Happy Be-lated Anniversary to Us!

With our very busy week last week, we kind of over looked our anniversary. "What a cad! What an insensitive Baffoon! What a Louse!" You might say. But the anniversary I am talking about is our lifestyle anniversary. WHAT! No I did not come out of the closet. I was never in the closet and yes I do know what bathroom to use.

Enough with the Tom Foolery. July 10th marked our second anniversary of being fulltime RV'ers. The start of our third year so to speak. We went to an RV-Dreams rally in the spring of 2014, put on by Howard and Linda Payne. There we learned about the fulltime RV lifestyle. The biggest thing that I learned from that week long rally was that there is no wrong way to full time. And our second year is proof of that. It has evolved into something totally different from our first year. Our third year may even be different from our second year. Who knows?

Our first year, we(meaning I), wanted to take the year off and travel. Explore, before we started finding work camping jobs. We knew we would have to work at some point to maintain this lifestyle, but taking a year off, we could manage that. So travel we did and as most of you know, the more you travel the higher your expenses are. Camping fees and fuel cost can get very high. After all we are not driving Prius's. Although we may have spent enough to buy a Tesla or two.

So our first year we were traveling around like some "happy-go-lucky" schmucks. Spending like drunken sailors. And our budget for that year shows it. But with every party comes the next day hangover. Year two was our effort to shrink that down and we did.

We had our first paying job. Amazon, which was a win, win. They not only pay you but you live in the campground for free. That was a 4 month gig. So no campground fees. Next, in February we spent a month in Quartzsite Arizona. $40.00 dollars for two weeks. $80.00 for the month. We went back to Moab and worked at the OK RV park. We worked one day a week and camped for free.  And now we are working our second paying gig in Yellowstone. We pay a small amount for our site but they also pay us a wage.

After all the number crunching was done, we still came under budget of what we spent the first year. That even includes buying the Jeep and repair cost of said Jeep.  Buying the new fifth wheel goes under year threes budget. Nothing but Ramen Noodle soup this year.

So as this evolves we are working a little more. We are trying to make an effort to work in places that we really want to explore and visit. Like what we are doing in Yellowstone. "Work smarter, not harder" has always been my motto.

Are we still enjoying this lifestyle? Yes we are. We do not see a stopping point in our future as of yet.

I would like to add one more thing. I know reading a blog without pictures may be a little boring. I am sorry for that. But being in this part of Yellowstone is terrible for internet service. We barely have any cell coverage. I bought a Wilson signal booster and trucker antenna. It is not much help here. Uploading one picture can take a half hour. I do not have the patience to do that anymore here. Plus no TV or even a radio station. I actually have to look at Lisa and talk to her.

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!"