Wrapping Up Five Weeks of Weird and Wonderful Austin

"Keep Austin Weird", the slogan you hear, and see, time and time again about this city we've just spent five weeks in seems to get to the heart of how Austinites feel about their city. It's big and bold and bustling. In the center of the city, art, progressive thinking and entrepreneurship seems to be the rule of the day. The average age of its population is approximately 34, one of the youngest in the US.

Austin is also one of the fasted growing cities in the US. The infrastructure, such as roads, have not kept up with the growth and the traffic is horrendous. Housing prices are skyrocketing, making the most desirable city neighborhoods unaffordable for many of the creative folks who make this city "weird"; something we've seen in other big cities (like San Diego and Portland, OR), gentrification tends to squeeze out those who gave the place its original flavor.

The surrounding suburbs are typical of most large cities, full of communities of similar houses, chain stores and restaurants...why does growth have to be so generic? A drive through the suburbs of Austin leaves you wondering what's so weird about this place???

One thing we wanted to accomplish during our stay here was to become Texas residents. Oregon was a good choice for us when we left California and started fulltime RVing, but going forward Texas will work better for us due to no state income tax.

We also discovered this week that the health care plan we'd chosen through the Oregon health exchange did not provide the full nationwide coverage that we thought it did, despite lots of research before purchase. Why are healthcare plans so complicated??? As of April 1st we will be on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas exchange plan, with participating doctors all over the US, another reason why switching to Texas was good for us.

We've been busy since our last post...

This past week we had the pleasure of seeing our friends Zsuzsa (Z) and Tom, brand new fulltime RVers. We met them in October in Palm Springs where they were hoping to sell their condo and hit the road.

According to Murphy's Law the condo sold in the middle of winter and they had to travel to the midwest where they became South Dakota residents, purchased their truck, then moved on to Ohio where they took delivery of their brand new Bighorn 5th wheel. All that took a couple of months and these warm weather people withstood some pretty frigid weather in order to realize their dream!

It was so fun to see them enjoying their new home! They are currently making their way back to Palm Springs where they will finish outfitting their RV from their storage unit. They stopped in Austin to spend a few days with us and we went on two hikes together and ate a couple of meals together...we were honored to be their first dinner guests!

Z and Tom and their beautiful new home on wheels!

One of our hikes took us back to McKinney Falls State Park...
what's that we see hanging off the tree along Onion Creek?

A water moccasin!

Several Great Blue Herons were nesting along Onion Creek.

First dinner guests in the shiny new Bighorn!

Lately we've stuck close to town taking care of some business so our daily walks have been of the urban kind. Fortunately Austin has numerous creeks running through town with trails along them so it's easy to make a creek/neighborhood loop. We walked the Shoal Creek Greenbelt again, this time making it a loop through the Pemberton Heights neighborhood; it's full of fancy mansions, some dating back to the late 1800's.

A modern castle in Pemberton Heights.

There were many homes with columns in Pemberton Heights, these two seemed especially Southern flavored.

Another day we made a loop out of the Blunn Creek Greenbelt and the historic Travis Heights neighborhood, another wonderful old neighborhood filled with a mix of historic and new architecture and enormous old oak trees.

Blunn Creek.

Another castle!

We then met up with local friends Ashley and Lila to celebrate Ashley's 60th birthday and meet a few of his numerous siblings.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Austin considers itself a "music city" and the month of March is jam packed full of musical events. The weekend following SXSW offers up the very unique HONK!TX. HONK is a festival of community street bands and was unlike anything we had seen before. Marching bands converge here from all over the country and perform for free for three days in public spaces.

These are not your typical high school or college marching bands, though many of the musicians may have gotten their start there. This is an eclectic mix of music lovers playing everything from klezmer and balkan to New Orleans style brass and reimagined popular music from the last 50 years.

We managed to catch a small part of the festivities and really enjoyed the lively music and the people watching. Many of the attendees don their most colorful and outrageous combinations of clothing, making this a feast of color and joy for the eyes!

The musicians are as colorful as the backdrop.

March Madness put on a fun, high energy show!

