September Visitors

Since I’ve been buried in house projects this summer with no time to get out and travel as of yet, I was absolutely overjoyed to have two visits from RVing friends this month to help fulfill (and re-energize) my vagabonding wanderlust. 

(Unfortunately, I was so engulfed in conversation that I neglected to get photos of either visit, so I hope my friends don’t mind if I re-post a few of their blog photos here…)

Last month, Jack and Trisha from HappyTimesTwo, were up in northern Wisconsin and I assumed they’d simply be continuing eastward across to the Michigan U.P on their grand circle tour of the U.S. this year.   But to my delight, they emailed saying they planned to dip down to Chicago to visit a bunch of friends and wanted to meet me for dinner one night.  What a thrill to finally meet this dynamic duo!  If my giddy excitement felt a bit like Santa & Mrs. Claus were coming to town, well, it’s because…they were!

Jack’s fluffy white beard often gets the attention of both big and little kids alike, so to clear up any of their confusion, he’s often wears a red shirt with a cute red hat that says “Santa on Vacation”—and that’s no lie!  Jack and Trisha need to be back in northern Georgia by early November so that Santa Jack can resume his official Santa duties for the holiday season!

Upon Trisha’s retirement from the ministry early this year, they made a couple of major decisions.  One was to spend most of this year traveling around the entire U.S. in their new motorhome (their Winnie View is the same year/model as mine, so I got to see first-hand Jack’s fabulous mods…some that I hope to be copying very soon!). 

Their second big change was to radically alter their daily eating habits and embrace the near-vegan Eat to Live diet.  Now, while I’ve managed to only lose about 30 lbs so far on this diet, Jack and Trisha have incredibly lost over 100 pounds in the past 6 months!!!  How have they done it?

Well, they’ve loved discovering local vegan cafés and farmers markets around the country.  But, likely more key, is that they’ve embraced an abundantly active lifestyle….

They’ve hiked across deserts and up mountaintops--

kayaked through Great Lakes sea caves--

and biked through countless quant little towns, prairies, and forests--


Trisha and Jack are truly a delightful couple whose enthusiasm for life is simply contagious!  Thanks for the wonderful dinner and your ongoing inspiration to show how bountiful each day can become if one simply reaches out to embrace it!

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My second September visitor was full-time RVer, Kamper Bob – a bona fide Recreation Engineer!  We met briefly in Arizona a few winters ago and have followed each others blogs ever since.  Bob has a passion for life-long learning and great skills for renovating fiberglass “egg”-style trailers (among many, many other things!).  He seems to quickly master just about any electrical, mechanical, carpentry, plumbing system he ever meets.  

We met up for a morning-long breakfast and gabfest as he was passing through Chicago on his was from the fine Northeast to the great Southwest. It was great to get his first-hand observations and insights on full-timer life, compare notes on our various projects and travels, and also wrassle a few of life’s great philosophical questions for good measure!

I was very envious to hear that he is on his way back to Death Valley National Park where he will volunteer again this winter.  What an amazing place to be…one of my all-time favorite national parks!

Bob full-times in a 5th-wheel Skamp trailer, and then uses his small Yamaha motorcycle (affectionately called “Half-Pint”) to run errands and take off-road and overnight excursions away from basecamp.

One trip he did last winter was up to Death Valley’s famous (and rather remote) “Racetrack”  -- what an amazing place to pitch a tent for the night!

Thanks again, Bob, for stopping by to take me to breakfast.  Can’t wait to read your posts from Death Valley this winter (and see you down the road again one day soon!).