Tag: work/ life balance

Posted on

RV Life – Month 5

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

This is our first holiday in Ruff Road.  It was almost one year ago that this dream began.  My Facebook timehop popped up with One Year Ago today…my friend and I were taking pictures of RVs at a local dealership.  This time last year, we had no idea we would be “looking at freedom” everyday.  So here are our tweaks, tips, and trials at Month 5, as well as some general observations.

General Observations:

  • It’s cold even in Florida, but Ruff Road has stayed warm and cozy.  Temps were chilly, but not freezing.  Stay tuned for Month 6 reflection to see how we’ll do in much chillier weather.  However, so far so good.
  • When you retire, you don’t have to be the one to cook and host.  We enjoyed going up to the big house and eating our Thanksgiving feast with my daughter and her family.
  • This leads me to another observation.  We love being with family.  What a difference it makes when the cloud of a stressful job is not hanging over your head and you can enjoy your family mornings, middays or afternoons.  This is something that was difficult for us to find time to do in our past life.  We know not everyone reading this is retired.  We were there.  My advice that I tried to follow while I was working was to work towards a work/ home balance.  It was an ongoing goal.  Sometimes I was really good at it and sometimes work just took over.  However, as long as you set it as a goal, your chance of success are higher than if you don’t.

    • Christmas with the family in St. Augustine, Florida
  • One more observation, a retirement bonus that I noticed.  Christmas shopping and events were so freeing because I didn’t have the work load I did in past years.  My budget was smaller-retirement budget-but we all still had a great Christmas and I loved looking at freedom this time of year.

Tips:

  • Make a plan to balance work and home.  Hang in there and know that the day will come when you can look at freedom everyday.
  • Need space?  Rethink it.  Even though we feel like we have ample room here, the use of space needed to be improved.  I was using the table for an office but that meant it was always cluttered with the computer and papers.  We were also busy digitizing home videos (part of our downsizing process) and the video and second computer were always on our limited counter space along with copied and to copy VHS tapes.  Clutter, everywhere!  We also observed that the passenger chair, when turned around toward the living room served mostly as a catch all as you came through the door- ugh, more clutter.  What was our solution?  We have a very roomy cab area.  There is a small table next to the passenger chair and the dashboard area is quite large.  I already had office supplies and photography equipment stored there, so…naturally this became our office.  We left the passenger chair turned forward and the space is quite roomy to work in.  We were also able to gain some room by moving one of the dog crates to right behind the passenger chair giving a more closed off look to the space.  We like it.  Expect that tweaking space and rearranging will be the norm when you begin RV living.
  • Protect your RV floors.  We made a huge mistake when we moved in.  We were leaving behind ceramic tile floors that seemed to be indestructible no matter what you pushed across them.  Ruff Road has laminate tiles.  We now know, they will scratch easily.  When we moved in we took baskets, boxes, and crates of belongings to Ruff Road and, like an assembly line, shoved them in the door and pushed them inside to add more.  All of this pushing of weighted items put fine scratches all over our floors.  You can’t really tell unless you are on the floor so that’s the good news.  Then I wondered, were they there all along?  No, I think we did it.  To further protect our floors, we stopped sliding things on them.  The dog crates rest on rugs.  In addition, we put felt on the bottom of our ottoman and free standing chair.  Lesson learned.

Tips relating to dogs:

  • Keep nails trimmed.  We should know this but we let it slip.  Our girls’ nails grow long and sharp if not trimmed.  We wish we were part of the group of folks who know how to do this, but we aren’t- yet.  Our dogs’ nail trimmings require a trip to the vet after a calming pill.  They are overdue and our dash paid the price.  We now have one little pinhole from an excited Terra who jumped up before she could be stopped.
  • Set boundaries for pets.  This should go without saying but…sometimes this doesn’t happen.  Our girls are allowed in the driver and passenger chairs, the ottoman, or the floor.  They are not allowed on the couch or the bed.  They also know to “stay” when we are coming and going through the door.  Consistency is the key.  Make sure both pet parents are on the same page.  If one allows a rule to be broken, pets become confused and, like children, will push their limits.
  • Use Velcro to keep covers on furniture.  When we purchased our RV, the coach seats were already starting to flake.  We keep them covered with blankets and that works well.  Our ottoman is looking a little worn as well so it is covered with a quilted piece of fabric.  I used Velcro to attach the fabric to the ottoman.  I plan to use Velcro to help keep blankets on the coach chairs.  I’ll let you know how that works out.  Until then, we will just rearrange them after the pups mess them up.

What are some trials we’ve had this month?