This past week we discovered pretty Slaughter Creek Preserve in South West Austin. This is an easy five mile loop hike through meadows and oak and cedar forest. The elevation gain and loss is minimal, dogs are not allowed, bikes do the trail clockwise while horses and hikers go counter clockwise. Even though you do hear some road noise and neighborhood noise, it still feels peaceful, especially on a weekday morning. If you want to hike here during rainy season check their Facebook page before you go to make sure the trail is open.

We were glad to have cloud cover the day we hiked, Austin has been warming up quickly!

Austin has been a busy and exciting stopover but now we're ready to slow things down a little. Tomorrow we move on to Fredericksburg where we are looking forward to small town Texas vibe as well as a little more nature in our lives.

The Dry Season in the Rain Forest, PLUS...Fabulous Fungus!

We've spent the last week in Forks, WA. About 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean and about 30 miles from the West entrance to Olympic National Park, Forks is ideally located for exploring a variety of terrain. Having arrived during the wrong time of the month to easily access the beach during low tides we spent most days hiking in the rain forest. With July and August being the driest months of the year, we enjoyed the beauty of the rain forest trails without the muddy feet...though I would love to see the rain forest in all its dripping glory some time.

Kloshe Nanitch Trail
In an effort to avoid end-of-summer weekend crowds on the trail, our first hike took us 20 miles East on highway 101; from foggy Forks to the sunny banks of the Sol Duc River and up to an old fire lookout site. The Kloshe Nanitch trail is a strenuous three mile climb through forest that opens up to views East into the Olympic Mountains and West to the ocean...if the skies are clear.

A couple of goofballs happy to be done climbing this mountain!
We could see lots of clear cut sites and replanted forest, along with the marine layer obscuring the ocean.

The crystal clear Sol Duc River near the trail head.

Bogachiel River Trail and Wetlands Loop
On Free National Park Day we chose to avoid the main Park entrance and hiked the lesser known Bogachiel River Trail. This turned out to be a wonderful way to experience rain forest and even enter the National Park (after two miles of hiking) without the crowds. We hiked about three miles of the River trail and took the Wetlands Loop on the return. This trail goes through beautiful second growth forest and is home to elk, which we saw signs of but no animals in the flesh. If you are short on time the 3 mile wetlands loop trail is an excellent alternative to the National Park.

This extremely tall tree made a great natural bridge.

It's pretty much impossible to photograph the giant trees in this forest,
but their enormous feet can give a good idea of the size of these beauties.

Fungus flowers grace the foot of another giant moss covered tree.

Hoh River Trail, Olympic National Park
We did drive into Olympic National Park one day and hiked 5 miles of the Hoh River Trail. I'd say we saw more enormous old growth trees along the Hoh River than on our Bogachiel River hike (above), but the longer drive and summer crowds at the Hoh Visitor Center made the Bogachiel hike a better deal.

Morning sunlight on leaves and hanging mosses.

You need to watch your step on this trail.

Along the river the vine maples provide a splash of color.

We took a break from hiking one day and went on a logging operations tour offered by the Forks Chamber of Commerce. Logging is one of those things that, as a nature lover, I have a hard time with...but I do understand it is an integral part of life in North America, so since we're in logging country we might as well learn a little about how we harvest our wood.

Like many nature lovers, I've always been put off by clear cut forests and the unnatural uniform look of a replanted forest. We learned that clear cutting is done by private companies because it is the most commercially viable way to remove and replace a forest (it takes about 40 - 50 years to regrow a forest for harvest). Selective logging, a much less destructive process, is generally done on US Forest Service lands for forest management.

Our tour guide, Joe, spent 40 years in the logging industry around Forks and now volunteers once a week for the Chamber. 11 of us loaded into a van and Joe took us to an active logging site where they were harvesting entire trees, including the roots; normally the trees are cut off above ground and the roots are left behind to decompose. These trees with roots will be used to help shore up highway 101 along the Hoh River and are also used to provide immature salmon habitat in local rivers.

It was fascinating to watch this large tree with big branches being moved by one man in this huge piece of equipment.
Stacked in front are trees with roots. Most of the dirt will be poked out of the roots before the trees are trucked out.

Joe then took us to a small, old local mill that processes any size of trees. That is significant because modern high tech mills only process smaller logs because everything is farmed these days and the trees are of a more uniform size. Somehow this mill gets larger trees occasionally.

Eight foot chunks of logs were cut into large planks here.

