Someday Is Now

This is such a beautiful little slice of land nestled in the blue ridge mountains in northeast WV.  This is a place, an area where i could see us settling again.  Its a little warmer than were we are from, finger lakes area in NYS.  Its not too far south were you get killed by the heat and humidity 6 months of the year.  It still has 4 seasons, only the summer is longer and the winter is shorter.   We camped at a KOA a few years back in Harpers Ferry.  We liked it then too.  It was our camp for a AT hike.  The appellation trail (AT) runs right through HF.  Its actually the halfway point of the AT.  About 1000 miles south of the start up there in Maine and 1000 miles north of southern GA, i think that's where it ends ;). The town is very quaint and rich in both revolutionary and civil war history.  George Washington owned a home here and his family descendants are sprinkled around the area and surrounding counties. Civil war his...

Life is fleeting, don't waste the time you are given, spend it with your loved ones. This is my struggle with full timing.  I am so excited to be at this point in our lives.  We have worked hard and planned for so long, but it is still a struggle.  When James first started talking about what he would like to do when we retire, I thought, yeah, that would be cool to see this great country of ours, but I didn't think about the realities of not having a home base and also the reality of not being near my children.   They are all adults and living on their own.  I have zero worries that they can handle life without mom right there, but my heart is heavy.  I have always loved being a mom and being a part of my children's lives, and while that won't change in the big picture, the day to day will, particularly with my boys.  Our daughter moved 350 miles away right out of college.  She was so excited to move to a big city, and she has definitely rock...

On Thursday 11/11, veterans day, we visited one of the iconic battlefields of the American Civil War.  We spend about 6 hrs on a self guided tour of each sector of the battlefield.  The battlefield is preserved in such a way that it looks very much like it did on that day in 1862. A little context.  In the summer of 1862 the American Civil War was in its second year.  The confederates where enjoying success in the eastern theater.  After the peninsula campaign waged by Union General George McClellan, confederate general Joseph Johnson suffered a wound and was relieved of command by the confederate government.  His replacement General Robert E. Lee had taken a more aggressive approach resulting in victories during the 7 days campaign.  Following these battles that moved the Union Army of the Potomac from the doorstep of Richmond, VA - the confederate capitol, Lee continued his hard fought initiative by defeating the Union army at the second battle of Ma...

Our first KOA.  Campgrounds of America.  Why aren't they called COA's?  First off, KOAs are nice campgrounds.  They are full of amenities that other campgrounds probably don't offer.  Such as hot showers.  The showers here are much nicer than the past two campgrounds.  There is a store on the campground.  A little pricey, but convenient if you need things.  A nice welcome and post welcome followup text from staff.  Cable TV option.  A river next to the grounds for kayaking and fishing.   If you travel with kids, there are activities like a bounce mat and a Friday night magic show.  Also they have farm animals and a mineral mining spot.  Things for your kids to do is nice.   The negative side of things.  Its pricey compared to many other campgrounds.  You pay for the amenities.  The spots are tight.  We have had campers on both sides of us, close.  Some of the fire pits are too c...

We said goodbye to our home of 19 years on Sat Sept 25th.  A bitter sweet day for sure.  The next 2 1/2 weeks were spent "couch surfing" at each of our children's places.  A very different experience for sure, but it was wonderful spending time at each place.   We hit the road on Monday 10/25 for our new life of living full time in the 5th.  Our first stop was at a Boondockers Welcome site in Ontario, NY for 3 nights and then to a campground in Middlesex, NY for 4 nights.  From there we headed South to Schellsburg, PA were we stayed at Nature's Getaway RV Park for 9 nights and we leave tomorrow morning (11/10) for 12 nights at the Hagerstown/Antietam KOA in Williamsport, MD. So, what are my big take aways from living full time in a 5th wheel with my hubby and our lab Jazz?   Well, the first thing is that even though we bought a 33' 5th wheel, there isn't a lot of space when the weather is bad and you're stuck inside.  Fortunately, we bot...

