The swell of Texas

Hey Everyone!

I know, I know! It's been a long time since my last post.  Since then I've had a 4th-year surgiversary!

It's very hard to believe that it's been that long!  Today I want to talk about the fight.  You know what I mean.  Those pounds that want to creep back on.

I have no idea if there is any science, but I have to say humidity is the enemy for me.  Does anyone else experience this?  When I am in AZ and the humidity is low I do not have to fight the gain. In fact, I tend to drop more than expected. But as soon as I get to a humid area the pounds start creeping right back.  Now, to be fair, a lot of this might be because I tend to move more where there is less humidity.  The dry air gives me energy and the job we worked there gave me plenty of excuses to walk.  Texas not so much.

Gate guarding is simple. It is not strenuous. It is also boring.  You know what that combination means? Yep.  Snacking.

Also, there is also no alcohol.  Now we need to dive deeper into this little gem for a minute because you would think on the surface this would mean less drinking calories and therefore weight loss, right? Well, the reality is a bit different.  Neither Jay nor I have ever really had much of a sweet tooth.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I won't pass up a piece of pie, but on the whole, we have always been much more likely to grab something salty or fried for a naughty treat.   Also since I don't eat for at least a half hour after drinking it cuts down on food in general.  A couple of blueberry rum and cranapple juice drinks and I'm pretty satisfied for the night. And perhaps tmi, but they keep me regular as well.
Having no alcohol seems to have triggered a craving for sweets.  For Jay, this manifests in peanut m&ms. :) I tend to bake.  Of course, sweets are a short-term calorie boost so we eat more. And then we exercise less.   And so we end up with an over goal issue!

I've always tried to be positive but authentic with the blog.  Dr. T warned me that between 3 and 5 years would be a fight.  We are definitely not in the honeymoon phase anymore.  I am currently swinging between 6-8 pounds over my goal.  YIKES!!  I'm not talking about my lower goal, I'm talking about my cushion goal!  That is WAY too many sticks of butter!!

So... deep breathes people.  What do we do?  Well, first, let's talk about what is good.  My capacity is still small.  I haven't really stretched my sleeve.  I still tend to use small bowls and plates and measure what I eat.  I still don't like being over full. 

Where am I falling short?  Well, exercise has definitely been down.  I have started walking when I get off shift and will ramp that up.  I need to hydrate better.  Drinking keeps the eating down and also helps all the body functions work better.  And finally, I need to focus on protein.  If I pay attention to getting my 60 grams of protein a day I don't have room for as much other stuff.  I know this.  It's back to the basics. We don't have to recreate the wheel.  The sleeve is still here for me.  I just need to use it the way it's meant to be used. 

I know without a doubt that this would be insurmountable without this tool.  We have made some other changes to help also.  We purchased an airfryer and cook many foods without oil or butter now.  Some fat isn't that bad, but we get it other places.  Also, we tend to eat a lot of bread/sandwich type food when we move, so I'm trying to make sure we have meals all set that we just heat up rather than having bread as a go to.  Fortunately, purchasing a freezer before we left AZ has made having meat on hand relatively easy. 

I have also started planking and squats again.  When did I stop this? I don't remember but not a good thing!  Boy fat plump is sneaky!  You have to be ever vigilant!

It's much easier to get back to good habits when I'm only 6-8 pounds over goal though.  And hopefully, by the time we get to AZ in December, I will be ready to rock all those extra steps!

As always, thanks for following along!

~Mikki

...hungry heart...

Hey Guys!  How is everyone?

Confession time here!  I put on some exercise leggings today (getting ready to walk later) and mentioned to Jay that my "muffin top" was a bit smooshie.  I don't think that's really a word, but I bet you know what I mean.  So that made me stop and think about planking and I had a second of panic when I realized I couldn't remember the last time I dropped for a plank.  Well, since we all know that I am either thought and action are one OR a procrastination princess I set out to do a plank!  I did do a minute one.  Since this is confession, I'll admit I had set the timer for two minutes and that was just not happening!

                                            " Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
                                                        I took a wrong turn and I just kept going"

So, new goal? Yeah, we'll be back to working on planking again.  It's so easy isn't it?  You lose track for a couple of days and before you know it a month goes by (or longer!).

Thank you to all of you again for your support and encouragement for the weight loss and for my recovery from the gall bladder surgery.  It means a ton to know that there are so many of you out there cheering for me!

For those of you that follow for our full-time RV exploits I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about how our style of RVing has evolved and how there is no typical way to RV.  Many of you know that I follow a lot of blogs.  One in particular is RV DREAMS and they recently had an article published https://mrvthebuzz.mobilerving.com/open-road-lifestyle/features/rv-road-stories-linda-howard-payne where Howard mentions that you have to be a bit of a risk taker for this life.  I guess that is true to an extent but I think a lot of that is perspective.  I mean, yes, you can have an engine blow and if you are not prepared that can be awful.  But in a sticks and brick home you can have your roof go... or your furnace.  Life happens for sure.   Howard and Linda were great inspirations to us but they also happen to be much more effluent than we are.  I don't mean they are independently wealthy.  They have always worked hard for their lifestyle.  I just mean they are in a different tax bracket than we are.  One of Howard's coin phrases is  "there is no right way to RV".  I think that is exactly right.

We are "settlers".  By that I mean we don't move every day or two.  Yes, there are people that full time that actually do that.  Kudos to them!  Unless we are trying to get to a certain destination we typically stay in one place at least two weeks.  Because of that, we tend to have a much longer set up and take down routine.  I have read that many people are able to have their routine done in 10-15 minutes and be one the road.  Ours is more like 1.5 hours.  Yes, really.  Why such a variance you ask?  Well, I have a lot of glass for an RVer.  Crazy, right?  Maybe it's because we are still fairly new to this and haven't got disgruntled, but I like being able to have many of my favorite "home" things around me.  I bubble wrap more than a handful of things on travel day.  Will I be crushed if they get broken?  Well, I will be disappointed, but I'll have all the time I've enjoyed them instead of them  being stored somewhere or someone else enjoying them.  I am fortunate enough to have the storage space to allow me to bring many of my favorite things so I do.  Simple as that.

