What “Barriers there Be”…

Posted on September 11, 2012 | 2 comments

When we first conceived of traveling by the sun and seasons as our guides, we thought of retirement.  A long way off and not guaranteed for any of us.  (Remember, working in a hospital gives a skewed view of life; everyone there is sick.  In the real world, only a proportion of people are sick)

Then we began to dream about what we would do.  Early morning sunrises in the woods drinking strong coffee has always been nice.  We like to hike.  We like to ski.  Even sitting on flat water in a kayak looking at birds is nice.   (Actually, I like to work too.  Work is one of the most native states.  I lose myself in work: PT, projects, gardening, whatever…there is a bliss in accomplishment)  But our skiing and cycling fitness is better now than it will be in 15 more years when the bills are all paid.  Once we decided sooner would be better, we had to figure out HOW.

Then ALL of the reasons we couldn’t do this thing came to mind:

MONEY, TIME, PLACES TO SLEEP, JOBS, BILLS, MONEY, A HOUSE IN BALTIMORE, PEOPLE SAYING “YOU CAN’T DO THAT”, HEALTH INSURANCE,…

Truly the biggest barrier to any of our dreams is inside of our heads.  Once I believe the “Talk”, I cease to plan and cease to accomplish.  Think back.  What kept you working so hard to get through school?  What are you dreaming about now?  I’ll be trickling out a few examples of barriers that jumped in front of me so far on this journey (before we even left town)

here is a bottom view of a 1957 trailer tongue…not what you want pulling your dreams around, supporting the full weight of a camper

– David

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The map of where we may go…

Posted on September 10, 2012 | 13 comments

(I’m trying something new. Well, everything we are doing with the blog is new, so newness is relative here.)  We created a map to show some of the places we may visit on our Tramper Voyage. We have a nice paper map, with many little push pins.

It works well at home but this is a blog, so I used Google Maps to help create this lovely USA & Canada map. It might even be somewhat interactive. You know, with the little thingies that let you zoom and move the map.

It’s really not likely that we’ll be able to go to even half of these wonderful places in 6-12 months at our planned slow pace. The map is a good prompter for what we want to do and see. Structure, too, is good.  The “What by when?” question is easier to answer. Although we do already have the answers: What – have fun, be very active, meet nice people, see beautiful things, appreciate life while not on the clock. When – from the day we leave until the money runs out!

Jane

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A few pics of The Tramper

Posted on September 6, 2012 | 5 comments

The seating area turns into our bed – a bit smaller than a double. A neighbor said “I hope you two really like each other!”, since, I suppose, she could see that we’ll be in an itty-bitty living space for a while. Fortunately, we like each other very much! That light fixture is vintage, restored by David.

Here are a few pics of the (mostly) finished Tramper, before we load it with all our stuff. Many more details about the renovation and more photos of The Tramper can be found at www.goodoldrvs.com. Type in “David Grant” in the search box in the upper right corner. It really tells the story of just how much work David has put into this renovation!

Since I’m still in the steep upward slope of the learning curve on using this blog site and we have a million things to do to get on the road, there probably won’t be too many more posts before we go! But, you never know, I could get inspired…

Jane

Fridge Interior. We love food so we needed lots of room!
Vintage refrigerator. Restored by David. Powered by propane

Kitchen Detail with cute sink & faucet in background

Kitchen Counter Extension w/ LED light fixture. All created by David
Seating area detail

Sound System. Plays our iPod

Seating area

Shower!

Vintage oven – refurbished by David

for more pics and more details of the renovation, go to www.goodoldrvs.com and type “David Grant” in the search box in the upper right.

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