There's one thing I especially hate about fulltime life: LAUNDROMATS!!!!!! How many dirty disgusting laundromats have you been in? Why isn't there a website dedicated to nice shiny new laundromats? Even my Garmin Nuvi lacks a category titled: laundromats. It's AWFUL to pick one out of the phonebook and find oneself in a BAD PART OF TOWN. And I ain't talking about Leroy Brown. These guys will send shivers down your spine and make you hold one to your cellphone with "911" on the quick dial.

And there's the horrible thoughts that go through my head as I throw my clothes into the dryer: is it possible to get lice from this? What about those high levels of E-coli in wet laundry? I use bleach but I'm worried about the other guy! And did the establishment even bother to clean out the lint traps because it SURE IS TAKING A LONG TIME for my clothes to dry!!!!!! Oh how I hate laundry day!

Maybe I should invest in a wardrobe of quick-dry synthetic fibers and break down and build one of those stupid plastic pipe laundry racks on the back of my rig. Or better yet maybe I won't even do laundry. I'll just become another crusty, stinking curmudgeon!

IT'S EASIER TO WRITE ABOUT PET PEEVES so here goes: Why is it some Rvers feel a need to decorate their campsite with outdoor statues,plants, flags, patio furniture and all those other accoutrements that distract fellow campers from their natural surrounding? Some campgrounds take on a "Barnum Bailey" atmosphere. If this is the kind of home you want (And yes, I know that some people will say but this IS my home!) My reply is this: Maybe you should have stayed in a real house. This is the kind of thing I'm trying to escape by being an rv'er. I would much prefer to gaze upon the natural beauty of our world than have it cluttered with a bunch of cheap manmade crap!
(artwork by Jamie Treadwell at the Opera Gallery NY)

SORRY FOLKS BUT THIS CAMPGROUND AIN'T A TRUCK STOP!!!

Don't get me wrong - I don't have a problem with big rigs but COME ON! Doesn't there come a time when you draw a line in the sand? This rig has been parked here for a week and looks nothing short of an 18 wheel tractor/trailer. What's up with this? In the same vein what about those fivers that are being towed by what looks like the front half of a semi. Are these wannabe truckers or maybe they are truckers. What's next? Is somebody gonna zoom down from the skies and park a space shuttle in here? I mean we are talking EXTREMES here. Wouldn't these folks be more at home camping at a FlyingJ? Let's get real.

THE BLUE BOY BLUES

Have you ever been hanging out in your campsite and seen some guy driving slowly by dragging one of those blue boys behind? Then here they come a 2nd time and then a 3rd time and then a 4th time! My God! Wouldn't it be easier and little bit less messy to just hitch up and drive down to the dump station? I mean really folks! I've seen some of these guys drive by 4 or 5 times in an afternoon. I couldn't help worrying that the durned thing would come unhitched and cause a toxic spill near my campsite. I guess some of those guys revert back to that age when you like to play with the stuff! DON'T THEY HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO! Makes me think of a certain song by the Doobie brothers!

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT HANK?

(Here's to hoping you're not lonely this Thanksgiving weekend)

Hank Williams Jr.
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry lyrics

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill,
He sounds too blue to fly.
The midnight train is whining low,
I'm so lonesome I could cry.
I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by.
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry.

Did you ever see a robin weep,
When leaves began to die?
That means he's lost the will to live,
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky.
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

HOLIDAYS ARE TOUGH FOR THE FULLTIME RV' ER. Especially Thanksgiving. I know we have lots to be thankful about.... but when I think of those childhood holidays when the kitchen was warm and rich with the aromas of turkey and apple pie cooking and the tv was on with parades and gradually family and friends would drift in and hang out...Well, that is a harsh contrast to life in an RV parked in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness Safeway offers up precooked turkey breast and Idahoan potatoes just require 2 cups of boiling water. Guess life is little simpler now.

RV ENERGY

What are the options for rv energy? It appears there is a spectrum in terms of powering one's rv. On the one hand is the solar option: quiet and environmentally friendly. In the middle of the spectrum there might be a relatively quiet Honda generator. At the other end are the construction site type generators that tend toward being exteremly noisy and obnoxious. Currently we have a Honda generator but we feel sheepish when firing it up and we try to be as unobtrusive as we can. We are looking into the solar option because that fits with our sensibilities. Of course if you are not boondocking the other option is plugging into the electrical outlet. There are various world views and life situations that determine these choices but I can't help but think that using a generator that is meant to power a construction site isn't a neighborly machine to use in close proximity to other campers. What are these people thinking?

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY........

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.mp3

As I try to figure out where this blog is headed this song came into my head. There's some good, there's some bad and then there's the "uglies" .

First the good: The freedom of the road! I can just about stay anywhere for as long or as short as I want. If I find a place interesting that I want to explore I can hang around. If I don't like it I can just leave. I didn't really have this freedom when I first took a job. After a brief look around and then a big move to settle in if I found I didn't like it after a few months it would have been tough to move. But that was back in those days. Now I can just pick up and leave with about 30 minutes work.

