Week 871 - Home Stays - 04-23-2023

Home Stays

or as we like to say Su casa es mi casa!

We are beginning our 18th year of full time travel. One third of that time, we have stayed at homes! Our home, family homes, relative's homes and homes of those we met on the road.

When folks invite you to their home, most entertain you all day, everyday. This is wonderful but can be exhausting for the hosts. Not so when we visit in the MotherShip. We have our own space; we can prepare our own meals and give our hosts a break. We don't wonder if it is okay to get up before them or go to bed early.

For 15 of our travel years we owned our home in Atascadero. We had 5 good renter families and came home between renters. We even had weddings, Christmas dinners and other events at the home. What was great was never having to move stuff in or out of the house; we just enjoyed it. We spent 1,180 of our travel days at our house before we sold it on our 46th anniversary on August 3rd, 2020.

You might expect family to invite you to stay. But, our family went above and beyond.

Ellen's sister Janice and husband Frank have always offered a visit when we came back to our home area. Janice even received and forwarded our mail for 10 years. In 2007 we "camped" with water and 20 amps. Today they offer us full hookups. (241 days).

Pete's brother Mike lives in Montana. We visit each time we are near. We have dry camped in the street near his house.

Pete's sister Donnalee lived in California and now in Arizona. As these areas are on our typical travel routes, we have had many visits. We dry camp in the street and camped until the day before the city tells us to move on.

Ellen's brother Larry moved from California to his 200 acre ranch in Idaho. Larry and Judy are always great hosts.

Our son John also "street hosted" us in California. Note that street parking was always easier before we added the JeepShip to our 64 foot entourage.

Daughter Melissa and husband Mario recently purchased a California home on 95 acres. They leveled an RV area with full hookups including 50 amps. Hey friends, they have two hookup sites. Come with us and we'll let you help remodel their house (53 days).

Daughter Emily and husband Chad were the first to provide us full 50 amp hookups. It is always fun to visit the California home and 5 growing kids. We have visited for fun and to build decks, a portico and in ground trampoline (145 days).
(We also stayed 3 times at Chad's parents home.)

Son Nick and wife Hayley recently moved to a home with room for the MotherShip. We look forward to a visit when we get back home.

Ellen's cousin Mary and husband Jeff have an awesome lake property in Ohio. A little far for routine visits, but we enjoyed our time there in 2007.

Ellen has three cousins in Arizona: Bobby, Dennis and Donny. We have stayed 10 times street camping at Bob and Barbs. Their neighbors welcome us, which is good because we are in front of their house.

Cousins Dennis and Kerry, moved their 5th wheel out of the way to let us park the MotherShip for a week. And they cared for Mandy while we were gone! What at blessing!

Cousins Donny and Cindy hosted us on their acreage with hookups. We thought we had a picture, but we looked through our last 100,000 photos and didn't find it.

Our first home stay was with relatives Paul and Elvis. They lived in a mobile home park and we were able to park right along side their house.

Uncle Ron and Anne live in Georgia. On our 2007 visit we stayed 3 days on their ranchette. Pete got the flu and wasn't it nice to recover in the MotherShip without bothering the hosts.

First cousin Judy had a nice home in Nipomo, California. We enjoyed spending time with her and helping as we could. (15 visits, 75 days).

Pete's nephews Keith and Eric live in Colorado. We visited Keith and Lori with Donnalee last year.

Eric and Lena "street hosted" us in 2006 and we visited them again in 2022.

Pete has known Tom for 54 years and his wife Sue for almost as long. We street parked the MotherShip in Ashland, Oregon and moved before the parking cops told us to. We also street parked at their home base in Sherman Oaks, California.

Paul has been a best friend to both Pete and Ellen. We street parked with power and water 14 times for 39 days. Paul was generous, brilliant, BBQ wizard and wine connoisseur.

Bill in California has been a friend to Pete and Ellen for 40 years. He remodeled this home in Loomis with an RV site; full hookups, a lawn and privacy gate. It's good to be his friend!

