Stephie and Bill go for a walk on a pleasant snowy day in January 2003.  Photo taken at Brelsford's near Sayre, Pennsylvania. 

 Bill using the snow blower to clear a path from the garage to our house. In Groton, New York it's common to get well over 100 inches of snow each winter.  If we were lucky, it didn't snow until Thanksgiving and was gone by April.  Sometimes the first snow came in October and there was snowfall every month for the next 7 months! 

In 2002, Bill retired and I took a 3 month leave of absence from my job so that we could join a Good Sam RV caravan traveling to Alaska.  We bought a used 29ft. Class C Cobra Laguna and a Jeep Wrangler to tow behind it. As we planned for our 3 month trip, we had many anxious moments.  As novice RVers, we knew little about the lifestyle and nothing about the care and feeding of a motor home.   We also wondered how we would like being cooped up together in a 29' motor home for 3 months.  That's a lot of togetherness!  But the trip was wonderful. We learned to drive and hookup the toad (jeep), dump, fill tanks and turn around when we got lost, put up and take down the awnings, pack the closets and fridge so things didn't fly around as we drove.  We also learned by experience and observation things not to do:  don't take off with your antenna up, the  electric cord still plugged in,  a gallon of water on the counter top, or a cup of coffee on the dining table. 

 Feeling like experienced old hands after the Alcan trip, we knew we could live and love life on the road, and  decided to take the plunge.  When Stephie retired in 2004, we put the house on the market and started planning our life on the road.  The house sold, we had a huge yard sale to get rid of unwanted items and put the rest in storage.  Many hours were spent agonizing over what to take with us, how to store it, what to leave, what to sell or give away.  In the end, we made a selection of necessities like jeans, t-shirts, hiking boots and coffee pot.  We packed our bathing suits, art supplies, books, maps, laptop computer and cats.  We got passports (just in case), new glasses, medical checkups and a mailing service to handle our mail.  Oh, yeah, and cell phones, internet service for the road and electronic bill paying.  Ready, set, GO!  On July 9th, 2004, we joined the ranks of full time RVers.           

Preparing for the Road→