A Message to My Friends

I've been 'away' for a while, and now I want to update all my friends here on what has been happening...

I can hardly believe that it has been a year since I joined this community.  I joined when Doc was hospitalized in March 2007.  Since then I have been making a major readjustment to the loss of my partner and the dream we shared.  Now it is time for me to re-create my life once again.

In recent months I have been anxious about how I'm going to live in and maintain my home - a 25' travel trailer that has been parked in the same spot since January 2007. I've been angry that I have to do it all alone - I'm so aware of the many things Doc did for us and this structure that I wasn't doing.  And I've been feeling that as I AM living in a TRAVEL trailer, I should look at whether I want to continue to travel in it, and therefore, get it ready for the road.

Taking responsibility now, I have felt 'whelmed' (as Doc would say) by all the aspects of caring for this home by myself.  As I don't want to experience the heat of another Tucson summer, it has become imperative that I get the trailer travel-ready.  So, I recently hired an RV technician to come to my site and do some maintenance and repairs that I needed before I could safely travel - almost $1100 later, with repairs and four new trailer tires, I was 'ready', sort of. 

I 'happened' to hear about an RV school that was happening in downtown Tucson this month - the Life on Wheels conference.  Last week I attended 2 1/2 days and 10 90-minute courses on such subjects as tire safety, fire safety, RV insurance, awning care, batteries, boondocking, and working while on the road.  I also packed up, hitched up the trailer to the truck, and drove to the other side of town to learn how to drive my rig, through a 3 1/2 hour RV driving course.  I'm happy to report that after those few hours, with my neighbor as my teammate, I drove back home and parked the rig in my space, perfectly, on the first attempt!  I just HAD to call my driving instructor to report on this - he reminded me that this may not happen on other attempts!!!

Now I feel ready to take myself (and my neighbor) on the road for the summer.  That little excursion taught me more about how to pack the rig, and how to really do a safety check before hitting the road.  I finally got all the pieces back together in my cabinets, and made some decisions about how I can simplify my surroundings even more than before.

My neighbor Liz - who lost her husband two months after Doc passed away, from the very same condition - has volunteered, along with me, for a Passport in Time heritage preservation program with the US Forest Service in Oregon.  We will be traveling from Tucson to Oregon for a two-month project, and then travel to the Seattle area where we both have family.  Then we will meander down the Oregon coast, head inland to dig for sunstones at a mine, and then begin the journey back to Tucson for the Fall.

Last summer I joined a group known as Loners on Wheels - it's a national organization for RVing singles, with local groups.  I went on a few campouts, but in my truck only.  Their focus is getting together monthly during the winter 'season' at southern Arizona sites to dry camp, and socialize.  More recently I connected online with a group of solos who actually travel a lot more for longer distances.  I met a few members of this group at the conference.  So the networking is becoming invaluable to me!

For the next three months I will remain in Tucson, just hanging out and getting even more organized, taking inventory of tools, and making lists for what is in each compartment, to make things easier for me and my traveling companion.  Although we won't be living in the trailer while doing our volunteer job - they provide free housing, and they'll let me park/store my rig in the office parking lot - it will be ready for our trip further north, and other points in Oregon.

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