  • Our onboard water tank filled up twice this month.  The first time water was actually leaking out of the fill tank area.  We thought we had the switch flipped over to city water, but it still happened twice.  After draining the tank twice and rechecking, we haven’t had anymore issues.  Maybe it wasn’t all the way over.  It’s still a mystery.
  • This is tragic!  We purchased a Powilling Dehumidifier from Amazon to take care of excess moisture in the air.  It rode on the built in side table next to the couch.  We had no problem in all of our travels.  However, on one fateful day, as we turned into our driveway, it took a tumble and fell to the floor never to work again.  We recommend this unit.  It has worked great for us.

We are just days away from our first full time RV Christmas.  The tree is up.  The lights are hung.  We are warm and cozy and happy.  Peace to everyone.

 

Posted on

RV Life- Month 3

We took a trip!

Ok, well we spent the night at Silver Springs State Park with the grandgirls.  It wasn’t far to travel.  Can you believe their 50 amp service didn’t work and we had to use 30 amp?  Oh well.  We are used to it.  We stayed at Site #38.  It is a very large, private site.  We did this spur of the moment and got a site as a walk in.  This park usually stays booked up.  Sundays and Mondays are good days to find a site the ranger said.  All of the sites here are large and somewhat private.  You can see your fellow campers but the size of the sites adds to the privacy.  You are guaranteed to see deer here either on the winding drive to the campground or on one of the many trails here.  You can even walk to the Silver River which flows out of Silver Springs.  Silver Springs has been the site of many movies including Tarzan.  There are monkeys in the area around Silver Springs.  They are cute to watch but don’t engage them.  You can hike from the camping area to the main area of Silver Springs State Park.  The attraction is now run by the state so it only costs $2.00 to visit per person.  It is a beautiful, scenic park along the springs and river.  You can launch your kayak from the kayak launch which costs $4.00 per vessel.  Camping costs $24.00 per night, plus tax, plus $6.70 reservation fee.  The park also has cabins you can rent and a Florida museum you can visit for $2.00 per person.  Here is a link to learn more:  https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Silver-Springs

Tip:  Organization-

I mentioned this before but it’s so important.  Have a routine.  It’s ok to change it but if you have a plan, things won’t fall through the cracks.  For example, we officially made Monday our dump day instead of waiting until we are praying to get to dump in time.  Monday is also our laundry day.

We can’t get the RV out of the yard!

Our Monday dump day works great unless work is being done on your road.  A sewage line was being installed in our neighbor’s yard and our long driveway had piles of dirt and deep ditches.  It was an adventure trying to get out.  Some days, we couldn’t get out at all.  The longest we went between dumps was ten days.  We were wringing our hands that week.

Welcome to Ruff Road RV Life.

Ruff Road RV Life was truly born this month.  We had been planning and talking but downsizing consumed our time.  This month we began filming for our You Tube channel and began developing this site.

RV Upgrades this month- Recommendations

Remember my backpacking gear problem?  We installed heavy duty command hooks for my backpack, the pups’ backpack and my jackets.  I need a lot of them because I am always freezing.  We added command hooks by the door to hang our shoes.  Finally, we added his and her command hooks to the bathroom door because the one that was there just wasn’t enough.  We finally purchased a much needed new computer this month.  It is my first Asus and so far I love it.  We have an on board vacuum cleaner but I used the Rug Rat attachment this time and I recommend it to anyone who has dogs that shed.

Missed my October Hike

My goal was to knock off another section of the Appalachian Trail in October.  It didn’t happen, there were just too many obligations and we could not get away.  I was sad this didn’t happen.  The mountains are so beautiful in October.  I’ll see them again though.  In fact, I will be completing the AT in 2018 heading out mid April.  I am so excited to hike again.  I do love the mountains!

Phoebe Update

Our girl is still not well.  She is on antibiotics three times a day and has to take an appetite enhancer to eat.  She seems better but is still sick.  We are realizing that she most likely has a nose tumor.  According to our vet, she has all of the symptoms and there is nothing that can be done.  She is happy and comfortable.  We will love our Phoebe girl until she joins our Pixie.  Pixie left us quite suddenly last October.  Pixie was a little, white, long haired terrier and only seven when she passed.  I love dogs so much.  I hate their limited lifespans.

Reflection -We are still not bored!

Well it has been three months and we are never bored.  It is amazing how busy you stay when you are retired.  I am the type of person who always needs to be doing something but I am finding it hard to find time for my recreational activities!  Yes, we are still dealing with “stuff” which now means more EBAY and some Marketplace time.  It does take time to clean items up, take pictures, and post.  Still, it’s fun to see these things go to a new home and to be used again.

At this point, we have settled in to our new RV life.  My favorite time of the day is in the morning.  We sit in our cozy  Ruff Road or even outside and sip our morning coffee.  I didn’t even know this was in my future this time last year.  We hadn’t even made our final retirement plans.  Anything can happen.  Believe it.  Blessings.

