Hosts with the mosts

Tho seemingly somewhat premature, we are making plans for the rest of the year. We stayed in several state parks in Oregon and heard praise of that system from the campground hosts therein. So we hope to serve as Hosts in a coastal OR state park in October, as a first run on this new way of RV life.

Reading the Escapees forums about volunteering, you can find a lot of fulltimers who go from park to park throughout the year. Not just state parks actually, but federal parks and forests, Bureau of Land Management and National Wildlife Reserves, lighthouse societies, Nature Conservancy land, and much more.

In exchange for light duty work, you usually get a free RV spot with utilities and a chance to live in these beautiful areas much longer than a camper could. A wonderful opportunity to offer service in such settings. We plan to try it.

Look for us this Fall. You’ll know us by our little brown vests and funny hats, holding sticks with nails on the end, spearing candy wrappers and the odd $5 bill. Like juvenile delinquents in community service.

Bruce

Healing

Readers have asked about Bruce’s condition following his leg surgery. (Well, no one has actually asked, but we’ve never found the truth very interesting anyway. Besides, half-truths cost less.)


Here’s a picture of Bruce following the first phase of surgery.

The doctors discovered they didn’t have a leg in his size. After an overnight delivery from Walmart, surgery proceeded without further incident.
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A discerning reader might ask, “What does this have to do with RVing?” But then a discerning reader would never read this blog anyway.

What’s new?

Nothin’ much. Bruce is still going to physical therapy, still getting better, still groaning on a regular basis.

Jenna listens and waits.

We both look forward to hitting the road. But then you know that, don’t you?

In the mean time, Jenna’s brother Walt and his girlfriend are traveling out here in his small motorhome. They will spend this coming weekend with us.

An uninteresting stationary life. Get them big wheels turnin’!

Seven weeks to go.

Bruce

Rekindling the illusion

OK. We decided to pursue our earlier plans, just moving the dates one month out. Thus Lake Mead for a week in early May, Zion National Park one week after. Olympia by early to mid June.

Questions? See our travel agent.

Planning your life is an illusion

Three days after Bruce’s surgeon said we could leave in a month, his physical therapist said two or three months. Let’s see now, 30 days has September….

So now we’re planning on leaving at the end of April instead of March. Likely the same itinerary, tho compressed by 30 days. Tho again, we’re one month hotter in the Nevada and Utah deserts.

We’ll get back to you.

Bruce

Hitch Itch Hobbled

Young readers of this blog (under 50), if any, will remember an earlier post about Hitch Itch. (Readers 50+ likely will not remember back that far. They will simply say, “Ummm…yeah sure” like we often do.)

OK, comrades, Hitch Itch is full-timer talk for the urge to move on, to explore. (“Oh sure, I remember now.”)

We got it. Three months now in the Arizona desert, while varied, is enough. Plus Bruce’s incapacity and planning for it have restricted our travel for months now.

But likely we will end this confinement at the end of this month, as Bruce’s surgeon predicts sufficient recovery for us to move on. Our eyes sparkle with anticipation.

We have begun planning. North and west to Lake Mead National Park and Las Vegas. After a week or so, drive northeast to Zion National Park, where we have already secured reservations for April 10 thru April 16. During this period, we will obtain a Geezer Pass for the national parks that reduces camping and entrance fees to a pittance. Bring it on!

After this, the unknown so far. We intend to return to Olympia sometime in June to visit friends, on our way back to Concrete and our beloved RV lot at Lake Tyee. Recall (if you can) that we spent last summer there engaged in two activities – Jenna ridding us of much stuff from our housey worky life and Bruce finishing up his job. So this time we can enjoy Lake Tyee as retirees.

Bruce

Musings on Being Handicapped

Sixteen days since knee surgery and I’m making remarkable progress. I can walk in the trailer and climb stairs with no assistance or equipment. I just use one crutch when walking outdoors.

Back to washing dishes and cooking, much to Jenna’s relief. She has been serving as homemaker and nurse for two weeks now, offering quality service at a low price. Thanks Jenna!!!

Being Handicapped throws you into a different segment of the world, one you only glimpse occasionally and then move on. Worth learning about, since the Handicapped are a minority group that anyone can join at any time.

Some Observations
Handicapped Parking Spaces
Yes, there is a pecking order in parking lots. Here is the only place that the Handicapped come out on top, by virtue of primo Handicapped parking spaces. To wit:
* People in ambulances – of course. Tho you seldom see them shopping at WalMart.
* People in wheelchairs, particularly in vans with those cool cranes to pick up and set down the chair. Like the claw you control to snag a prize in a machine at the mall.
* People using crutches, preferably two. Groan as you walk for extra points.
* People with oxygen bottles. Lose points if you’re smoking.
* People with no obvious Handicap. We all look at them with some suspicion…but then you never know.
* The Capped, i.e. everybody else. Formerly known as the Abled when people used the term Disabled.

Yes, it’s true that we smirk just a little when we saunter up to the front door. If we can saunter.

Bathrooms
Yes, we do get reserved stalls in public bathrooms. Certainly fair for people in wheelchairs, who need extra room. But I’ve also noticed that builders are mounting urinals lower and lower on the wall, presumably for Handicapped people. Recently I saw a set of urinals mounted so close to the floor that I expected them to require a Merit Badge in Marksmanship just to urinate there.

Maybe not so surprising, since it was a bathroom in Target store.

Shopping
A few weeks ago, I used an electric shopping cart to shop at a Costco Warehouse store. You know, the kind with a small basket in the front and an orange flag flying high from the back of the cart. They stiffened the flag because the cart wouldn’t go as fast as a five legged ant.

Anyway, riding around in that cart, your Cool Factor sinks to Zero. Chicks don’t make eye contact. They don’t even see you against the background of 10 quart jars of mustard and cartons of 8 dozen eggs.

So, when I saw a Babe in the aisle, I drove down and intentionally clipped her in the side. She cried out and looked down at me. I gazed up with an expression of surprise and mild disorientation. She rolled her eyes and limped away.

Still better than being seen as a jar of pickles.

Bruce