Definition of Home

Late December, 2011

By this time, we had been away from "Home" for about 5 months.  So, upon returning to our house, we had mixed feelings as we had made a nice comfortable home for ourselves in our RV.  We knew where everything was in every cubby, container, drawer, and cabinet.  And, everything had it's place.  So, should we unpack the RV and try to get used to days in the house?  We decided no!  Somewhere along the way between visiting family, enjoying Branson, and the road from here to there, we solidified our plans to become full-time RV'ers.  So, it was off to a local RV park that offered a monthly rate and a meeting set up with a local realtor.  We did not spend another night in the house.  We relaxed over the Christmas holidays and enjoyed our Kids and Grandson.  Then, we got busy selling stuff!

We had already made it through the emotional  sale of the beloved boat.   In fact, that reminds me of a story told to us by a gentleman camping in Cloudcroft, NM.  He said he had sold his house in a garage sale!  So it seems his wife had taken their canoe next door to the neighbor's garage sale to get rid of it.  When she went later in the day to check on it, she met a lady who told her she was looking for a full house of furniture and also looking for a house to buy.  Well, the gentleman told us he was in his favorite recliner just watching football when in comes his wife with this lady.  She said, "Honey, I'm going to show the house".  When all was said and done, she bought the house and several appliances, some furniture, and an extra car they had in the garage.  Turns out the lady had lost everything in a fire, had an insurance check, and a need to move out of temporary housing right quick.  The gentleman and his wife started their full-time RV'ing and never looked back.  The story was so incredible that I almost forget to ask about the canoe - when I did, he said that no, it didn't sell that day but later sold to a friend.  So, I told Larry, "see - it all starts with the sale of the boat!"

To spare you the details, it's safe to say that it did take some work over the course of several weeks to have a big moving sale, give family a few heirlooms we were unable to part with, and throw out the tons and tons of stuff accumulated over 30+ years!  We looked through a lot of photographs and re-lived the raising of our children, the changes in our careers, and the life we had shared in this house...

We came to the conclusion that those memories will always be with us no matter where we are!  So now, our definition of "home" is - a place of refuge and rest.  It doesn't have to be a permanent structure.  And, by making it mobile, our front yard changes!  Sometimes it will have our grandson playing with bubbles in it.  And sometimes, it will have a river or a mountain in it!

Early December, 2011

We have been able to spend quite a bit of time with Larry's Dad and the family. They pulled together an early Christmas since we were in town - which was so sweet! We enjoyed all the nieces, nephews, and the little ones! 

While there, we had the experience of seeing large flocks of migrating Canadian geese flying in and taking a break at the local neighborhood duck pond.  This is the very pond my children fed ducks when they were little tikes with their Mema and Pepa.  Now, there is a whole new generation of children enjoying the duck pond. 

Migrating Canadian Geese on the Neighborhood Pond

Then we had snow! And that was our cue to go!

December 2011 Snow in West Texas

Branson, Missouri - August 1, 2011 - November 29, 2011

Branson Lakeside RV Resort

This, our first workamping adventure, is at a beautiful 168 campsite RV Park along the Taneycomo Lake (really the White River). Recent storms and rising water damage had rendered the office and laundry room unusable. The temporary office was a contractor's trailer of sorts and quite cramped if several people were working at one time. But, oh the fun we had in there!  Besides the managers, there were 13 other workamper couples in the park from all over the US. 

Spending 4 months away is so much easier given the technology available.  We managed to stay in contact with our son, Mac and daughter, Sara as well as the rest of the family by phone. But the saving grace was Skype. Had we not been able to "see" and talk to our grandson, Adler, this would have been so much harder. After all, little ones change so much on a daily basis!  Adler was able to carry the iPad to show us his newly redecorated room from monkeys to spaceships! He was able to show his dinasaurs and other toys.  Once, we even got to see what happens when he gets out of the bathtub and isn't put into a new diaper right away! ha! ha!   We were able to show him a silly stuffed monkey we keep in the RV and even read a story to him, all on Skype!  He got so used to the technology that he even thought we could see a lizard if he held the regular phone over it!

