Week 698 - Happy New Year - 12-31-2019

Happy New Year!

We wish you all a happy new year. We pray that God will bless you and your family in 2020. We are in our 14th year of traveling full time with our routes shown here.

In 2016 we began giving seminars at FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) rallies. Our seminar was Full Time Motorhome Travel. We continued the seminars in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Using Big Rig Bible as a guide, we shared with the attendees how to travel full time and enjoy it everyday. We have traveled 127,765 miles in the MotherShip and 40,000 miles on the ScooterShip and 1,600 miles on our bikes. We have visited 443 RV parks and campgrounds and stayed at 161 other locations, like homes and boon-docking.

In the last 3 years we have been at our Atascadero house about 18 months! In 2017 we remodeled the house; 2018 we were home for medical issues and this year we are home prepping the house for sale. So are we full time travelers? Are we really? Not so much. So as we sit here pining for the days of travel, we reminisce about yesteryears. Here are some highlights.

2006

Purchase the MotherShip on 4-5-6, take Melissa to college and go see some of America. See Shoji Tabuchi, Japanese fiddle player at his Branson theatre. We had no idea we were full time motorhome travelers.

2007

Travel to all the lower states, Quebec and Ontario, Canada. See relatives and make friends in every state. Meet Ben & Sid for the 1st of 22 places we will meet across America and Canada.

2008

Wander aimlessly throughout the West making a point to re-visit Ozarks Luxury RV Resort and Branson to see Yakov Smirnoff, the Russian comedian.

2009

Spend four months in Alaska, British Columbia and The Yukon. Best trip ever! We have heard that the Canadian Maritimes are just as good; we'll find out in the future.

2010

We learned pickleball in 2006, taught in such a poor way that we ran away from that word for two years. We learned correctly in 2008 at Jojoba Hills RV Resort and loved it. In 2010 we played our first tournament in St. George Utah and played 10 more tournaments in that season.

2011

Eleven more pickleball tournaments, claimed South Dakota as our residence, and of course a quick trip to Louisville, Kentucky to rebuild the MotherShip's engine. 10 days at an Ohio River harbor on a 40 foot yacht.

2012

Eleven more tournaments and a taxi ride from Colorado to Paso Robles. Stayed at 13 more Elks Lodges (of the 114 lodges we have visited).

2013

A few more PB tournaments before retiring at the 4.0 level. Relaxing in Hawaii on Maui and later Kauai. Visit to Donnalee and Emily's family in Northern California.

2014

This was the year of home stays. We drove from home to home spending 222 days at friend/family houses. We helped build the portico at Em and Chad's, provided home care for Judy, attended memorials for Aunt Betty Lynn and best friend Paul.

2015

Move to Texas to get an ObamaCare plan that works in all the states. Ellen has knee replacement surgery at the Eisenhower Hospital in Rancho Mirage, California.

2016

Spread out wings a bit and cruised through nine western states. Not playing PB tournaments but playing socially and stopping to referee whenever possible.

2017

Cruising through our stomping grounds always looking for the best weather. Spend six months at our Atascadero house, remodeling for Melissa's AirBnb hosting.

2018

Life is a bell shaped curve. You start off not being able to walk and later in life ... We again spent six months at home for doctor visits, cataract surgeries and ankle repair. We managed to travel some to visit relatives and RV friends.

2019

We started 2019 with a lot of time in Yuma, Arizona, the warmest area of the Southwest. Then we made a Northwest loop to investigate some areas in Nevada and Idaho.

What's next? Currently we are camped on our property offering our house for sale by owner. We have had a dozen people take a look. If that works out, great! If not, by the spring of 2020 we will contract with a realtor. Some have asked "What will you do if you don't have a house to come back to?" Answer: The same as we have been doing for 14 years, travel! We have only come back to the house to get it ready for new renters. We will still return to family as we do now, we just won't have to do any more maintenance.

Be blessed and we'll be talking to you next year!

With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from 2006 to 2019