Woke up just before dawn and caught a picture of sunrise on the desert.  Not to spectacular…maybe tomorrow.   We plan to drive into town, and I say “town” loosely, get gas, see if Flying J has nice trucker showers and get out before the crowds move in.  This town usually has several thousand people but it explodes into several hundred thousand during the winter, particularly now, and the desert is covered with RV’s boondocking for weeks at a time.  We fit right in with our group, now grown to 18.

John and I went into town to look for a part and found ourselves walking around a tent city.  So many tents lining the highways and selling everything imaginable.  We bought some dried apple slices and ate some yummy fish taco’s for lunch from a carnival type stand.  John wanted to fly a kite in the wide open spaces and we let the dogs run leash free for a while.  Bed time after visiting with some of the new people in the group.  Tomorrow we should add the last few stragglers to our group.

Over the last few days, John has had the opportunity to be a good citizen three times.  First was the cell phone we found on the side of the road when we were checking out the pump connections on the RV.  We mailed it back to her today.  Second was a wallet found in a shopping basket next to our car when we were leaving Wal-Mart.  John brought it inside to the Service Center.  Third was a metal table leg that we found at the junk store and John wanted to use it to build a part for the RV.  When he brought it up to pay for it, the guy said “where did you find that?  It’s my table leg and I’ve been looking everywhere for it.”  That was the third thing.  The guy told John he needed to go to Las Vegas…and that’s exactly where we are going after leaving Quartzsite.   John’s built up quite a bit of good Karma!

Joined up with two other couples…we got us a convoy!

Drove to Tucson and will be spending the next 3 nights on the back lot of an older but clean trailer park. Definite plans are to visit Trader Joe’s for some groceries before we leave for the next “middle of nowhere” in Arizona. A bit more “real life” chores before heading out for another Tiffin event, but this one is unsanctioned so it’s run by volunteers that just love everyone’s company. We will be attending an RV show and they say 150 thousand people show up. A possible 40 will make up our group of Tiffin folks. Visited for a short time with the other two couples and then went to bed early.

The trip home was uneventful with one exception.  We stopped in Nashville, TN to visit my cousin Caren, her hubby Carl and their daughter Nicki.  Nicki’s husband, a Nashville Session and Touring Drummer for 33 Miles and various artists including Lauren Alaina, was on the road.  If you are a fan of House Hunters, you might have seen their house on a past episode.  They were chosen because they were all moving in together…Mom, Dad, Daughter and Son-in-law.  And y’all thought John and I were in close quarters!

We parked our RV at a local RV Park and drove to the city to experience Nashville.

Unlike the last RV resort, this older campground in Nashville was cramped and only minimally clean.  When I visited the showers and just peeked in to check them out, I thought they were OK.  When I went to actually take a shower, I realized that the space was so small that you could not bend in any direction without touching the old, somewhat moldy walls with some part of your body.  That was not a pleasant experience but the water was hot so I did manage to get my hair clean.  Decided to use our shower and skip the RV bathrooms from then on unless they were sparkling clean.

Nashville is a wonderful place to visit.  We toured the Grand Ole Opry.

Up on the wall of famous people there was a picture of the most famous country western star from Austin, TX.  Can you guess who?

We ate dinner with my cousin Caren and laughed at her opinion of the South.  She’s a misplaced  Californian just as I had been some 30 years ago but more of a healthy choice foodie.   Her experience at Cracker Barrel, asking for the veggie of the day and being told it was mac and cheese (“in what universe is cheese and pasta a veggie?” was her frustrated response) brought knowing smiles to our faces.  She’s not yet used to the way of the South.

Arrived in the afternoon at Catherin’s Landing, a beautiful clean RV Resort with large level cement pads, tree covered mountains surrounding the area and a calm river flowing along the edges.  Had a relaxing time at the rally, meeting new people and enjoying the nightly pot lucks.  One of the couples, Robert and Robin, cooked our whole group gumbo one night for dinner.  They were from Louisiana and took trips frequently but still owned a home.

Met up with our friends from TX, Dale and Ricki, for lunch and visited one of the local hot springs for the full treatment.  Stripped down and wrapped in a towel, we were escorted to each station.  First was a wonderful warm mineral bath in a tub with a strong bubbly flow of water.  Next was a mineral sitz bath of even hotter water.  John and Dale commented on how lobster red their butts were after the sitz bath.  Ricki and I hadn’t noticed…guess it’s a guy thing.   Next came a steam room, body only with your head sticking out.  That was my favorite and when Ricki and I came back a few days later for another spa treatment, I asked for longer time in the steam.  Next was an all-over strong surround shower that had a bit of a sting but still felt wonderful.  After we dried off we returned to the little Cajun restaurant we visited a few days before and had a relaxing lunch looking out over the small historic town.