Set up is almost as long, first because of the unpacking I packed up to move, and then because I like to vacuum and clean while I unpack.  Jay gets the outside and is usually done much quicker than I am.  But it helps that we have separate areas since two sets of eyes are better than one.

My point to all this?  If you are considering the full-time lifestyle don't be scared! Or, if you are, don't be overwhelmingly scared!  All of us come at it differently.  I'm not saying don't plan or research (you know I'm a huge believer in research!) but don't think you have to make 6 digits a year to consider it.  That being said, if you have an engine blow or something else happen you have to be able to go with the flow.  Have an emergency savings account if you can, or if it's not that large yet, understand that you could maybe be stuck in one spot until you save enough to get things fixed.    Don't think you have to give up everything you love. Be in the spirit of it.  Use the nice glasses!  This isn't camping for a weekend, it's your life!  Enjoy what you love!  

Now, when we are moving from point A to point B quickly I leave most of those things packed and we can roll in about half an hour (including walking the dogs).  I'm sure if it were an emergency we could be much quicker but we're in this life to take it easy! ;)

We don't have a perfect life... we have a perfect life for us.  I'm sure many, many people would not have left their comfortable middle class life to work part time and think about how travel will effect their monthly budget, but really, when you wake up to a new back yard and meet some fantastic new people...I can't imagine anything better.

Thanks as always to all of you that follow along!

~Mikki

Who needed that gallbladder anyway...and unintended social experiment...

Hey Guys!

How is everyone doing?  Enjoying your summer?  Ok,  so I know I need to update everyone on my gallbladder.  First, if you are considering the sleeve, don't panic! Only about 5% of people who have the sleeve ever need their gallbladder out... go figure, right?  ;)  Also, this turned out to be a pretty long blog...just FYI. :)

So, what happened(?) you ask.  Let me tell you. ;)  I may have mentioned before that I am a meat eater.  Most of my protein comes from meat, and the more fat, the better!  Since I only eat 3-4 ounces of it at a time it hasn't been a calorie issue for me.  ( I know what you're thinking) ...

Let me start from the beginning.  I started having pain after I ate some BBQ ribs in mid June.  Center of my stomach, no fever, no vomiting but pretty intense (and you know I have a high pain threshold). It went away.  It happened again about a week or so later.  We thought "maybe it's a hiatal hernia.  So I took some Prilosec OTC for the two weeks recommended and didn't have an issue.

July 1st it happened again, but this time the pain was so bad vomiting ensued.  (We all remember how I REALLY, REALLY don't like vomiting, right?)  But, again, it was after ribs so I was pretty sure it was now a gallstone.  No Fever still and it went away, and no sign of jaundice or other life threatening issues.  I just decided I needed to stay away from fatty foods for awhile.

July 12,  I had some pea soup and and a couple hours later a half a sandwich for dinner.  By the time Jay got home from work about 11:20pm he found me on the floor of the rig, crying.  I had been vomiting violently and could not believe the pain.  Those of you that have given birth think of a severe contraction...how it tightens at the very top of your belly and wraps...well this stayed tight at the peak of pain...for an hour and a half... steady.... when Jay got home I was ready for the ER.  I needed help.

Of course, by the time I was checked in at the ER and was waiting in the incredibly busy waiting room ( we got there at 11:50 pm and got taken into the back about 1:30 am) I was pain free and ready to go home.  But whoa there Nelly, that was not to be!  They took some blood and about 4:00 am they did an ultra sound.  The lining of my gallbladder was thick (not a healthy sign apparently) and oh yeah, there were probably 8 or 10 stones in there.  Now, if you're like me you probably think that a stone got stuck in the duct and that's why the pain.  Nope.

My blood levels came back and my lipase level (supposed to be around 200) was at 18,750.  Now, I'm not a doctor, but that didn't sound good.  According to Dr. Trieu what actually happened was the stone dropped fine through the gall duct but when it dropped into the common duct it turned and caused a reflux action into my pancreas.  The pain was actually pancreatitis.  So...what do they do for that?  You don't eat or drink.  Yeah, seriously.  You just have to wait for your pancreas to settle down. They kept flushing me with an IV too.   While the gallbladder was not awful, it was not great either and since I NEVER want to have that pain again, Dr. Trieu said it definitely needed to come out.  By Friday the 14th my lipase numbers were down to around 400 and I was able to eat without pain.  He told me his first opening for surgery was Monday so I could go home until then and just avoid the fatty stuff until my follow up appointment.

Now, if you don't know what a gallbladder is for:

When you eat fatty foods your body sends the extra fat to the gallbladder to store it.  It will sometimes cause cholesterol to build up and that forms the "stones".  Without your gallbladder your body will just flush out the fat rather than store it.  Works for me! :)

What many of you do not know is I was supposed to start a new job on that Monday.  Yeah.

Due to their strict social media policy I can not tell you what company I'm working for but it is a fast food chain.  This is what I mean by unintended social experiment.  First, to me a part time job is a part time job.  I want to earn some extra cash to help our life choices and although I have never worked in this side of the food industry I was willing to learn.

My first surprise was Jay's reaction.  While he knows that I have always considered customer service a skill he had a hard time wrapping his head around the image of me, a former executive manager, working in fast food.  I actually was excited.  This is a new field so you know there will be a lot to learn and it's part time so low stress, right?

My second surprise was how angry it now makes me when I see the "fast food people don't deserve a living wage" posts.  Yes, I was always against these (see customer service as a skill comment) but now that I have actually seen what goes on in the job I really get emotional.

To start with:
1. The employees.  These are not high school kids that come in and just don't care what they are doing earning gas money.  They are single moms busting their butts so they aren't on the system any more, they are widows trying to make ends meet, they are young adults trying to live while going to college, they are young dads working a second job to help their families,  and there are many like me that are semi-retired trying to supplement their small income. These people take pride in their jobs and if you happen once in a great while to get a sandwich that got crooked, you might want to think about a day when you weren't a hundred percent at whatever job you happen to do.  Machines break, people make mistakes.  Someone new might be training. We try very hard to get things right.

