Is their such a thing as RVing etiquette? Part 2

I'm sorry to say that the "Golden Rule" doesn't appear to be as strong as it once was. Or perhaps it's always been this way and I didn't want to see it.

I remember, as a kid, if you took a walk you were expected to respect other peoples property. My parents drilled it into me not to cut across other peoples yards. Don't deposit any trash on anyone elses property.

When you think about it, these same rules SHOULD apply in campgrounds. Actually, this should be a common sense thing. And I've actually seen it posted in some campground rules for those who need to be reminded.

Since we stay in a lot of campgrounds all over the country, we see people disregarding their fellow neighbors and the park owners far too often.

Now for all of you who are responsible parents and/or responsible pet owners, I applaude you! And I hope you're my next RV Park neighbor.

We love children. Combined we've raised six children and we are blessed with nine grandchildren. We also love pets. We travel with two well-behaved Chihuahuas, Capt. Jack & Jesse James. They bring us much joy and companionship when we're away from the grandkids.

Like I said, we love children and pets, just not the barking, yelling, or making a mess in our postage stamp of a yard.

Traveling with Capt. Jack & Jesse James, we do our best to be "good neighbors." I'll explain...

When we take them outside, they are always on a leash and under our control. This is for their protection and IT IS THE RULE! They're not allowed to wander into other campsites. And no matter where they poop, we pick it up promptly. In fact, we have poop bag dispensers on each of their leashes.

I guess what boggles our minds the most is the complete disregard (and disrespect) some RVers have for park rules. Unfortunately, it's the small group that misbehave that creates hardships for all of us. Many campgrounds are starting to charge an extra fee for pets. Some are charging $5 extra per pet and limiting pets to two. Some parks won't let pets over 20 pounds into their park.

All campgrounds require all pets (yes, cats too) to be on a leash at ALL times when outdoors. They also require that owners pick up after their pets. After all, it's the right thing to do.

Did you know that pet fecal matter is a hazard for two reasons?

1. It's an unsanitary mess when other people step in it (especially when they track it into their camper).


2. When it rans, it washes into our watersheds that feed our water supplies. EEEEWWWW!

It really amazes us that many people feel they are exempt fron the rules. And it is frustrating to park owners and/or managers. Since the majority of RVers now travel with their furry family members, owners don't want to ban pets (although many we've talked to are considering doing just that).

Unfortunately, RVers who are ignoring the rules are forcing RV Park owners to make unpopular changes to their rules. Like the $5.00 per pet extra fee. The next rule to hit will be an additional $25 fee charged to your credit card if, after you leave the park, the workers find you did not pick up after your pet. Look for this idea to catch on as owners and managers are at a loss to find any other way of ensuring a pleasant stay is enjoyed by all.

Let me share an experience we recently had when we took our RV for repairs at an RV dealer. This dealer is gracious enough to provide six slots with full hook-ups for those customers who have no other place to go (like us) and need work done on their RVs.

When we pulled into our slot, Bob took care of the hook-ups while I took the dogs out to do their business. It had rained a lot recently so the ground was wet, and so was the poop all over the yard. Picking up poop from other peoples animals is unpleasant in the best of circumstances. But when it's soaking wet it's almost impossible. But this yard was so full that I had to before I could take my dogs out.

So I spent an hour picking up the disgusting mess!

Unfortunately, RVers are forcing RV Park owners and other related RV businesses to make the radical changes I talked about earlier. As with everything, many RVers do the right thing with their pets. It's the 5-10% who don't that are ruining it for all of us.

Here are some good neighbor, pet friendly ideas that are working for us:

1. If we leave and can't take Jack & Jesse with us, we put them in their kennels with a chew toy and cover them up with a sheet. They are more relaxed when they can't see out. This keeps them from barking and annoying our neighbors.
2. We don't put them in their pen unless we're sitting outside with them. This is also a rule in RV Parks!
3. We have a poop bag dispenser on each dog's leash so whenever and wherever they do their business, we promptly pick it up.

One problem dog owners may have (and cat owners would not) is barking.

Recently, we were parked next to a couple who had two large dogs. They were on a mission of traveling to see the national parks. That's great! What isn't great is that they left their dogs running loose in their rig while they were gone all day, every day. These dogs would be left alone for 8-10 hours every day.