Silver Springs State Park Site 38
Mak and Phoebe
Ruff Road Silver Springs State Park

 

Posted on

Hello all who wander…or want to! The beginning…

 

Have you ever wondered what’s around the bend, over the mountain, through the trees?  We did so we set off on a retirement adventure in our RV, Ruff Road, and our three dogs.  This has been a journey already and we want to share our journey with you, just in case you ever wandered what’s around the bend, over the mountain, and through the trees…

Retirement…

This all started as we were nearing retirement age.  Gary had recently retired and retirement was in sight for me.  Like so many others, we had worked long hours in demanding jobs for years while raising our children, being there for others when needed as much as our jobs would allow, and helping my mom and Gary’s aunt as they aged.  Like so many others, we had a large house and yard to maintain and of course, our animals- We’ve always had dogs, but sometimes we had fish, cats, and even chickens.  I am the wanderer and Gary is the fisherman so we had to squeeze in these recreational preferences as best we could over the years.  I’m overwhelmed just thinking about how busy our lives were for  so many years.  Also, we had several passings within our family and with each loss came the realization that life is precious and we should make the most it.   Gary was able to retire early in 2016.   I wanted to join him.  But what could we do?  I wasn’t quite retirement age yet. Fortunately, we had financially planned for retirement and with some number crunching and MUCH discussion, I decided to take the plunge.  My wish is that we had been more frugal and started REALLY planning much earlier.  Life happens.  Word to the wise:  Start now to plan for your future.

Tiny House Living, RV Living, Travel?

I knew I wanted to retire but we had no set plans on what we would do once we retired.  Our original retirement plans were all over the place:  stay in our house of 34+ years, buy property and build, buy a house in the mountains or on the river…But, what about what’s around the bend, over the mountain, through the trees?  Would we be happy looking at the same view for the …rest …of …our …lives?  In all of my researching for houses, cabins, property, I stumbled across tiny house living and that appealed to me.  I watched video after video of living in tiny houses or even on a houseboat.  The truth is, we had a large house and only really lived in a fraction of it.  Living in a smaller space was a doable possibility.  That still left the problem of where and how.  Then, in all of YOU TUBE’S wisdom, videos started popping up about RV living.  Hmmm…I was interested.  I wanted to learn more.  Could we afford it?  What were the pros and the cons?  Would Gary like this idea?  I listened to more RV living videos.  I shared the videos with Gary.  He liked it!  We both loved this idea of living and traveling in our own RV.  So the decision was made in December 2016 to just start looking for our RV.

Shopping for an RV…

We could just start looking, right?  We knew I had 6 months, one year, or heaven forbid, four years before I retired- no set retirement decisions had been made at this time.  So I set my preferences in my RV Trader App:   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DWS.rvtrader&hl=en

Gary and I started visiting RV dealerships in our area.  We educated ourselves on the different types of RVs and the pros and cons of each.  I really wanted a Class C RV which is the box type RV built on a truck chassis with an overhang over the cab, like a UHaul.  Then we fell in love with Fifth Wheels.  Fifth Wheels connect to a receiver in the back of a truck and are more roomy and maneuverable than a travel trailer.  Some even have kitchen islands and ceiling fans.  Class Bs, extended vans, raised roof vans, conversion vans, were just too small for the two of us and three dogs.  Class As, motor homes that are larger, rectangular units were ruled out thinking they were too expensive to even consider.  The more we looked, the more confused we became.  Each class of RV had something to love and something that we didn’t like.  Within a class we found the same like this but not that situation.  But it’s ok.  After all, we were just looking, doing our research- no hurry.

Then, one day during our looking blitz, we headed to see RVs at Tampa RV after talking to the owners at an RV show.  They were great people but we never made it to their lot.  On the way, we stopped off at Lazy Days in Tampa.  I’m pretty sure I heard an angel choir.  Gary says the same.  I had that feeling that “this is it!”.  How could that be?  After all, we were just looking.  We met with our salesman, Anthony, who created a list of units to view based on our criteria- cost, preferences, fuel type…  Now most RV lots will take you around in a golf cart but here you had to have a golf cart because the site is over one hundred acres!  The inventory was huge.  It is a great place to just look.

I love how we found Ruff Road!  We had just looked at a unit that we liked a lot, but I wouldn’t say loved.  Anthony had to move the cart further away to make room for other golf carts.  This caused us to have to walk past several RVs that were not on our list.  As we were walking, we both stopped at the same time.  One RV caught our eye.  The price was over our budget, but we asked to view it anyway.  We heard the angel choir the second time that day.  THIS unit had everything on our list.  We were able to negotiate a price that was more in our ballpark and that day we put a down payment on our Class A Fleetwood Excursion, Ruff Road.  There is no harm in looking, but beware of just looking.  You just might find the one that calls your name.  And so it began…

We were just walking to the golf cart…