Quite some history in this little town.  Gangsters, underground passageways, gambling, bootleg liquor and the mob painted a colorful picture of Hot Spring’s past.  Movie stars and mob money kept the town going for many years.  Of course I had to get in on the act and try out the machine gun, being Italian and all.

John, Dale, Ricki and I toured Hot Springs together visiting the Tower, the hot springs fountains,  The Arlington Hotel, other local sites.  John volunteered to get water from the springs for everyone to take home and when he started filling the containers, he realized that the water comes out of the fountain HOT.

John and I had some extra time to ourselves so we visited Garvan Gardens with the pups and spent the day wandering through the forest.  The weather was picture perfect.  We had the place to ourselves almost the entire time.  The beautiful wild violets reminded me of my mother and they peeked up along side several of the paths scattered between wild mushrooms and ferns.  Millie and KatieBug sniffed the handmade dog fountain but weren’t interested in drinking from a rock bowl.  Workers were putting up the Christmas decorations and the twinkling lights added to the beauty.  Another place we plan to visit again.

We take our first trip after becoming full timers.   We meet up with other Tiffin RVers at a rally in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I was nervous about driving to an unknown area, although we had been here when our kids were little while on vacation many years ago.  This time we were by ourselves and driving a 17 ton RV and towing our car. The one thing that gave me consolation was meeting up with two people that we knew from John’s pre-retirement.  Dale worked with John and I knew his wife Ricki from work parties.  We would both be in Hot Springs at the same time.  Small world afterall.

Our town home now belonged to someone else.   Good-by long walks down the waterway with the pups.  Good-by strolling along the waterway to sit with our friends in Town Park drinking a bottle of wine while listening to whatever concert played that night.  Good-by strolling down the block to Hubble and Hudson (lovingly called H & H by the neighborhood) with our favorite glass of wine in hand to shop and taste the newest delicacy being offered for sale.  Good-by Waterway Dancing Waters Fountain and Waterway weekend movies being shown across the street.  Good-by walking down the block to catch the latest movie at Tinseltown’s 17 theaters.  Good-by sitting on our porch on cool fall nights drinking our favorite wine and watching people walk by going to dinner or the movies up the street.  Good-by to our yearly  4^th of July Celebration and bar-b-q with friends and family watching the set-to-music fireworks being shot off across the street. So many fun and relaxing things to be thankful for coming to an end. We will miss it all but now it is time to start a new chapter in our lives.

John retired and we are now completely moved out of our sticks and bricks.  We moved into our RV and piled everything into the middle to start finding places for what we thought we needed.  We were now real authentic full timers and it is the scariest day of my life.  At this point I would like to add that the term Luxury RV is an oxymoron if you are planning to live as a full timer.  Space becomes a premium and just getting your clothes, groceries, linens, dogs and dog needs, personal care items, cooking essentials and tools inside is a feat that seems impossible when downsizing from a large home into an oblong box on wheels.  My can’t-do-with-out’s included several framed handmade cross stitches from my grandmother, a hand-made pottery tray from my daughter, a beautiful hand painted art plate from my “bestie” Karen, some beautiful Waterford crystal pieces and a few small antique glassware pieces that are difficult, at best, to store safely each time we roll down the highway.  Shortly after moving in, John reached for a plate, wasn’t paying attention to the black dish sitting on top of the white plate he was reaching for and my beautiful antique amethyst candy dish shattered as it hit the tile floor.  I heard “Oh-oh” and knew I had lost something I would miss.  Sometimes I feel like storing everything and not bothering to put up pictures or put out the things that make me smile but then what’s the point of owning it if you can’t see it and enjoy it?  The silver lining?  I can shop in antique stores and look for a replacement without feeling guilty about cramming one more thing into our overstuffed box on wheels.

Left for South Dakota to become residents and register our domicile.  On the way we stopped at a casino in Oklahoma.  It was a nice RV park and the casino had a buffet with crab, shrimp and prime rib.  We ask if it was a non-smoking restaurant and were told that it was.  We took the bus to the casino, walked inside and asked where the buffet was located.  As it turned out, the buffet was located in the middle of the casino, no walls or anything separating it from the smoke of the casino.  When I asked the manager how they considered it non-smoking and how they kept the smoke out, he became flustered and gave us all sorts of excuses.  We did end up eating there and it was good but we noted that it wasn’t non-smoking for future trips.

Our trip to South Dakota was long with temperatures as high as 112.  Hot, dry, lots of burned out fields all the way.  When we arrived we stayed at a beautiful state park and were alone for the first few days.  Beautiful sunsets, quiet, peaceful and lots of places to walk and enjoy the cool weather.

