Living Our Dream

Three Years and Counting

July 10, 2009 marks the 3^rd anniversary of our full-time RVing lifestyle. We had initially made a two-year commitment to full-timing, and so it is natural that we would re-evaluate our lifestyle on succeeding anniversaries.

Being retired and having more discretionary time doesn’t make life go any slower. In fact, for us it seems to be going faster. We heard recently that life is like a roll of toilet paper…the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!

Probably most notable for us is how comfortable we have become with our nomadic life. Getting mail, scheduling maintenance on the vehicles, getting prescriptions refilled, paying bills, getting hair cuts, finding a chiropractor or veterinarian…all of these things we take in our stride. Sure, we have unexpected things happen, but we try to take those in stride, too. Our gratitude for this incredible opportunity continues to abound, and we continue to be amazed at the beauty and diversity of this country and its people.

After 1½ years of traveling with new knees, Margery feels like she just started full-timing and isn’t ready yet to consider landing someplace.  There are still places we both want to re-visit, particularly in Texas, New Mexico, and southern Utah; and we haven’t yet made it to Michigan, Wisconsin, and New England.

Paul recently mentioned his desire to garden again and occasionally entertains thoughts of settling down at some point. That probably won’t be until at least the five-year mark, and then it’s likely it would only be for part of the year.

“Settling down” for us would likely be having a place somewhere in the south for part of the year (late fall and winter) and traveling the rest of the time. And, of course, that still presents the problems of being an absentee resident of a permanent residence. However, with the tanking of our economy and its uncertainty in the future, we’re not sure that we would have enough resources to maintain both a permanent residence and the motor home.

Our other option would be to extend our stays in our RV in one location up to 5 or 6 months at a time and travel the rest of the year. This will probably be our transition avenue since it would provide the best of both worlds.

We stayed at the Escapees Resort Co-op in Wauchula, FL, for a week last December, and we liked it. You are permitted to do landscaping with approval, and that might satisfy Paul’s desire to garden again. The photo below shows our site last December at Wauchula.

With an eye on the future, we did put a deposit down to put ourselves on the waiting list for a lot in the Escapees Resort Co-op. This could be an ideal situation. The cost to buy into the co-op is fairly reasonable and so are annual dues; and what makes this option so appealing is that if and when we choose to leave the co-op, we will get our initial investment back in full. Since there is a waiting list, there is little risk of not being able to find someone who wants our spot when we're ready to give it up. The waiting list is quite long; and it could take 8 to 10 years to get to the top of the list, so we'll have plenty of time to decide if this option will work for us. The other good thing is if we change our mind before our name comes up, we get our deposit back in full.

We could also just extend our stay a little longer at Blueberry Hill in Bushnell, FL, where we have been spending three or four months the past two winters and where we will spend this coming winter. Paul wouldn't be able to garden, but there is no long-term commitment. We like the location because it is very convenient to a lot of things in central Florida. The next photo shows our site last winter in Bushnell.

Unfortunately, it’s hard on a motor home to remain stationary for extended periods of time. The engine and running gear should be exercised periodically. When we first started researching this lifestyle, we thought we would trade the motor home for a fifth wheel when we started slowing down. A fifth wheel would be a better semi-stationary unit, but the economy is not good for selling or trading RVs.

So you can see we’ve been evaluating what our options might be. However, for the foreseeable future, we will be continuing and enjoying our full-timing lifestyle. As we said, there are still some locations where we want to return, and there are some places we haven't even been yet. We also have our favorite places where we would like to spend extended periods of time, i.e. the Mobile area in Alabama and the Dayton area and Amish country in Ohio to name just a few.

After slowing down our second year, we have consciously set a fairly ambitious travel schedule for ourselves this summer. That is partly due to Margery's feeling we are starting over with her new knees, but it is mostly due to the fact we are traveling such a long distance all the way to the California coast and to the Pacific Northwest; and we want to see as much on this trip as possible.

There were record high fuel prices in 2008. We withstood that pretty well, but we feel the prices are more reasonable now only because of the poor economy and are destined to rise again. In fact, fuel prices have already increased considerably from their lows of several months ago.

Because of more reasonable short-term fuel prices and uncertainty about the future of the economy, we decided since we were going all the way to the west coast, we better see as much as we can now because we don't know when or if we will ever get that far west again.

We are definitely in “vacation mode,”  having already traveled over 4,000 miles since we left Florida in the middle of April. We recently arrived in Washington State, and we still have to tour Washington and to travel back east by fall. We’re having a wonderful time, but have to admit we’re looking forward to slowing down on our return to the east.

Our average nightly camping costs are increasing, partly because we are staying in the same place for shorter periods, but mostly because we are staying in expensive tourist areas. California was quite expensive. It was there we stayed at a campground that charged $70 a night, which the highest we have ever spent. We are also staying at more full-hookup campgrounds and fewer state parks and Corps of Engineers campgrounds. Because we are out sightseeing almost every day, we find it much more convenient to have full hookups. For one thing, that enables us to do laundry at the motor home in the evening instead of having to find and then sit around a laundromat.

