Our time here is coming to an end.....

With about 3 or 4 weeks left here in Colorado I've started looking back through photos thinking about some of the great experiences josh and I have had.

Red Rocks Ampitheatre, Independence Pass (12,095 ft) with Mom, Kim and Nick, and the flower lined roadways at the Sand Dunes National Park.
Rainbow in leadville, steps at loveland pass, ice at montezuma.


Summit County, our home for the last year.....

This morning is our first official day as Fulltimers!! I finished cleaning the apartment this morning, left my keys inside and locked the door behind me, never to return again, thank goodness! Our RV is packed with all of our belongings, which amounted to alot more than I thought, I hope that we didn't add too much weight. It's amazing what one person collects in the timespan of a year and as you start going through it all you realize how much money you've wasted on senseless junk. Who needs a stress ball in the shape of Dwight Schrute's head (all you office fans will know what i'm talking about)? Apparently I did. "It's only a dollar" is how I rationalized that purchase along with numerous others just like it over the years. I think living in such a small space will teach us how to consume less and to consume with more conscious thought. I found this great website www.tumbleweedhouses.com "the tumbleweed tiny house" company. They manufacture small houses from 70sq ft to 700sq ft for those of us who don't need much space. My favorite is the 400 sq ft z-glass house.

As the weeks go by we will try and keep up with our blog, maybe writing more topical oriented posts while we wait to start our journey. Due to the fact that we do not currently have water in our RV I may not be able to do much cooking in the Nuwave for now. If we are able to stay in this heated garage then josh may fill up the tank so i can cook and wash dishes. Keep checking in!

Short Termers!

Kelly and I are both feeling it. Our day jobs are becoming trivial and we are anxious to get back to our adventure. In time. Right now we are almost ready to move out of the apartment and in to the RV. We are so excited. All we have left is a couch bed and some pillows to get rid of and clean the place. We haven't found out about storage yet but we're pretty sure that we'll get the covered one. That means we can do some of our upgrades now. We headed over to the local green store Ecoasis in Breckenridge. The lady was so friendly and had great info on renewable, reusable, and recycled products. They also had some friendly paint. We're deciding on color...we'll let you know. That's all for now but we're so close, so stick with us!

For all you Foodies our there

My new Nuwave oven has arrived!, and it's first meal, roasted chicken.

Step.1 Clean Chicken
Step.2 Season Chicken
Step.3 Put Chicken in Nuwave
Step.4 Cook Chicken for only 75 min
Step.5 Fight over who gets to devour crunchy skin first!!!

This machine seems pretty amazing and I can't wait to try cooking bread in it next. Yes it even cooks bread! Keep tuning in for more fun food posts!!

2000 miles, 8 states, 11,158 feet...

1 power steering pump, and countless stories and friends, we're home! We headed up the steepest part of our journey last night around 7 o'clock Denver time. We climbed the 6% grades at 20 mph with semi's passing on the left. With everything running tip top, our beautiful trusty Trek pulled up in it's covered(yippie) parking space for a about a week. Kelly and I will clean er' up and start moving out of our apartment during this time. We hope to rent this space so we can do some up grades thru February. If not we will head over to a local camp site as we finish out our local jobs here in Colorado. Our little adventure has just begun and we had a small taste of the things to come. We had bumps that lead to great times and people. We'll have a ton more. For now we'll take care of business here and we'll keep posting the progress. Keep watching! You never know what we'll get into.

Disclaimer: This video has lots of foul language but is hilarious!!

I've figured out how to add video!!

YouTube

Almost home...

We slept at the flying J in Salina, KS last night and boy was it cold!!! I think it dropped below zero for sure. Luckily we have a great forced air furnace system which takes the chill out of the air and we brought plenty of warm blankets. We left Salina at about 8:30am and started heading towards Denver. It's been pretty windy so josh's been doing all the driving. We're also climbing in elevation so we've only been going 45-50mph which sucks big time. We've seen some cool things along the way like this wind farm. There must have been almost 100 turbines scattered across the landscape. I wish we had time to stop and take pictures of all the cool looking rundown farms and rolls of hay too. We are trying to make it back to Dillon by tonight and it looks like there's great weather and road conditions so hopefully it'll be smooth sailing.

The 24 hr blog is back!!

...at least for the next few days. Along our drive we had seen numerous billboards for "lovealls RV" so we decided to stop off and see if they could have someone check out our electrical problem because not having Internet while josh drives is a nightmare. (I've been fighting falling asleep for the past few hours, my head bobbing every which way.) As soon as we walked through the door we were greeted by a genuinely friendly salesman who showed to sales and service. There they were just as friendly and were able to have a technician take a look at our rig even though they were very busy. An hour and $47.00 later we are back on the road with my dash outlet restored!!! The tech said that he pulled out a gfci plug in the basement storage area and put it back in a couple of times to clear out moisture that must have gotten inside and that was the simple fix. We were so elated to have our power back, I can't wait to take pictures tonight of the bed that drops down from the ceiling for you all to see!! We were also so happy to find a place that was willing to help us in our time of need. Take that RV America!! We love LOVEALLS RV!!!

