The colorful flowers are receding and a light chill is in the evening air in these final few days on the prairie.
Most of the kids in Illinois have now headed back to school, and the campgrounds are starting to thin out from their summer peaks. All fine with me….more quiet prairie to enjoy!
This week I celebrated one year as a full-time RVer—my 1st Full-TimeRVersary! It seems like a lifetime ago that Millie and I were pulling the Winnie out of my empty house’s driveway for the very last time. Has it really just been one single year?
It’s no exaggeration to say that this has been the most monumental year of my life. The steady, predictably flat road my life had been following for the past few decades decidedly met some big curves, peaks, and valleys this year. Life (both the good and the bad) got amplified….loudly.
I set off from Chicago last August with a loose plan to spend the year out West leisurely touring from Baja to the Canadian Rockies. I would never have predicted spending almost half of the year right back here in Chicago where I began.
But still, my first year racked up a respectable 7,000 miles to the bottom of Baja and back—not too shabby!
So what things have I learned from this 1-year roller coaster ride? What 5 pearls of wisdom can I pass on to next year’s crop of full-timers?
It’s been 3 weeks since I returned to my little rolling home on the prairie. The gentle rhythmic hum of crickets and cicadas have replaced the harsh, sudden screeches of the Ring-necked Pheasants. Life on the northern Illinois prairie in late July and August is more calm and laid back than the hectic start of the season in May.
In between my weekly radiation treatments, I’ve been staying at my 2 favorite forest preserve campgrounds (Burnidge and Big Rock on the outskirts of Chicago). No better place to heal and get reacquainted with the nature I have so missed these last few months.