2. The standing. A typical shift is 8 hours with a half hour non-paid break.  You are on your feet that whole time and you are BUSY!! There is no standing around, idle chit chat going on. People are trying to meet numbers and expectations and things happen.

3. The computer.   I come with an IT background.  I have been told I am doing great.  Let me tell you, it's not easy.  There are MULTIPLE screens that have every variation that people can come up with for orders.  Think someone is going too slow?  Maybe you could understand that not everyone gives the same order you do and it might be that person's first attempt to find all those substitutions you are making.  How many times have you got one exactly right and not thought anything of it?  Yes, it's supposed to work that way, but people are human.

4. The customers.  As I've said (multiple times now) customer service is a skill.  Most people are extremely nice.  I've had people say the loveliest things to me.  Some people... are just cranky.  Now, maybe they are having a bad day.  Maybe they have a health issue.  I'm willing to be generous and today I was told "You are the most positive person who's ever worked here", but sometimes people are mean.  They are condescending and supercilious and every other word that comes to mind when someone just thinks they are better.  Better because they don't happen to be serving food to others that day.  Someone actually told the super sweet girl I was working with in drive through yesterday that her voice sounded like she was taking helium.  And he kept going with it.  Not even to be funny. Just being mean.  And you still have to be nice.  You still have to smile and apologize even if they changed their mind 6 times then get mad that you haven't caught up yet.

Now, I'm not saying that I deserve to get paid anywhere near what I did in my old life, but I can tell you right now I don't feel guilty about getting $9 per hour for minimum wage.  I wouldn't feel guilty at $12.  I've done easier jobs for that much.

I like serving people most of the time.  I enjoy working part time.  It keeps my brain going and we do enjoy that extra income.  I could not image doing this full time and I salute the Managers that are working their hearts out and the team that take pride in their work.  Also, they were super understanding about having my gallbladder out making me unable to start on my first day! In fact, I was out for my first week and couldn't lift for two weeks. Nice, right?

So next time you go through a fast food restaurant remember it could be me!  Be nice please!  I really want to make your food the best it can be and if you're patient with me it will help that process for you!

One of the best things about this line of work is there are chain restaurants everywhere! I can now add this to my resume and be able (hopefully) to have employment where ever the road takes us!!

That's about it going on for me these days.

Remember, it's hot out! Hydrate!!   Are you walking?  How are your goals looking?  Keep your chin up!  We're all a work in progress!

Thanks for following a long!

~Mikki

Surgery update and Maine life

Hey guys!  How is everyone doing?

I thought I'd check in with everyone and see how things are going!?!

Everyone getting their water in? How about steps?  Even with the rain most days are nice enough to get some walking in here.  It's been 1013 days since my surgery.  I'm currently holding at 16 lbs below my original goal and 6 lbs below my adjusted goal.  Do I still love my sleeve?  You bet I do!!

So, I get asked what I can eat now.  I can eat anything I want (in small quantities).  I still don't really do carbonation.  I can, but it doesn't really sit well, and since it's not good for me I don't miss it.  I actually drink quite a bit of cran-apple juice.  It's a great mixer ;)   I can now eat about a cup of food at a time but it still depends on the texture how much I do eat.  I love steak and really have to be careful not to over due with that.  It is so much denser than other foods I can fill up fast.  I do find if I forget to eat (can you believe I just said that??) for more than 5 or 6 hours I can start getting hangry without realizing it.  If I have protein every 4 hours or so it's ideal.

How does the RV world figure into this?  Actually pretty well.  The RVing  life encourages movement. Maine has had a rainy and cold spring.  It is finally starting to warm up now in June.

 We just had a great father's day weekend.  Took two of our grandchildren up to Jay's mom's farm.  We parked the RV at the end of the field - glad it had dried out enough for our big rig- and we had nosy horses checking us out all weekend! The kids loved that since we parked right next to the fence the horses were just outside the window when we woke up in the morning.

It was a really nice visit.  We came home through Farmington and it was nice scenery.  I wanted to talk about our style of travel a little.  I think most people, when they dream of this lifestyle, fall mostly into two categories.   One, being the people that want to see everything but they also want to live minimally.  They picture boon-docking (dry camping) with solar everywhere.  And then there's the second,  where they want to see everything but want electric hook ups and the security of a campground everywhere they go.

We have, up to this point, kind of fallen in the middle.  Jay tends to be cautious.  This is a good thing because I tend to jump into things with both feet. ;)  Going across the country twice (well, across and then back) helped us to  get the hang of the unexpected.  Working at the park for 6 months taught us to appreciate full hook-ups ;).  We are learning our rig still.  Yes, I know, it's been almost a year, but really! It takes a while to learn what you can do and what isn't a good idea.  We were able to go 15 days without dumping our black tank recently. (Yeah, that's the pooh tank).  Then when we had the kids for 4 days and our daughter Jasmine for a couple of those as well, we needed to dump after 10.  Part of the reason for that is the dump station here is not open on the weekend and we didn't want to push it until Monday.

So, what have we found?  Do we need solar?
Well, I'd love to find someone to help us rearrange what we do have first.  We currently have 6 batteries and they could do a lot more for us than they do now.  We need the outlets in the bedroom to run off the batteries.  The TV and the fan.  We could get by with a fraction of the time we run the generator now with that little change.  Solar always sounds wonderful and it is.  But most people think of it as the energy source.  Solar panels are really just the chargers.  You still run on batteries.  We have an excellent generator.  It's a 7500 Onan.  It loses a little bit if we are at really high elevation, but mostly when it's running it's like we're plugged into 50 AMP electric. (Everything works at once). It can easily charge our batteries in not much time.  Plus it has safeguards built in so we can't run our diesel dry. (We never let our tank go below half of it's 150 gallons anyway)

We can get by and run almost everything on 30AMPS except the second A/C.  (This is not a big deal for me since most of the time I'd rather open windows but Jay gets hot)  :)

Campgrounds are everywhere and you can almost always find one, if you are willing to pay.  We are Passport America members and they have great deals but we have found that many of their parks are a distance from the major highways.The real score of course is when we can come across a beautiful spot to park for free.