On the road again.....

We left Sikeston early this morning and are currently headed to St. Louis, MO on I-55 north. It's cold and a little rainy right now but we're just taking our time and enjoying all the interesting billboards along the way:) . Josh and I hope to stay the night somewhere in Topeka, KS if we can make it that far. It's been smooth sailing since we started driving this morning. Everything seems to be working great since we had the work done yesterday. Wish us Luck!!!

Learning to Blog

To those of you with new Google accounts, congratulations and thanks for your dedication! To Kelly and I Google is our best friend. To those of you not wanting to sign up, we have finally figured out a way around. There was a settings button that allowed us to change from Google account holders to anyone to comment. So to those people without Google accounts...Comment Away!

Not a bad place to be...

We’ve heard it a million times…”Everything happens for a reason”! Today more than ever this rings true. Kelly and I started the morning at 8 sharp hoping RV America could help us in our first stranding. They listened to a quarter of our story before interrupting with “Oh, we don’t do chassis work. We send our work to Sikeston Auto Services”. With directions to our next stop we thought, “Great, the run around begins”. Were we ever wrong! We arrived at the small mechanic shop and a young lad was energetic to help. A quick diagnose, he said “The boss will be in shortly for a second opinion but I think your power steering pump is going”. We were prepared for the worst. The tall man that appeared next was our savior. A GM instructor, he walked Kelly and I through the hydro boost and power steering system and called a kink in a return line and the power steering pump as the start to our fix. Lucky for us there was a pump in town and he was speedy to start the work, even with the fleet work he had to take care of on top. After a recommend hot breakfast spot, we filled our bellies and headed back, stopping first by the Goodwill and scoring some sweet threads to show off. By noon he had the pump in, but there was still a problem. The power steering reservoir was still overflowing a thick foamy substance. After completely bleeding the system, and a test drive, we were back in business. Needless to say we were ecstatic. We paid our tab and with one last recommendation, we were off to dinner at Lamberts,” home of the tossed roll”. What a place! They really do toss the rolls…from one side of the restaurant to the other and the portions where abundant as where the things on the wall to look at. If you leave there hungry, it’s your own fault.

So to sum up, we by chance stopped for a evening at Hinton RV park, connected to shore power, winded up replacing a power steering pump, staying a extra night, but meeting some unforgettable people and a monkey. Our stay in Sikeston Missouri will not be forgotten! We will continue to stay positive, knowing that life may show us great things in funny ways. Keep watching, who knows what will happened next. Thanks again Sikeston.

A couple more....

More pictures from the inside...

Magic Crazy Pants

With time to waste while our rv is being serviced Josh and I walked over to Jay's Chicken for breakfast and then to Goodwill. At Goodwill I was walking up and down the aisles just wasting time as Josh looked around and hanging there on the rack in full view was this grey knit sweater. I must have walked around and came back to it 3 times and finally I tried it on and new it had to be mine!!! AND it was only $2.00!!!
Josh also had found some "interesting" pieces of clothing......I'll let him explain below....
I looked and looked for the Bad Boy logo and knew it would be free lifetime membership if I had found it. Alas they were just knock offs and knew the "Bad Boys" would spot me a mile away so I passed them up. What I couldn't do is pass up a photo op. How about that getup with a sweet matching lighting bolt hat?

Interior pictures - the bedroom

This is our bedroom. Small and cozy, lots of storage.

This is our engine under the bed.....
Needless to say there's no taking a nap while driving on the road.....

personality type: RVer

Josh and I met a couple here today who help run the rv park and started fulltiming just last year. They workamp (work while camping) throughout the year at various campgrounds and were such fun to talk to. They were even nice enough to let us have a handful of their zip ties to fasten some pipe insulation we had bought earlier. (For more information on workamping go to www.workamping.com. As a member you have access to hundreds of seasonal jobs all over the US and Canada. It will be a major resource for us as we fulltime.) We also met another fulltimer named Bruce who stopped over this morning while we were unhooking everything and learned that he too lived in Colorado for a time. He came over later in the afternoon and we had another chance to pick his brain regarding a few of our hopefully minor issues with the rv. Many of the rvers we run into are so open and friendly, it's a refreshing feeling and restores some of your faith in people. Even as we cruise down the highway other rv drivers will wave as a sign of solidarity.

Color schemes....

Still stuck in Missouri Josh and I decided to venture out to Lowe's to pickup a new breaker for the fuse box and we ended up finding many other things that we "needed". As we walked up and down the towering aisles we came upon what seemed like thousands of paint swatches. Josh and I immediately started picking up colors that we liked and shoveling them into my purse hoping the person at the counter wouldn't notice us. After getting home and laying the colors out I started noticing a trend, do you? Red, blue, green, yellow......Over the course of the next couple of months we will be making the rv our own by adding personal touches and hopefully new colors to brighten up our home. The creators of www.livelightlytour.com have remodeled their fleetwood flair in a way which has inspired us to do the same. Check out their site if you're interested in seeing their 'before and after' pictures and reading about sustainable living in an rv.