The tour was interesting and informative though it didn't change my opinion of clear cutting and replanting. Though the tour is free, donations are requested in support of the Forks Chamber of Commerce. We followed it up with a visit to the small Forks Timber Museum and a good burger and fresh chips and fries at Blakeslee's Bar and Grill.

We did make it out to some of the beaches during our stay, though not during a super low tide, and usually with only a brief period of clear(ish) skies before the fog would roll in.

Second Beach in the late afternoon with wispy clouds and marine layer building in the distance.

Within 30 minutes the clouds were taking over Second Beach.

On our last full day we stayed close to camp and took care of daily life stuff and took a short hike in the Elk Creek Conservation Area right in Forks. What a lovely little trail this turned out to be! We saw evidence of the elk the creek is named after, we saw baby salmon or steelhead in the creek, and we saw some amazing fungus. If you're staying in Forks and want to experience the rain forest without driving far this 3 mile trail is definitely worth your time.

Pretty Elk Creek is an important year round habitat for salmon fry.

This is an untouched photo of a 3 foot long patch of neon orange fungus...
quite a shock of color in the forest!

We stayed at the Forks 101 RV Park, a full hookup park with spacious grassy sites in the back section, furthest from highway 101. Note, there is a row of permanent dwellings on the South edge of the RV park, some are nice small manufactured homes, some are very old, very sad looking single wides. If you can overlook the permanents, this is a decent place to stay and it's right across the highway from the terrific Forks Outfitters complex with a good grocery store, hardware store and casual clothing store. We had good 4G Verizon signal here. Oh, and there is a shooting range about two blocks away, fortunately it wasn't being used very often when we were at home.

Site 50 at Forks 101 RV Park.

That's it for our time in Forks; as we head South and to the coast it looks like we've got a few days of rain ahead of us, to be expected in this part of the country. We've been extremely fortunate with the weather on the Olympic Peninsula this summer so we really can't complain. We'll just bundle up and get out in the weather or hibernate in our cozy little home on wheels.

One more thing...We are so fortunate to be living this amazing RV lifestyle in the age of the Internet, with instant access to information right at our fingertips. We can research places to stay, things to do at each stop, questions about issues with the RV, or healthcare, or insurance, stay in touch with family and friends, write the blog...the list goes on and on...clearly the Internet is a key component of this lifestyle. How we connect to the Internet, with a good strong signal, is one of the most common questions we field from people in RV parks.

When we were studying this lifestyle, trying to decide if this was what we wanted to do, one source stood out in the RV blogosphere as the place to go for connectivity information: Technomadia; and to this day, two years into this lifetsyle for us, they remain the premier source. Chris and Cherie have consolidated their excellent research and advice into the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center...THE place to go for all your connectivity questions! Check it out to learn the most current information available on this vital piece of the RV lifestyle puzzle.

One Year on the Road!

September 10th marks our one year anniversary on the road! Roadiversary? During that time we've been to 11 states, stayed in 49 sites, stayed an entire month in four different places and pulled the trailer about 6,000 miles. Whew!

It really took a good six or seven months to feel 100% comfortable with this lifestyle change, to get used to our new reality. Now, the small living space and the regular change of venue seem normal and right, interesting and exciting.

Our perspective as new full time RVers was fresh: I had come from a background of RVing but I hadn't RV'd in 15 years. Hans had never RV'd before. We were both newly retired; having quit our jobs, sold our house in San Diego, and relocated to Oregon one month before we bought and moved in to our Montana 5th wheel. A lot of big lifestyle changes in a very short time frame!

We spent at least two years researching and shopping for the type of rig we felt we would be comfortable in. We chose a 5th wheel trailer because we wanted only one vehicle with an engine to worry about and the cash outlay would be less than buying a motorhome and towed vehicle. We are happy with the floor plan we chose on our Montana 5th wheel; the layout is comfortable and cozy and everything we want or need is conveniently placed.

We love our cozy home on wheels!

We are also happy with our four wheel drive Chevy truck, it's gotten us into some amazing back country in several places we've visited. The diesel engine has gotten decent mileage both towing and regular driving.

One of the biggest challenges to full time RVing is two people learning to live together in such a small space. We could have gone with a smaller RV with the capability to get into smaller, more nature-centric parks easily, but we chose the 5th wheel so we'd have room for our hobbies and more comfortable, roomy living space. This turned out to be the right decision for us. Bringing our cat, Rosie, into the 5th wheel after four months on the road really turned the place into a home.

