One Year On The Road

It has been one year on July 12 that I started my fulltime RV’ing lifestyle.  I can’t believe it has been a whole year.  I took the time to go back through this year and show you some of the highlights of my adventure.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

July, 2010 – Inyokern, CA –  My very first campsite at the beginning of my adventure.  I was really a rookie back then.

July, 2010 – Sequoia National Park – Boondocking in Fish Creek Campsite in the Sequoias.

August, 2010 – Sisters, OR – Camping on the Metolius River outside of Sisters, OR.  What a fantastic spot.

August, 2010 – Crater Lake National Park.  Words cannot describe this beautiful place.

September, 2010 – Eugene, OR – Getting my solar panels installed.  My boondocking will be much quieter and more efficient from now on.

October, 2010 – Albuquerque, NM – Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – 10 fabulous days with other fun Lazy Daze owners.

October, 2010 – Palomas, Mexico – Central park.  Visited there after attending Escapees Chapter 21 Rally.

October, 2010 – Deming, NM – Rockhound State Park – This a rock hounds dream park.  Lots of different rocks.

November, 2010 – Socorro, NM – Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge – Visited there during the Festival of the Cranes event.

December, 2010 – January, 2011 – Death Valley, CA – A beautiful view of Death Valley during an annual Lazy Daze Rally.

January, 2011 – Quartzsite, AZ – Got together with a bunch of Lazy Daze owners during the Quartzsite RV Show.  It was a blast boondocking in the desert.  Lots of food, a campfire every night and the BIG TENT RV Show.

February, 2011 – Anza-Borrego, CA – Boondocking in the Anza-Borrego Desert.

February, 2011 – Niland, CA – Boondocking with the LOW’s (Loners On Wheels) at Slab City.  Everyone should go there at least once.

February/March, 2011 – Benson, AZ – The winter SW Lazy Daze Rally at Pato Blanco RV Resort.  Lots of great food and people.

March, 2011 – Picacho Peak, AZ – A civil war re-enactment at Picacho Peak State Park.  Event lasted all week-end with gun battles and actual tents and other equipment during that era..

March, 2011 – Douglas, AZ – Visiting with friends at Bell Starr’s Silverado Ranch.  Belle is wearing the pink hat.  We all helped Belle work on her ranch projects.  A MUST see.  She is quite a lady.

April, 2011 – Alamogordo, NM – White Sands National Monument.  Very surreal.

May, 2011 – Carlsbad, NM – Carlsbad Caverns.  A MUST see.

May, 2011 – Melvin, TX – I just had to visit there.

May, 2011 – San Antonio, TX – The Alamo in downtown San Antonio, TX.  Another MUST see.

May, 2010 – San Antonio, TX – The San Antonio River-walk.  A really neat and fun place.

May, 2011 – San Antonio, TX – The Tower of Americas.  The view from the top is spectacular.

May, 2011 – Luckenbach, TX.  I just had to visit here because of the song made famous by Willie Nelson and Waylan Jennings.

May, 2011 – Blanco, TX – My campsite in Blanco State Park.  How about that for a back yard?

June, 2011 – Fort Worth, TX.  The highlight of my year.  Being able to visit my family.  It was sooooo much fun.

July, 2011 – Karnack, TX –   Caddo Lake State Park.  I spent a week here and loved every minute.

It has been a wonderful year.  I have traveled 12,702 miles in 6 different states and 2 different countries.  I have attended 8 RV Rallies where I have met a lot of people, learned a lot about things I never knew anything about, and spent money upgrading my rig.

This year has been much better then I even anticipated.  I met a lot of great people who I continue to keep in touch with.  I am looking forward this next year to travel to places I have never seen before and meet more wonderful people.

Blogs I Follow – “Lifes Little Adventures”

In between my journeys I am going to write about the blogs I follow myself.  I plan on telling you about each blog and the particular reasons I happen to be following them.  The first blog I would like to mention is “Life’s Little Adventures” .  This blog is written by Jim and Gayle who have been on the road fulltiming with 2 cats since Oct. 2008.

I first met Jim and Gayle in Albuquerque, NM during the 2010 Balloon Fiesta.  We were all introduced to each other since we were with a large group of Lazy Daze owners.  If you have never attended a Balloon Fiesta you are really missing out on a great time.  Lots of wonderful fun people, great food and of course the hundreds of balloons that go over us each day.  It was one of the highlights of my fulltiming adventures and I will be attending again this year.

After the Balloon Fiesta we each went our different ways and I didn’t catch up with Jim and Gayle until January, 2011 at Quartzsite.  Again it was a Lazy Daze group that was organized to meet by my good friend Roger.  We spent about a week boondocking about 1/2 mile from the big tent and everyone shared their experiences of the day at the campfire.  Again it was a great time.

After that there was a 4 day SW Lazy Daze Rally in Benson, AZ over Feb/March where we met up again.  It is amazing how you happen to meet up with perfect strangers and become great friends in just a matter of months.

I had scheduled to have my teeth cleaned in Palomas, Mexico by my new-found dentist some time in April, 2011 so spent a few days at Pancho Villa State Park.  Just before I was going to leave I got an email from Jim and Gayle.  They mentioned that they were staying at Rockhound State Park about 30 miles away and wondered if I would like to meet up with them there.  I agreed and met them there the following day.  While there we did a lot of hiking in the park and in the nearby parks as well.  It was great fun.

At the time this post was written they are camp hosting at Lake Wappapello in Missouri.  I don’t think they were planning on attending the Balloon Fiesta this year since they will be going to a Lazy Daze rally instead.

They are great friends and I have enjoyed both camping with them and reading about their adventures in their “Life’s Little Adventures” blog.  By the way I am horrible about remembering names but their names were really easy for me.  Jim and Gayle are the names of my parents.  How could I forget them?  LOL!!!!!