HappyTrails

A morning ritual

It's not obvious that we live fulltime in our motorhome right now.  We are staying close to a family member who has been having some medical issues and so our scenery isn't changing as does when RVers move around  North America.  When we lived in our former "home," we frequently enjoyed espresso, lattes and cappuccinos at the MANY coffee retailers in our area.  We began to realize how costly it was to pay $3-4 for every drink and sometimes the quality was not what as expected.  Jack, being the kind of guy who likes quality and convenience, researched the equipment and best sources and before I could say "gee, I'd love a latte" we had everything necessary to do them ourselves.    I couldn't face the day without my coffee.  The extravagance of owning a burr grinder and good quality (not the highest most expensive available) espresso machine has more than paid for itself in cost and convenience. Yes, this is some added weight but we feel it is well worth it for our lifestyle needs.  Here are some real life photos of our morning ritual in our motorhome.  I couldn't face the day without my coffee.

Tamping the ground coffee before going to the espresso machine

Starting the espresso making process

The delicious end result.  I tasted it to assure that I'd be presenting a good photo, hence the drips on the cup....hehe!  YUM!

Still fulltiming, just more localized

I've been thinking a lot about the fulltiming RV lifestyle lately. Although we haven't been moving many miles in recent weeks we still live fulltime in our well appointed diesel pusher. As longtime readers know we had a 32 foot fifth wheel prior to owning our motorhome and we've seen many a 5th wheel during our travels. I always note the living space and storage provided by 5th wheel RVs but our current situation is a perfect reason for me to be thankful for the motorhome. During this time where family support is needed, we would have a very difficult time parking a 5th wheel and a truck so that it wasn't an intrusion. Other benefits of the motorhome are the ease of moving it to replenish propane and water and to perform the normal tank maintenance. I am convinced that for convenience (from our perspective and needs) the Dutch Star is just right! We are thrown many curve balls on this life's journey and fulltime RVing is no exception. I guess the places we spend our time are just a little bit better. Kidding aside, being able to help family members when needed is a little appreciated side benefit of life on the road in an RV.

We look forward to some shorter adventures throughout the next few weeks. My hobbies are giving me lots of projects to keep busy and of course looking for photo ops is at the top of my to-do list every day. I'll be posting photos soon.

Happy Trails

Our 2005 and 2006 Travels

Our travels in 2005 and 2006 (to date) have included the states indicated on map.  We also spent several weeks in Ontario, Canada and will be posting a Canadian map of provinces visited for Summer 2006.

Sleeping Flanagan.....

When we became fulltime RVers we wondered how our cat Flanagan would do .  This is a typical pose for our feline traveling companion.

 

Time lapse photography of Flanagan sleeping.....

 

Sometimes, it's difficult to drive on because Flanagan considers the drivers' and co-pilot seats to be his very own couch.

Hours later...r i d i c u l o u s!

 

A big HI to new readers

Once again, I'd like to welcome new readers to our fulltime journal.  We appreciate all the folks who drop in to find out about the fulltime RV lifestyle or just to check in on what we might be doing.  We've met so many folks on the road and we hope we'll have opportunities to rendezvous with some these new friends.  This blog is a communication tool for us to use to stay in touch and keep those interested informed  about our future  travels.   

A little blog information:  we can see the number of times the site is viewed but we cannot always tell who has stopped.  Sometimes there is an indication that the viewer came in through another site.  We like the comments section and even though it requests an email address, that address is not used for any purpose other than to minimize spam. So comment as often as you like and you won't get any commercial spam.  Oh, and thanks for the kudos on our photos. 

We are still in Las Cruces waiting for a few business matters to be cleared up...no, not our taxes.  We took care of that already.  It's amazing how simple taxes are when you retire and sell all your worldly goods and property. 

Happy Trails!

Best Friends

                           

Day at The Pier

We started out for Coffee Pot Bayou to look for birds to add to our list.  We drove along the scenic drive and found ourselves at one of the St Petersburg tourist destinations known as "The Pier."  This long drive with an observatory type structure out on the end looked like a good birding spot.  Since we arrived a little after 1P.M., it also looked like a good place for lunch.  The Pier is also where the Aquarium is located. 

We walked around and took an elevator up a few levels and found ourselves at Columbia restaurant. We liked the menu and when we saw one of our favorite one pot recipes (that our friends Cindy and Shaun told us about), Piccadillo, on the menu we were hooked.  The resturant takes up the entire fourth level of the observatory and guests are seated all around the edges by large windows. We tried to stick to our lowfat approach to meals by choosing Florida Grouper and Red Snapper. Everything was well prepared and presented nicely. Kudos to the chef on a very busy lunchtime. 

As we left the observatory we saw a number of pelicans hanging around.  These fascinating birds were very accommodating and we took a few photos that show pelicans in a variety of poses:

This one is Jack's with his Nikon D70

Here are a few of mine:

More will be available on Flickr (when I get it working right).

Birding Links

Link: www.bombayhook.gov.