Wandering Wahls

Last night I was reading my checked-out-from the Air Force Academy library book (we’re making full use of the base services in Colorado Springs). The book is my first experience with a large print edition. Not that my eyes are going bad, it’s just that I put my name on the wait-list for Dan Brown’s latest book and the large print edition is the one that became available. After reading 80 pages in my first sitting, I was pretty proud of myself. However, I realized that since this was large print, what I read was probably the equivalent of 3 pages in regular sized print.

I gave up on the book and started thinking of how this business of settling down is full of interesting experiences. For most of you, the issues we are experiencing while settling down are probably nothing new. For us though, this is our first time buying a house (first time being able to paint walls), first time finding a school in the US, first time buying a new washer and dryer, and so on. Additionally, there are still cultural issues to get used to (i.e., how did “sweet” become such an integral adjective in my kids’ vocabulary even though they’re not talking about food or candy?). Also, is running a red light legal now? It’s frequent enough.

Anyway, we did find a house and we’ll recount that experience for you later (as well as the associated adventures). We were fortunate to have a great realtor, Brian Slivka, who was a Godsend in helping us through the labyrinth known as house-buying. Now we must get used to an empty bank account as well as getting things done in the house and getting the RV ready to sell.

Regarding the last point, we want to scale down from a 41-foot behemoth to a smaller behemoth more suited to week-long trips to National Parks – as opposed to a 16-month trip across the US. If anyone needs a great RV well suited for full timing on the road (bunk beds for kids, washer & dryer, 6 TVs – one outside even, and “super storage”), let us know. It is kind of sad to be thinking of selling our home-on-the-road though.

Stopping the RV has been interesting. There are times I feel like I should be hooking up the car, putting the antenna down, and plug an address into the GPS for our next stop. Of course, this may be due to single digit weather as opposed to a feeling to get on the road again.

However, the arrival here has been a culture shock – and a shock in general. Getting used to having to arrive at work at a specified time has been a change. But, I’m teaching at a good school and in a great department, so it has been easy to ease into a new career (“about time” as my brother-in-law would say).

Then there was the car search. We lost a perfectly good, high mileage, well maintained, Volvo early in the trip. It burned to the ground while being stored over a weekend by a mechanic. Unfortunately, the storage building was owned and shared by three local businesses, so finding fault was like finding good Mexican food in Europe. We went through USAA for the loss, but the payment didn’t quite equal the real value, and it was less the deductible (how about this for a bad choice: I raised our deductible before the trip in order to save premium, and we end up having 4 claims during the trip that more than exceeded the premium savings).

Anyway, looking for a second car was not so much an eye-opener but a reminder of how much I despise buying cars. The Scotch-Irish in me made me look for used cars instead of buying a new vehicle. We had to deal with the anonymity of CraigsList  and local want ads, and the related cynicism about the real reason the car is being sold. And, of course we met the local car dealers’ salesmen (they’re always men, but that’s probably a positive statement regarding the integrity of women). I’ve never met so many best friends in such little time who really cared about my family (my hand was on my wallet the whole time).

In the end, we came across a nice guy who emigrated here from Poland a few years ago (I mention that only in honor of my late mom who was always proud of her Polish heritage – she would have enjoyed meeting him). He had an ’05 vehicle with low mileage and a great price. On top of that, he owns a few hotels around Colorado and threw in a free weekend at his hotel in the mountains at Frisco, CO.

Things are settling well. Now, on to the house issue.

To get to Colorado Springs, we had to drive through two songs. First we went backwards through the tune of Route 66 via “Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino…” We got our kicks on Route 66, if only for the few remaining miles that exist with the Interstate. After getting hip to Bobby Troup’s kind of trip, I’ve got to believe it must have been a lot more fun in Mr. Troup’s time than now. The sections are full of truck stops, strip malls, and housing developments.

Our second traveling-through-a-song adventure came as I exited in Arizona to get diesel. While waiting for the 80-gallon tank to fill up (I wish I had kept track of the life minutes lost while filling the RV’s tank over the last 16 months), I realized I was standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. As I contemplated Jackson Browne’s lyrics (though made famous by the Eagles), and felt like a free sprit looking for flat bed Ford, I realized there was a girl in an RV door peering out to take a look at me – but it was to hurry up, the tank had been filled for awhile.

At least I’m not “running on empty” – yet.

I have come to realize that my driving leaves too much free time for me to ponder useless bits of RV philosophy, especially on those stretches where there is no radio signal to be had (which is frequent in the open spaces of the west). For instance: Is drydocking at an RV park comparable to purgatory? (Thinking about an issue such as this is either due to a wandering mind or my Jesuit education – or both.)

Drydocking is an RVer term for those times in an RV park when the full hook up sites (water, electric, and waste at the site) are full and one is shuttled to another side of the park where there are no, or only partial, services to await the opening of a full hook up site. Here, one must utilize a central spot to periodically fill up the RV’s water tank and dump the waste, while running the RV’s generator at the site (during limited hours) to enjoy TV, microwave, W/D, etc.

