Itchy Hitch...and a reset

Still Journeyin'...

Yes, its still me and this is still my Journeyin' blog and I will still be talking about our experiences as Fulltime RVers but we have have made some major lifestyle changes.  

We did a huge reset to our lifestyle last year just a month before the pandemic struck.  We wrapped up 27 years of full-time RVing and traded our 42' Landmark full-timing fifth wheel for a tiny 25' motorhome. The one-ton diesel GMC truck left at the same time as the 5th wheel. 

The "before":

The truck is almost longer than the new little motorhome!

It was quickly replaced by the cutest Jeep Wrangler which tows behind the little motorhome. A three-week shakedown cruise in February took us to Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. And then the Covid19 shutdown happened within two weeks of our return!

The motorhome and JEEP:

The first step in our reset was purchasing a five acre property in the Hill Country of Texas with Kelle and Joe.  They have a house and we have a perfect small cottage. We really didn't feel ready to stop fulltiming but felt we needed to plan ahead for our "golden" years whenever they should happen. (To be truthful we may have hit them but we're not admitting to anything!) .We had just returned to our little cottage when Covid 19 caused the massive quarantine in our country!

The cottage:

Cottage features a little "great room" complete with "library"

 which GET built for me.

DIY Kitchen remodel in progress

I call our cottage decor style Coastal/contemporary.  We purchased the sea otter lithograph at least 30 years ago at Monterey Bay Aquarium before we went fulltime RVing but had never framed and hung it!

Lots of life changes!

One of my Grandma Lempi's teacups

Patience pays off...

The very first bud

Almost two years ago my friend Patty gave me a Christmas Cactus plant (Scientific name Schlumbergera.) About a month later it gave me one small pale bloom and then nothing!  For the following two Decembers, as recommended from my research, I faithfully gave it 12 hours of darkness each day.  NO blooms!

Then, a few weeks ago (but not in time for Christmas) I noticed a bud, then a couple of days later another and now another!  THREE! Yeah!

Yes, that's my kitchen in the middle of a remodel.

The first bud blossomed!  First, it appeared that it was a white flower but turned a pale pink.  And the same for the second blossom! I hope this is the beginning of a very long life for my plant.  I've read that they can live as long as 50 years!

Two blossoms and a bud (bud is at far left)

Pretty pinkish-white blossom

How does that old saying go? "Patience is a virtue." A lesson for life from my Christmas Cactus!

Tea cup from my Grandma Lempi

P.S. Folks, I am very frustrated!  For a very long time I have written this Blog in Open Live Writer for publication.  Blogger is now saying that it is not compatible even though OLW states that it is. 

Christmas Newsletter 57th Edition...

Whew, its been a busy year for us!  A major change from traveling the country as fulltime RVers for 25 years to living in a cottage in the Texas Hill Country.  Our home is no longer one that moves! My annual Christmas newsletter shares a bit of our 2019 adventure.
Hope to be blogging more this year and sharing our journeyin’ adventures. 

Merry Christmas and the best to you in 2020.

Thomas Times...56th edition

This year I used the half-fold card format for our annual Thomas Times letter.  Not sure if I prefer it over the full page I do most years but its ok for a change.  As usual I missed getting it out in time for Christmas because, well because, I couldn’t get motivated to write!  When I did it went pretty quickly!  Yeah!

Front and back page of the half-fold card

Inside pages of the half-fold card

As the card states “We wish you good health, love, blessings and joy!” 

Also a wonderful 2019 to my Blogger friends!

P.S. Very frustrated writing this little post!  I have always written my posts with Open Live Writer but couldn't get it to post to BlogSpot this time!  So wrote it in Blogger!  Wonder what happened?

Fulltime RVing…it can get harrowing

Although our Plan A usually gets changed to Plan B and even Plan C (“our plans are like jello” is one of our mottos) we have a pretty routine fulltime life….this harrowing experience was an exception!

Our travel plans took an unexpected turn when Dulee, our 12 year old rescue Bichon Frise, suddenly had a health issue in his spine.  A local Jackson, MS veterinarian X-rayed him and referred us to the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine which is located 2+ hours away. With the possibility of spine surgery we decided to move from Jackson to Belaire RV Park in Starkville for two weeks of observation and treatment. 

