just turned 14. They just celebrated 22 years of happy marriage in February. They are now citizens of Canada and just love it here. It is a beautiful Country and full of open spaces, I doubt they will ever leave. We have plans to bring our home on wheels here for visits whenever we can. Jay calls Tina and I 'Sisters', not by birth, but because we chose to be! We like that!
After our oldest Son, Nathan. Tina was the first person I called when we got the call that our youngest Son Matthew, had passed away at college in Nov' last year. Immediately she wanted to be with us, but Jay persuaded her to delay her coming until the week he was leaving for deployment (Jan 2nd) She came and spent 10 days with me in Charleston and ended up bringing me back to Canada with her, I will always be grateful for her love and thoughtfulness and in taking care of me while Jay has been gone. Love you sis! xx
While I am still here in Calgary staying with our wonderful friends Chris and Tina I will tell you a little of our history with them. I met Tina back home in England, I think it was around 1984, she came to work at Orbro, a retail warehouse, for the Christmas season. I was already working there full time. I really didn't take to Tina at first, but we are the kind of friends now that can go years without seeing each other, but when we do it's like almost no time has gone by. It's funny, we were talking the other day and neither of us can pin down the date we last saw each other! Tina persuaded me to go to W.Germany with her almost 26 yrs ago to the day, she had been there before and had worked for a US military family as a nanny to their children. I was a little hesitant about doing this, but I realised that this would probably be the last time I would get an opportunity to do something 'different'. I promised myself I would give it a year and then come home to England and 'grow up'!
I found a position with a great family, two children ages 7 and 4, I enjoyed the job, but it was hard work, I wasn't just a nanny, I was more like an Au-pair! I did everything! Washing, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids, all for $50 a week! But, that is where I met Jay, it was on June 14th 1986, he actually dated another British nanny (one of our friends) for a couple of days, then she decided he wasn't her type ( I still tease him about that!) so, I got him :-) We started out with one dance and have been together ever since! We got engaged the following Jan 6th and married May 23rd:-) We stayed in Germany until Jay's tour was over in 1990. We had our first Son Nathan there in April 1988. we also introduced Chris to Tina at dinner one night in 1988 at our home, they have been together ever since too, they now have two children, Jamie who is almost 20 and Katie who just turned 14. They just celebrated 22 years of happy marriage in February. They are now citizens of Canada and just love it here. It is a beautiful Country and full of open spaces, I doubt they will ever leave. We have plans to bring our home on wheels here for visits whenever we can. Jay calls Tina and I 'Sisters', not by birth, but because we chose to be! We like that!
After our oldest Son, Nathan. Tina was the first person I called when we got the call that our youngest Son Matthew, had passed away at college in Nov' last year. Immediately she wanted to be with us, but Jay persuaded her to delay her coming until the week he was leaving for deployment (Jan 2nd) She came and spent 10 days with me in Charleston and ended up bringing me back to Canada with her, I will always be grateful for her love and thoughtfulness and in taking care of me while Jay has been gone. Love you sis! xx
Friday, March 2, 2012
We make plans and God laughs!
I guess that will teach us huh! Jay called and said his replacement is going to get there later than we thought. No idea how much later, but hopefuly only a week or so. I still have hope that he will get home in time for our 25th Anniversary on May 23rd, I have to remember this is the military though, things don't always happen when they say they will :-) There is 'our' time, then there is "Military time'. It will be fine, everything will work out, it usually does.
My plans to fly back to SC haven't changed, maybe i can start getting rid of some of our 'stuff' while I am waiting on Jay. It would be nice if I can get started on that. I will be back on April 16th. I will have at least a month or so to do as much as I can, I am thinking about calling around a few childrens homes, to see if they would like some of Matthew's toy collections, I would rather do that than put them in a yard sale, I know Jay would be ok with that too.
I will be back to add more soon. Just wanted to let everyone know the latest on the news from Jay :-)
huggs kim x
My plans to fly back to SC haven't changed, maybe i can start getting rid of some of our 'stuff' while I am waiting on Jay. It would be nice if I can get started on that. I will be back on April 16th. I will have at least a month or so to do as much as I can, I am thinking about calling around a few childrens homes, to see if they would like some of Matthew's toy collections, I would rather do that than put them in a yard sale, I know Jay would be ok with that too.
I will be back to add more soon. Just wanted to let everyone know the latest on the news from Jay :-)
huggs kim x
Thursday, March 1, 2012
March is here Already!
