Still Happy two years later in our Airstream - the two-year experiment is complete

New Experiences living the RV Life 

It was two years ago last month, July 23rd, 2016 to be exact, that we picked up our new Airstream in Tampa Florida.  With two years to experience the RV lifestyle on the road and living out decisions made before and after that date, we are both very happy we decided to do this and we are exactly where we want to be.

The trip back from Tampa, our Maiden Voyage, our first time to pull a large trailer, was an experience in itself.  We began learning what living in an RV would be like, how it would permanently change our lives and cause new and exciting adventures in our lives every day.

A Comfortable and Happy Life 

We approach life as if every moment is a lesson, an opportunity to learn.  And we have learned that we can be comfortable and happy living in the Airstream.  It was definitely not like that at the beginning.  Over these two years, we've learned that a propane detector going off at night is not an emergency; it means we check the propane appliances (stove & refrigerator) for problems and leaks, and then turn on the exhaust fans and reset the detector.

There are innumerable small issues with RVs that come up and you learn to solve them yourself or you go to an expert to get them resolved.  They are all problems that can be dealt with and very few are life-threatening emergencies like they seemed at the beginning.

In 2016 when I retired, we had a 2-year plan, an agreement, to try out RV life.  We bought a trailer that we believed would keep its value for the long-term.  The 2-year experiment is complete and was a success.  We're continuing with the RV life and expect to do this for the long-term.

Looking back at our dream

Some of what we've learned 

Things happen even with a brand-new RV

'Airstreaming' I believe is similar and different from traveling in any trailer.  How would we know?  I'm just guessing, but one thing I do know is that Airstream trailers come with a 2-year warranty.  That warranty is really important; luckily we got most of our out-of-the-factory issues corrected in the 1st year. In the second year, we've used the warranty on smaller issues that we could resolve but needed a part or assistance from Airstream.

Many people may think a new trailer would come off the factory floor perfect, without flaws, and trouble-free (for a while at least).  That is simply not true, even for an Airstream, or a 2-million dollar class A motorhome.  I've heard story upon story about every version of RV and their (major and minor) problems the first year.  We had ours too, and I could list them, so everyone would really appreciate the work it took the first year, but I won't.  The point is we have them fixed, and that was the focus of all that work.  Get your RV working and continue on your adventure.

Schedule as little as you can, keep it flexible

It's obvious, I think, that as we travel we want to take advantage of where we are and where we want to be, right.  When we are working and on a tight schedule, we plan a trip end-to-end,; we book hotels, RV parks, and events and we go do that.  Great trip but not a lot of flexibility built-in.

We'll the new point-of-view now for me is not to do ANY OF THAT.  Flexibility/agility during a trip is key to taking advantage of what's in front of you and what you come upon next.  So, as we relocate ourselves, we don't plan much, leaving the agenda completely open.  If we plan to visit a park we'll go in the first day and check things out, hit the visitors center and THEN plan the next day. It may be that there's not a lot to do in that particular park at the time (like we though while visiting Mesa Verde NP in 2020).  As it happens, the more you explore the more you find in front of you that is also interesting.  So, plan as little as possible to get in the most impact.  In Mesa Verde, it turned out that even though the ranger-led hikes into the Cliff Dwellings were not operating when we were there in February, we still found a week's worth of valuable and exciting things to do in that park.

Slow and easy vs. fast-paced is a no-brainer

Similar to the above point, when we get to a location we plan to stay for a while. Since we want to get the most out of our visit we usually don't plan an end date.  We stay as long as needed and leave when ready for the next adventure.

A system the Living in Beauty blog talks about is the 4-3-2 rule!   That is: drive no more than 4 hours, stop by 3 pm and stay for 2 weeks.

Expand your horizons as you travel

The idea is that we try different types of stays, including boondocking, state/national park campgrounds, using private parks, Harvest Host wineries, and moochdocking at Walmarts and Cabelas.  We have RV friends, for example, Xscapers, that like to boondock all the time.  They love that experience of being in the desert on solar.  Other's we met, like some Escapees, like to stay in RV parks all the time.

We've found that changing things up from time-to-time can really make full-time RV living work and keep us happy.  Hey, we've even looked at the beautiful Fort Wilderness park at Disney World in Florida as a place to say.  That experience would be wonderful and (finally) get Lupe to Disney World so he stops complaining :)

Working together (at paid or volunteer jobs) will grow your relationship

We CAN work together at a real job, we hadn't done this before and have learned so much about each other and our relationship by doing this at Big Bend.  After a few weeks of figuring out who is in charge (no one as it turns out), Lupe and I have settled into our jobs and understand each other just a little bit better.

What we're doing now and why it works

We are currently in Big Bend National Park working for Forever Resorts.  As I'll post in the future I bet, this will be one of the best experiences we've ever had.  Not only have we learned more about each other with our relationship growing by leaps and bounds, but also we have learned that we can do things that we never thought we could.

I didn't think I would ever do retail in my life.  But, I've learned the price of EVERY ITEM in our store at Rio Grande Village, and I found I love working with people and making their park experience a great one.