The Bad: I like to boondock but sometimes it's not easy. It may be that I just don't know the area well enough or some other factor. In those cases I usually settle into a campground on public lands. Ever had a big family with dogs, innumerable kids and noise machines descend upon the campsite next to you? They seemed to think that a campfire consisted of burning plastic and garbage? OK, I think you get my point.

And then there are the Uglies: We are in a no man's land. What is the definition of domicile? Why are we ranked with homeless and vagrants and met with such suspicion? What happened to the sentiment attached to getting your kicks on route 66? Public lands are shrinking. Individual rights are diminishing. More regulations, more fees, and more scars upon the land.

Well there it is for now at least. I tip my hat to my fellow travelers. Itinerants, vagabonds, and peripatetic souls: ROVE ON!

A happy thought about the fulltime life. OK. I think I've vented enough about my personal grievances with fulltime rv'ers. Now let me tell you what I enjoy. Exploring new places. Returning to familiar places. The ability to hitch up and leave if someone annoys me (oops I think I mentioned that in one of my griping posts!) Enjoying my favorite restaurants in a dozen different cities in the span of a year. Hiking my favorite trails all over the western US and finding new ones every year. Meeting up with old friends and making new ones. Having as my backyard some to the most beautiful territory in this country. Unexpected adventures. Whew! Now I guess I will have to write more specifically about all of the above to be credible. Sounds like a big job but I think I am up to it :)

You may think this blog is about rants and raves -maybe it is - I haven't decided yet. Sorry about that. Now having said that I have a few more things to vent before I move on.. Today's question is "What is a fulltimer?". There are snowbirdswho live up north during the balmy summer months and then migrate to rv parks down south. Are they fulltime rv'ers? I think not! What about those people that live in "rv resorts" that have such ammenties such as large garages and lots with full hookups. Just because they live in a motorhome on their lot does that mean they are fulltimers? I think not! To me a Fulltimer is someone who is moving around, traveling and exploring. So question those that say, "yes, I'm a fulltimer."

CAMP HOSTS (OR SHOULD THEY BE CALLED CAMP PESTS?)

More often than not my encounters with camp pests have been negative. Usually these are people starved for attention, people that have never had a sense of power in their previous life. Give an insecure man a golf cart and a set of rules and watch him go! Beware fellow campers! God forbid if you haven't filled out the form correctly or parked your rig accordingly. If you have been to a national park you will experience the absolute worst breed of camp pest: this one is backed up by the US Federal Government. They may even sport an official hat or badge or button! These people are willing to act as slaves (oops, I meant volunteers!). They will do anything for a free campsite. Clean the outhouses? No problem! (Although many neglect this duty). Ever heard of the The Equal Pay Act? It requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. But if you are volunteer - forget about it!

A SPECIAL BREED OF BOONDOCKERS:

We did this just once and I will add, JUST ONCE! This is just plain stupid. What on earth would posess a human being to stay in a Walmart parking lot? How low can you stoop folks? This is just one step up from staying at a truck stop wedged in between the real big rigs idling their engines all night long. If you are that desperate for a free campsite why don't you just head to the nearest homeless shelter?

Sometimes the "rogue life" is a lonely life.

We don't like rv parks with full hookups where the big rigs are parked side by side in a big parking lot. We don't particularly like "community activities". We have eschewed a lot of material things. We are on the road in a very small rv and sometimes we feel dwarfed by the big rigs. Maybe that's why we prefer boondocking in lonely places. I'm sure there are many like us but we haven't met them yet. We're younger than most fulltimers that we see. Where do we fit in? Are we misfits? We're not particularily anti-social but we haven't found others like us with whom we've established a camraderie. Perhaps we will find this in time.

First A Definition

Rogue Traveler

In modern English usage, the term "rogue" may be used to describe an independently-minded person; one who rejects conventional rules of conduct in favor of following personal values.

Thanks to RV-Boondocker-Explorer we enjoyed reading a new and very interesting blog:
vagabondjourney.com .

I am copying a quote from his entry yesterday because it hit home for us. Here it is:

"To be free, you had to be alone, always, everywhere, and above all amongst people. . . Wandering and alone in a world in which he could always stay unknown, Orschanow was really free. He thought and acted as he wanted to, and no one could pretend to control his thoughts, since all he needed to do was to leave, at the first clash of views, and set off on the road again."
-from Isabelle Eberhardt's Vagabond

This is a book we want to read. We understand the need to be alone. The open road has obstacles (tiresome people who drain your energy) but is this so different from sedentary life? YES! The difference lies in that when on the road these obstacles are passed by and left behind.

We met some Escapees. And by that (if you are a fulltimer) you know what I mean. We THOUGHT they were our friends. But when it turned out their views were different from ours there was some unyielding confrontation. We don't like Rush Limbaugh... we're not far right wing, and we don't consider ourselves to be so damn special and immune from today's problems just because we reside in an Escapee RV park. Paying $100,000 for a gravel lot in the middle of a desert doesn't make much sense to us but I guess it is their Never Never Land. The only thing missing was "Peter Pan". There was a lot of sand out there. It seemed like they had buried their heads in it.