If anyone walked by with their dog(s), these guys would bark up a storm. And since this was a tight park they were only about 10 feet from our rig. Every day, we had to listen to these dogs bark incessantly. Putting these dogs in kennels and covering them up may have calmed them down. Some animals get separation anxiety. I know if we leave our two alone for even 20 minutes, Jack tries to eat the carpet. By keeping him in his kennel and covered, he sleeps or chews on his toy. It's better for him and for the rig!

Next time you check ito an RV Park, be a good neighbor. Read the park rules and follow them.

The park owners will love you for it and so will your neighbors. And please don't take your dog or cat over to MY yard to relieve themselves. If you don't want it in your yard, use the pet walk areas provided by the parks. And pick up whatever your Fido leaves behind.

It's the right thing to do!!!

Till next time...

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

Is their such a thing as RVing etiquette? Part 1

You bet there is!

And I wish more people knew about it. Some RVing etiquette involves that sometimes perceptive yet elusive state called of consciousness known as "Common Sense."

We travel all over, staying at campgrounds for several weeks at a time. As you can imagine, we see people come and we see people go. We've discovered there seems to be a brain hiccup in many people that occurs when they make camp and break camp. I'll explain...

Before I continue, picture for a moment... eating and drinking out of your toilet. Pretty disgusting picture right? I'd say downright YUCK!

Yet we see more people doing the equivalent to this way more often than we see people practicing exemplary (or even decent) hygiene. Bob and I ask ourselves, are we being like Adrian Monk? Or do these people get sick with dysentery and not have a clue as to why?

We'll start at the beginning. Most people (hopefully) wash their hands after using the bathroom. Notice the key word here is "hopefully." We recently saw on TV where scientists went to an office. They swabbed door knobs, phones, keyboards... every surface they could think of. What did they find? E-coli & salmonella, and these were just the big bugs!

Now I'm not pointing any fingers here, but they found this bacteria more often in men's offices.

So where am I going with this?

Men are most often the worker bees who hook up the fresh (potable) water, electrical, and sewer connections. And when it's time to move on, men are usually the ones who unhook all of this and get the rig ready to get on the road again. And what we see, and what I'm about to tell you, may absolutely nauseate you! We see it daily and get sick to our stomachs every time.

Picture this: You're in an RV park. Parked just in front of you is another RV. It's a foreign family. (Note: Europeans are known to run around with little or no clothing at times... something Americans find strange... and it can be disgusting unless it's Fabio in a speedo or something.)

It appears he's having some trouble with his main electrical system so he has several extension cords coming out of his rig. One morning, he makes coffee outside. What's wrong with that you ask?

He's making it right next to the place where he dumps his raw sewage. Now if he did everything right and was careful what he touched and practiced good hygiene, then this would not be a big problem, except... he does not know how the people before him used all of these connections. We'll get into that more later...

Back to our European and his morning coffee. He came out of his RV in his underwear, silky, clinging boxer type underwear and he was pointing the way if you know what I mean. That in itself was more than I needed to see. But, to top it off he had rear cleavage showing. He was not wearing anything else but flip-flops. He had some scratching going on too.

So he proceeds to make his coffee outside. He touches the faucet handle to fill his coffee container. He adds the ground coffee and starts it brewing.

While his coffee is doing its thing, he pulls out his sewer hose and hooks it up to dump his tanks. Bare handed. When his coffee is done, he picks up a cup and pours some brew. With the same hands he has now handled a clean coffee cup that he'll drink from. He also picks up a bagel and begins eating it. Now I'll tell you what's wrong with this picture... other than the obvious just mentioned...

All RVers should know some basic things before they ever set up or break camp. They're common sense things as I mentioned earlier, but we are always surprised just how many people don't know or won't use these common sense practices... called good hygiene.

Let me paint you another picture.

Joe Smith pulls into his camping space. After leveling his coach, putting out slides, and hooking up electricity, it's time for the nitty-gritty stuff. Water & sewer.

He opens up a storage compartment and pulls out his sewer hose--with bare hands. Stored under his sewer hose is his potable water hose, yes, in the same compartment. Consider storing your drinking glass in your toilet and you'll understand the ramifications of this.

As nasty as this sounds, it's gets even nastier, unfortunately.

After handling the sewer and water hoses with the same bare hands, he hooks up the sewer. Which means he has to open a cap at the drain valve and hook up the hose securely so it does not leak its contents when he pulls the lever that opens the valve to dump the holding tank contents. Next he hooks up the drinking (Potable) water hose to the faucet and to his rig with those same hands. In doing all of this he has touched the most germ laden equipment with the same hands he's using to touch what should be the most ungerm laden items.