We are starting to feel more comfortable moving off those highways and checking out the local roads.  FBG is still a big rig at just over 40' and then we tow a car on a dolly so, understandably , Jay was cautious about getting into tight spots.  He has a pretty decent idea now of where he can get her into and out of.  I am not a good judge of this because watching him, I'd say he could do anything.  The fact that he can back her up between two tight fence poles first try without even batting an eye impresses the heck out of me.  Of course, I don't really back a car well let alone 40' of machine! ;)


So, really for us we are still beginners!  We love our FBG.  She got a great bill of health when we took her in for service.  Just a couple hoses that had loosened up in our travels.  Maintenance cost is something everyone should prepare for.  An oil change (for engine and generator) does not come cheap, but it's really important to keep our home healthy.

While we won't have a huge amount of time to head back to Quartzsite in the fall - we have our grandkids the last week in September and want to be back at the park by October 8th or 9th to get things in shape - I'm still hopeful that we will have time to enjoy a little more exploring on the way. ;)

How are other things going? Jay is back working part time at Riverview.  They seemed happy to have him back if only for a few months. He's doing 24 hours a week which is about perfect for us.  Me? Well, I don't seem to be having as much luck.  I have interviewed a couple places, I tend to lose them when I am honest about us leaving at the end of September.  I always thought if you were willing to work, there would be jobs available.  Of course, I don't want full time either which might effect things.  If you know of any part time jobs in the Augusta area looking for short term help let me know. ;)  I'd be happy to cover someone's vacation week, or do a couple days somewhere to help out during the busy season.  I'll just put that out to the universe and see what it brings.  Oh! I did start a book!  I'm only 9 chapters in but it's a fun adventure to take on!

Dobby and Paris are enjoying being back in Maine and being able to roll in the grass - especially if they can find stinky stuff to roll in- their baths have increased.

It's pretty perfect for me at 83 degrees out and 78 degrees in the rig at this moment.  Life is good!  We still feel blessed to be able to do this.  I hope you all are having a good weekend also - and as always, thanks for following along!!

~Mikki

April Showers...are pretty darn cold!

Hey guys! Holy cow! I had no idea it had been so long since I had blogged! Wow!  I'm so sorry!

Ok, so catch up...back in January, we had a broken water pipe! That is why we went through so much water! One of our residents was walking his dog and noticed water coming up from the ground.  Wohoo! It stinks that a pipe broke but was amazing it came up instead of down and Jay and Phil were able to fix it!  We have had NO problem with water since that fix.  I think it probably had been leaking for awhile and this was finally a fix for it.

How do I explain this winter at the park? Well, it's been building slowly.  My tasty Tuesday meals have taken off.  We now have a rec hall budget.  Also, we are at 50% yearly residents.  We were at roughly 20% when we started.   The owners have invited us back for next winter and when we had our residents meeting they clapped when they heard we had accepted coming back next year.

It is extremely satisfying to think we made a difference here.  When we came in they warned us this was an independent group and we wouldn't make much headway with them.  It means a lot of to me that we have got almost all of them to come and contribute to our meals and activities.  (You know I always love a challenge) And now we have the word out that it is an extremely friendly park.  Word spreads like wild fire here!

I started writing this in April and most people had headed out.  Wow, what an amazing winter we had. People were putting deposits on sites for next year already.  We can't understand why most people started back north so soon..  It was beautiful in AZ in April! Really!  80s in the day and 50s at night .  The sleeping weather was perfect!  We had to head out to make it to Maine for our youngest daughter's graduation from college or we would have stayed a few weeks longer!

How do I explain the lure of this life?  Well, for those of you experiencing the arctic snow this year, you probably get it, (We made it back to Maine around May 1st and let me tell you, we were freezing!) but for those that are content with their geography, what makes Quartzsite special?   It really is a community.  We could live in a neighborhood the same size as the park and not know anyone, but there we take the time to do things together.  We've encouraged everyone to join in the activities.  It's not everyone's' cup of tea, but most have joined at least some of the fun.

For those of you wondering about how we like living in the RV, I can tell you we love it.  It really has become our home.  I love that even though the small space can get messy quickly, it also cleans up just as quickly.  It encourages us to get outside and enjoy nature and it really is cool to have your whole house with you where ever you go.

Now, the big question...can we continue to afford it?  Well, that is not as quickly or easily answered.  We don't want to make it sound like it's all roses.  We have heard that many people get into this life and feel they have been mislead by no one mentioning the challenges.  Any of you that know us personally know that we are not independently wealthy.  We have made many choices that a lot of people would cringe at.  One of those choices was to take a big chunk of my retirement money early so that we could be debt free.  I don't regret being debt free at all but it does create some extra stress in other ways.    Since we are a long way from 59.5 we took a huge penalty for taking the money early.  I had under estimated how much we would get hit.  In 2016 we paid more in taxes than we've made for income some years.  This carved a big chunk out of our safety net that we had in savings.  Why is that such a worry?

Well, besides the obvious need to have money for repairs or emergencies, we also need to make more to cover our costs.  The winter months at the park are great in many ways.  It covers our basic costs of living, provides a warm place to live and is a fun place to work that doesn't enlist much heavy lifting.   It does not, however, cover the "extras".  For instance the cost of diesel to travel from Maine to Arizona or back. ( One way, with tolls runs about $1200. ) Nor the cost of insurance on the rig to full-time, (quite reasonable at  $900 yr). We are about to find out the cost of maintenance as it's been 7000 miles and we have an appointment next week to have both the engine and the generator serviced,  ~ and it does NOT cover the summer months.

