Going for it!

Making our decision to travel in the motor home has been a dream for a long time and we have been most anxious to pursue that dream. Unfortunately time waits for no one. We have lost many friends over the years and it always seems too early when as soon as one retires something terrible happens. Sadly, we are suddenly again aware of how short our individual time can be. These past weeks and days have been spent hoping and praying that one of our friends (just 60 years old) would survive a septsis infection that hit out of the blue. Jim, our son’s father in law and a friend, has now passed and provides us with another of many instances that confirm that you must pursue your dreams as soon as you can and not to waste time. He was a fine man and good grandfather and husband among other things, but most of all he was too young to leave. He was a special man that many loved and appreciated. We will miss him. This happening is one more instance that confirms to us that you do have to pursue those dreams that you have put off for whatever reasons…before you can’t. In 25 days we leave for the beginning of our travels ….Don’t put off yours!

Communicating with everyone

One of my concerns more than Marge's, is to have an ability for contact with business and friends via email....at least some sort of daily connectivity to the internet. I use a program called efax (www.efax.com) that has been very handy that allows for sending and receiving FAX messages over the net. This has proved very useful in the past and have used it without problem when on the road. This year however, we have to moved to a new base (Condo as opposed to home) where we subscribe to Comcast with a cablemodem. After much thought and investigation however, we will be cancelling that service shortly. Comcast unfortunately, does not have any contact numbers or means other than paying for another service or finding wireless availability to connect with your account. Big disappointment!! For that matter, I am very disapointed with their TV plans and format after having had DIRECT-TV via satelite for so long ( We still have DIRECT-TV on the road) My connectivity plan, is to go with telephone wireless connectivity. As long as I am in a digital wireless area, which is expanding all the time, I can connect for the same amount of money, and still work from the privacy of the motorhome. I will have the wireless connectivity as a backup. Cingular services now with At & T has a data connect service that is reasonable for use on the road and at the base condo that should be more than adequate and with equivalent speeds. With the consolidation of the two companies its my understanding that coverage now exceeds those of the competition. Prior to our planned adventures coming up, I had installed a Wilson antenna and a phone mount attached to it for greater abilities to pick up voice signal. It has worked well for us particularly when weve been in fringe areas for the phone. By putting a splitter on the antenna line I should have adequate contact for our planned excursions for the first year anyway. After I win the lotto however, I would certainly like to have the Datastorm unit installed!!! or perhaps maybe even go with Starband for computer and TV connectivity. Besides the computer hookups we both have cell phones...mine more for business use now with cingular and Marges, just in case, Verizon. Both Phones have the external antenna hookup if needed and that with the new 3 watt signal booster should resolve most problems. Perhaps you may want to comment on my choices or for that matter have questions....email me any time.

Picking a travel home

We have been "motorhomers" for 31 years straight going from tent camping to a small class A in 1974. We had finally had it with coming home with wet tents and equipment and had an opportunity to acquire a repossessed unit from a bank that was brand new. Over the years we have owned and traveled in seven different motorhomes and like the cartoon about owning a boat, they kept getting bigger and longer. We have always made a point to go to every camper show in Detroit for the last 15 years....it's always fun to see the new units and the changes that have been made. We decided after seeing all kinds of units that choosing a fifth wheel really allows for full use of all the space in any given unit and would provide an excellent choice for anyone that was going to one spot and staying for a longer period of time. The actual traveling would probably be just a direct route to that place and then settling in with all the amenities of an "portable apartment". Our plan however is not to settle in one area for too long (except to visit grandchildren in faraway places) but to see this United States of ours. Having had motorhomes of one sort or another also probably had some influence, but we do think that a fifth wheel may be in our future. At any rate, after much thought, we decided that the traveling view from the pilot and copilots seat (not to mention the plumbing facilities in the back) afforded by a motorhome while moving down the road, far outweighed for us, the idea of traveling in a fifthwheel (at least until we find that special spot or spots, that we want to spend extended time).
Two years ago we invested in a new diesel motorhome (Holiday Rambler Endeavor) with two slideouts and a new "toad" (a PT Cruiser). These choices for units were the culmination of much thought and looking at all kinds of brochures and units that we thought would be appropriate for extended travel with a degree of comfort that would allow us to move around and not step on one another. It also allowed us to store in the holds below bicycles, inflatable boats, outboard motors, lawn chairs, grills, tools, fishing equipment and a variety of things we have collected and used over the years while weekending and taking shorter trips. All of this together in one package within weight limits and we are almost ready to go.

Starting this blog

In trying to set up this blog I have found how terribly inadequate my computer knowlege is but the hope is that soon there will be a reasonable flow of what we will be doing as we travel. We actually won't start our trip until the middle of January but we are counting down and to start I will add posts about what we have done to prepare.