We had a lovely grassy site but it rained, a LOT, during the entire two weeks in Starkville! The night before we were due to leave, neither of us slept very well, worrying about the probability of a troublesome muddy exit.

Our fears were not unfounded!  When GET backed the truck up to the 5th wheel we could see that the ground was VERY VERY mucky.  He pulled forward about five feet and then the wheels started spinning…oh no!  Putting the truck into four-wheel drive did absolutely nothing!  Big ruts in the mud!  Let’s try a shovel, nope; boards in front of the tires, nope. 

GET called Chris, the park owner who also happens to have a garbage business.  “Can you help?”  “Sure, I’ll be there in about an hour” and he was. With his garbage container hooked up and both his truck and our GMC in four-wheel drive…NOTHING!  The ruts in the mud only got deeper!

This called for greater measures! (our 17,500lb 5th wheel plus the approximate 7,000lb truck makes for a pretty heavy load)  Chris unloaded the garbage dumpster and hooked his hydraulic cable line onto the tow hook on our truck. 

HIS TRUCK WORKED HARD!  OUR TRUCK WORKED HARD!  

is

Little by little there was movement and finally success!   Oh my, it is scary to see your home and all  of your belongings shimmying, shaking and listing to the side as it struggles through thick mud! 

Both the truck and the 5th wheel were heavily splattered with mud.  Wish I had thought to get pictures but by that time our shoes were soaked and we were cold!

However, we were out of the mud and back on the road.  Next stop Natchez!

Fulltime RV life on the road can be harrowing!! Never a dull moment.

P.S. A few days later our equipment is all clean…no sign of the mucky mud!

P.P.S. Dulee responded to medication and didn’t require surgery!

Fulltime RVing…another home improvement

I’ve shared the home improvements we’ve made so far in our Landmark Fifth Wheel:  all of the twelve window valances have been recovered, seven in the living area and five upstairs, new blue sofa, and headboard and bench are recovered.

 

We were anxious to get on with painting the kitchen island.  Before, it was nice but too dark and too too brown!

BUT we were more than a little hesitant about embarking on it.

• What if we mess it up? 
• What if the paint peels? 
• What if we choose the wrong color?
• What if…? What if…? 

I did a lot of research about paint, primer coats, methods, top coats etc. leading into the project and before heading out for supplies.  Boy, did we luck out at Home Depot!  The paint department guy, wish I knew his name, was wonderful.  Most likely looking very confused, we were standing in front of the paint we had determined might be right for our project when he said “No, not that one, this is much better. You don’t need a primer or top coat.  Use these sandpaper blocks.  Buy this very good brush.”  He was wonderful!  We left the store, pretty confident, and all set to go.

Mega Blue paint color is chosen from dozens of sample chips and paint is being applied with the “very good” brush. Two coats did the job.

But first, a thorough overall sanding.  Supervisor in charge of sanding is Zodiac.

And the dreaded time-consuming taping off.

One final touch was replacing the brushed nickel knobs in the kitchen area of the rig with these I bought on E-Bay. $26 for 24 knobs!

But, what a great result!  Were we pleased?  OH YES!

A little add-on project.  The carpet on the steps leading “upstairs” was beyond cleaning so GET replaced and painted the new steps the same color as the island. So far the paint is holding up really well to daily traffic wear.

Another project completed!

Happy Thanksgiving

from my home on wheels to yours!

Autumn Full time RVing…Pumpkin

I’m ready for Fall…have decorated my 5th wheel home for the season:

To comply with the limitations of storage in a small space almost all of my holiday decorating pieces are either small and/or will pack flat for storage. 

All of that pumpkin décor made me hungry for pie so that was next! About a week ago I made my first pumpkin pie of the year:

We haven’t gotten our fill of pumpkin so this morning I searched the web for a pumpkin muffin recipe and settled on a blog called Lovely Little Kitchen. What a cute name for a blog! My 5th wheel RV little kitchen is my own Lovely Little Kitchen!

I changed the recipe just a little by substituting Canola oil for the coconut oil (didn’t have any coconut oil) and adding about 1/2 cup coconut and chopped nuts.  Maybe because of these additions, baking time in my convection oven was a little longer than called for in the recipe.

The recipe made twelve tall puffy muffins…we’ve already eaten a few! Have saved this recipe!

Happy Autumn Day from Jackson, Mississippi…

where we have the A/C running!