Apologies to everyone. Some money I had been counting on for our travels did not come in when expected causing me to loose internet connectivity for about a month.

We have arrived at the Volunteer position in Greenville Mo and could not be happier with the experience this first month. The campground is very nice, peaceful, and full of returning experienced volunteers. The people we have met who frequent the campground have likewise been absolutely amazing. I am so happy to be back into the lifestyle surrounded by mostly friendly and helpful personalities.

The black hole of the MH has somehow claimed my cord to upload photos from my phone so I apologize that there are no new photos of our 'home' at the time of this post. I do have high hopes to locate it (or find a replacement) within the next few days!

More to come shortly. Ive a ton to catch up on. BTW we purchased a flashed mifi which is grandfathered to Verizon Unlimited via ebay for our connectivity (more to come on that later) which is working out for us at this time. I will post a review after purchasing extended airtime and insuring that all works as advertised!

Till next time, Best wishes to all.

Ahh the sounds of spring!

As I lay here tonight, while the children sleep peacefully, I cannot help but wonder how others life their lives closed away from nature in houses made to keep everything that is natural at bay.

The motor home gently rocks with a significant wind blowing up here on the hilltop, I hear the long missed peep frogs, and even a whippoorwill. All sounds and sensations I have missed these last few years! Sounds and sensations that are simply NOT a part of a bricks and sticks life. The simplicity of a life where the entire house is cleaned top to bottom in the matter of a few minutes as a part of the 'morning chores'. The lingering faint smells of the wood fire, the tinge of rain on the wind. How could anyone not crave these natural rhythms over the hustle and bustle of what most consider to be a 'normal life?

Have I mentioned yet that I am completely off of my 100 mg trazodone which was required to sleep inside the house? Ahhh....liberating.

As usual I am saddened by those who simply cannot understand the freedom, and joy, that comes from 'less'. Just a short time ago my brother in law let slip his true opinion of our lifestyle ! At first this angered me. Then I realized that during other conversations he had mentioned that he never camped, had never been around, or had a motor home, and many other tidbits over the past year. The anger quickly subsided and turned into what I would describe as pity for him. He is getting on in years (aren't we all), has payments on literally everything which are unlikely to be paid off during the remainder of his working time (all mere assumptions). It honestly makes me wish there were a way to 'mind meld' and share the peace, security, and joy which would impart the understanding they simply cannot see.

One more week here if all goes as planned and we make the voyage to Greenville Mo. to fulfill our volunteer position there with the Army Corps of Engineers. I do so like their small, and often rather primitive parks in comparison to many of the more commercialized places we could stay or work at. I am looking forward to being only a mile from a small town, yet yards from the river, and yet only 20(ish) miles from a fairly metro area for occasional trips as well!

Hopefully my next post will have us leaving my sisters property, which even through the irritation inherent with family at times, I am extremely grateful for having been allowed to stay at. IF all goes as planned there will be a pitstop in Cuba missouri so the children can participate in their uncles wedding before either heading back here to check mail (am waiting on an important document), or on to Greenville directly to there.

Till next time, Joy and blessings to all, May you find the happiness your soul desires!

More thoughts on life!

It has been expressed by a number of people that they enjoy mostly the posts in which I offer some insight into 'who' I am and how I came to the lifestyle. In that spirit I'm excited about posting today.

In a heated conversation with my brother-in-law just last week his views of my lifestyle became readily apparent. A single comment of 'well I think it is stupid to live in a MH when there is a perfectly good 3 br house right there' really upset me. But, more than that got me to thinking again as to why a house makes me so unhappy.

Being a single parent with two children adds even more to the stress and drain on my soul. Every time they expressed a wish to go do something which we simply can't afford was heartbreaking. Knowing what they experienced every time a book order came in to school and they did not get to order but one book if that was unforgivable!

Living in that MH, which is paid for, which uses limited, and purely optional, electricity to maintain a comfortable environment, and the freedom to spend time 'doing things' allows us the freedom to experience what life 'should be' about! I come in from work I'm not exhausted and drained and still have housework to accomplish! The children are not overwhelmed with keeping a room picked up and in order. Every chore is shared and done in the first few minutes of the day. Nobody is stuck in a room away from everyone else to accomplish the task either!

