SORRY ABOUT SATURDAY’S POST

Have you ever written a post you regretted.  I wrote one Saturday night expressing some feelings related to RVing that I should just have left alone.  I had a feeling after I wrote it that I had let myself become way too personal & opinionated with my thoughts.   That post kept waking me up most of the night.   I wrote about a subject I have very little understanding about & that was a mistake on my part.  This morning I finally deleted the whole thing.   I now have some re-evaluating to do & some blogging decisions to make…… A.

SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS ON THE RV LIFESTYLE AND..... PLANNING AHEAD

ALL OF TONIGHT'S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN LATE THIS AFTERNOON DOWN AROUND THE BAYFIELD HARBOR

One of the very first signs of Spring in snow country are the sounds of dripping water.  Unless you are a winter person this is truly music to the ears.  Whoever thought a drip could make somebody’s day.  So, it was with the sounds of dripping water that I focused on today & shoveled more snow away from the driver’s side of the Moto Home in an attempt to access the driver’s side bins.

There was some discussion & comments in Blogland about a month ago in regards to some RVing folks thinking about buying property.  And, that would include us as well.  I had thoughts about all that at the time & wrote a post about it.  We were on the move as I recall so I put that post on the shelf for ‘later.’  Well, it is now 'later' so time to dust off that post.  It does tie in a bit with my Thursday post.

 

  

THAT BROWN MOUND ON TOP OF THE PIER IS WAVE FORMED ICE WITH A TOPPING OF SAND

Another RV couple wrote a post with some thoughts about buying property in the Southwest & as I recall, some of the feedback had a negative tone to it.  It seems some individuals just don’t get it & that is perfectly normal.  I don’t get a lot of stuff either.  I don’t understand what the big deal is about texting, tweeting or Justin Bieber so that’s where I am coming from. 

THAT IS A LAKE HURON CROCODILE REARING UP OUT OF THE WATER ON THE RIGHT

There are folks out there who do not understand the RV Lifestyle, period!!  Most are safe & secure in their own way of life at home & are happy with life just the way it is.  I understand that & have gone through those phases & stages of life as well.

 AWWW NUTS, I JUST DROPPED THE WORMS!!!!
Neither Kelly or I ever want to spend another winter in Canada. (yes, I know I have said that a hundred times) We have seen the advantages of an alternate winter lifestyle in the Southwest & there is no voluntarily going back to the winter lifestyle we have been a part of for over 60 years. 

SAILBOAT MASTS AWAIT THEIR SUMMER SAILBOATS

  

 

  

FISHING BOATS AWAIT ANOTHER DAY ON THE LAKE 

We try to be forward thinking people & with the way things are going in the world & prices on most things steadily rising we can’t just stick our heads in the sand & pretend that everything is joyous & lovely when in reality it is not.

Nope, nothing to do with being negative but everything to do with being realistic.
Just like our dogs & Motor Home, we are aging.  Changes are occurring within us that are going to affect future plans & decisions.   We are trying to realistically set things in place for the coming years.  Have you noticed there are very few posts from RV’ers talking about their future plans when the RV lifestyle finally comes to an end.  It seems few people want to face the fact that at some point this RV life will be over for each & every one of us.  No if’s & but’s about it.  No exceptions!!

WINTER'S ICE IS BREAKING UP 

There are many reasons RV folks are forced to hang up their keys.  For Canadians it may be the high cost of personal health insurance that has to be purchased each winter just to cross the border to come south.  Many cannot even get insurance anymore.  Could be the loss of a driver’s license.  A serious health diagnosis has brought an abrupt end to many an RV’ers travels.  Financial strains is another one.  Care giving can take priority or an expensive repair to an RV can be enough to deter others.  There are many, many reasons. 

One of our ideas is to at least have some kind of small dwelling somewhere in the southwest that we could at least call home & where we could get to for the winter without expensive fuel costs or Motor Home repairs etc.  Our rig won’t last forever & nor will we but I figure it is far healthier during the cold damp winter months to be in a warmer climate where life can still be enjoyed outside on a daily basis.  I am writing this from first hand experience.  Had I never experienced the difference between cold winters & warm winters then what I am writing here would have little practical validity.  But, having spent the last 5 years living an alternative lifestyle for 5 or 6 months of the year I can speak with some kind of authority. 