Without some type of part time income this summer we will quickly bleed too far into savings. So, we are looking for some part time work.  Originally we knew we would have to take this step.  We just had planned to take this summer and spend it enjoying Maine and the grand kids. So we need to be a bit more proactive.  Our budget is moderate and we have yet to keep to it.  This is not unusual in the first year, in fact everything I've read said "it's highly unlikely to be achieved" but we are getting closer! My R+F business covers my health insurance and hopefully will continue to grow.

We are also seriously considering gate guarding which pays much better than the park and appeals to us with the descriptions of being remote.  We kind of like the idea of being away from everything for jobs. Of course, that is a long term plan for next summer.  We are in Maine for the season and will return to the park for the winter.  This is one of the challenges I mentioned.  You need to think about things long term to be able to find work ahead of time, usually 6 months before the job starts, but still be flexible because life still happens and things can change quickly.

Other things we've discovered living in a rolling home?  Well, some of the roads in the US are in really deplorable condition!  We literally had the back splash shake off the wall! We can last about 10-14 days of dry camping.  Sometimes it's tricky to find places to park for the night when traveling.  Yes, Walmart and some other places let you stay overnight there...but.... one of the things no one talks about is that Walmarts are often in heavily populated areas.  We are 41 feet and then additional tow length and though Jay is an excellent driver, he doesn't love getting into congested areas that he's not familiar with.  While the parking lots themselves are usually big enough, the ways to get in and out of them are not always big rig friendly! We have actually found some very nice parking places (free) that are away from the beaten path, but it's not something that is guaranteed and  probably not something everyone would be willing to look for.  Staying someplace unexpected for free not only helps the budget, it's one of those cool things about this life. ;)

So,  we will be looking for some part time work, and enjoying the family and Maine for a few months.  If you know of someone hiring in the Augusta area for a part-time, temporary job let me know! :)  We will be continuing to carry on as long as we can.  Please feel free to add us to any prayer chains, and of course, if any of you out there win powerball and want to donate to us, we'd be happy to accept! ;)

Talk with you again soon! Don't forget to hydrate!
...and as always, thank for following along!

~Mikki

May you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shift...

Ever think you had prepared for something and then find out it was a much bigger situation than you thought?

Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long.  I hope everyone out there is doing well.  Let's talk weight first...
the desert has continued to do it's job.  I'm sure the walking 3-5 miles a day keeps things moving. I'm down to 130 lbs as of this morning.  Never thought I'd see that again!  ;)  I've been struggling lately to get water in.  Can tell I'm not hydrated enough.  Woke up with a headache in the night.  Gotta go back to making sure I'm sipping throughout the day!

Speaking of water, I'm going to vent for just a moment so bare with me.  I'm pretty sure I explained when we came to La Paz that first month we had to work on installing an extra water holding tank.  It was 1100 gallons and more than doubled what had previously been here.  We were excited when it was done and water flow has been great.  Part of managing an RV park is filling the sites and since January IS the prime season here, we are full!  Downside?  We ran out of water.  Yep, having all these rigs here sucked down that 2000 gallon supply we had plus drained the wells.

Jay and Phil have been working their butts off to coax more out of the wells, but there comes a point when you have to shut down the pumps and let them rest.  In the meantime, one of our wonderful residents helped us out by bringing us a tank of water! Two more of the guests stepped up and helped re-plumb the new pressure pump we bought so we could transfer the water.  It was only 950 gallons and was a stopgap for now, but helped those who were completely without water. So why you ask would I vent?  Well, besides the stress of feeling responsible for making sure all of these people having water in the desert, we got our first two star review.

I understand you can't make everyone happy and things do happen.  But the gentleman in question admits in his own post that he had 3/4 of a tank of water when he came in.  He has a motorhome so that probably means at least 75 gallons.  He is in a 50 Amp site which I don't have a lot of, and he is hooked to sewer.  We are not a resort.  We are in the middle of the desert and our prices reflect that at $25/day at peak season.  Places in town are charging up to almost twice that.  The only complaint he seemed to have was the water and if he had an empty tank maybe I would be more sympathetic, but people who did have empty tanks have been so supportive it makes me grumpy.  Sorry.  I know that is not showing much grace.   As my birthday approaches tomorrow I'm trying to work on that.

"May God bless and keep you always 
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others 
And let others do for you"

Today, that gentleman is leaving, and though it's only in the 50's the sun is shining!  I got to help a lady a couple days ago that needed help with her propane tank.  Her husband is very, very ill.  He will be leaving us some time this year and she held my hand, tried not to cry and thanked me for bringing her dinner and just being there for her and I had this feeling inside that came up and told me "this is why we are here".  There are some tough days.  Then there are days that are just amazing.  We are so blessed with this life. Speaking of blessed, I was thinking last night about how blessed I am to have both of my parents still here.  I got birthday cards from them both and I know many of you would love to have yours with you.  💖

"May you grow up to be righteous 

May you grow up to be true

May you always know the truth 

And see the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous

Stand upright and be strong

May you stay forever young"

We're having a potluck bash tomorrow to celebrate my birthday! And the managers from one of our sister parks has invited us to come to their gospel music concert tomorrow night.  Should be a great birthday.   

Paris and Dobby say hello!  They are still loving the RV life.  Their new "cage" that is huge is a big hit because they can sit out with us and not have to be on their leashes.  It's been colder than I like and we had a huge rain storm last night. (That was good for the well) So they went out and did their business pretty fast and came back to snuggle under the electric blanket for the night! ;)  I think they love that blanket almost as much as I do!

I've gotta wrap up now and go to work.  Still working on the water situation and electric bills went out yesterday so I'll have people wanting to pay.  :)  I hope you all have a wonderful day.  Get your steps in and remember to hydrate!  And remember, no matter where you are today:

"May your heart always be joyful 
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young"

Thanks so much for coming on the journey with me!

~Mikki 

A Horse with No Name

Hi Guys!  How are things? It's a beautiful day today! The sun is shining!