Yesterday, my friend Tina (who I am staying with in Canada) said she couldn't believe that March is here already! I had told her in January, that the first 3 months of every year seem to fly by for me, my Birthday is March 9th and usually after Christmas is done and put away for another year, March arrives and I am yet another year older! It has always been this way, maybe it's just me:)
I was telling Tina that I am really happy that this year, Jay and I will get to spend our Anniversary (May 23rd) together, it's a special one for us this year, we will have been married for 25 years!! It hasn't always been easy/fun, but the harder times have made us stronger and made us appreciate each other all the more! I can honestly say that we are the best of friends and we love being together. There have been a lot of periods where we have been apart, Jay has, as an Active duty GI, had deployments, or temporary duties that have taken him away from his home and family, this is one of Jay's biggest regrets, that he wasn't always around for the boys as they were growing up. I tell him constantly and truthfully, that our Sons could not have had a better Dad, they have both said the same thing! I count myself among the few, that have experienced a long, happy marriage. Neither of us came from an unbroken home life, so we have appreciated being able to have a stable home life for our children. Our boys had the experience of traveling to lots of different States/Countries, during Jays 23 years in the Military, for the most part they enjoyed it, unfortunately, they did a lot of changing schools, which made it tough for them to make long lasting friendships. It can't have been that bad for them though, our oldest Son Nathan is now in the US Navy and is married and stationed in HI. We are very proud of him! Getting back on track, and the reason I started talking about our upcoming Anniversary!( I know, forgive my ramblings, but at least you get a little more insight into where our 'travelling bug' comes from :) ..) I got an email from Jay this morning, he said, "It looks like we may be earning more money from this deployment". Knowing my husband like I do, I know he is actually telling me that he is going to be gone longer than we thought! He would never put anything like dates or travel arrangements in an email, so I will most likely find out during this evenings 'moral call' how much longer he will be there, I am just hoping he will still be home by May 23rd, it was originally going to be May 8th. We shall see.
I am keeping up with my research on anything to do with Full timing in an RV, reading lots of blogs and making notes of some of the lessons learnt by some of the guys that have been living this life for years.One of my favorite chat forums is this one http://www.rv-dreams.com/ It is a great source of info for anyone either thinking about or who already own an RV, It is run by Howard& Linda Payne, they have been Full timing since 2005. I would really recommend this site, it has been a really big help for us. I confess I have become a little obsessed (ok a lot) with reading anything/everything I can about RVing and what other RVers are doing on the road, Jay is excited about our plans, but he is a lot more 'sensible' (don't tell him I said that lol) than I am regarding all the prep' we need to do before hand. I would be happy to just go buy our rig and go! Jay needs to get everything planned out on paper and in his mind first. He will take hours planning our financial budget, making sure we have everything installed in our rig (safety related especially) Doing the research on work camping versus volunteering at State owned parks etc, to see if we would need to have any extra income on the road. It's one of the reasons I have so much respect for him, and he is right (uh oh, don't tell him I said that either,lol) We do have to be prepared before we give up everything we have right now, after all, he has a pretty secure career, working as a fed' civilian. Once he gives that up, there would be little chance of him being able to go back to his present career. So, given his reserve and my 'lets go' attitudes, our plans could change from one day to the next :-)
I will try and post a few pics here, just need to work out how!
I'll be right back........
huggs kim x
I was telling Tina that I am really happy that this year, Jay and I will get to spend our Anniversary (May 23rd) together, it's a special one for us this year, we will have been married for 25 years!! It hasn't always been easy/fun, but the harder times have made us stronger and made us appreciate each other all the more! I can honestly say that we are the best of friends and we love being together. There have been a lot of periods where we have been apart, Jay has, as an Active duty GI, had deployments, or temporary duties that have taken him away from his home and family, this is one of Jay's biggest regrets, that he wasn't always around for the boys as they were growing up. I tell him constantly and truthfully, that our Sons could not have had a better Dad, they have both said the same thing! I count myself among the few, that have experienced a long, happy marriage. Neither of us came from an unbroken home life, so we have appreciated being able to have a stable home life for our children. Our boys had the experience of traveling to lots of different States/Countries, during Jays 23 years in the Military, for the most part they enjoyed it, unfortunately, they did a lot of changing schools, which made it tough for them to make long lasting friendships. It can't have been that bad for them though, our oldest Son Nathan is now in the US Navy and is married and stationed in HI. We are very proud of him! Getting back on track, and the reason I started talking about our upcoming Anniversary!( I know, forgive my ramblings, but at least you get a little more insight into where our 'travelling bug' comes from :) ..) I got an email from Jay this morning, he said, "It looks like we may be earning more money from this deployment". Knowing my husband like I do, I know he is actually telling me that he is going to be gone longer than we thought! He would never put anything like dates or travel arrangements in an email, so I will most likely find out during this evenings 'moral call' how much longer he will be there, I am just hoping he will still be home by May 23rd, it was originally going to be May 8th. We shall see.
I am keeping up with my research on anything to do with Full timing in an RV, reading lots of blogs and making notes of some of the lessons learnt by some of the guys that have been living this life for years.One of my favorite chat forums is this one http://www.rv-dreams.com/ It is a great source of info for anyone either thinking about or who already own an RV, It is run by Howard& Linda Payne, they have been Full timing since 2005. I would really recommend this site, it has been a really big help for us. I confess I have become a little obsessed (ok a lot) with reading anything/everything I can about RVing and what other RVers are doing on the road, Jay is excited about our plans, but he is a lot more 'sensible' (don't tell him I said that lol) than I am regarding all the prep' we need to do before hand. I would be happy to just go buy our rig and go! Jay needs to get everything planned out on paper and in his mind first. He will take hours planning our financial budget, making sure we have everything installed in our rig (safety related especially) Doing the research on work camping versus volunteering at State owned parks etc, to see if we would need to have any extra income on the road. It's one of the reasons I have so much respect for him, and he is right (uh oh, don't tell him I said that either,lol) We do have to be prepared before we give up everything we have right now, after all, he has a pretty secure career, working as a fed' civilian. Once he gives that up, there would be little chance of him being able to go back to his present career. So, given his reserve and my 'lets go' attitudes, our plans could change from one day to the next :-)
I will try and post a few pics here, just need to work out how!
I'll be right back........
huggs kim x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)