FAMILY OUTING ON THE BEACH

If cold winter weather & all the hazards that come with it are your cup of tea then more power to you.  And, for you folks who have never had an interest or spent any amount of time down south in the winter I can only say this….you don’t know what you are missing & I would suggest if you are totally comfortable in your winter lifestyle, do not come south because it just might mess up your head real bad.  You could come down with something called ‘Hitch Itch’ which so many of us RV’ers already have to varying degrees.  And no, it is not a physical type medical condition but it certainly is a head condition.
 

A piece of property in the southwest with a small house is totally practical to me.  If we couldn’t drive our RV anymore we could at least come down in a more fuel efficient car.  No car?  Then, maybe we would have the option to fly down & spend the winter at our southern place.  A boat, a train, a plane, anything!!  I know former RV’ers who are quite happy doing this now.  Have I mentioned before about being ‘stranded’ in Canadian winters!!!!
  

 

Because I am Canadian this is where the fly in the ointment lurks for our future plans but I will be darned if I am going to just roll over & give up on trying to figure out a way we can do this.  And, like I said before, to think this current wondrous RV lifestyle will go on forever is total folly.

 
Another option open to us is the possibility of going full time on the road & this was the option I was really pulling for a couple years ago.  But, it too is not without it’s problems & definitely harder to pull off for Canadians.   That option is not off the table for us & may very well come back into play at some point.  Also want to add something else before I forget.  When I talk about harsh winters I am not talking about the southwestern parts of Canada’s British Columbia or Vancouver Island.  Winters are far more tolerable there with a totally different climate than the rest of Canada so for sure it is harder for those folks in that part of Canada to understand what I am writing about here.  Trust me on this one because I lived in southern BC for a few years in the early 70’s & the winters out there are no where near what they can be like here in Ontario.  Let the southern BC folks spend a winter or two in any other Province or northern State & I think the understanding of this post would quickly become crystal clear.

Another reason for a home base in the southwest is also something I blogged about a few months ago.  Right now we have to travel over 2,000 miles just to get to the southwest before we can even begin to enjoy the land that we love so much.  The cost of that gets more prohibitive with each passing year not to mention the wear & tear on our aging Motor Home. (and us)  If we could live the majority of time somewhere centrally located in the southwest it would make all our preferred destinations much closer.   A base in the southwest would make travels to the northwest more practical in the favorable weather months too.  I haven’t blogged a lot about the northwest simply because we have not traveled there much but it is an area we would enjoy just as much as the southwest. 

Some of us are just built different than others.  Some of us need & prefer a challenge, a project.  We need a reason to get out of bed every day other than to just sit around.  Some of us have a creative need, some of us are inquisitive & seek to add a little outdoor adventure & excitement to our lives.  Some of us just prefer to do all that & have a quiet little place in the country to call home as well.

BAYFIELD SAILBOATS ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THEIR DAY IN THE WARM SUNNY WATERS OF LAKE HURON 

The Ranch near Elfrida really fired my creative spirit this past winter.  It set off that young man’s desire to shake out the cobwebs, oil up the joints & get rolling with a healthy dose of elbow grease.  A project to enjoy & get my teeth into again.  The Ranch held that for me & I could see that.  It needed a lot of TLC & that's something I enjoy when it comes to that kind of thing.  As I’ve said before, I am not the type of person who is content to just sit around in retirement with my feet up watching television & going through the same old routines day after day after day.

IN A FEW SHORT MONTHS PEOPLE WILL BE PICNICKING ON BAYFIELD'S BEACH & SWIMMING HERE

And, let me just touch on the aging process for a moment.  We are all just one sudden diagnosis away from an immediate change in our present lifestyle as we know it.  We are not the immune undefeatable & indomitable warriors of our naïve youth.   Time is running out for all of us so plans have to be made for future consequences.  Plans have to be made for an ‘end game.’  Some may ignore the inevitable changes taking place while others will try to plan for those changes & roll with them, staying one step ahead by thinking & planning ahead.