Drydocking occurs primarily at popular areas where there is a gathering of wildlife known as “snowbirds.” These very intelligent “birds” know that places like Florida, Sand Diego, and Arizona are much more enjoyable in the winter than other parts of the country.

I was recently recalling during a drive between Barstow and Flagstaff that when we hit the base RV parks at Tampa, Cape Canaveral, and Key West without reservations, we spent most of our time drydocking. We still had a great time and would return in a moment’s notice, but it occurred to me that this was like an RV purgatory – we’re so close to Heaven with all the blessings of full hook ups 24 hour power, yet we’re not without some access to them; we haven’t been dispatched to lesser settings, such as a Wal-Mart parking lot. Is this a metaphor for the purgatory I learned about in Catholic grade school?

I’d also go into the question of whether the children of the “dark side” in Star Wars use nightlights, but that really would demonstrate a need for more thought provoking diversions while I drive. It may be time for satellite radio.

We hope your holidays were enjoyable. We rolled the RV into the Sacramento area to my brother-in-law’s house and parked it there for an extended stay. He lives in a rural area outside of Sacramento (Wilton) on 5 acres, so our RV was unobtrusively parked along his property line. Mary Claire’s family met up there and we had the first family Christmas gathering in quite awhile (given our overseas assignments). The holidays were quite fun and busy.

I realized though that I have missed a few travel episodes from our journey to California. One such stop was the lowest and driest point in the country – which led to an ironic problem with our RV.

From Las Vegas, we headed to the lowest point in the USA – Death Valley, CA. The weather was beautiful, and we ventured out to hike, play in sand dunes, and relax by the campfire. The stars were brilliant. Also, the campground is a 30 second walk to the Visitor’s Center. Each night, the family would take some hot chocolate and walk under the expanse of stars to the Visitor’s Center to hear a nightly Ranger talk. I’m missing that as I write this.

Our only mishap though was that in the driest point in the country, our water pump went kaput! Unfortunately, the campground did not have water hook ups, and there was no shower. So we “roughed it” like real campers, hauling water in bottles and washing dishes at the central campground spigot. Our “roughing it” gave me a feeling of camaraderie with the tent campers who were camping without water and showers as well – of course, I then climbed into a queen sized bed and watched a little TV!

Two days later we headed to an RV service center in Bakersfield, and the water pump was easily replaced. (Mary Claire took a shower while I paid the bill.)

We are sitting in the RV settled in here at the Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma listening to Christmas music (Dean Martin singing Christmas songs always gets me sentimental.), writing Christmas cards, and admiring the frost on the ground – a perfect scene for the moment. In between the kids writing their Christmas cards to friends here and in Germany, and my wife and I writing the family’s cards, we’ve had an assortment of Christmas gift ideas – things an RV family might wish for:

• Full hook ups at RV parks with large “pull through” spots
• RV Parks with cable TV access, playgrounds, pool, and a hot tub (you can see what our kids are interested in)
• Courteous drivers who don’t cut me off while I am driving a 35,000 lb vehicle
• Drivers behind me who don’t take my “changing lane” blinker as a reason to change lanes themselves
• A nice house on an acre or so waiting just for us to buy at a low foreclosure price
• Someone looking to hire a person of my many writing, teaching, training, marketing talents (okay, making “talent” plural might be stretching things a bit)
• If I can’t have the above, at least the gift of a reply from people who received my CV/resume
• Safe travels on a wide and smooth road with little traffic
• Wildlife sightings
• Red Ryder BB Gun (I know, he’ll shoot his eye out!)

And, in the “better to give than to receive” category:

• Working blinkers for all these drivers in cars with apparently inoperable blinkers
• New pairs of glasses for those drivers who, apparently not seeing a 41-foot long, 12-foot tall RV, pull out in front of them

I’m sure we’ll have more later. But, to all of you we wish you safe travels and Happy Holidays!

An unexpected highlight of our trip is that we seem to have inspired other military associated families to take a similar journey. I don’t whether we’ve started a trend, but we’ve been receiving emails over the last few weeks from current and future military retirees picking our brain about a full-time RV trip. Of course, maybe we didn’t start the trend.

Possibly, our exposure allowed others to come out of the closet and feel comfortable proclaiming to friends and neighbors that they, too, were going to spend a year-plus in a 40-foot RV, with three kids, seeing the country, dumping black waste, and living their own reality show – full-time RVers unite!

Okay, sorry for the diversion, back to my entry. So, the emails ask about the trip, where we stop, choosing an RV, budget, etc. Heck, I’ve written enough emails that I can write a “How to Make a Military Retiree RV Journey for Dummies” book (or, “How to Retire Without Settling Down”).

Our emails span the globe. We’ve heard from a retiree living in France who wants to show his French wife our national parks, as well as a member stationed in Saudi Arabia who is planning his family’s future trip upon his retirement. We’ve even heard from a couple of families starting a trip. We’ve been able to share tips on national parks (”Will it fit a 40-foot RV?” is an important question to ask prior to visiting a national park with a car in tow) and places to see.

