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The Adventures of New Full-timers

Entries in this blog

 

Summer in Maine!

Wow! Can’t believe it is almost August! Time sure does fly when you’re having fun! Since my last blog entry we have traveled from Kartchner Caverns, Bensen, AZ to Phippsburg, Maine. Had a pretty good trip across country even though we took a dog leg route to Forest City, Iowa to Winnebago Industries to have a few things checked out on the new to us motor home and a had few items worked on. The Horizon had a dishwasher which we really didn’t need so we had it removed and had two more kitchen draw

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

We now have a New to Us Coach!

New to us coach! Well so much for buying your last coach first. We had some work done on our Journey at La Mesa RV in Tucson, AZ and while we were there waiting for the service to be completed and of course we started looking at all the motor homes, 5th wheels, etc. At first DW thought she really wanted a 5th wheel but then decided she did not want to drive a large pickup all the time. This got us thinking (a dangerous thing) about wanting more living space, so now the wheels are in motion. We s

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Here We are at Kartchner Caverns, AZ

Wow! It is hard to believe that it is the 1st of April already and the last time I added to this blog was in November 2011! As they say time flies when you’re having fun and we have definitely been having fun. The full-timing and volunteering life style is really awesome. A lot has happened since my last blog entry. We really enjoyed our stay at Goliad State Park as the staff and the park itself is so great. Christmas time at the old mission is so special. The mission is lit with lights and diff

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Back in Goliad State Park Once Again!

We have now been at Goliad State Park in Goliad, Texas, for a little over a month and are really enjoying our stay here. This is our second fall at this wonderful state park and we feel like we have come home. The staff here is great and really makes us feel at home and is so appreciative of our volunteer service. Volunteering is a great way to spend retirement. It gives us something helpful to do and we enjoy meeting so many interesting people that this lifestyle provides. There seems to be m

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

On the Road Again!

Like the song goes we are “On the Road Again”! We had a great stay in Maine with our Son and family and Nana had quite the time with the little grand daughter. We arrived there the last week of July and the time just seemed to fly by. I guess the saying is right “time flies when you are having fun”! We love Maine, however, after being in the dry Southwest it was hard to get use to all the rain and moisture, especially the humidity! It was really nice to see everything so green. It is too bad

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

It Has Been a Wonderful & Adventurous Year

Well we have come full circle and are currently back in Maine where we started from last September. It is amazing how fast time seems to fly since we have retired a year ago. We have seen some really amazing parts of this grand country of ours and had some amazing experiences as well. We truly enjoyed wintering in Texas and really enjoyed our volunteer experiences at Goliad and Buescher State Parks and met some very wonderful people along the way. We have been so very fortunate and blessed.

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Wow! Sedona & Red Rock SP are AWESOME!

We are here in beautiful Sedona, AZ. The Red Rock State Park here in Sedona is such an awesome place. The views of the red rock monoliths are incredible! Everywhere you look I'm just totally amazed by the splendor of the geology here and how breathtaking it all is. We are so fortunate to be able to be volunteer hosts here at the park. The staff here is wonderful, helpful and very friendly. We have played the tourist bit as we took a Pink Jeep Tour called "Broken Arrow," and wow, was that ever

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Moving on from Texas ... Full-Timing Going Great!

Wow! Does time really fly when you are having fun! It is hard to believe we have been here at Buescher State Park for almost five months. It has been quite the experience living here in the park through the winter months and now early spring. We actually had snow here back in January, but not that much just enough to cover the ground and make us realize what we were missing back in New England. I can honestly say I haven't missed the snow and cold of the Northeast! We did have one four-day perio

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Happy Holidays from Buescher State Park!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to All! We left Goliad State Park almost three weeks ago and left with mixed emotions. Goliad SP became like home to us and the wonderful park staff became like family and we will really miss them all. Goliad SP is a MUST SEE, and yes, they are big-rig friendly with pull-thru FHU (50-amp) sites and the nicest staff you’ll ever meet. We will be returning to the park next fall, if all goes well. The park is just an AWESOME place, we loved it! As I said, we

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Almost Time to Leave Goliad

We have been volunteering at Goliad State Park in Goliad, Texas, since 1 October and we are still loving it! Full-timing and volunteering is such a great way to spend retirement. It gives us something interesting and constructive to do during retirement and still have plenty of time off to enjoy the area. I highly recommend volunteering at state and federal parks for full-timers. We have learned so much about the local history of the area in our volunteer positions as part of the interpretive s

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

We're Here in Goliad!

Finally we have made it to Goliad State Park, Goliad, Texas! We had quite the adventure coming down here and spent some pretty long days driving. Unfortunately, we had to leave Maine late, so there wasn’t a lot of time to travel down here, and it was 6 days of some pretty hard driving. We just found convenient RV parks to stay at overnight and some weren’t the greatest, to say the least, but we are finally here! It really helps when both of us can share the driving and we usually took 2-hou

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Finally!

Well, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are still sitting in our yard in Maine waiting to migrate south with all the other birds. Finally, we have all of our roadblocks completed and are now free to travel. In the next few days we will start our travels south to Texas and are really excited. We are more than anxious to start our adventure! However, the time we have spent in our motorhome in our yard has had its pluses, as well. I finally was able to track down our mystery water leak

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Time to Leave is Nearly Here!

Finally! We are done with dealing with our "stuff." We sold, donated or just plain dumped everything we had in the house -- except for a few items we couldn’t part with, or items we have stored in the house that our son and family are going to rent. Whew! What a relief! It really is surprising how much stuff you really do not need to live happily ever after. Mostly what we stored are pictures taken over a lifetime that I just haven’t had the time to digitize. We have found out that living

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Shakedown Cruise and Finishing Touches

We had some preventive maintenance completed on our motorhome by Freightliner in Westbrook, Maine, and they did an outstanding job. Maintenance included replacing all the Cat engine belts, replacing the upper fuel filter, and changing the oil and all filters on the generator. We also had the ABS system checked out as the light came on and found out it was a loose sensor on the rear right. Just one more major PM to complete -- the Allison transmission needs to have its fluid and filters changed -

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

Part II - Getting Closer to Departure

Getting all our worldly stuff sorted out -- what to take, to leave, to give away, to sell, or to just trash -- is not an easy task. But that is only part of the battle. Where to store everything is the second part of the stuff battle, but we found that was easier than the first part and we are just about finished. Hooray! Now there are only tons of other things to get accomplished before the big day to shove off to see this Great Country of ours! Getting all of our bills and banking fixed so it

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

 

How It All Began

The Journey "To finish the moment, to find the Journey's end in every stop of the road, to give the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Jack and Peg's Great Adventure," Part I First, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Jack, a retired Navy chief and just now a retired high school chemistry/physics teacher. Peg is retiring from a 30-year career in federal service as a safety specialist for NAVOSH, which is the Department of the Navy's answer to OSHA. We are cur

Jackhal49

Jackhal49

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