It seems that most full-time or extended-time RVers usually have a “theme” to their time on the road, i.e. following the Lewis & Clark Trail, visiting all the state capitols, or visiting Civil War battlefields.  We have developed our own set of interests which include natural wonders such as those found in our national parks. Even though neither one of us could stand history back in high school, we now both find it fascinating. History really comes to life if you can experience the historic places first hand. We also like gardens, waterfalls, and factory tours. We recently began visiting a number of restaurants featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. That's fun, but hard on the waistline.

So as we embark on our fourth year on the road, we find we are pleased with the decisions we have made that have brought us to this point. Downsizing continues to be a liberating lifestyle and a sound economic principle in these uncertain times. We look forward to revisiting some favorite areas and exploring new ones. 

Crater Lake National Park

The main reason we stayed at Joseph Stewart State Recreation Area north of Medford, OR, was to visit Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is located a little over an hour to the northeast.

Crater Lake is in the caldera of an ancient volcano called Mount Mazama. Mount Mazama was one in a chain of volcanoes that existed (and many still do exist) in the Cascade Mountain Range. The Cascades start in Canada and extend down to Mount Lassen in northern California.

Mount Mazama built up over a long period of time to a height of 11,000 or 12,000 feet. The base was broader than Mount Shasta, but it was not as tall and the sides were not as steep. Following the emptying of the magma chamber during a massive eruption long ago, the center of Mount Mazama collapsed creating a caldera six miles across.

After the caldera cooled, it filled with snow melt and rain water creating Crater Lake, which is shown in the photo below.

 

Crater Lake is known for its deep blue color. We knew that, and we were reminded again when we saw the informational movie at the visitor center. But when we drove up the hill from the visitor center to the first overlook, we were astounded at the intensity of the blue. It was breathtaking.

Crater Lake is 1,943 feet deep at the deepest point. There are no streams or rivers in or out of the lake. All the water is from snow melt, rain, or from springs. Consequently, the water is very pure with little pollution or sediment. It is the depth and purity of the water that give it its intense blue color.

Following the collapse of Mount Mazama, there were still eruptions going on inside the caldera from secondary vents. Wizard Island, which is shown in the first photo, is a cinder cone that is evidence of the activity after the collapse. Other cones exist below the surface of the water. The next photo shows Margery with Wizard Island in the background.

Wizard Island is named for the fact its conical shape is like a wizard's hat. The top of the cone is about 755 feet above the surface of the water and is topped by a 500 foot diameter, 100 foot deep crater. You can barely see the dark crater in the photo above. There are boat tours that depart from the northern side of the lake in summer and stop at Wizard Island.

The photo below is another view of the lake to the right of Wizard Island.

There is a 33-mile loop road around the entire perimeter of the crater. Unfortunately, the road wasn't fully open yet because of snow. In fact, we passed the snow plow on our way into the park. The road was only open from the visitor center about half way around the lake on the western side. The entire road usually doesn't open until sometime in July. One of the things we were astounded to find out about Lassen Volcano while we were there is it gets 40 feet of snow, but the average annual snowfall at Crater Lake is even higher at 44 feet.

Driving clockwise around the lake, we came to another pull-off called Watchman Overlook. It takes its name from nearby Watchman Peak, which is a high spot left around the rim of the caldera when Mazama collapsed. The photo below shows Watchman Peak. As you can see, there is quite a bit of snow at this altitude of about 8,000 feet.

 

From this vantage point, you can also see some other features that existed before the collapse of the volcano. One is Hillman Peak, which sits on the rim of the caldera. Hillman Peak was a secondary volcano that erupted from the flank of Mount Mazama. The jagged spires are the solidified lava conduits.

 

Another feature that you can get a good view of from Watchman Overlook is Llao Rock. Llao Rock is a large outpouring of lava that filled an explosion crater on the side of Mount Mazama. When Mazama collapsed, it left a portion of the lava flow perched on the rim. The next photo shows Llao Rock on the left.

 

Continuing around the lake, we came to Pumice Point. We had seen quite a few Clark's nutcrackers flitting about at some of the other stops. At Pumice Point, one finally landed on the wall where Paul could get a good photo. These birds have flashy patches on their wings and tails, so they look similar to mockingbirds when they fly.

 

The next photo is looking east from Pumice Point.

 

And the photo below is a view to the south showing the north side of Wizard Island.

 

From Pumice Point, it was only a short distance to where the road was closed, so we turned around and headed back toward the park entrance. On the way, we looked a little closer at the scenery surrounding the lake rather than the lake itself. The next photo shows Mount Thielsen, which is an extinct volcano that lies just outside the park to the north. The bare areas in the middle ground are pumice beds.

 

The photo below shows Red Cone, a basalt cinder cone.

 

The next photo is looking south. The dark peak to the right is the extinct volcano Union Peak. To the left of Union Peak right about in the center of the photo along the horizon is snow-covered Mount McLoughlin, which is a cinder cone that was later covered by lava. To the left of Mount McLoughlin is Mount Shasta. It was barely visible to the naked eye (it was 100 miles away), and it is very difficult to see in the photo. It's just a light-colored, fuzzy blur on the horizon on the far left.

At the same pull-off we saw a blacktail deer. It climbed the bank and watched us for a while before wandering off into the brush.

 

Then it was back to the motor home. From Joseph Stewart State Recreation Area, we continued on our northward journey. Look for our next post to see where we ended up.