On the first of this month, Deb and I celebrated our one-year anniversary of being full-time RVers. In looking back on how many places we have been and all the wonderful things we have experienced (see previous posts), it's amazing how fast the time passed. It seems like it was just yesterday that we departed Hollywood, FL with no previous experience in this lifestyle and no set goals except to enjoy whatever the journey brought our way. So far, the journey has been nothing short of incredible.
During our extended stay in Taylors, SC over the past Winter, we began referring to our first year on the road as the East Coast Tour 2009. We slowly made our way North from S. Florida until our stop in the Boston, MA area in late September. From there we headed West into Indiana and then back South until our current stay here in White Springs, FL. Overall, we travelled through fifteen states and stayed at fifteen different places in less than ten months. As I've shared in the previous posts, the things we have seen and the people we met brought us unexpected blessings beyond compare. If someone were to ask me how I would describe the past 365 days, there's only one phrase that comes to mind - "Wow, what an awesome ride!"
Along the way we have also learned many things about the full-time RV lifestyle and about each other. We now see we were naive when we first set out about travel times, cooking in a smaller kitchen and not thoroughly researching the truths about some of the places we stayed. We have learned that less really can mean more and have always kept to the advise we were given of taking something out if something new comes into our house-on-wheels. We have adapted to constantly being around each other in a small space and have learned it really is true in this lifestyle that you can't just simply love each other, you really have to like each other.
Perhaps the most important thing we learned is to slow down. We kept up a very hectic pace for most of last year in order to spend time with our children, my grandson, my parents and be as far South as possible before cold weather arrived. During some of that time, the pace wore us out and took away opportunities to really get to better know the places and local people where we stayed. Although our time in Taylors was longer than anticipated due to my mother's heart problems, it provided a blessing in keeping us in one place long enough to realize that we don't have to go everywhere and see everything as soon as possible. We have the rest of our lives to continue this journey, so why push the pace and miss out on so much along the way?
In keeping with the spirit of slowing down, we have decided to call this next stage in our journey the Year Of Doing Nothing 2010. Of course, we will be doing the basic, daily routines that are required, but have decided to make no definite plans on travel until we feel like moving on. We'll go where we want, only when we want and do nothing about living by definitive routes or timetables. If we find a really nice place like Kelly's RV Park here in White Springs, we'll stay to enjoy the area and people until we both agree we're ready for a change. This slower pace may not be suitable to other full-time Rvers, but for right now it's working for us.
The only sure thing I do know is that I can't wait to see what this next year brings our way!
copyright 2009-2010 Lane A Geyer
photos by Deb
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