Part of the experience for sure is seeing the country.  Of course.  Its why we live full time now in a camper.  We hope to be in this lifestyle a year or more.  In the interim, house prices can fall from their historic highs of recent to something more reasonable. In the meantime, lets travel to different parts of our beautiful country.  We have been staying the past week at a campground in the southwestern part of PA.  The campground is in Schellsburg, PA.  A small little town with a couple campgrounds nestled in the lovely Allegany mountains.  We have visited the following towns in proximity. Bedford.  A town of about 2500, with a cute little main street that housed more businesses that we expected.  Visited a candy and coffee shop, Hebrews and a grocery story, the Giant Eagle.  Just east of Schellsburg via rte. 30.  About 5 miles from here.  Beyond Bedsford is a little town called Evert.  Population 1500.  Ano...

We are camping for a week at Natures Getaway RV park, 147 sleepy hollow rd Schellsburg, PA.  There are probably 100 sites available.  There are 3 other campers that I can see in the park.  Nice. I am sitting outside at the picnic table with a small fire to my back, my lab Jazz sitting in the grass next to me watching things. I have a cup of good java next to my computer....live is good.  Seriously.  I have a local rock station playing some REO speedwagon at the moment.  Roll with the changes.  I think we are.  Sounds great BTW.  Did I mention the sun is shining too?  It is, so lovely.  Rather condusive for writing.  Its about 45 degrees now, about 11 am.  Joni and I did a little yoga with Adrian this am.  Streaming on YouTube.  We have fine WiFi available at this campsite.  A good start to the day.  Well, actually the start of the day consisted of me making coffee, turning on the kitchen faucet and only...

The first couple stops, we were filling our tank, disconnecting the local water and using the camper pump to push water to our sinks, toilet and shower.  That's OK, works well enough, but probably not the best long term camping solution.  At our current site, I hooked our camper to the water source and updated my water interface to draw water on demand from the provided source, the City Water option that says "City Inlet to fixtures".  That's the one we want to use most often.  When Its too cold and a threat to freeze overnight, I would disconnect the hose and use the Dry Camping option.  It says "Water from tank via pump".  That's good for boon docking too, when no water source is available to connect to.   Next, I added a water pressure adapter at the source.  In RV living, water pressure is important.  Not too much anyway.  Between 40 and 60 PSI is recommended.  The valve at the source mitigates the pressure, if there is too m...

Arrived to this very quiet campground in Schellsburg PA.  We are 1 of 4 campers set up for the week.  Schellsburg Pa, population 400.  Small, which we like.  Were not looking for much nightlife or things to do, mainly just hanging out at the campground.  We went to a local Bison farm yesterday.  Saw some Bison roaming the hills, went into the shop and talked to the owners daughter awhile.  Nice lady, gave us a brief history of the business.  Bought some Bison burgers and cooked on our gas stove last night.  Yummy!  Big, beefy, or should I say bisony and satisfying after a busy day outside.   Meet this dude named Brent.  He is a couple spots over from us.  With no one else here, its hard to avoid contact.  We are not actively avoiding, just not real interested at the moment on making friends.  He is from Michigan and drove down the same time and arrived at the same time.  He had to drive around our truck a li...

      We made it to our first campground as full timers!  After Boondocking for 3 nights, we went to Flint Creek Campgrounds in Middlesex, NY.  This was a "on the fly" plan in order to stay for a few days and watch the Buffalo Bills game with our sons.  The campground was just about empty as this was the last weekend of the season.  Other than us, there were only 3-4 other campers staying in the campground.  A few more came in and packed up their site for the winter or pulled their camper out for the winter. The campground is rustic but nice, and the owner greeted us with huge smiles and welcomes!  Registration both online and when we arrived was supper easy.  The sites are spacious and the campground is easy to drive through and back in /set up your camper.  There is a small store, showers, lots of play equipment for the kids and open space to run around.  There is a huge fenced dog play area which our lab smell approved...