 First news!  I guess something about the desert (or maybe I can blame menopause) is making maintenance easier!  I'm now down to 131 lbs!  That's a size 4 jeans! Whoot! The other upside is that Jay appears to be having the hot flashes I'm supposed to get.  He's such a good guy to take those on for me! ;)

When we were speaking last, I mentioned chores that come with an RV.  One of those new to me is defrosting the refrigerator.

I remember as a kid that refrigerators needed that done, but I had never had to defrost one myself.  This is all about new adventures though, right?    The RV Dreams forum that I follow just happened to have a post about it. ;)  Total defrost time was about 15 minutes.

Just so you don't think it's only work...we did get into the desert last Saturday for a ride!  Many of our seasonal people here in the park have UTVs and there were two empty seats going out!  We asked Phil and Denise (our assistant managers) to cover for us and made a run for it.  All we knew was to pack a lunch.  No idea direction or time.  I guess when most people here are retired those things are not really important! ;)

"On the first part of the journey 
I was looking at all the life 
There were plants and birds and rocks and things 
There was sand and hills and rings 
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz 
And the sky with no clouds 
The heat was hot and the ground was dry 
But the air was full of sound"

We had such a great time.  It was nice to get out and explore.  The park has been slow to fill up this year we're told.  We have people booked, but many people have run into bad luck getting here.  We hope everyone else gets here trouble free! 

Everyone has really made us feel welcome.  We now have about 91% of the park booked for a month or more.  when your season is 6 months or less, I think that's pretty good. ;) 

Did I mention it's a beautiful day? It does get chilly here at night.  We've even dropped down into the 20s and 30s, but during the day (as long as the wind stays down) it's still t-shirt weather.  We had a great potluck breakfast Saturday morning. We have some great fires at night.  We roasted some marshmallows last night. People ask why we did this? Well, this is part of the answer.  It's just a simpler life.  We've walked away from the chaos.  Even the light pollution is less here.  The sky is amazing.  You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but each night we get a spectacular sunset and then the most clear sky.  We can almost set our clock by when we can see Mars.  We watch the space shuttle cross over us like little kids.  

The second question everyone asks is "how much does it cost?"  And in all the research that I did I never got a really clear answer.  The reason? Well, it really does end up being different for everyone.  The cost of whatever rig you decide on.  The cost of an emergency fund. The cost of gas/diesel. The cost of your site. (does it include electric)...These things can be different for everyone.  Things like food, entertainment, and life extras (clothes, beauty supplies, alcohol, smokes) will basically be whatever they normally are for you. 

We have found that site cost varies greatly between the east and the west.  Right now "in season" for us(in this park) you can get a month stay for $265 + electric.  Back east, you'd be lucky to get a week for that "in-season".  Obviously, the simpler you live, the less expensive it is.  One thing is for sure, we are certainly not spending more than we did in our "old lifestyle".  

It still feels a little funny being called the "kids".  People here are used to the managers being quite a bit older.  Most of them have great grandchildren our grandkids' ages, and many of them have parents in their late 90s or older.  We get a lot of advice from the older generation.  We filter it the best we can.  Some is very welcome and some we consider but then decide we need to learn for ourselves. ;)  We really listen about the desert though.  We know enough to know we don't know much when it comes to this stuff.  

These looks so cute, but are super sharp and will send quills in your direction.  As Jay says, EVERYTHING out here has thorns or some type of sharp protection.  My hands are finally healing from the scratches I got putting lights on the tree.  

Gotta go get the office opened up now guys.  I'll try to add more this week if I can.  I hope you all are having a safe and healthy week.  Remember to hydrate.  Cold weather makes us forget sometimes, but we still need to get our water in!  As always thanks for coming along on our journey! 

~Mikki 

Time in a bottle

Hey guys! How is everyone?  It's our day off! Now, before you get to thinking that means we're doing all kinds of exciting stuff let me share a secret with you.  While we do not have "normal" house maintenance any more (no lawn mowing, or big house to clean) we do have certain chores that need to get done and today has been that day.  We emptied our black tank today and did a back flush.  I have not spent a lot of time talking about black tanks (or poo) because so many blogs out there already cover that.  It is an important aspect of RV life but is really for the most part simple and not anywhere near as gross as you imagine it would be before you learn.  We back flush by running a hose through our bedroom window and into the bathroom.  There is a system that does it on the RV but that takes about 4x longer.  This is much quicker...you just need to be paying attention.  Jay and I do it together and make sure we don't get distracted while it's happening.  Basically after you open your black tank and dump, you close the tank back up and refill it with hose water to flush it out.  Then you open it and dump it again.  We did this twice until it ran clean through the elbow joint.  That's it.  Job done.  Super easy.  Of course, I've heard stories of people getting distracted and ending up flooding their whole rig or having a fountain come out their vent on the roof.  We're trying to make sure that never happens to us. ;)
The rig also needed a cleaning so I did some of that.  Let me tell you, I love that we only have about 200 square feet to clean!  I even cleaned the hardwood floors on my knees...all 3 feet of it! ;)

I did start off by taking a walk in the desert this morning.  I took the camera to share some images with you. ;)  First the sky last night and then this morning...

 Yes, we actually do have clouds occasionally.  Today we have our windows wide open and that is a double edged sword as many things are in this world.  Life has trade offs.  There is a breeze and nice fresh air, but there is also a fine powder of sand that lands on everything.  You can dust and it settles right back on your surfaces.  Luckily, there aren't many surfaces to dust!

Neighbors have some pretty landscaping...that first pic is what they call a "wash"  where rain water slams through when we do get rain.

You see these signs quite often by a wash...if you do go in and get stuck, you have to pay the bill to get rescued.
Something caught my eye while I was walking and I came upon this amazing pet cemetery.  It has obviously been much loved.

 We also have a golf course out here...yeah, I was surprised too...