We drove into town and met our postal lady.  She helped us get the license plates for the car and RV, got us registered to vote, our car insurance and found us an attorney for our wills.  All was quick and easy.  Getting our South Dakota licenses took about a half hour.  John and I have renewed on line for over a decade and our pictures were of young “us”.  We went in, signed a paper and they took our picture.  The clerk called our name and gave us our permanent plastic color driver’s license.  When John got his, he gave it back and told the lady, this isn’t me…this guy is OLD.  She actually took it back and he started laughing when she looked at him quizzically.  Yep, we were both “old”.

In preparation of selling our home and everything in it, I gave notice at work and began the task of getting rid of the last 40 years of “things” we both had collected.  All our household items that were not passed on to Josh and Liz, our children, who by the way, thought what we were doing was insane and that we wouldn’t last but three months before giving it up or killing each other.  Not to wander too much off the subject but most of our relatives and friends pretty much agreed with them.  The exception was my 100 year old mother-in-law, my dad and step mom.  Dad’s mom and dad were the Gypsies in our family and lived on the road whenever they got the chance.  When I was little, I remember them driving off towing their trailer to all parts of the country.   It was never something I pictured myself doing but it did look like a great adventure!

The difficult task of deciding what would stay and what would be sold took up all my waking hours.  John was still working so most of the job fell into my hands and the task was difficult at best and sometimes heartbreaking.

The first piece to leave was our grandfather clock.  It was the first piece of furniture that John and I purchased together.   Seeing that grandfather clock being carried out of our door after owning it and moving it from home to home for so many years brought tears to my eyes.  The lady that purchased it was thankful and overjoyed to get a grandfather clock priced far below its value.  Her joy took away some of the sting of its departure from our home.  From then on things moved steadily out the door.

Estate Sale and Garage Sale seem to mean the same for our Woodlands area neighbors and offers were made that were so low that donating would get us more than selling the items that were all in excellent condition.  That was a lucky break for our donation recipients.  Many of the really nice antiques and household items not sold for the price I was asking ended up being donated to Jesus Centers and the Montgomery County Women’s Shelter Resale Shops.

Two of the items, hand hooked silk and wool Persian rugs were reluctantly sold to a nice Italian man and his wife who had just moved back to the states from Italy.  He bargained hard with me for several days and I finally sold them at a fraction of their original cost.  His offer to cook me dinner, anytime I wanted to come by, and visit my rugs at his house was what finalized the deal.  Although it was a ploy to secure the deal, his creativity won me over and I said a tearful good-by as they too left our home.

When the day came to return to Red Bay and have repairs done, we packed up the RV, now being kept in a covered storage, and began the long drive back to the manufacturer.  Several items had made it on to our list for repairs, the top item being the roof rails.  They were to be replaced and repainted during our week stay.  Again, Wal-Mart was a gratefully accepted parking space to spend the night and we did some last minute late night shopping before continuing on our journey.

Our experience at Red Bay was much as it had been the first time.  Row upon row of Tiffin’s parked and waiting for repair in this tiny dusty town of nothing to do.  Because there were so many “snow birds” that had one year warrantee work to do, we didn’t get priority so all that was fixed was the rails and some small items and we were told that it would be another week before they could paint the rails.  The answer, totally unacceptable as we both had to get back to work the next week, forced me to ask to speak with the head honcho and was told that Bob Tiffin, the owner, was in his office.  Off I went to speak with the owner. Bob Tiffin was not the unapproachable official looking CEO that I thought I would find.  Instead, sitting in a huge partially finished office, I found a soft spoken elder gentleman that was more than happy to work out an agreeable plan to get our rails painted at whatever facility was closest to our home.  I relaxed and we chatted while he wrote up a letter stating that the work would be done no charge, under warrantee and to contact him if there were any problems.  I left, thanking whatever twist of fate caused me to fall in love with the Allegro Bus floor plan and thinking that I would rest easier knowing that the owner really did stand behind his products.

There is not much to do in Red Bay besides taking a tour of the manufacturing plant and that experience was done our first trip.  John and I were getting a bit board sitting around the waiting room so we roamed around the area and the front desk told us that the Coon Hound Cemetery was the only attraction in the Red Bay area.  If you have ever been to this part of Alabama, you’ll agree that the Coon Hound Cemetery becomes a destination when there’s nothing else for miles around. We drove up into the hills to find this attraction and the drive was beautiful.  We arrived and John snapped dozens of pictures.  The only thing I can compare it to is  Asian visitors to Waterway Square.  Each night they would be taking pictures in groups and I would offer to take all their pictures when we passed by on our nightly dog walks.  That neon lit bridge down the street from our house was in picture albums all over the world.  They took dozens of pictures as did John.

Our trip home was uneventful and we returned to our solidly-attached-to-the-ground home with more lists of things left to do before we set off on several test runs to work out any kinks.  The roof and additional items were repaired and we began to plan for our first long distance trip, a Tiffin Rally in Hot Springs Arkansas.