Rosie brings us joy every single day!

So far, we've chosen to camp mostly in places with full hookups. We like not having to monitor our showering (we hike, we sweat, we shower) or our dish washing (I like to cook so I wash a lot of dishes). Though it's a trade off for privacy. Many full hookup parks have sites rather close together. We've learned that most folks in RV parks are friendly and considerate of their neighbors.

So far, we've booked most of our locations well in advance of our arrival (sometimes months). While that doesn't leave a lot of room for spontaneity, it has often gotten us into the best sites in the campground or state park, while our friends who show up without reservations might end up in overflow camp sites or the least desirable sites if the park is busy. It's a toss up between flexibility and peace of mind, knowing where you'll drop your jacks each night.

The first month of full time RVing was stressful due to learning the ins and outs of RVing: making sure you did everything properly so nothing would fall apart while driving down the road. Then you have to get used to the moving about, the planning where you are going according to weather and activities available that you like to do.

The next six months were really about learning to get along together in this new small footprint. What each persons responsibilities are on a daily basis, what each persons strengths are, giving each other some space, settling into retirement as well as living on the road. I don't think a couple could handle this lifestyle for long if they weren't best friends before they started!

We are so lucky to be living this amazing life together!

Now, after a full year on the road, we are truly comfortable with the nomadic lifestyle, the small living space, our ever changing front yard. We prefer to stay at least a week, and sometime 2 - 4 weeks, in one location. This gives us the opportunity to have down time; we don't feel the need to see everything right away because we're leaving the next day. On our low key days we like to visit the library in small towns or hang out at the RV reading, cooking, planning, researching; just being retired!

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this lifestyle is the people we've met on the road. Both through blogging and proximity, friendly folks are often near by. The RV blogging community, in particular, fosters immediate kinship upon meeting when we have been following each others blogs. Already in just one year, we've engaged with new friends multiple times as we each travel around the West. We've got the flexibility to have both quiet, alone time and socializing time.

Occasionally I'll read a blog or talk to someone in a campground that is critical of others choice of type of rig or where they like to camp and I just don't understand that. With so many options for mode of travel: car camping, tent, pop up, truck camper, class B, class C, class A, travel trailer, toy hauler, 5th wheel; and so many places to camp: boondocking, private park, state park, national park, Wallydocking, truck stops, urban stealth camping...it seems to me there is room for everyone to make the choices that are right for them at that particular time.

At this one year marker we feel we have made the right choices for our on-the-road lifestyle, at this stage of our lives; and we intend to continue our exploring and enjoyment of this beautiful country at our own pace, in the comfort of our cozy home on wheels.

It's a good life!

Farewell San Diego, For Now

We are winding down our two month stay in San Diego, our former home town. It's been a whirlwind of visits with family and old friends and we've made a number of new friends in the RVing community. We've done some reorganizing in the RV, outfitted it with stuff from our San Diego storage unit, and completed a few projects to make our awesome little home even more comfortable and give it some character. And best of all our kitty joined us for our future travels!

New tiki-themed pillows, made by my mom with a little assistance from me.
Same fabric front and back, different trim on each.

On Saturday we head out for Arizona, jumping back in to exploration mode...the reason we retired early into this lifestyle after all! The next few months should be a tour of Southern Arizona, then into New Mexico as the season changes and summer in the mountains of Colorado. Notice I say "should be", nothing is written in stone and the route is open to change at any moment; boy, I like the freedom of retirement!!!

Just another fantastic sunset over Mission Bay.

Playing Tourist in our Former Home Town

We've been visiting our old favorite places near the beaches and bays and kind of playing tourist around San Diego. Some random shots from the past few days...

My favorite RV decoration in our campground

At the Big Bay Balloon parade 

Woody  seems to be on a collision course with the street!

Late afternoon under Crystal Pier

Sunset from Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach

Fabulous blooming yucca at Cabrillo National Monument

I'd love to visit this every day for a time lapse of the bloom!

Taken from the bay trail at Cabrillo Monument, a tall ship passes downtown San Diego.

Tidepooling at Sunset Cliffs

Sweet Rosie finds the sunny spots in the RV while we are out on the town..