We met Colly and Wally in 1973 before we were married. They moved to Chelan Washington and hosted us several times.

Where do you park on a 22,000 acre ranch? Anywhere you want. 40 year friend Janet and husband Brad set us up to help with their son's wedding. How nice for us to get to help prepare for this blessed day.

Pete's roommate in college was Jeff. Jeff and Linda now live in the Denver, Colorado area. We have street camped twice and visited other times.

Jon and Pam live in California but have a vacation home in Mesa, Arizona. We stopped in to cram the MotherShip next to his house.

Another California friend who moved to Idaho is Mike. Mike bought this house, added the shop, RV lot and pickleball court. It is always fun to visit Mike; great fellowship and pickleball. Does it get any better?

Pastor Dale and Vicky moved from California to Oregon. But, we found them and parked on their property in Roseburg.

Hospitality continued with folks we never knew.

In May of 2006 we stayed in Las Vegas at the Outdoor Resorts We met Charlie and Cheryl and they invited us to their house. In May of 2007 we stayed at their house in Georgia for 12 days! And they were disappointed when we left; amazing Southern hospitality.

In April 2007 we stopped at Carrabelle Beach, Florida. We met Hank and Ann from Ontario, Canada. They had the Smart Car that we considered for us. Ellen got to drive it and they invited us to their house. In July 2007 we stopped in Ontario for a "driveway stay".

Donnalee gave us tickets to the Clarksdale, Arizona tourist train. Waiting for the train we heard a man curse his nonexistent cell service. Pete loaned him his phone so Hank could call a friend. Two weeks later Hank called Pete to invite us to visit near Chicago. We visited Hank and Arlene and stayed two "driveway days".

Diane is amazingly generous. We met kayaking down the snake river. When she found that we did not have a place to stay that night, she invited us to her home. We camped in this beautiful setting with hookups. She told us breakfast would be in the morning at 9:00.

Lauren and Jeannette have been great friends we never knew before traveling. They first helped us park at night at the Westminster Elks in Colorado. Since then we have met up 11 times on the road. This includes staying at their dual RV site lot and their house in Yuma, Arizona.

Pete met Dar before we purchased our motorhome. In January 2006 we visited the Pleasanton RV Show with Dar and Cindy. They bought a motorhome off the lot. We ordered the MotherShip and received it on 4-5-6. We met up with Dar and Cindy in California and Arizona in 2006/2007. Dar and Cindy hosted us at their home in the Sierras in 2010.

We met Clint on the Internet. Clint and Pete needed pickleball mens partners. We came, we practiced, we conquered, winning Gold at the 1st Mission Hills PB Tournament. Since then we have stayed 12 times at their homes in Rancho Mirage, California and Stanwood, Washington. Always a joy to be with this lovely and generous couple.

Fellow pickleball competitor, Steve invited us to his vineyard in Northern California We stayed a week with Steve and Candy to create a business website. (We also stayed at Greg's in Templeton, California, to create a website for him.)

(We street parked with other PB players Judy and Don at their Arizona homes.)

We met Dean in 2009 at Palm Creek Resort (our current home). He invited us to visit his home in Topeka, Kansas. We stayed with hookups; played indoor PB, went to church and enjoyed their fellowship.

They say the best is kept to last. We are not sure that is true, but it just might be. Dennis and Jean were fellow pickleball players at Golden Village Palms in Hemet, California. In 2015 Ellen had a hospital visit for full left knee replacement. We did not have a car, so Dennis and Jean offered theirs for the 70 mile trip to the hospital. We became and stayed great friends. We stayed at the their home on Puget Sound in Washington. Today we both spend the winter at Palm Creek Resort.

Well that's it. We are overwhelmed by the hospitality by all these people.

Benjamin Franklin famously said that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. Of the 6,021 days, we have spent 2,032 days staying at homes! And yet, nobody has said we stink!

"What's your address?" Don't tell us unless you mean it.

With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2

Photos from 2006 to 2022