In case you're a newbie and don't know about holding tanks, RVs usually have three holding tanks. One used for dispensing fresh (potable) water for drinking, bathing, and flushing. The second tank is called the gray tank. This is where dishwater, shower water, and all "gray" water goes. Tank three is the black tank. This is what the toilet empties into. Think of it as the on-board sewage system.

If everyone knew and used proper sanitary techniques, the guy making his morning coffee would not be in danger of becoming sick, or making his family sick, or making the people who use his campsite after him sick.

Before I explain why this morning coffee could be so potentially dangerous, I'll explain how a camp should be set up properly and taken down. Then I'll show you how all too often it is done. We see it on a daily basis and just scratch our heads in disbelief every time. And GAG!

Best practice is to all store all clean items, like your potable water hose, in a separate location from your germy sewer hose. You don't want nasty little bugs crawling from your dirty items to your clean ones.

To begin with, wash your hands. Then take disinfecting wipes and clean your hose hook up before attaching your hose. Then spray it with a disinfecting spray like Lysol, don't forget the handle. These steps are necessary because you don't know what the guy before you did when he broke camp (I'll enlighten you in a moment).

Word of caution, don't take your garden hose and use it as your potable water hose. Standard garden hoses contain lead. What you need to use is a water hose specifically made for drinking water. These are usually white with blue lines on them. Just be sure it is a POTABLE water hose. Now your ready to hook up your water hose. Be sure you don't let open ends touch the ground because the ground could be contaminated with raw sewage (you can't see) by the previous resident.

After hooking up the water hose, you can now hook up your sewer hose. First, put on rubber or latex gloves. Do not use your bare hands. We go to the drug store and buy a box of disposable latex or vinyl gloves like doctors use for exams. This way, once you hooked up the sewer hose, you can pull the gloves off turning them inside out. Then just toss them in the trash.

The reason you should use gloves is you're handling items that come into contact with raw sewage. When you touch them, then touch your clothes, door knobs, and sink handles, you are contaminating them. If you touch your mouth or pick up a bite of food you're also risking ingesting e-coli and salmonella, among other disease causing organisms.

Remember the coffee guy picking up the bagel? He was ingesting a lot more than coffee and a bagel!

The other thing to consider is what the person before you does when they break camp.

Proper procedure is to wash your hands first. Then turn off the water and unhook the potable water hose. As you coil it up to put it away, make sure the open ends do not touch the ground. Once it's all coiled, connect the male end and the female end together so there are no open ends exposed. Now put it away in a clean, sanitary location.

Second, make sure your black and gray tanks are close to full. If not, fill them. Put on clean waterproof gloves (disposable preferred). Pull the black tank lever and empty it first. When you no longer hear water running, shut the valve.

Next, open the gray tank valve. Since the gray tank is mainly bath water and dishwater, it has soap in it and will effectively flush all solid debris from the sewer hose. Once the water stops, close the gray tank valve.

Now you may carefully unhook your sewer hose. Slowly walk the hose to completely drain its contents without spilling on the ground. Did you know it is actually illegal to spill contents from this tank on the ground. In fact, in some areas, like San Antonio where you have an aquifer below, this nasty stuff can get in to the drinking water supply. So be very careful!

Stow the sewer hose in a container in an area away from the fresh water hose. Remove your gloves and toss them. Now you can wash your hands and know you've left a sanitary place for the next person to hook up... and you won't risk making them sick.

Before I end this topic I just have to tell you what I saw this morning. One of our neighbors was breaking camp. He was using a green garden hose as his potable water hose. He came out, no gloves, and disconnected the water from his coach. Then he used that same hose to rinse out the valve opening to his gray & black tanks. This water ran all over the ground by the way... ILLEGAL and unsanitary.

Next he took that same hose, stuck it down his sewer hose and flushed it out about 5 times, spilling on the ground frequently. Then he put the sewer hose away and loosely piled his water hose on top of it. He wiped his hands on his pants and he was ready to go.

Now I have to be careful where I let my dogs run in our own yard. He let a lot of yucky water drain into our yard area. Not good etiquette!

First rule of being a good RVer... leave your campsite cleaner and more sanitary than when you arrrived. If we all do this it will be more pleasant for all of us.

