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!