And, I have to say, we’ve heard from non-military families who are interested in the same type of journey. Unfortunately for them, they don’t enjoy the benefits of a military career (e.g., the pension, base access, etc.).

To finish up this “travelblogue” entry, we enjoy responding to the emails. There were many people who helped us when we started our trip, so we feel good to be able to help others as they plan. Feel free to email us at: wahlsacrossamerica@mac.com.

In the rear view mirror: We were caught between a rock and a hard place...errrrr...RV.

We’re in the coastal city of Cayucos, California presently finishing up our holiday stay with family. After turkey, pies, local fish tacos, a visit to the Hearst Castle (photos will be up soon on our Web site), and a polar bear plunge into the Pacific by our boys, we embark from here on a house hunting/site recon mission.

The first place we’ll stop is the Grass Valley/Nevada City area of California (east of Sacramento into the foothills toward Lake Tahoe). This area is outside the urban setting of mid-California, close to Beale Air force Base, close to family, and offers houses with some land at affordable prices for California. Also (and readers might be interested in this) California has a veterans benefit that allows dependents of a veteran with a VA disability rating to attend a California university (either their state college system or the universities) tuition and fee free! With tuition at about $10,000 (and having three kids), that is a pretty good benefit to consider when deciding on a state. We have not found that specific benefit matched in other states.

On the other hand, the cons of California relate to the state’s financial situation and the cost of living. Things are just more expensive here. And, if the state’s deficit keeps spiraling down, day-to-day fees may increase or see services taken away. Regarding the latter, we’re concerned that the state might eventually take away the tuition benefit mentioned above in order to save money.

So then, it is off to look at places to settle. After Grass Valley, we plan to head to Ashland and Bend Oregon. I’ll summarize their pros and cons later.

We're not thinking about college quite yet...

Mary Claire and I have dedicated part of our trip to “Eating Our Way Across America.” From $2.00 Coney Island hot dogs in Fort Wayne, to Whoopee Pie in Maine, to Key Lime Pie in Key West, we’ve sought out local eateries and delicacies as part of our RV journey. Now, we have a Tempe, AZ location to add to our list. I met with a friend at a local Mexican restaurant called Suzie’s. The food and atmosphere was perfect: great homemade food inside little “joint” on the side of the road, away from the strip malls.

Speaking of malls, I have to admit that I really, really dislike them. I know some people enjoy mall time as a hobby, and I respect that. However, I abhor having to go to a mall (the worst for someone like me was having to go to the world’s largest mall in Minnesota to get my laptop repaired at the Apple store). Anyway, I was struck by the number of malls in the Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, etc. area. If people are experiencing personal economic downturns, it doesn’t seem to be reflected in the malls. I’ll know when the recession has hit bottom when a mall doesn’t have 4 different candle stores, 7 different tennis shoes stores, or 4 different expensive “gadget” stores.

Finally, have a happy Thanksgiving! As our family has traveled the country, we’ve become aware of all the things we have to be thankful for due to my wife’s military career as well as from living in America.

We'll pardon these turkeys...Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the biggest challenges of our road trip has been space, or lack thereof. While our Newmar Allstar has a “super storage” below the master bedroom, space is still a premium for a family of five living full time in an RV. The kids are allotted 2 drawers each. They use their top drawer for clothes and their bottom drawer for toys/rocks/Halloween candy, and other treasures that kids collect. Off-season clothes are stored below in rubber bins. We routinely make trips to clothing donation boxes. So where does all our other “stuff” go? Here are a few ideas if you are storage-challenged and interested in this type of trip:

1. Games: Put all game pieces and instructions in separate zip lock bags. Put game boards and pieces in a large rubber bin, and THROW AWAY THE BOXES! (We fit about 15 games in one bin.) For jigsaw puzzles, cut the picture of the puzzle from the box and put that in a zip lock with the pieces.
2. Kitchen items: We have 2 frying pans and 2 saucepans. Everything must have dual purpose to take up real estate, i.e. the colander is my salad/fruit bowl. Corning ware is the only dishware to consider for RVing—plates stack snuggly; they are microwavable, and break resistant. We quickly hand wash dishes after each meal, and they are ready for the next.
3. Electronics (cameras, IPODS, computers): We have 2 laptops. We keep all cords and rechargers in small bins in an overhead cabinet. The printer sits at the bottom of our one and only closet.
4. Bikes: We rigged up hooks in the super storage. We keep the expensive bikes there, and two kids bikes go on the bike rack on our towed car. Helmets, locks, and bike bags are in a bin below.
5. Decorations/knick-knacks/keepsakes: Don’t have them! We visit thrift stores for holiday decorations, and then give them back after use. We do have some small souvenirs in a box below.

I can’t tell you how liberating it is to travel light. We could lighten up more—the digital piano and golf clubs haven’t been pulled out the super storage much! Hopefully we will keep “simple” when we move back in to a house.

On an end note, we do feel like we live simply. I told an Amish person once that we can afford this trip because we live a simple life – me telling an Amish man that “we” live simply…my wife laughed at that.