No worries....

We had another little setback this morning as we were filling up at the pump, what looks like power steering fluid started draining from an overflow hose all over the ground. It's sunday so of course nothing is open needless to say we'll be here another day in Missouri. Luckily there's lots of truck and RV service places in this town so first thing tomorrow morning we'll have it checked out.


Josh is still in good spirits as you can see! I think you all need to start a haircut fund for him. Please! lol

Monkey business

BJ and the Bear ain't got nothing on me. One minute I'm filling up diesel and the next I've got this chimp calling me over! He told me some great secrets about road travelin. His advice will go a long way. You never know what you'll find on the road!

We have power!!!!

We are currently parked in an RV park somewhere in Missouri and are so happy to be plugged into shore power!!! It's amazing how much power you use when you're not hooked up and you soon realize how power needy we really are (water too!!) In an effort to conserve we purchased a dandy little invention called the "wonder wash". You fill it up with 6 Liters of water, toss in some clothing and a little detergent, close the lid and presto!, after hand cranking for about 2 minutes you have clean clothes. Isn't it cute!!!


Josh and I are still learning all the in's and out's of the RV and for some reason have lost power to certain outlets and lighting. We were hoping that this would change once we were hooked up to shore but alas we were wrong. Tomorrow we will try and find a camping world to see if there's an easy fix to our dilemma. I'm sure it's a fuse or something simple but we just can't figure it out at the moment.

A view from inside....

truck driver training....

As much as josh dislikes having his picture taken I couldn't resist!

The police may not get them but Karma will!!!!

As we were driving towards memphis, tn today on hwy78 a car pulled out from a road on our left side and pulled out right in front of us without stopping, slowing or even trying to get out of the way! Josh did an excelled job of trying to get out of the way but they crashed into us as if on purpose!! It's not like you can miss us!!! After the crash they got out in front of us and took off. Josh tried to go after them but in a vehicle like ours we lack the power. Luckily there were lots of witnesses and a nice couple followed us to the side of the road and had gotten the drivers license number. About 30 minutes or more later the police finally showed up. Apparently Memphis has one of the highest crime rates in the country and things like this happen all the time. They said that there was nothing that they could do and to have our insurance handle the rest. As you can see from the pictures damage to the trek was minimal but you should see the other guy!!! They had a small honda like vehicle and the whole passenger side was a wreck. I never would wish bodily harm on anyone but I hope their vehicle is even worse than it looked. We ended up having a buldge in one of the rear tires from running over a grate on the road and we are currently having that tire replaced. Besides a little damage to the trek and our nerves we're ok and just a day behind schedule. Thank goodness for insurance!!!

Lions and Tigers and Eagles Oh My!!!

Most Safari Treks have these interesting "Dana" Murals on the back wall. They range from dolphins to tigers to eagles and even in some cases dogs. From what Anna told me they can cost upwards of $2,000!!!

No Crap!

After the RV dreams, we woke in the parking lot of the Flying J in Siloam Georgia. With all the water, propane, and diesel one could handle we tried them all. First the diesel...Green handle is all we need. Next, the dump tank. After stringing our sewer hoses together, we got er cleaned out without a problem...No Crap! Thinking the fresh water was was going to blow out in my face, we keep filling. "Hey, is it overflowing out the bottom"? "Yeah stop it"! Needless to say we know where it overflows from. So far it has been a productive and educational day.

Reasons for veggie oil conversion....

We had our first experience filling up the RV today....We only filled up the tank 3/4 of the way and look at the cost!!! We are definitly converting the trek to veggie oil asap.....

We were ok at this point....
Here's where panic started to set in....We have a 70 gallon fuel tank.....
This is where josh passed out :).......

Check out our new home!!!

We took a few pictures for everyone to see, there will be many more to come in the next few days. We'll be checking and updating the site daily while on the road so feel free to post messages!

OMG! We have an RV!!!

We are now the proud owners of a 1997 Safari Trek!!! After a day of flying across the United States we arrived in SC and finally set our eyes on our new home! We were warmly greeted by Chris and Anna, sellers of the Safari. Josh and I were so excited when we arrived at their home and saw the Safari parked outside that we just had to get inside the trek immediately!! As we poured over every inch of the trek Chris and Anna helped show us around, pointing out how things worked and where things were. Josh and I were so elated that we were actually standing in our rv! We spent some time in rig just before dinner talking about how we couldn't believe we were actually here. Chris and Anna had invited us into their home and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying a wonderful dinner and conversation. We are so thankful for their kindness and generosity and for spending so much time going over just about every aspect of our new home. We are settling in for bed now and as we lay here listening to the raindrops on the roof we are thinking about all the adventures that are to come...


THANK YOU CHRIS AND ANNA!!!