When we are spending the summer working in a place, we let our friends and family know and hope that travel plans intersect so that we can still see people even though we are less mobile than others.  We’ve been pretty lucky with this over the years, and our friends have gone to some trouble to change their routes and come and see us.  this year though we are in a pretty remote location and a person has to really want to see us to make the trip.  So when I got an email from Howard & Linda that they had carved out 4 days to spend with us, I was really happy. Not only are they the people who inspired us to become full-timers, but they are also our friends and a lot of fun to hang out with.  I’m sure if you’ve been reading my blog you know who they are, but just in case you are new to this blog and have never heard of theirs, they have a website called RV-Dreams and in my opinion it is the single best resource on the web for people who are considering becoming full time RVers. And more importantly, they and our other friends we met through RV dreams rally are family now.

Part of our family tradition is to cook for people on their travel days so they don’t have to cook at the end of a long driving day. When they arrive on Monday Lee pulled out all the stops.  He made one pound rib-eye steaks, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob and Linda brought a bottle of wine, which she and I thoroughly enjoyed.  We ate, and talked, and laughed and had a really great time, and even though she was fighting a nasty cold stayed by the fire until 9pm. We had a lot to talk about, because after 13 years of full timing in a fifth wheel, Linda and Howard had recently switched to a much smaller Class C. The transition is really interesting to hear about and I love seeing all the mods she made on the inside to accommodate the “downsize.”

 

 

 

 

Tuesday we had to work, so Linda took it easy trying to recover from the cold, but found time to finish a latch hook project I had started at the reunion rally and never had time to finish.  When I came to see her after work, it was completely done, which was lovely since it probably would have taken me weeks to finish it.  I’m just not very crafty.  Howard took advantage of the time and hiked the 13 mile trail around Timothy Lake.  I was really glad to hear that he thought the trail was in good condition and I could tell he really enjoyed himself from the big smile on his face when we walked back.  I was on call Tuesday night, so we hung out at their site and had a cheese plate that Linda put together, then we all called it an early night with plans to paddle Trillium Lake early the next morning.

 

 

 

There is so much to do in this area, I had thought long and hard about what activities to pick for our days off and finally settled on a paddle at Trillium Lake.  We have had an inflatable boat from the very beginning, and we purchased it after watching a demo at our first RV-Dreams rally.  We don’t get to use it much, but we are always glad we have it, and were especially glad we had similar boats when we discovered we were missing our pump adaptor, but no worries, we could use Howard and Linda’s.  We drove the 16 miles to the lake and Howard turned to me with a grin and said, “Nice view.”

 

 

 

Linda likes to travel the lakes edge, especially because she is participating in a trash pickup challenge.  So we took our time going around the lake and Linda ended up with a pretty decent haul of trash.  Don’t get the wrong idea, the lake was actually pretty clean, but it is very popular and she was vigilant so she ended up with a nice pile by the end.  The weather was a gorgeous 81 degrees, and in the morning we had clear skies with poofy clouds.  It was perfect for pictures, so let me share some with you to hopefully give you a feel for the day.

 

Close to noon the clouds started rolling in, which obscured the mountain, plus the lake was getting crowded.  It is a popular place for family picnicking, so, if you are looking for a quiet paddle I definitely recommend going very early in the morning.  We took a few more pictures, I loved the cloud reflection on the water, and then packed up our boats and headed out.  We had one more adventure that day, which I will share in the next post., but I will leave you with one more thought.  At one point when we were out on the lake, Linda said, “What would you have been doing in your old life on a Wednesday?” I laughed and said, “Certainly not this,” but her comment really stuck with me.  We’ve been living the full time lifestyle long enough now that it has become our new normal.  There is nothing wrong with that, but it’s important once in awhile to take a moment and really appreciate how extraordinary this life is.  No, it isn’t perfect, but there are some incredibly special moments and we are really grateful that we were able to spend this one with our friends.

 

 

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Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.