LAKE HURON MUST BE DOWN THIS YEAR BECAUSE THIS WHOLE FOREGROUND SHOULD BE UNDERWATER...AN 'NO' WE DO NOT HAVE TIDES ON THE GREAT LAKES

Now, in summing up, there will be some who will say, “oh lighten up Al your just having a bad day.”  Nope, that’s not it at all.   Some will say, “well, your just being negative.”  Nope, that’s not it either.  But, some of you realistically thinking people will understand exactly what I have just said.  You will understand the RV Lifestyle, you will understand the Snow Birders, the Full Timers & you will even understand....Hitch Itch:))  You will understand the concept of a piece of property whether it be a ranch, a house, a condo or an apartment.  You will understand the reality of the ‘end game.’  You are the forward thinking people who have the insight to plan for your future.  Where you want to be & when you want to be there.  Nothing to do with positive or negative attitudes & everything to do with accepting & dealing with the realities of life in a totally realistic thinking way.  At this age & stage of the game, our future is right now………10-4!!

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Ever Wonder….
- Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer? 
- If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him? 
- Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the car pool lane? 
- Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs! 
- If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme crap, why didn't he just buy dinner? 
- If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from? 
- If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
- Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup? 
-  Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window.
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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
BISBEE PHOTO ALBUM
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
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The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

TACKLED THE ICE & SNOW TODAY

THERE IS A LOT OF YARD WORK LYING UNDERNEATH ALL THAT SNOW IN OUR FRONT YARD BUT SOON IT WILL BE FILLED WITH BLOOMING FLOWERS & COLORFUL SPRING SONGBIRDS

Before I get into today’s post let me once again thank everyone for hanging in there with the Bayfield Bunch over this past winter’s travels.  I see we have had some folks with us since 2006 & am encouraged by the comments & emails from old as well as all the new folks who have recently come across our blog.  It is you the readers who keep this blog going & as I said before, I will continue the blog through the summer just as in other years with many varied topics & keeping folks up to date with the happenings of our fellow RVing friends & fellow bloggers:))

I HOPE TO BE FILLING UP THESE EMPTY SPACES BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS WITH MORE NEW PHOTOS SHORTLY
We have noticed a big improvement in Max since arriving home.  I think the steep steps in the Motor Home were becoming too much for his weakening rear legs.  We can tell he is happy to be home & he has been enjoying exploring around outside in our fenced in back yard.  He is navigating the snow alright & going up & down the deck steps by himself.  Also noticed Checkers & the Motormouse seem happier as well & are in more playful moods.  I think that has a lot to do with the fact we have a lot more room to play here in the house:))  This last week of traveling was hard on the whole crew & life on the road does have a few extra sets of travel stress levels for sure.

Priority this morning was to get the Motor Home back in it’s proper place so that meant tackling the mound of hard frozen snow & ice where the front of the rig goes.  A steel shovel, ice chopper &  pick-axe were my weapons of choice as I not only did battle with that chunk of ice & snow but also the mess that had slid off our roof partially blocking the sidewalk leading to the front porch.  All & all it took me about 40 minutes of chopping & shoveling with one coffee break & a power snooze thrown in for good measure.

We have most of the Motor Home mess moved into the house now so we’ve been busy putting away clothes, food, gadgets of all kinds, dishes, shoes, etc. etc.  Amazing the amount of clothes I took & never wore once!!  I make that same mistake every year.  Always amazes me how much stuff we end up squirreling away in the rig over the winter months too.  And, we haven’t even got to the bins yet.  Took me awhile just to clear out the back of the Jeep.  Lawn chairs, satellite dish, bags of dog food & the list goes on.