It is a beautiful 83 degrees  Here at La Paz as I type this.  There is a breeze blowing and the clouds have come in some.  We're expecting some winds due to the weather that will be effecting the north western states.  We are not expecting snow. ;)  However, we have taken down all of the awnings to be on the safe side.  We're read gusts up to 25 mph+ are expected by tomorrow.  And, there is actually a 20% chance of rain on Sunday!  I am not looking forward to the rain.  I know that seems weird, but the ground here is so hard it does little to absorb and you end up with flooding.  Also, I'm told everyone's roof leaks here.  Crazy, huh?  Like I said, trade offs.

The park is still pretty quiet.  We have had a couple of Passport America people come in.  Some of them find they like the park and stay extra.  We've done that a few times.

In case I haven't mentioned it, we love Denise and Phil (our assistant managers).  They are just super nice people and since they have been a maintenance team they are learning the computer stuff from us and we (Jay) are leaning the more technical stuff (electric, plumbing) .  It seems to be a really good mix for the Park.  We are all thinking we'd like it if they invited us back next year.  Now, don't get me wrong.  We have bad days.  We miss family.  The internet stinks and definitely  would need to improve for us to come back.  Yesterday we had a site that kept blowing their electric.  Jay, Phil and Denise dug a hole by hand yesterday for the new water tank. 7 foot x 7 foot by 12 inches deep.  They had to start it with a pickax and Phil used his truck to pull up the pole that was cemented in.  It's not even the busy season yet.  We'll know more after we deal with the craziness of January.  Most days are more enjoyable than not.

I know I haven't mentioned the title yet:

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day till eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you 

 If you've been paying attention you know that we live our life in song titles. :)  I know I've mentioned we need a cool new name for our RV adventures and the other night while we were listening to tunes and enjoying the night we decided the lyrics to "Time in a Bottle" really sum up our feelings about this lifestyle.

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do, once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with

As we move forward, we'll be using this more and more.  Hopefully we'll get our youtube channel going soon.  I'll keep you posted.

Oh, by the way, I've lost 5 more pounds.  Officially lost over a 100 now.  Thank you all for your support and comments along the way.  It's certainly a privilege to share this journey with all of you.  happy November!

~Mikki

First sand storm

Hi Guys! How's everyone doing? Getting your steps in? Keeping hydrated?  Don't let the cooler months let you forget to drink your water!  I hope everyone is feeling healthy!

We're a little over 3 weeks out now working here at La Paz RV Park.  Seems like longer.  I don't mean that in a bad way.  It's just that the days here seem very long and blend into each other a bit.  It get tricky remembering what day it is quite often! Hard problem to have, right??  ;)

The weather has started to cool down. In fact I often need to bundle up now in the evening. (Jay says it's wonderful...the weather, not me bundling up...he thinks that's hilarious.) We're running in the 70-80s during the day and down into the lower 50s at night. The weather can be really weird here though.  This week we had a rainbow (sorry, I missed getting a pic) and then not long after that our first sand storm.  This was a learning experience.

First, let me say I actually had seen it coming but didn't realize it.  We went into town to find out about a sand delivery for the new water system, and since we have really awful internet here we stopped to see about a Winegard portable satellite . ( You knew they had me with the name, right?) DISH network has a special and it seemed like a good deal.  By dropping our phone package back to what we originally had (we had increased it to unlimited LTE but since we can't get that here we can't use the hot-spot feature) we can basically offset the price.  So they told us that the paper work and programming would take an hour or so and they'd call us when it was ready.  We picked up some groceries and headed back to the rig.  ~ Our new assistant managers made in to the park today.  Their truck had broken down about 140 miles away so they had to have service and didn't make it until late in the day. ~ I mention this to let you know that we had a few things going on and when the rainbow happened we thought it was cool but didn't really pay that much attention.

I was making potato salad and ribs for dinner, and the kids will know that I get pretty involved with making potato salad. :)  I got the call that the satellite was ready and I left Jay to pull the eggs off the grill burner while he was chatting with the our new help and hopped in the car to head back into town.  After I picked up the satellite and was driving back, I noticed this amazing looking cloud over the mountain.  It was quite a bit more orange that usual, but it didn't really click what that meant.  Anyway, I got back to the site and back to making dinner.  We actually had the ribs boiling on the grill ( we boil them in seasoned water prior to grilling to make them super tender) and I stepped into the rig for a second when I heard Jay yell "just let it go! watch out!" and then " Hon, we've got problems out here!"

Yeah. It was that fast. Just like that the wind came out of no where and ripped our little awning that had all the solo-cup lights out of the ground and up over the neighbors truck and it was two sites down before it stopped enough for Jay, Phil and Denise to grab it. (We did have it anchored but not enough I guess!)  I came out of the rig to help.  We got all the solo-cup lights off and believe it or not my humming bird feeder didn't break! suddenly an alarm was going off in the rig.  Like fire alarm style alarm. Very loud.  I took a look around but couldn't figure out why it was going off.  It stopped after a few minutes and we finished getting the awning put away. Yes, the wind was still blowing during all of this. It was also carrying sand along with it just for fun.  I was putting the awning back in the basement and noticed the grill flame had blown out but the propane was still going. The wind was dying down, so I went ahead and restarted the grill.  About that time the alarm started going off again.  It took us a little bit, (it's very hard to think when you have a very loud noise going off insistently and dogs freaking out from the noise), but finally Jay noticed a light on the control panel; flipped the LP leak warning switch off and the noise stopped. YAY!  Apparently, when the grill had blown out and I had the basement open putting stuff away enough LP blew into the basement to set off the sensor that there was a leak!  How cool is that?? I mean, it was loud, and stressful but now I know we never have to worry about not knowing if we have an LP leak! ;)  Our FBG will let us know for sure!

The sand storm lasted a total of about 10-15 minutes (seemed longer lol) but was a learning experience for sure.  I now know what I saw over the mountain.  The residents say you can't tell if it will show up when that happens. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. And apparently that was a very little one.  Their advice (the next day) was shut your windows first or you'll have piles of sand inside. Yikes!

Just another lesson from the desert.  It can be so beautiful and change in a hot minute!

