My Next Big Thing!

Lunch spot at Backcountry Campsite #37 along Big Creek Trail - GSMNP

April 6, 2013

No apologies for my long absence from BlogWorld.   It's only been two weeks.  And all I've been doing is living life to the max.  Seems I'm on the go non-stop and there just simply hasn't been time for sitting still to write.  I even have to confess that I've done less reading of YOUR blogs lately, but that doesn't mean I have disappeared nor does it really mean anything at all.  I do admit that it makes me feel good to get an email just asking if all is well.  It's nice to be missed.  

A different version of "tagging" got started in some remote corner of BlogWorld that had escaped my notice until my friend Cammy at Tippy Toe Diet got enthusiastically involved suckered in.  Seems the premise of the tag wasn't really all that difficult.  Just simply write about your "next big thing."  Cammy wrote a great post here and passed the torch to my friend, Lynn at Lynn's Weigh.  Lynn wrote about her "next big thing" here and then ever so graciously (thanks to a senior moment comment I left on Cammy's post) tagged me.  

It turns out that I (we, since Bill would be heavily involved in this "next big thing") do have something big in the works.  This something has been a "next big thing" for us off and on for many years, but it seems we've reached the point where you either make a decision and do it or leave the idea behind for good.  

So without further ado, my NEXT BIG THING is to purchase one of these..........

 

When I was a little girl (my mother will back me up on this), I was forever telling people that when I grew up, I was going to buy an RV and travel around the perimeter of the United States.  Believe me, RV's back then were not like they are today, but nonetheless, I was adamant that someday, I'd do this.  The travel bug never left me and I've been fortunate to experience many different methods of seeing this wonderful world in which we live, but I've never experienced slow travel in an RV.  

The idea resurfaced with a vengeance shortly after I retired and we began discussing it seriously several years ago.  But by then, we'd established our routine of traveling during Bill's summer/Christmas/fall/spring breaks and we liked renting cabins/cottages/houses along the way.  This concept was relatively new and websites such as VRBO.com and Homeaway.com were just gaining popularity.  Thanks to a tip from the owner of the home I rented during my last work contract before I retired, we were using these websites to plan trips long before the general public had ever heard of them.  It was simple, homeowners trusted those who rented from them and business was done with basically a gentlemen's agreement.  We've NEVER and I repeat, NEVER had a bad experience.  I enjoyed the process of finding just the right place to rent, negotiating with the owner, and then experiencing the fun of having a home of our own while discovering a new part of the US.  It's been a win-win situation for years and the RV idea kept being shoved into the background.  We'd always convince ourselves that our current way of doing things was much easier.  We go, we rent, we enjoy, we walk away, it's done.

Sadly, as it seems happens often in today's self-centered, me-first at all costs, world, the popularity of renting directly from homeowners has been discovered and the irresponsibility of some renters has made the process much more tedious for all of us.  I noted differences last year and this year's process has me pulling my hair out.  The price of rentals has skyrocketed, contracts have become ridiculously lengthy with unbelievable lists of rules, huge security deposits are being demanded, payment processes are becoming more tedious, and the list goes on and on.  This isn't so much of a big deal when securing one place.  But when you are trying to coordinate six or seven rentals over an eight week period......well, you get the picture.  

So, the RV idea is back and this time, we are determined to either follow through or forget about it FOREVER!!  Owning an RV is a huge responsibility and not necessarily in line with our family motto of keeping things simple.  It's one more thing to OWN at a time we are trying to OWN less and less THINGS.  It's also something to insure and maintain.  And RV travel isn't painless.  We have lots of people in our life who own RV's of all shapes and sizes who have used them for every purpose from family vacations to living in them full-time.  

We know what we'd be getting into, but we also see the freedom involved in ALWAYS knowing you have a place to sleep, a refrigerator and a bathroom!  We also see the simplicity in being able to just go without all the hoopla and hours of advance planning it takes to get ourselves ready now.  We are much less interested in large metropolitan areas and much more interested in easy access to trails in the National Parks. 

Heck, I'm still quietly using this blog to work on my childhood dream of having a friend in every state.  My RV may be the tool that gets you off the page and into my real life!  I'd like nothing better.

So there you have it.....my NEXT BIG THING!   We've set the goal of either purchasing by the end of 2013 or discarding the idea forever.  (Maybe if I say that enough times, it'll actually happen!  LOL!) Going back and forth has taken too much of our time and energy.  We have an idea of what we are looking for and I'd love input from any of you who own or have owned an RV.  What did you like?  Hate?  If you no longer have it, why not?  

Finally, it is my job to pass this along to someone else and my sweet friend, Debby at Debby Weighs In  has something up her sleeve that I can't wait to hear about.  It's been exactly one year since Debby (who lives in northern California) came to visit me here in Tennessee.  As expected, we hit it off and it was as if we'd known each other all our lives.  I can't wait to head out to California to see her neck of the woods.   Hmm....wonder if she's got room in her driveway for an RV???

What "next big thing" is happening in your life?