Till next time,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

Travel & Get Paid For It... Not Bad...

As we were walking the dogs tonight, we talked to a couple who were counting the years until they could go full-time RVing. They didn't know if their pension and social security would get them through and leave enough left over to have some fun.

So we explained briefly how we travel all over, like many of our AGS friends... how we get to visit friends & family... see the beautiful sight in this country... and meet so many interesting and friendly people. And best of all, we get paid for it a good deal of the time.

They were intrigued and thinking seriously that they may be able to move up their "full-timing" date. We gave them a brochure we got from AGS so they can send for more information. I hope they find the answers that will help them make their dreams come true. It was our solution for sure.

Switching gears, I had no idea so many Europeans traveled to this country. And some of them ship their rigs here from Belgium, France, Finland, you name it. Many others fly in and rent an RV. And Moab, Utah seems to be an international destination!

Could be because there are so many national parks, like Canyonlands & Arches. They are spectacularly awesome and beautiful. We've been here two and a half weeks and I still love the La Sal Mountains, the canyons, and the red-rock formations. There are a lot of arches outside of Arches National Park too. It's really amazing.

An intriguing family moved in next door today. They had five children and a good size travel trailer. These people have their own business and winter is their slack time. So they pack up the kids and go to each of the states as part of their home schooling program. When they pulled into Utah today, they had three states unfilled in their state display on their rig. They were putting in the Utah state puzzle piece tonight.

It was so nice to see the kids all having such a great time. They will see their two remaining states on their way back to New York, their home. That reminds me, we only have 8 states left to fill on our display.

Weather has been gorgeous as well. Only a few days over 90 degrees and evenings in the 60s or 50s. That said, we do have a cold front coming tomorrow. We'll have a couple of nights in the upper 30s, then it will slowly start warming up again. We are loving the low humidity. A lot different than what we experienced in Texas this summer. It was a scorcher this year!

That's all for now... may the wind be to your back,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

What about your shower?

I just read this article by Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak and had to chuckle. By the time I had a camper with a shower in it, my daughter was 16. There was no way she could take an RV-Navy shower!

For years, my parents used their shower/tub area for storage. That was before basements became so large and accommodating.

So what do I do with my RV shower? I use it!

I've always used my own shower. When I owned a pop-up (Williamsburg by Coleman) it had a small shower in it. I used it.

My daughter, who loves long, luxurious showers, would don her flip-flops and use the campground's shower.

Next I had a Class C (Jamboree Rallye) and again I used my own shower all the time. For me it's a cleanliness & convenience thing. I don't like showering with shoes on and balancing to put on lotion and get dressed.

Now we have a Class A and we are full-timers. So both of us use our own shower all the time. To keep it looking brand new, the last one done uses a chamois and wipes it all down. It's not that big and it sure does keep the glass looking like new!

However, my next rig will have a shower with a seat in it. It will be so much nicer to sit down and shave my legs and smooth my feet.

When our daughter (now 30) takes a trip with us, she still prefers to use the campground shower because she really does like a hot, 45-minute shower.

Can't do that in an RV!

What do you use your shower for? Now I'm curious...

If you want to read Jaimie's article, click here

Till next time,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

So Much To See And Do!

We've been in Moab for a week and a half and things are going very well. We can tell the economy has been affected here, but not all that bad. The guides are doing very well.

I've adjusted to the altitude. Interesting thing happened to me today. I was at a local store getting some of the Zero Powerade that Bob and I are gulping down. They had a great sale on it! I told the clerk that I have to drink a lot of water & powerade to keep hydrated or I get a headache and tired. She said everyone who lives there has to keep well hydrated because the air is thinner and drier. You lose body fluid faster.

Finally, an answer that makes sense about why people get altitude sickness. I also have to limit my intake of coffee and alcohol. I did finally have a glass of vino tonight!

Went to the Bar-M-Chuckwagon cowboy show and supper last weekend and it was a real treat. The gunfight was entertaining and the food was good. But the entertainment show afterwards was outstanding. The head wrangler, Alan Brown and his wife Valerie can really sing!

You see, Alan used to be in the group Up With People. I was so suprised when they said that. I used to have a best friend from Tucson, Angie Darzes, who also spent some time traveling and performing with Up With People.

Anyway, Alan & Valerie met in Nashville, of course they were singing. They also have a steel guitar player in the band. You just can't beat the sound of a well played steel guitar to blend it all together.