This morning I was awake early so I went out to open up everything here and walk the dogs...this is what 6:15 am looks like here...

One of the dryers in the laundry room has been acting up so we spent last night doing laundry and checking it out.  Exciting Friday night. :)

3 weeks isn't enough to tell us if we love it or hate it here yet.  We've had a couple of days of each so far.  The best part by far is the people.  Everyone is so super nice here.  They have been very appreciative of the work we are trying to do and really supportive.  We do miss everyone at home.  We're hoping that now that we have some help here, we'll be able to see some of the area and enjoy what makes the desert fun.  Hopefully I'll have some good pictures soon. ;)

Each day we get to learn a little more.  Sometimes the hard way, but hey, at least we're learning!  Thanks for coming along with us! More soon.

~Mikki

Winter Home

Hey Guys! We're here! I'm sorry it's taken so long to post but the Wifi here at the park isn't on yet. (Should be by the 20th!)  When you're borrowing in on someone else's you don't want to be a hog! ;)

Ok, so let's grab a water, coffee, tea or cocktail and catch up! At the beginning of the month we were just getting into Vegas.  That was a great time.  The Rodan + Fields convention was UNBELIEVABLE!  Seriously! The Garden Arena that MGM uses for concerts was PACKED! 15,000 consultants in attendance and thousands more virtually! This business is rocking!  One of the very best parts? Between the consultants and the Doctors' matching funds we raised $1.2 million for The Build On Foundation to help America's students in need learn how to help themselves and their communities.  These kids were fantastic!
They also revealed their new last product which I am super excited about so that was fun!  I had a super room mate so couldn't have asked for a better gal to pal around with the whole time!

Jay and the dogs stayed at the Sam's Town KOA.  It was a nice campground and he won back all that I lost on the strip at their little casino so we broke even. :)  He was happy to see me come back after being gone for 5 days.  He said it just wasn't the same without me! How sweet is that?  I got back to the site about midnight on Saturday or Sunday morning depending on how you look at it.  We were scheduled to leave that morning.  We both woke up thinking that wasn't a very good plan.  I made some coffee and walked up to the office to see if I could book another night...nope, they were full up.  Ok, guess that means we were meant to move on.  We decided just to pack up and head toward La Paz and see how we were feeling.  We weren't expected until Wednesday so we could stop if we felt like it.  Well, we ended up just driving right into Quartzsite!  As we were coming into town we saw the sign for Split Rail ( a sister park to La Paz) so we stopped to see if Mel and Anne (the managers there) had room for us.

We hadn't called to tell them we were coming so we weren't sure if we were going to be a burden but they were just the sweetest people ever!  They put us up in a site and we were able to start training with them on the computer and what our responsibilities were going to be.  I even got to do some much needed laundry!  They were super generous hosts and introduced us to our neighbor park managers (also owned by the same people) over at Burrwood, Cindy and Dick.  It's nice to put faces to names so we were glad to meet them and pick their brains as well.  But on to the main event! I know you want to hear about home base!

The town itself is small, but neat.  You can definitely tell you have landed in RV country!  To get to La Paz you come through town and head south on 95.  Drive about 5.5 miles south and you'll see a green sign that reads La Paz Valley and you take that right hand turn. Go all the way down that road until you see a sign that reads Pavement Ending and turn left! We are just up the road on the left from there!  Our park (can you believe it's ours? :) ) is older and on the smaller side but has a ton of potential!  We've got many 30 Amp and a couple of 50 Amp sites left for the season. (That is the type of electrical hook-up you use in the RV for those of you that don't know.)  Our seasonal rate is $1145.  That's for a year! Such a great rate! You can pay that a month in some places in Florida!  We also have nightly, weekly and monthly rates that are great.  We are a Passport America park and honor that up to 7 nights in a year (except in January).

We've been here 3 days now.  We have the laundry all cleaned and open for business.  The dumpster has arrived, and we are getting ready for the season to open on Monday.  There is a lot for us to learn but the handful of people that are already here have been super nice and welcoming!  They have really appreciated that we came in ready to work and didn't just hang out until the 15th to get started.  Last night we had RV YouTube celebrities Rv Adventure TV ~ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpCuPlxmWJOQOBiCabKTqg ~
come in for a couple of nights, but have decided to stay a week! Hopefully they give us a thumbs up on their channel!

It's currently 4:44 pm and it's 91 degrees but I have the windows open and there's a nice breeze coming through.  Jay still thinks it's hot! ;)  He's lost 8 lbs since we've been here and I've lost 4 lbs.  He's got the golf cart working now so he may slow down without having to do quite as much trotting to sites!  We do more work in the morning and late afternoon to evening.  Noon time is office work time because it's been warm out even for me. ;)  They tell us it will dip down some next week and keep getting cooler from here.  We'll see.  Personally I think this time of day and through the night is perfect already!  We can sit outside, have a cocktail, watch the sun set and the moon come up.  I tried to get you guys a shot of the full moon last night but it was so bright it didn't come out very well!  We couldn't see the International Space Station go by last night, the angle was too low, but it's supposed to be higher tomorrow night and we're hoping to get a view! The sky here is amazing!

That sunset is from my chair. Not a bad way to take it in.  We have mountains on 3 sides of us.  No snakes or crazy insects yet (although Jay says he swears he saw the craziest bee ever today) but we have a bunch of bunnies and we're pretty sure there was a coyote here in the park last night that Paris told off and it took off running.  Left us a pile of scat to clean up.  Guess Paris really scared him! LOL

We'll be working our tails off this week, I'm sure, getting the rec hall ready to go.  It's got this great kitchen to play in.  Hopefully we can put together some breakfasts for people and maybe a shin-dig or two.  Won't be ready to have a Halloween Party like we're used to this year, but who knows what next year will bring!

Just wanted to give you an update.  I'll try to keep you posted as we go!  Come see us if you can! We see rental RVs around a lot so we know they do have them if you don't own one.  Come see what it's all about. ;) 

And thanks for following along! 

~Mikki