Fulltime RVers are always talking about shaking up the Jello; they may plan to spend a summer exploring New England but the birth of a grandchild, or mechanical problems, or just a whim of fancy may find them making a last minute change of plans and doing something entirely different.
Any fulltimer will tell you that freedom is one of the greatest things about the RV lifestyle. Not being locked into a schedule or doing anything they don’t want to do. If we don’t like the neighborhood or the neighbors, we can just turn the key and leave! It’s something Terry and I have had to get used to, having that freedom all over again. We had it our first year or so on the road but then we found ourselves locked into rally schedules and speaking gigs and such and lost it.
We have known a few fulltimers who couldn’t handle that freedom and they didn’t last long out here. One couple we knew had their entire year’s reservations, two weeks at a time, made and paid for in advance, because they needed the “security” of knowing where they would be at any given time in the next 52 weeks. And the minute they arrived at an RV park, they were busy making another reservation to add two more weeks on to the end of their schedule.
Once we were at a nice campground someplace where they were parked next to us, and we were having a grand time until it was time for them to leave and go to an RV park a hundred miles down the road. A day or two later the husband called to tell me how much they disliked the new place and how they wished they were still with us. “Well, come on back,” I told him. “We can’t, it would mess up our whole schedule,” he replied. A couple of times mechanical problems caused delays and wreaked total havoc on their schedule because they wouldn’t just go to the next place and stay eight or nine days or whatever was left on their reservation. No, they had to spend days changing each and every reservation to get back their two weeks at a place schedule! They were only on the road a year or so when the stress got to be too much and they sold their motorhome and bought a house someplace.
Not all of our Jello shaking is done long term. Just yesterday Terry and I did some shaking. We had planned to drive down to Tampa for the RV show but woke up to a cold, ugly, windy day. We looked at each other and said “Naaa!”
It may not have been a good day for running around, but it was a good day for writing. I wrote about 3,000 words in my new book. Bad Nick did some writing too, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled They’re All the Same. Check it out and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – The people in your life can inspire you or drain you, so choose your friends carefully.
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Nick Russell
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Nick, If you want, while in Tampa, stop by the newest Camping World at Exit 14 off I-4. CW bought the former Long View RV in July of last year in order to add RV sales. That’s where I am working during the show this year and would love to show you around. We sell Heartland RVs,which I know you like, as well as Fleetwood, Forest River and Thor product lines. We have a small parts and accessories store now but when the new 14,000SF store is completed, it will be the largest CW store in the country.This new store will eventually replace the one at Exit 10. I’m here until 6PM every day and 10-5 on Sunday. It would be an honor to meet you and Miss Terry if you have time!
Just happened to us Nick. We stayed at Gulf State Park in AL the month of Nov. and had reservations in Crystal River FL for the remainder of the winter till May. After being in AL for that month we had made many good friends and have always loved the park. But we had made the reservations last year for Crystal River FL area with a month’s reservation fee. We got to Crystal River and quickly realized that we didn’t want to be there so we said why stay, we come back to AL and all is well. We will never make a reservation that far in advance again, lesson learned. Suppose to be here till April 1, but the jello gets to shaken and we get the itch easily. If it wasnt for some work on our trailer that needs to be done at the factory we might of taken off for the Q. Love the lifestyle!!!
Our life is also Jello on the road. We try to time somethings like FMCA, Escapade or an RV rally we want to go to. But other than that we have a very general plan of where we want to go. For example we plan to stay on Vancouver Island for a month or so this summer (2013). That’s about as detailed as it gets. As we get closer to the island in both time and distance we will begin to get ferry tickets etc but exact dates are not in our plans. Some people are anal about having reservations and planning every second. As you pointed out they don’t make very good Rvers because RVing can have so many unplanned events. People we find who like RVing are laid back and take life as it comes with plenty of flexibility in their plans and life. That’s one of the reasons we like RVing, our kind of people.
I have been reading your blog for a few months now and have really enjoyed it. My husband & I are planning on doing the fulltime thing in a few years. We want to wait for the kids to be grown & gone, plus we still needed the truck and camper (“new home”). This year we have accomplished step 1, as we just recently acquired a truck.
Some of the things you write about really make me stop and think. . . “Would I be okay living like that”. Today really struck me. We like to “shake the jello” as you said on a daily basis. It never fails that if we make plans, something happens to derail them. Hence, we have become a fly by the seat of our pants kind of family. After reading today’s post, I can’t wait to get out and explore our great nation flying by the seat of our pants on a yearly/monthly/weekly/daily basis.
May the road always meet you with kindness & happiness.
We love the freedom we have and sure do not plan to give it up anytime soon, we hope, like you we have run into folks who just cannot understand how or why we do it. We are one of the folks who do make reservations in advance only because we use our membership parks, but we are never bound by them if we change our mind we just cancel them. Up until this year, we always knew that in March we would do the GJ rally and the in Sept the other one, this is the first year we do not have this,and are having a bit of a problem deciding what to do. We miss the rallies but more we miss the two of you. We are in the process of trying to decide to do the east coast which we have never done or the West(Utah etc) It is so much fun planning out things a bit in advance but not to far. This year it will probably be a last minute decision on what we do, this is after our sons, wedding of course in April.
Fire it Mabel it’s time to move was our favorite saying when neighbors or weather got to us. Speaking of weather, thought you might enjoy this guys website. I use him for hurricanes, but he is usually spot on for winter weather up there as well. Looks like the cold is hunting you down buddy!
http://www.stormw.com/
I agree Mimi…. StormW is the man. We live in St. Thomas,USVI and he is the go to guy for weather and especially hurricanes. ……now i’ve gotta get back to Crazy Days in Big Lake!