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Full-time RVers- Full-time Friends (Married over 20 years, TO EACH OTHER!)

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

It's summer now! Where can we go & what do we need to do to get there?


May 28, 2011

Dean (the husband)  Shalane (the wife :O)

Today was a hot and windy day here in Vegas.  Still, it was a perfect day to get out and get some things purchased that we'll need for our summer stay in the mountains of Lincoln County Nevada.  My wife and I are both teachers and we enjoy the summers. That's an understatement! All of our children have left the nest and we live in our house on wheels, a 26 foot travel trailer.  Most people think we're crazy or cool, or perhaps a little of both.  Both for sure!

Anyway, the RV resort that we will be traveling to is in a remote part of the state.  I wouldn't call it a resort.  lol  Where we live now, Las Vegas RV Resort, is worthy of the title.  It's adults only, has a hot tub and beautiful pool and has a nice lounge with a BIG screen tv.  Eagle Valley  "Resort  "
is for the red neck at heart.  When we get there, we'll share more about it and post pictures.  Today we took full advantage of our "city" life to pick up some supplies we'll need to survive through a month long stay in the boondocks.  We're loading up in hopes of avoiding having to drive our diesel dually truck 110 miles one way to the nearest Wal-Mart to go shopping.  We like this kind of shopping!  It's exciting to talk about and search for the stuff we're gonna need for our summer sabbatical.

In the last couple of weeks we have bought the following supplies: (We'll expand more on these later.)
Portable solar generator
Electric blanket  It's cold where we boondock up in the mountains.
Solar Oven
Collapsible water jug
Solar shower
Boondockin' bathroom
Portable shower tent
New roasting forks  How do we always lose these things?
Sling shots  I bought those.  Dean has never shot one, so he has no idea how fun it is!  I remember going down to the banks of the Missouri river when I was a young girl and shootin cans off a stump.  Those are some of my favorite memories.
Food, food, food
Lots of sundries (deo, tp, soap, etc.)
New fishin' pole for me!  I wanted a pink one!  :O)
Fishing stuff that we probably didn't need but LOVE to buy
TARTER SAUCE!!!  We eat all the fish we catch

We'll share more about packing for our trip, the products that we purchased and what we think of them in a later blog.  We're excited to try out some of our new camping toys.  :O)

Until then, happy trails!

Is it possible to be Full-timing With a Full Time Job?

Dean (the husband)  Shalane (the wife :O)

Welcome to our blog.  My wife and I will be writing this together.  I (the husband) will be writing in regular type.  My wife (the wild one) will be writing in italics with color.   I have had many friends ask me questions about why I choose to live in an RV when both my wife and I have good full time jobs.  They think we're nuts! When I explain it to them, often times I've heard, "Why don't you do a blog on it?"   Well, I have finally decided to take their advice.  Over the next few months I hope to describe what we're doing and how it is going. I will edit and add my 2 cents worth.
First of all, I will start with what type of RV we chose.  That's not a good place to start.  We should tell you a little about ourselves first.  My name is Shalane, and my husband is Dean.  We met at a church dance, were engaged to be married within 48 hours, got married a month later and have been HAPPILY married for 20 plus years.  We have three gorgeous children, Hannah age 18, DJ age 20 and Maresa age 22.  We LOVE the outdoors!  We like to camp, fish, hike and paint the beauty we discover.  Dean is super smart, handsome, and conservative, and I am goofy, outgoing and spontaneous.  Dean was born in 1960 and I in 1970.  We were made for each other and are excited to share our adventures with you.  Ok, now Dean can continue. 


We started with a 25 year old 30' Class A motorhome with no slideouts, that we found on a Craigslist ad.  It had been completely remodeled on the inside and had a quirky kind of style to it.  It was adorable! The engine had been rebuilt about 20,000 miles before, and it was priced well.  We decided on an older motorhome because we didn't want to invest a lot of money into something only to find out 3 months later that it wasn't the lifestyle that we thought it was.  As it turned out, it was exactly what we hoped it would be.  We had a great time in that motorhome.  That's an understatement.  We LOVED Beatrice, as we named her.  I cried when she drove away.  I still  question whether it was a good idea to let her go, and wherever she is now, I hope that she is being loved and cared for.  I remember the very first night we got Beatrice.  We parked overnight at Terrible's Casino RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada.  It was SO pretty.  We walked around the little lake and shared how excited we were that we were embarking on an adventure that we had dreamed about for many years.  There wasn't much in the RV.  We hadn't even gotten her home yet, bet we loved her anyway.  In the morning, ducks came right up to our door for some breakfast.  Dean said I shouldn't feed them Pop Tarts because it wasn't good for them.  He always wants to be so sensible.  I fed them anyway.  :O)   (That's my smile.  You will see it a lot in my blogs.  I like to smile. :O)

After we had lived in the Class A for about 6 months, we decided to get something with a slideout.  There are pros and cons to this.  Yes, there is more room, but now Dean is always complaining that, when he had the closer quarters he could more readily reach out and pinch my bum.  He' so inappropriate. :O)  We eventually decided to go with a 26 foot Fleetwood Mallard Travel Trailer with a custom made Toy Hauler added to the front hitch.  It also has a heavy duty tool box mounted on the back.  We bought a 1996 Chevy 3500 dually diesel truck to pull it.  Both of which I thought we got for a very good deal.  Good deal?!  This man price shops and haggles like nobody's business!  Now, 6 months later, we are seeing a few things that we would like to have in our next RV.  Still, I think that we will be in this one for at least another year.  We are saving our pennies to get a bunk-house.  DJ will be coming home from his mission in Brazil next June, and we need a place for him to lay his head until he's ready to move on.  I don't think he'll be here long, but I still want a bunk house where our guests can stay when they come to visit.  I don't want anything too big and fancy.  I wouldn't want any of them thinking that we have PLENTY of room and that they're welcome to stay as long as they want.  hehe  :O)

My wife and I are both school teachers with summers off.  We hope to start a day-to-day blog toward the end of the school year as we start our summer on the road.  Hope you enjoy it!  That's it?  That's all you wrote?  Ok, but I'm shocked.  Really!  This blog makes it look like I'M the wordy one, but usually Dean is the one that takes half an hour to tell a two minute story.  :O)  I'm teasing him.  WELL, I guess that means we're done with our first blog entry.  I echo my husband, I really do hope you enjoy it, and I hope that we get to meet on the road sometime.  Happy trails!