Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Welcome to our new "on the road" blog!

It all started with trading in our RV for a newer, larger one last fall.

Let me start at the beginning...

I've [Vicky] been an AVID RVer all of my life. It all started in the late 60's when my parents turned the bed of our pick up truck into a makeshift camper (of sorts).

You see, my Uncle Bob had recently purchased a brand new truck camper and from then on, my parents had the fever.

After a miserable, rainy weekend in the back of a pick up truck with a tarp over our heads (talk about primitive) my parents decided we needed a few more ammenities.

So, they bought a used Tour-A-Home truck camper. It looked okay, but the first rainfall had it leaking like a seive. Plus, Dad had to reinforce the upper bunk (you know, the one that hangs over the truck cab and kids love to ride in -- this was before seat belts were a law) because it was about to form its own entity.

We spent several good years in that RV. Went to Escondido, California to visit my great Aunt Ethel and Uncle Paul. I remember on the trip home we went through Las Vegas. The outdoor thermometer registered 120 degrees. That's as high as it went!

In those days, a farm truck from Illinois did not, as a rule, have air-conditioning. Neither did the camper. So we were hot!

But we did manage to have fun.

Because of this, I went on to get a truck camper of my own when my kids were little. Once we outgrew it, we bought a 22' Viking pop-up camper with two dinnettes. It was perfect for us!

Our youngest daughter, 1-year-old Bobbi Jean, needed a crib like structure to sleep in. So we took the table portion and propped it up between the seats to form a make-shift type of crib on the floor. We also bought an expanding play yard for outdoor play so she could toddle around and not get out of our sight (or into trouble).

Of course, we should have put then 3-year-old James in there. He was a mischievous child who could have put "Dennis-the-Menace" to shame. We have many memories of camping with my sister and her family in their pop-up, and with my parents in their truck camper. What fun family memories!

When we relocated from Illinois to Texas for job reasons, we sold the pop-up camper. Oh that was hard.

Finally, years later I was finally able to buy a "cream-puff" used Class C motorhome... a 28 1/2 foot Jamboree Rallye. I was living in Houston at the time. I joined Coast to Coast Resorts with my home resort in Canyon Lake -- The Summit. It's a beauty! If you ever get the chance to visit there and you're a Coast to Coast member, you gotta stay there and go tubing on the Guadalupe River.

My daughter, Bobbi Jean, and I spent many lazy days tubing down that river. Since it was only three hours from our home in Houston, we stored our rig at the resort and went up 2-3 times per month to savor all the "Hill Country" had to offer. It was delightful.

Next I sold the Class C and bought a brand new Coleman pop-up at an RV show. It came with a screen room and a built-in shower, two stoves and a gas refrigerator, and air-conditioner/heat-pump. Heavenly!

Before I continue, even though there were periods when I did not own an RV, I always had camping fever.

After I sold the Coleman, I met a wonderful man on the Internet... my husband Bob. In his bio he said he worked for an RV dealer. As you can imagine, I answered his ad ASAP!

We corresponded for several months. Flew between Denton/Dallas & Houston and visited each other. Then I quit my job and moved to Denton and we got married shortly thereafter. Turns out he was a manager at McClain's RV and one of his perks was theuse of an RV off the lot for vacations. Not bad - eh?

After he changed jobs a couple of years later, we were again without an RV. I was in withdrawal.

Last spring we decided to sell our conversion van and get a Class A motorhome. Once we made the decision to go for it, we found a 2004 31-foot Gulf Stream Ultra with two slides and hardly any miles on it. Now my Class C did not have slides so this was a whole new dimension in comfort for me.

While I was doing my thing over the years, my parents had found Yuma, Arizona. Since about 1985 or so they have been winter snowbirds. Just like the Canadian honkers, as the weather turns colder up north, they flock south to a warmer climate for the winter.

Last year, we decided to take a 2-week vacation (our first actually) and join them on the trip to Yuma and stay about a week and a half and come home. We had absolutely NO intentions of trading our newly acquired motorhome (even though you could barely walk around the bed even when the slide was out.

Now you must understand, RVers love looking -- window shopping -- at other RVs. Have you ever been to a deserted RV show? Didn't think so.

So one day Mom and I suggested we go "just looking" at RV dealers to see what the newer ones were like. Just to look... right...

Of course I fell in love with a Monaco diesel pusher that could accommodate a heavy load with ease. But the thing I really loved was it had an office area in the bedroom. And being a writer and copywriter I had to have something like this so I could work whenever and wherever we traveled.

There was one little wrinkle -- THE PRICE! It was $250,000. Unless I win the lotto, that's out of my range. Just as we were ready to call it a day and go home, the salesman said, "Do you have to have a diesel?"

When we replied no, he said I may have just the thing for you in a gasoline model. So we all piled into the golf cart and high-tailed it to the other end of the lot. And there it was, our new home. We just didn't know it yet. We knew it had great possibilities!

We spent Thanksgiving Day moving into our new gem -- a 2006 37.2 ft. Damon Challenger. It had only 6300 miles on it. The more we were in it, the more we got the "full-timer" bug.

Well, this is enough for today. Tomorrow I'll take you through our journey of deciding to actually make the transition to full-timing. How we prepared and what we suggest you do differently to be better prepared. And how we prepared our coach for our personal lifestyle.

There is so much I want to tell you... check back often as we embark on our journey. Step by step.

Vicky & Bob Heron (& Capt. Jack)


How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!