Traveling Square Dancers: Our start as Full-Timers

Who We Are

We sold our home in June, 2007, and spent the next 7 1/2 years traveling full time in a Cross Roads Fifth Wheel. (We had been traveling during our summers for several years before going full time.) We loved the full-time lifestyle! Each summer we spent a month or two volunteering in State Parks, first in Indiana at McCormick's Creek State Park, near our family, then in later years as the grandchildren got older, at the Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico. We spent 6 months each winter at Cactus Gardens RV Resort in Yuma, AZ, where I worked mornings in the park office. The remaining months were spent on the road, seeing this great country of ours. Our favorite places are our National Parks. Anita loved photography and the freedom of digital photography, taking sometimes hundreds of photos in a day. We hiked as much as our legs will allow. We also really enjoyed square and round dancing as we travel across country, and meeting all the wonderful people who dance and/or travel.

But as in all things, there comes a time for change, and we decided it was time to create roots once more. In the fall of 2014, we purchased a home in Cactus Gardens, and in the spring of 2015, sold the 5th wheel. Anita also retired in the spring. We will continue to travel each summer, but for a shorter period of time. We hope to continue blogging about those trips, but it will obviously be on a more limited basis than in the past.

Please explore our past posts if you are interested in traveling this great country. You'll find an index in the left column. We hope you enjoy our blog, and appreciate all comments

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Our start as Full-Timers

We first started traveling in an RV in 1991.

In 1992, we sold the mini and bought a 24' fifth wheel.

Each year and each trip, our love for the lifestyle grew.

In 2004, we took a 5 month trip, beginning in Indiana, northward through Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South and North Dakota, across the top of the nation through Montana on U.S. 2, down though Idaho, along the Columbia Gorge and up into Washington, down the west coast of Oregon and California on U.S. 101, eastward through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, Louisiana north in Mississippi on the Natchez Trace through Alabama and Tennessee, across Kentucky and on home.

In 2005, we spent our first full winter in the RV (in Yuma, AZ). That year, we were away from our house 8 months out of the 12, and the experience convinced us that we would love to become full-timers, an idea we had toyed with for years.

We put the house on the market, and for 2 summers, had no lookers. Then this past spring, we found a newer 5^th wheel and truck, and sold the house within 4 days.

Within a month, we were living in our new home.

We spent the months of June and August camp hosting in central Indiana at McCormick’s Creek State Park, June in Campground Loop A, and August in Loop B, shown here.