So, our workamper commitment consisted of working minimal hours in the office or outside on a golf cart assisting guests. We made good use of our plentiful off-time enjoying fellow workampers and the area. We had so much fun going to shows with big and small groups of people and there always seemed to be someone to do something with. We shared meals together quite often and had pot-luck meals like the Trash Bag Taco Salad Day and the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken dinner which included line dancing and other silly behavior (better left unpublished) at the covered Pavilion.

Keep in mind, when you're spending several months in an area, you can see and do a lot!  We went to Silver Dollar City, took a lake tour on the Showboat Branson, saw shows and more shows and if I didn't miss one, here they are:   Brule', Shoji Tabuchi, Yakov Smirnoff, Mickey Gilley, Kirby Von Burch Magic, Legends of Kung Fu, Six, Duttons, Haygoods, Presleys, George Dyer, Hughes Brothers, 3 Redneck Tenors, Texas Tenors, Pierce Arrow, Smoke on the Mountain, The Bretts, The Gatlin Brothers, Red Skelton Tribute, Legends Tribute, and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Theatre.

We hiked beautiful trails including one that had over 300 stone steps to the bottom where we peeked into 3 caves!  The main thing we discovered about this hike was that if you go down 300 stone steps, there are 300 stone steps to come back up! 

We rode our bikes a little in the area but boy, those hills!  Springfield, Missouri had neat bike trails that we checked out on foot but we never found the time to drive over and ride them. 

The River

Fishing just outside our door

Branson Landing Water Feature & Concert

We also spent time in Historic Downtown Branson, visited ice cream shops, and cool 5 & 10 shops! We spent time in Bass Pro. And we really enjoyed Branson Landing. It is a very neat shopping venue within walking distance of the RV Park along the river. The Landing had a great hamburger place called Fall Guys! We also enjoyed Texas Land & Cattle on Thursday nights for happy hour with groups of people from the Workamper Crew.  The Landing also had free concerts quite often and the synchronized water fountain was where you could find us several evenings a week. It was so neat! In addition to being a constant water beauty, it had a top-of-the-hour 5 or 10 minute presentation in which it really put on a show. The water shot up so high out of many, many jets. It was set to music and lights and even fire at the end! So cool!

I lucked into the best part time job at the most wonderful Historic Downtown Branson shop called Rosa's Lost Treasure Chest. It was owned by Rosa and her husband, Ken. I also worked with their son, Kevin, who was a former Marine.  His wife, Becky, was a sweetheart and was so nice in helping get me trained. Ken was such a nice man and was a big kidder. Rosa was someone I could really connect with. She had a tremendous business sense and really loved what she was doing. She knew so much about the jewelery (many kinds of turquoise including White Buffalo), pottery, kachina dolls, and Indian art reproductions. Rosa gave me a lead on a book to read called Sidd Hartha.

You might be able to tell that the best part of this travel, workamping gig is meeting wonderful people!  We enjoyed everyone and loved hearing about their walks of life.  There are just too many to mention!  We did make sure we had each other's contact information.  John & Debbie were our hiking, fishing, and dining buddies most of the time and we've remained in constant contact with them since Branson.  We even joined them later for another adventure in Rockport, Texas.  It's amazing how your paths can cross again.  We have also had the pleasure of  Leon & Kathy's company here in the Houston area. 

Of course, nothing is perfect but this first job came close!   Would I go back to Branson? Absolutely!

Here are a few additional random Branson photos:

Entrance to Branson Lakeside RV Resort

Our home

Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area

Hiking trailes at Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area





Traveling Vietnam Wall Memorial

Trout with the heads on!  Thanks, John & Deb!

Beginning of the Big Adventure, July, 2011

Early July, 2011

Visiting Larry's Dad, Family & Friends and loading the RV

There is a lot to do getting ready to take off on a 4 month long workamping adventure!  From Houston, we went out to the West Texas area to visit Larry's father and extended family.  It was so wonderful to catch up with everyone and spend time with family/friends, and all of their children.  We even managed a couples dinner with just the brothers.  Larry's father is 91 and while he's careful not to call me his favorite daughter-in-law, I'm pretty sure he conveys that with a hug!  He has been called a man of few words and these days, he's pretty quiet most of the time.  But, sometimes, you can get him to talk about days past and you wonder if you would have had the strength to live and work the way they did in that time era.  He's a man to be admired as a role model. 