Also been to Hole n'' The Rock. It's a 5000 sq. ft. house chiseled and blasted out of a big, red sandstone rock. If you go to Moab, Utah, these are two places you must visit.

Next week we're going to golf at the Moab Golf Club. It will be Bob's first time so I'll have to give him some instruction. We're going on Wednesday because it's less busy. I have my clubs with me but we've not bought Bob any yet so he'll rent a set of left-handed clubs. I can't wait.

The weather is perfect this time of year. Cool to cold (40s-50s) at night and 70s-80s during the day. I'm loving it. The two little Chihuahuas, Jesse & Jack would like it a bit warmer though.

Time to turn in. Have a lot of stops and calls to do tomorrow.

Happy trails,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

What beautiful scenery!

We arrived in Moab, Utah on Sunday, Sept. 12th.

We will definitely enjoy the mountains more when we have a diesel pusher with an engine brake. You can only do so much with a gas engine and regular brakes. This is steep country! Especially for "flatlanders" like us.

We are working three campgrounds here and have visited all three. They are very lovely and the view all around is breathtaking with its red rock formations, canyons, and majestic mountain peaks. We can't wait to go visit Arches National Park which is close by. And Hole N" The Rock.

One thing we have noticed is the large number of rented RVs. Come to find out many are occupied by Europeans. They come over here to see the sights. Moab is truly a destination town with it's majestic La Sal Mountain Range, and Mt. Peale at 12,731 ft. We can see that out our starboard side.

I really love my office which is an 8 ft desk all across the back of the rig, with a window view of course. As I'm working in the office (when I'm not out on sales calls) I can see the weather systems develop over the mountains. It gets very dark. In fact, yesterday we noticed it had snowed on the mountain tops. Of course, today it's almost gone. Been getting rain up there today.

Not much trickles down to the valley below. But after working a couple of jobs in the Texas Hill country during triple digit heat the whole time (and a multi-year drought), the 50s & 60s feel very nice... what a relief!

Back to renting RVs. I'm looking out my back window and in the next row there are 7 rigs, 6 of which are rental units. I would venture to say the RV industry is far from dead. In fact, we are seeing a large number of big gas units in addition to diesel units.

I have to cut this short. Got to get ready to make some money tomorrow. We'd like to upgrade to our diesel pusher next year sometime. We were hoping it would be sooner, but we traded our 1997 Isuzu Rodeo for a 2009 Saturn Vue XR while we were in the San Antonio area. It was time. the Rodeo was running great, but it was 13 years old. Plus we were pulling it on a tow dolly. That definitely does have its minuses.

So after we bought the Vue, we took it to Ancira RV in Alvarado, TX and had them install a Blue Ox towing system. Sweet!!! We also purchased a Brake Buddy supplemental braking system. It's so nice to tow with all four wheels down. We also lost over 1,000 pounds by losing the Rodeo and the tow dolly. That's a good thing.

So until next time, may the wind be at your back,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

So much to say... where to begin?

I'm embarrased to see my last post was in February. But then again, neither Bob or I knew that our new lifestyle would be so exciting, everchanging, at times challenging, and yet so much fun.

In the last seven months we have stayed in some very nice RV parks as we produced their guest guides for the upcoming year. We've been to Abilene, TX; Ruidoso, NM, West Monroe, LA; Sulphur, LA; Lake Charles, LA; Uvalde, TX; and Lakehills, TX. Now we're on our way to Moab, Utah to produce guest guides for three parks.

Bob is quite fond of telling people that we get to travel all around and get paid for it. When people hear that he has their undivided attention.

In the last seven months I've noticed something quite astonishing. RV Parks and campgrounds are not just full of weekenders and vacationers. There are a lot of working full-timers out there.

As our economy has changed in the last decade, so many people have learned how to adapt. We seem to be a much more mobile society today. In Louisiana, both in the north and the south, RV parks were full. Many of the park guests were workers. There were pipe workers... railroad workers... oil & gas field workers.

Workampers are also an addition to the scene that is quite commonplace now. There are all kinds of workamper jobs. I've read about many of the job types out there and I feel that we have chosen the best "job" by far.

