Saturday, July 15, 2017

3 Years!

Yes, you heard me right. 3 years. That is how long we have been living this crazy lifestyle and we don't see an end in the foreseeable future. Lisa told me that she read somewhere (probably Facebook. So it has to be true) that if you can get past the 3 year mark, you will probably be doing this for awhile. And look, we did it. I can see where that may be true because one couple we know sold the RV and are off the road. Two other couples we have met have purchased their paradise and are off the road. And two other couples we know have purchased land for future paradises to be built. We have not found our paradise yet but there are a couple of places that we like to go back to.

So if you allow me I will do a quick recap of our year.
Yellowstone at night, taken by Stewart.

Last July we were working in Yellowstone National Park. We worked June through August. That was a great experience for us. One that I really enjoyed. We bought our new fifth wheel then. We met so many new people who we still stay in contact to this day. "The Kids" as we liked to call them from Taiwan where so nice. It was very interesting to get to know them and our record of 8 people stuffed in our Jeep still stands.
Yellowstone's Grand Canyon.

September found us heading to Minnesota for family visits. Then we heard the calling from Amazon.

So October we made the trek to Kentucky to work for "The Man". We were hoping to make some quick cash without having to sell our bodies, but the overtime wasn't there this year. For Sale: two old bodies. Cheap. Oh well. We worked October to Christmas.

End of December we made the trip up north to the frozen tundra. We have no ass's because we froze them off last winter. It was brutally cold. Spent the holiday's with family and our son announced his and Heather's engagement. "Bravo!" we said.
Frozen Minnesota style.

January found us heading back to Kentucky to get our fifth wheel and then over to Knoxville Tennessee to get some work done on the RV. Once that was done we bee-lined it to sunny and warm Florida. We stayed in several different parts of Florida. We were in Sanford Florida, north of Orlando for awhile. Then over to the Tampa area for several months, working the dreaded Strawberry Festival of Horrors. It really doesn't seem that bad, NOW. Then back to Orlando to visit the mouse. Our kids each came for visits which was great. That was January to the end of May.
Strawberry Festival of Horrors.

Vicki and Kendra visited.

Lisa enjoying some beach time.

Heather and Roman visited.

It's so magical.

Kelly, Rich, Lisa and I.

We visited with Lisa's uncle Gary and girlfriend Trish.

Lisa's sister Heidi and two boys visited.

Then it was getting too hot in Florida so we headed up north again to Minnesota for VIP's and our son's wedding in July. What a great girl he found and they really compliment each other perfectly.
Jim and Barb tracked us down.

Roman and Heather's wedding.

Milage wise, we did put on a lot of miles last year. It's all part of the experience though. We spent nearly 5 months in Florida getting to know the Orlando and Tampa area very well. We spent a lot of money last year. Probably more than we care to admit. New fifth wheel, tires, 2 hitches and all the Disney tickets. But the smiles are all worth it. Our jobs for last year included Yellowstone NP, Amazon, Strawberry Festival of Horrors and our current job, DDI Healthcare. Working about 7 months out of twelve. Not to bad.

We don't keep track of our financials like we used to. It all goes down as the cost of living, and living ain't cheap no matter how you do it.

So that is our year in a nut shell. We are starting to plan next year and it should be a good one. So stay tuned.