Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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!

Friday, September 25, 2009

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!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

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!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

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!