It is intense when we work, and we may work for 2 weeks or 2 months at a time, depending how many parks we are producing guides for. But I must admit, this is probably the best paying job we can find... and as Bob says, "We get paid to travel." Before we started heading for our next job, we just spent 5 weeks at the city park 2 blocks from our daughter & grandaughters house. (Their house is our "home base.")

Yes, we played games with the girls, took them out to eat, and kept them overnight sometimes. We thoroughly enjoy these times.

The thing I've found most interesting in our new full-time RVing lifestyle is experiencing the food, people, and lifestyles in each area we stay in. People in RV parks are very friendly and interested in each other.

Last night we stayed in Amarillo, Texas and met two couples (one from Florida and one from California). We all swapped information about where we were from, where we were going, where we had been and what we did (one had a new grandchild they just met).

Today we've learned a very valuable lesson, plan better. We didn't line up our traveling itinerary very well. We knew what city we wanted to end up in every night, since we only like to travel about 250 miles a day. (Remember, we're doing this to enjoy the camping/RVing lifestyle... not to just burn rubber driving endlessly down the road).

We learned a long time ago that we're not "Wal-Mart" campers. We like our full hook-ups. Roughing it smoothly is our style.

I digress... So the first three nights we were in some pretty nice parks. Then came night #4, tonight. We are sort of off the main path so to speak. We found ourselves in an area where there just weren't many parks close by where we wanted to stop. So we chose the first one we called, sight unseen.

It turned out to be a dump. Literally!!!

There are old junked cars piled around and quite a few old abandoned mobile homes laying around with windows broken and doors missing. The road coming to the park from the highway was not big enough to accommodate two RVs meeting each other. Thankfully we were the only one on the road. Hopefully we'll be as lucky in the morning.

This place is really out in nowhere land. I can only imagine the wild critters that will be lurking in the darkness around here. We're city-folks and not used to this much wild reality. You could say we're a good stretch out of our comfort zone.

But the park owner seemed like a decent, trustworthy person. His neighbors/partners are perhaps another story, but hey, we're only here for one night. And you can bet we'll plan our future trips much better!

One thing I want to close with, if you are going to be traveling to higher altitudes and you're not used to it (Bob and I are flatlanders), make sure you stay super hydrated. The air is thinner as you go up and it can give you headaches and much worse if you don't take care of yourself.

My friend Sallye wrote this to me yesterday... "Friends don't let friends drive dry." I suffered for a week with altitude sickness when we went to Ruidoso in March. So now I'm getting more rest and LOTS of water. We've also found the Zero PowerAde to help a lot. And it does not have any calories!

Stay tuned, I will be back...

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

A whirlwind week but we're learning & having fun!

We're here in the Lake Conroe/Houston North KOA Kampground at the AGS Publishing annual meeting. It's a huge park. I believe the manager said 48 acres. Even though the economy has slowed down, this place has a lot of RVs in it.

We did our training last month so the annual meeting is a good refresher before we go on our first job next week in Abilene.

Turns out everything we learned about how to do KOA Guest Guides in our training is now changed. I must say we're very impressed. KOA is putting a lot of "fun" into their new branding efforts.

We've always been big fans of KOA Kampgrounds and now were even more impressed. And our first job is at a KOA. How good is that...

We have new AGS logo jackets, name tags, and our business cards will be here tomorrow. So we're all set. Just a little review on our part and we'll be good to go.

Everyone at AGS is so nice and extremely helpful. There are two teams (Bob and I are one of them) who are "newbies" here. This means we've been through our training but have not worked a job yet. But that all changes come Monday morning.

We finish all of the company festivities about noon Friday and then I will catch up on laundry & reading. We'll also start setting up our new job and review our ops manual. From what I can see and what we hear from other rep teams, this looks like a great opportunity to travel and make money -- good money -- along the way. We're excited!

Oh yes, while we're here we'll find out where more of our future destinations will be. I'll keep you posted...

Right now we know we're going to Abilene for 2 weeks, then Ruidoso, NM for 2 weeks. Then we'll go back to Denton, TX and tie up loose ends (translation-do taxes) and visit Bob's mom for her 95th birthday, then on the road again.

Shut eye time for us now... till next time...

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

We can't believe it's finally here...

Retirement -- Bob's!

Actually, it's more like semi-retirement since we will be working some of the time. At least we will be living our dream lifestyle, traveling in our RV to places we have not been to before... all over the country. And our so-called "work" will be in the camping & RV industry. So life is good.