Need to vacuum,  5 minutes tops including the cabinets! Kitchen needing cleaned, OH WAIT! I did that while I was cleaning the living room. Bathroom need cleaned, hey, I do that while taking my shower! (Bathroom floor in our MH IS the shower pan!). Even better, I can go use someone elses bathroom (provided by the campground and maintained by another individual). Time to cook, great another excuse to use the grill OUTSIDE! Gotta do dishes, OH WAIT! I did that as I cleaned off the table, straight into the trash!

I simply do not understand how others cannot see that a simplistic life is far more energizing and joyful than one cluttered with 'stuff' and 'chores' and 'payments' which are on top of the mundane workday. I get to take my children to work with me every single day! NO set schedule, as long as he work gets completed! Nothing in caring for the day use area or walking path is an activity which they cannot share with me and have fun along the way while doing so! That is LIFE!

This is the life I have experienced during a majority of my existence on Earth. Never did I feel I needed more than a 'sleeping room' rental, or best of all a tent and a tank of fuel, for anything! I absolutely relish when someone seething sarcasm states 'must be nice to be able to (insert something here)' I can only respond to them with 'Yes, it is'

Go forth! LIVE life! Don't chase tomorrow! Relish today!

26 Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. 27 You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don't work or make clothes for themselves. 29 But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.30 God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don't have so little faith! 31 Don't worry and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 The people who don't know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. 33The thing you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you. 34 So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

And so the journey begins at last

Well as the spring season seems to be taking it's time arriving weather wise we've been  feeling that old anticipation building. Kids have settled into the motorhome lifestyle reasonably easily. In fact was just a few nights ago I asked if they were ready to go back into the house and received some 'are you insane' looks from their young faces. I guess the lack of television and xbox is not as bad as they had once envisioned.

I received an email today from a campground in a small town here in Missouri on Wappapello lake from the US Army Corps of Engineers. After a little research on the campground they are offering work at we have decided to take the plunge and head out early next month (May). This will potentially cause the children to miss a couple weeks of school, but, the education they are about to embark upon will be interesting to say the least. We will be in charge of maintaining a walking trail and a day use area complete with rest rooms, shower house, boat ramp, and a number of picnick and special events pavilions it appears from the description. 15 hours a week for hookup site, on a lake (yes I love lake fishing), and a maintenance position in the great outdoors! What more could one ask for!

We decided for our first position as a family to at least stay fairly close to an area we know. We have several family friends within 40 miles of this campground and little town which makes it an even more ideal location I believe. Add to that we will be arriving mere weeks before their black powder redezvous! WOW that is going to be a blast!

Now Im just hoping I can have my ducks in a row in time. Going to be a race getting the motorhome licensed when my last check gets here for sure. Like a race of a few days to a week to be ready and gone!

Hopefully I can find some good photos of the area to post for my next installment. I've not had much material to work with photographically these past few weeks as I would have liked. It appears the flowers are beginning to poke their foliage through now so should be quite soon.

Till next time. Happy travels wherever you may be on your journeys.

What news?

I've little new to report at this time.

The campground we had planned to move to for phase two testing a mere mile away from us is a little wanky on their definition of 'monthly' rate. Apparently that only entitles one to stay one week of the month, and each weekend within the month. Im not sure how that would be defined as monthly myself. OH well. Something better is always around the corner when a 'plan' doesn't work out according to my experience in life. Who knows where this journey will take us.

I did get signed up on Volunteer.gov as there are several still advertised positions still here in Missouri which could work out well. Applied for camp hosting in one area where I was raised, and for cleanup person in a couple others. See what comes of those potential leads.

We have also hopes to go spend a few days/week with some dear friends sometime this summer who have mentioned we could set up in their yard for a visit. That should be interesting and fun for sure.

Still waiting for a few more weeks for the rest of the finances required to get the MH fully legal with plates and registered. It has a few issues I want repaired before inspection for sure, then off from there to get plates/registration done for it. Truly cant come soon enough, soooo ready to be mobile.

Kids are still enjoying the experience. This is a blessing for sure even tho we are only a few weeks (3 I think) in the MH full time now. I am surprised at how many empty cabinets we still have. We have not missed nearly as much 'stuff' from inside the house as Id anticipated. I figure if it hasn't been brought into the MH by the end of next month for use, it simply isn't something we will be needing to take with us at all.