Of course, this works because we are willing to make it work.  We had no idea what this job would be like, or what we would face during the job, but we were willing to try it and work as hard as we could to make it work.  So, to me that is a work ethic and why we can workcamp now and in the future.  We can get through almost anything if we are committed to the job.

even when it's 94 inside and 113 outside, in the shade

Bert 

Christmas 2016 in Denver and a wonderful 2017 Birthday

Christmas in 2016 started early for us.  We had to take the Airstream in to be fixed before our planned 2017 trips, and we knew it would be at least two weeks for the work to be completed.  We had a soft floor in front of the sink that needed to be investigated, and we believed the hot water heater was leaking under the dinette.  So, we left the Airstream in Buda, Texas at Camper Clinic II and drove to Denver for Christmas on December 17th.

2016 Christmas in Austin

But first, to wrap Christmas up in Austin, we did hit the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, the Zilker trail of lights with Lupe's little sister and many good friends, and had early Christmas with Lupe's family.

December 2016 is also when the Green Monster got its side scratched at the Decker Lane Self Storage (which they refused to pay for).  Sad face.

'last' haircut with Farah

And, I got a beard trim, with Farah, my favorite hairdresser, and stepdaughter!!  

Thanks, Farah for taking care of me for our last year in Austin.

Randy always has lots planned for Christmas in Denver.  One thing we always do is visit the Denver christkindl market, where there are lots of magical, German gifts and surprises as well as LoDo and the 16th Street mall where there is ice skating.

Pre-Christmas festivities in Denver

So, on to Christmas in Denver after all the shopping.  As we approached the 25th, the rest of our close family from Texas arrived in Parker and we had another wonderful Christmas there.

Here's the fireplace the night before Christmas.

Sometimes it feels like we go overboard for Christmas.  As you can see in the photos there are lots of gifts.  I'd have to blame our mom, Ingrid since she was the one that always provided so many gifts around the tree.  It was never about the $$ you spent but about the thought behind the gifts.  We still do that, always getting gifts that, we hope, match what that person needs.  Here's the link to the Christmas 2016 Album showing the many gifts and good times we had on the 25th.




Since we had family in town, we decided to visit the Denver Zoo to spend time outside and give the kids some fun.  The nice cool weather was a change for those of us that live in Texas and usually have Christmas there.

Eventually, all the 'Texans' left and Lupe and I were left there in Denver waiting on the Airstream to get fixed.  I called Camper Clinic II regularly, but we knew it was the holidays and they would be slow to get the leaks fixed.  As it turned out, it wouldn't be two weeks to get it all done.  After many calls, Camper Clinic got Airstream Company involved after finding how significant the water damage was.

They found that the kitchen faucet had been leaking behind the counter onto the floor since we got the trailer.  That small drip finally started to damage all floors in the front of the RV and had soaked so much of the subfloor that they had to replace all the flooring from the dinette forward.  They had to remove the galley, the dinette, and the L-shaped couch and then replace all that subfloor.  That work wound up taking 2 months.  We finally got a call in early February 2017 that the trailer was ready!

However, the good in all this was that we got to spend a lot of time with Randy and Kenny, and we had an opportunity to explore Colorado for great outdoor adventures.  Here are some of the places we visited during that time. 

Cherry creek state park album, the Kathy Griffin show, Rocky mountain arsenal National Wildlife Refuge album, Chatfield state park, Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs album, and the International Snow Sculpting Competition in Breckenridge Colorado

Entrance to the International Snow Sculpting Competition  

Rocky Mountain National park + the famous Stanley hotel next to the park.

And of course, during that time I had my 2017 birthday at Linger in downtown Denver.  Who knows how old I became that year LOL but Randy and friends put on a fantastic birthday for me. 

Maiden voyage - picking up our Airstream

We picked up our 2017 International Serenity Airstream from Tampa RV in July 2016. This trip is what we call our 'maiden voyage' in the trailer.

Here we are hooking it up for the very first time.

Here we are hooking it up for the very first time. 

Starting in Austin we decided to drive overnight to get to the Tampa area non-stop driving until we got to our Hotel in Clearwater, Florida.  It was easy to do this since we weren't pulling (yet).  So, off we went on an overnight trip to get the Airstream.

We wanted the 'night before' to be fun and relaxing.  So we got a reasonable hotel on the beach, did a beach walk, watched the sun go down and then got drenched by a sudden beach storm.  It was wonderful and relaxing.  Just what we needed.  Clearwater was a great choice and had beautiful beaches.

To make it memorable and to keep our daily driving with the trailer in tow to a 'reasonable' distance, we picked several fun stops on the way back including Madeira Beach KOA in St. Petersburg so we could get back quickly if we had problems the first night

Top Sail state park in Destin, Florida, one of my favorite state parks in the state,

Sam Houston Jones to experience Lousiana swamplands

and Bayou Signet state park near New Orleans for a visit to the French Quarter. (photos coming)

Here's a map of trip back, we start at the KOA (1), then head to TopSaid Hill Preserve State Park near Destin Fl (2), then to Sam Houston Jones State Park near Lake Charles LA (3) and then home to Oak Forest RV Resort in Austin (4)! — in Tampa, Florida.

And then back to our new Home Sweet Home in Austin at Oak Forest RV Resort!!

Here's the photo album of that trip.