Just catching up

Once back home, we worked to get the RV ready to go - a 27' Jayco 5th wheel with one slide-out.  Packing for an extended stay like this is quite different than packing for a few days or week's vacation!  First, you have the challenge of needing things for different weather conditions and seasons - more clothes and jackets, etc.  Then, the agonizing decision of whether you need that bread machine or both crock pots! 

We even spent our final night at home sleeping in the RV in our driveway!  The real test was whether we would suddenly think of something we needed or couldn't live without.  Much later into the trip we found only two things we wish we had brought - the bathroom scales and the heating pad!  Not bad, right?

We parked the car in the garage, hooked up the truck to the RV, set up a mail service, asked our son to mow the grass when necessary, said goodbye to the neighbors, enjoyed a last dinner and time with our kids and grandson and pulled out onto the highway...

Fun day at the playground

 The Lazy L RV Park, Sherman, Texas - July 20th, 2011 - My Birthday!

We spent the first night at The Lazy L RV Park in Sherman, Texas on our way to our first Workamping Adventure in Branson, Missouri.  We thought it was appropriate to stay at the Lazy L - both of our first names start with "L" and we planned on being a little lazy after 30+ year careers.

Thoughts, emotions, and discussions as we were driving through downtown Houston in the early morning hours, watching the sun rise over the tall buildings, centered around what new days were in store for us.  I couldn't help but feel a little painful stomach-flopping as I thought about deeply missing my kids and grandson, Adler. Adler holds a pretty big spot in our hearts being such a precious little man.

Back and forth went these feelings!  We went from a sense of great freedom to niggling thoughts of "can we really do this or are we crazy?!"  I just kept repeating a saying I felt applied in this situation from a sign outside an upscale living community:  "Every day is completely up to me".  And, when that one got a little over-used, I pulled out my other favorite saying: "Why the hell not?"

So, off to Branson by way of Oklahoma to visit my brother, Fred.

Leaving Houston

July 21, 2011 - July 29, 2011

Fred and Kim's home-site, Oklahoma

We had such wonderful days spent with my brother, Fred and sister-in-law, Kim.  We met and enjoyed Kim's Dad, Ken and his friend, Rosemary.  We woke up with the chickens (literally), ate extremely well, and picked fresh okra and tomatoes from their garden.  We enjoyed seeing the work Ken does in restoring beautiful automobiles and especially enjoyed the lake views and hikes along the water.

We watched the fascinating daily operations of their business - rhinestone pet collars - you will love what you see if you check it out at:  http://www.rhinestonedogcollars.net/ 

We also got a chance to watch the work in progress on  Fred and Kim's new home on the banks of a beautiful lake. Other outings included a visit to a local winery (Gander Way), a nearby casino (lost $$'s and got that out of the way), and visiting a neat antique shop.  We loaded up one morning and took a drive into Arkansas to see our little brother, Joe and we also saw my Nephew, Robert and his boys! They have really grown!

It's amazing how quickly time flies!  Soon, it was time for us to make our way to Branson. 

Q: How did you come up with the Blog Name? A: Well, it's a bit of a story...

My brother, Fred, is a comedian.  Not that he does stand-up or anything - he's just funny!  You know how some people "set-up" a funny comment and you can almost see it coming?  Well, most of the time with my brother, it's accidental.  For instance, the name of our Blog comes from a funny comment he made.  We were discussing the process of having a giant moving sale of all our belongings, listing the house, finding homes for family heirlooms, and in general preparing to become full-time RV'ers.  Living and traveling in an RV across the great USA had been a dream of ours for many years.  So, when my Brother said "Boy, you guys are really out there!" I couldn't help doubling over with laughter!  It sounded like he thought we had totally lost our marbles or had taken a quick-track into the Twilight Zone!  Of course, he said he didn't mean it like that but, well... I guess you had to be there!