Plans and Analysis

Though we've known for sometime that we will be working for a small RV Park at the entrance to Glacier National Park, in St. Mary Montana this summer, we've not actually set down to begin working out travel plans. I spent several hours this evening beginning an outline of where we'll be going and what we're interested in seeing in our journey north. And Mark and I spent some time tonight reviewing the draft.

We've not yet even clarified exactly when we'll be leaving the Dallas area. Of course, part of the joy of this lifestyle is the flexibility it allows. Even when we move to full-time jobs, it's quite possible our jobs will not be in Texas. Having spent our entire lives in Texas, outside of the occassional vacation, we're interested in spending time in areas outside of the state. We've discovered that plans in this lifestyle are frequently in 'jello'...they can and do change frequently.

We hope to have our final activities here at home finished around the 10th of April and head out around that time. Our tentative plans at this time are to first head south to spend a few days on Lake Livingston, Texas, giving us a chance to see our older son Chris and his wife. We've also set up our mail forwarding service with Escapees, which is headquartered in Livingston, Texas, so we'll have a chance to get our mail and packages before heading north.

From Livingston, Texas we'll be heading north to Snyder, Texas to spend a few days with one of my aunts. I was quite close to her growing up--she pretty much clothed me until I was in the 8th grade, as my dad drove a truck and we had little money. She was almost like a second mother to me. She's in her early 80's now and needs more help than I believe she realizes right now. So Mark and I hope to help her and her son out, (and he's in a wheelchair), with various things they need done around her home. From there, we begin our real trek north.

I spoke to our boss for the upcoming summer the other day and she indicates that the roads to the entrance to Glacier National Park are currently being targeted to be opened on June 12th. Unless more snow occurs, we should be able to access the RV Park, Johnsons of St. Mary, where we'll be working, around June 10th. So we should have 6-7 weeks northward to enjoy during our trip to St. Mary's.

We definitely want to spend a week in the Creede/Durango Colorado area, checking out the area and things to see. We'll continue north to Bozeman for a few days. The only other definite at this point, is that we really hope to spend a couple of weeks in Yellowstone National Park. Of course, during early May there will be lot's of snow left, but we don't have time to wait for warmer weather before going, since we need to be in Montana in early June. We've heard that some of the best times to see wildlife, with bears, wolves, moose, etc. coming right into the RV campground. (And fear not...our little chihuahua Clyde is with us. No bear or wolf will dare tread near our RV...you can bet on that!! lol)

We'll do lot's of research of places to go and things to do and see along the way. We're really looking forward to moving on. We've spent 5 months back in the Dallas area--much longer than anticipated, but we accomplished much, including the sale of my parent's home, moving both our sons to different locations, helping with elderly parents, etc. We've also had a chance to spend time with family, as once we leave here, we won't be able to head back home for several months--we checked today and it's 2700+ miles from Dallas to our summer job in Montana.

Our workamping job is thru September 15th, so we'll tentatively begin our trek southward in mid-September. We're excited and looking forward to the adventure. The great thing about our job this summer is that it provides us with a free campsite and electric, along with an hourly salary and a free meal each day too! The good news is this will really help our budget, as we'll have little expense this summer, since our 'rent' and food are covered, along with an hourly salary--allowing us to put a bit away as well.

We weren't really sure if we would enjoy this lifestyle when we began, but we've discovered it is indeed much cheaper and enjoyable (for us) than living in a home. Even if your home is paid for, you still have all the taxes on your home, along with insurance, gas, electric, etc. Heating/cooling our 360 foot cocoon, isn't very expensive. Considering neither of us had ever been in an RV, much less slept in one...we really did take a 'flying leap' of faith when we did this didn't we? February 16th was our one year anniversary in the RV, and we can say that we absolutely made the right choice, for us. In fact, it was one of the best decisions we've made in a long, long time.

Of course, this lifestyle isn't for everyone, but it has really worked out well for us. There was a huge weight lifted off our shoulders after doing this, and we weren't expecting that. Paying off every credit card, vehicles, the RV, truck, etc., and getting rid of most of our 'stuff', was quite 'freeing' and gave us much more control on how much we must spend each month. The only mandatory expenses being campground fees (if not workamping), food, insurance and cell service.

The current economic state of this country would have made it impossible for us to have continued living in our old home, with our big mortgage, new vehicles, credit card bills, cable, phone, electric, gas, cell, etc. etc. Everyone in my organization with AT&T was laid-off by the end of April, 2009. They shut down the entire organization. Mark was laid-off in January of 2009. We would have lost our home, cars, and everything else since we would have been unable to make any where near enough money as required to keep our head above water.

With the current economic times, our combined salary would have been far less than half of what we required--once again, making our decision a wonderful and timely one. With the hideous new Healthcare Bill (i.e., Obamacare), it appears the healthcare that I and so many other retirees "earned" after working more than 30 years, will be whacked out from under us...thank you Mr. President. AT&T announced last Friday that they are "reviewing" retiree healthcare and that changes are anticipated. Looks like AT&T will be dumping retirees into the federal system. I get soooooo ticked off thinking of the direction of our new 'socialist' country...but, that's for another blog entry, so I won't get on a tirade here. Suffice to say I'm a christian/conservative--I know that's no longer the 'popular' thing to say--but I don't give a flip. And YES this country was founded as a Christian Nation...I don't care what our president says. "Nuff said".

As for our decisions--No regrets. We're very blessed, quite fortunate and looking forward to what God has planned for us as our future unfolds. Stay tuned...~