Hope everyone is enjoying the warming weather as much as we are. There have been a few cold flashes here and there these last couple weeks. I have faith however that it is at an end as the flowers are blooming and that is generally a sure sign that nature knows spring is here to stay.

Happy Travels all!

Progress slowly but surely

Well it has been a challenging week here. The weather is mostly cooperating and intensifying the urge to hit the river for an extended time. Was a very nice 70 degrees and above a couple of days this week. Awoke this morning after going to sleep with warmth, to a chilly 30! Was all good. That is what the blankets are for and is somewhat expected for this time of the year.




The children are settling in nicely, as is our dog Dixie. Dixie so much so that like me unless absolutely necessary she refuses to go into the house for any reason. We now have our own power cord as well so the tensions of 'borrowing' my sisters cord are removed. So glad to have our own! It just adds another element of the equation that we are 'getting there' and will hopefully still be fully on target to leave out sometime around the middle of next month.

I was informed of a new interesting website just today as well. Rvillage.com. It is still in beta but appears to be a great social networking site specifically for those who live the mobile lifestyle. I am looking forward to its progress and further development. It includes a number of groups one can join already, and has a map where if you chose to do so others can see where your adventure has taken you at this time. I think that will be quite fun, never know who you may run into that you didn't realize was just down the road. It will make it so much easier keeping track of those we meet during our travels as we each move on to the next stop on our journeys.

In other news I lost the hard drive to my other laptop. Since I am in an online college at this time it caused a little bit of a crisis situation. I had to pawn my camera temporarily to get a new one immediately! I already miss it very much. But it is only temporary and should be back in my possession before the end of next month. Much better than failing and having to retake two courses with a $2300 out of pocket bill for sure!

Till next time, stay save and enjoy the lifestyle!

Well Blanche is home at least

Well we got Blanche home at last. Was a fairly uneventful trip although we did overheat once on the way. This required me to pull into a church parking lot which luckily had an outdoor spigot behind it. About 2.5 gallons of water and a little time and we were on the move again with no further interruptions the rest of the way home. I am still not sure what caused the overheat but then I am not sure I checked the water level itself at any time during the inspection stage. No apparent leaks since then so Im thinking that it is likely the case that it was just low to begin with. 

Of course when the children saw it we had to stay in it for a night nearly right off. That morning we awoke to single digit temperatures and it was somewhat chilly inside even tho I had taken the fireplace like electric heater from the house and installed it in between the seats in the front. The kids were thrilled and wanted to stay the second, and third, and every night since. We however haven't yet until I get a proper 10 guage cord to plug it in with. 

I've also ordered an extend-a-stay like kit so that we can hook up the external 20 lb bottle that is full of propane that the PO stated went with it. I'm not sure that he wasn't mistaken because I can see no place at all where the lines have been modified to allow its connection.Regardless I already knew that I wanted to be able to use portable bottles for some situations anyhow so no biggy there.

It is supposed to get down to the single digits for the next few days and since I added only water during the overheat on the trip home I went out today after being reminded by my brother in law and drained the water from it completely (radiator and engine) since I have not been to town to purchase antifreeze yet. Something which I wanted to replace so I knew its age anyhow. 

I also have ordered a windshield and side window cover for it which was fairly reasonable. Past experiences showed those to be invaluable for controlling indoors temperatures in the past. I also ordered an electrical tester, another electrical adapter (could not find one in it, then after ordering one the children found 3 of them stashed somewhere). I also contacted the propane company and am having a 250 gallon tank set nearby and running a line underground to a spot near the drive so that it can be hooked up with the same hose as would go to the 20 lb portable tank.

I'm getting anxious for some warmer weather to get brakes checked out and replaced, wheel bearings packed, windshield washer arm bushings replaced, new plugs wires rotor and cap, as well as insuring I have a ballast resistor on hand just in case. Any old Mopar enthusiasts will understand the reasoning there for sure. Still needing a wire wheel for the rims and mirrors to get them painted up and into shape as well.   

The wiring under the hood and beside the battery seems to be a bit of a mystery. There are a number of wires that have been terminated to connect directly to the battery terminals that I have no idea what go to. That is an investigation for warmer weather also. 

Peace and happiness to all for now. Cannot wait to fully move into it! Thanks for sharing our journey thus far with us.