 
We are above freezing today so things are still slowly melting despite a damp afternoon cloud cover.  Sunny days for Friday, Saturday & Sunday with highs near 50F.  Am hoping all that sunshine is going to pump up my energy levels to soaring great heights.  Both Kelly & I are sun people:))

There is definitely a lot to be said about Snow Birding if you can afford it.  Essentially a person is maintaining two separate lifestyles plus residences & that can be very costly, as we have found out.   But, it is the only practical RV option between Fulltiming & sitting at home for the winter.  With the ever increasing rise in fuel prices & vehicle maintenance fees it is putting a lot of additional financial pressure on many RV folks.  When you have to drive over 2,000 miles just to reach your preferred winter destination it causes one to stop & think about better or alternative ways of doing things.  But, thinking about it is something I do a lot of & will be blogging about those thoughts now that we are home.  Guess it looks like I have already started..........

Much easier for American folks to select a full time lifestyle on the road than it is for we Canadians.  Health insurance benefits is the biggy & having to return to Canada every 6 months is a sticky point when it comes to travel plans.  As much as we have considered the Fulltime route we still feel it wise to have a home base if possible.  Worse case scenarios have to be considered in decisions like that.  If we were to suffer a serious injury or illness while in the Southwest during the winter months that required long term medical care or recovery & had to return to Canada for hospital treatment.....where do we stay for a few weeks or likely months.  Relatives, no way!!  A Motel, not likely.  Our Motorhome...nope, not unless we wanted to freeze to death in the bone chilling Ontario winter!!  Just one of many things to realistically consider at our age & just one of the things we are trying to figure out & plan for.

Have had some questions from readers & Roger asks if the Tim Hortons in Michigan is the same as in Canada.  We have only stopped a couple times at Timmys in Michigan & the coffee was the same as I recall.  Store looked the same too but Kelly has seen some Tim Horton’s near Rochester NY that look entirely different from our Canadian stores.  Glad to see Timmies gaining a strong foothold in the States. 

CONNIE,BARRIE has joined us as Blog Followers 256.  Nice to have you along folks & thanks so much for your separate email.  Very much appreciated & I thank you for your kind words.  Sounds like you have done a lot of traveling across the country.  What a great life this is eh:))

Yes, we did get on the base at Fort Huachuca in Arizona because of Kelly’s dual citizenship but I do recall a short ker-fuffle over something but can’t remember what it was.  Also want to add that Fort Huachuca is an active military base & is governed by military policy regardless of what State it is in.  Refusal of entry to the base for a fellow RV Canadian couple recently had absolutely nothing to do with the great State of Arizona as suggested by a comment I read regarding that matter. 

And who would have ever thought a stop in the dry west Texas town of San Angelo could result in such a beautiful display of....well, check GUMO'S blog & see for yourself:))

In  Wednesday’s blog I accidentally positioned the following paragraph in the wrong place at the very end of the post so some people may have missed it.  Here it is again……Have you ever been faced with the dilemma of making decisions regarding what to do about friends, family, grandkids etc if you decide to spend time traveling in your RV.  And then there is the question of age!!   The folks over at TRAVELS IN THERAPY are pondering those very questions at the moment & having some doubts about their future travel plans.  I have some thoughts about the subject & will do a post on that shortly.

I must have used up my entire daily quota of energy units chopping up that ice this morning because by this afternoon I was drained & spent a fair bit of time dozing in my recliner.  Guess the past week’s travels kind of caught up with me as well.  Probably going to take a few days to get my sticks & bricks legs under me & adjust to some new routines. 

Some may remember a few months ago when our furnace here in Bayfield failed to light because of weakened batteries in our thermostat.  That resulted in the house temps plummeting before being discovered.  Plumbing & everything is OK but we did lose the majority of our house plants.  One Schefflera plant was a personal favorite of mine & I had carried that plant with me over many moves from way back in the late 70's:((

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Murphy's wife borrowed his car and parked in the supermarket car park. Just as she came out laden with shopping, she saw a young lad break into the car, hot wire it and drive off.  Naturally she reported the matter to the police.' What did he look like?, the sergeant asked.  'I don't know she replied, but I got the license plate'.
--------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
BISBEE PHOTO ALBUM
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/BISBEEARIZONAAFEWFINEPHOTOMEMORIES
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.