Yesterday was Bob's retirement party at work. He looked so happy. Lots of people showed up to wish him well and were sad to see him go. I know his shoes will be big shoes to fill. And tomorrow is his last day. I wonder if he'll smash the alarm clock???

A few last touches to the RV, lunch with a few friends before we go and in a few more days we'll be embarking on our new life adventures.

Of course, the sales and marketing skills I've used in my own business for the last decade have enabled us to land the type of work we'll be doing and the ability to make good money doing it. We'll update you more about all of this as we get on the road.

Over dinner tonight Bob and I were talking and both of us agree... the last 8 months have not been for the faint of heart! Getting the house ready to sell, getting rid of almost everything we owned, and finding a place for everything in the RV has been a huge undertaking. Thankfully, it's all gone pretty smoothly.

The last minute details have us in a tizzy right now. Doing things like getting new health insurance lined up, several months worth of prescriptions on hand so we don't run out, getting the mailing issues straightened out, brakes installed on the tow dolly, and loose ends like that are keeping us hopping. But we'll get through it.

You know it's so much different now. We're not going on a 2-week vacation. We may be gone from our home base for several months at a time. We've made many shifts in our thinking and continue to do more every day. It certainly is a new way of life. Shouldn't be boring!

Soon we'll be singing that Willy Nelson song -- "On The Road Again!"

Till next time,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!

We've Been Soooooo Busy And Enjoying It!

I've been meaning to get this updated much more often. But, with our lifestyle literally doing a 360 in the last quarter, this task is unfortunately way overdue.

My humble apologies...

After my last post, we...

• moved into our new roving home over Thanksgiving weekend
• had our moving sale on December 6th
• (I-Vicky) had shoulder surgery (bicep tendon repair) on Dec. 9th
• closed on our house December 17th (without a hitch)
• went to Teague over Christmas to see our daughter & granddaughters and it was so nice to just go down there in our own home. There is a city park in Teague that we stay at (with full hookups) for $10 a night. Can't beat that! And, it's only two blocks from the kids!
  

Now for the big news... Bob retires next Friday, February 6th. Yippee!!! We are BOTH extremely excited about this. That said, we will not be sitting around the campfire twiddling our thumbs. Oh no...

January 16th we left for San Antonio and met up with our AGS Publishing trainers at Traveler's World RV Park. More about that in a minute. Traveler's World is a very well maintained and busy park. Paved streets, large concrete patios with a nice picnic table, palm trees, and nicely manicured river-graveled lots. Yes, they rake the gravel carefully into place almost daily.

You can always tell when you stay in an upscale park. People actually keep their dogs on a leash when they walk them and pick up after them. Remember, we have two little Chihuahuas, Jack & Jesse, and we never have them off leash and we always pick up after them. I hate stepping in poop and not knowing it until I get inside the coach... YUCK!

Why is it -- in some parks people read the rules and follow them faithfully, while in other parks people don't think the rules apply to them at all?

In a perfect world, everyone would think of the other person's welfare as a result of their actions. Wouldn't it be nice! Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

Anyway, we arrived in San Antonio Jan. 16th and started training for our new "life on the road" and new job the next day. After 5 mind-numbing days we graduated. Our trainers took us to a lovely Italian restaurant downtown. We drank way too much wine -- but it was so good. Larry Chuippi and his wife Nancy Raimondi are great people!

After our training ended on Jan. 21st, we stayed at this nice park one more day just to relax and go next door if we had any questions while we were preparing for our first two jobs. In this economy it will be nice to be able to travel and see places while supplementing our retirement income as we do.

Since our job will be creating visitor guides for RV parks and campgrounds and selling advertising to pay for these guides, my copywriting skills will be invaluable. I'm going to be the one to go out and help area businesses grow their business by attracting the RVers from the area -- by selling the advertising.

Bob will take care of most of the paperwork and the creating of ads. I'll do some spec ads to show to prospective clients. It will be weird to have me going out to work and Bob staying at home. I'm already training him to keep the place clean! Poor guy :-)

Next stop, Teague, TX (our home base) to visit our daughter Bobbi and our two granddaughters Corynn & Katelyn. Then we arrive at Montgomery, Texas at a KOA Kampground for the annual AGS Publishing meeting. We're really looking forward to this. We'll be meeting all of the other company ICRs (Independent Contractor Reps) and I'm sure we'll come away with a lot of valuable information & insights.

Till next time,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

• How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!