Three years on now...

[mojo]

I remember sending you to Quail Hollow CG outside St. George when you were first starting out. It looks like you have figured out how to find some great campsites since then! Speedy recovery and onward to more adventures...

[MikeandCarol]

Well done! Sorry about the ankle, but without it we might not have this video. Hope you’re back in action soon. Thanks for sharing. Mike

[banderabob]

Great video, and motivation to see more in the coming year!

[westcoastas]

Ha! Mojo, your suggestion pays dividends every year - we were there a few days just last month. We've made good friends there with the various camphosts there: Jamie, Kevin, Helen, Chuck, Jackie, and Scott.

And those pics of the scary movie on our TV? Yep...Lost In America. Thanks Mojo for helping us get started.

[davidrrand]

Great vid! Well done. Feel your pain, literally. Twisted and fractured my ankle Saturday evening and trip to the ER Christmas Eve for x-ray. Two slight breaks on the inside and severe sprain on the outside. Thursday appointment at the orthopedic practice and hoping can avoid surgery. That could really crash my Streaming plans��. Hope you guys heal soon an Happy New Year ��

[westcoastas]

Zapper, that is what I'm telling myself. The embarrassing thing was I sprained it while walking down a flat dirt road; the three inches of dust hid a rock which I stumbled upon and sent me drown like I'd been shot. I tried to walk it off the next four miles but it eventually swelled up. Then I twisted it again the next day in a parking lot. Then I wrenched my back the day after that lifting my 7-gal propane bottle onto the tailgate while balancing on one leg. And finally the fourth day I lost my balance after dispensing the crutches while urinating in the great open desert and fell face-first into a sage bush. I'm a slow learner. My wife rolls her eyes.

David, I have a doctor appointment on Friday and hoping, too, there is no serious damage. I have no plans for including any footage of said embarrassments next year.

[Lily&Me]

Geeeeeez, I’m rolling my eyes, too.

Seriously, I hope you heal up and are back on both feet soon.

I broke an ankle some years back, at a campground where in the semi dark and trying to start a fire I stepped hard into a very deep, leaf-filled gully...twisted and broke the ankle I landed on, and subluxed the knee on the other leg on my way down.

I have also compounded injuries I was trying to treat myself , and ended up needing physical therapy to get all muscles working properly again and in the intent to which they were created.

Listen to your doctor, do what they say and don’t try to tough it out...that’s my suggestion.

Good luck.

Maggie

[m.hony]

Has the blue CrewMax been traded for a newer silver Double Cab?

[westcoastas]

Yes, Optimus was totaled after we hit the cow last year. We were sad about it but we really love our updated Gigantor. Progressive Ins was really good to us.

[malinois38]

Great video, thank you for taking the time to put it together!
R & R for the ankle.
Yoga for the back (33 yrs post back surgery, PM me for more tips)
And be glad your wife is such an accomplished fisherwomen! Someone has to put meat on the table while your laid up

Happy New Year!

[KU9L]

Originally Posted by westcoastas

This past October marked our third anniversary of life on the road. I am laid up with a sprained ankle and wrenched lower back while we sit out winter, boondocking in the Arizona desert, just below Utah. With time on my hands I resort to making home movies. Please forgive my repetition but the desert is a quiet and still place. I have culled old images from three videos, added a few new ones, and attached them to a new song - a song that most likely refers to the songwriter's past drug demons but one that I refer to suburbia and the rat race.

Merry Christmas everybody, and wishes for a Happy New Year. Be safe out there and happy Airstreaming.

Beautiful. I shared that video on my FB page, some folks would say you lived more in 3 years than some do in a lifetime. ;-)

I think back 3 years ago when we came off the road from 6 years of full-timing, to do some badly needed eldercare for my Inlaws. We became RV park managers and mom lived another 4 months while we worked with her rehab and relived a shared bunch of memories with her. RVing has given us that gift of a slice a time to be with our loved ones in their final months and days that might not have happened had we still been stuck in a dimly lit cubicle working the corporate lifestyle.

Three years later after working 100 hours weeks, I have a cataract, torn shoulder, a torn ACL, and a $15K deductible on my affordable care Florida Blue health insurance, lol. But dad still needs us and who else would show him how to get the tabs back on his tablet so he can check the obituaries to see if any of his friends or former coworkers have passed?

Get well my friend and see you on the road less traveled. Every AS that has come into our CG these past 3 years get a thorough review as the owners can't stop talking about them enough. At the RV Supershow next week in Tampa we hope to narrow down our choice of AS to one or two FP's that will work very well for us. Doing the lifestyle that you have had the past 3 years, what recommendation would you make as to the size limitation in fitting into all of your boondocking sites I might ask? Having to do it again, would you go shorter or longer? Thank you, sir!

[westcoastas]

Davey, I feel for you, both for your aches and pains, and your care-giving. The end game for both in the care of our loved ones and ourselves is difficult at best and heartwrenching at times; we all face it at some point.

When the time comes again for you, I can only describe our needs and our 28-footer has been perfect for us - not too big and not too small. We do a good amount of scouting and careful towing and spotting for our boondocking spots. We were lucky in that our first and only choice was the right one. We bought used and the original owner had taken good care of it and any operational problems. I can't predict the state of health care insurance in the coming years but I can say Utah's current state is healthy. I think there's more room out West for folks to stretch out and enjoy solitude, if that's what you prefer. There are four seasons but we use our wheels. I wish you good health, productive time spent with your father-in-law, and opportunity for the road again in the future.

[Piggy Bank]

Thanks so very much for sharing.

You are living my dream. It will be a decade more before we can do the math and see when we can hit the road like that.

I adore the West and find it so revitalizing.

Do you have a "fancy" camera, or phone, or mixture? Your photos are really nice, and learning more about photography is on my want-to-do list.

If you need something to do to pass the time, how about posting a "top ten" list of some of the places you have been and things you have done.

One more question, is do you have solar, generator(s) or a combination?

Thanks and Happy 2018

[westcoastas]

"Do you have a "fancy" camera, or phone, or mixture? Your photos are really nice, and learning more about photography is on my want-to-do list.

If you need something to do to pass the time, how about posting a "top ten" list of some of the places you have been and things you have done.

One more question, is do you have solar, generator(s) or a combination?"


I bought a $500 Sony RX100 point and shoot back in 2014. It has a bit of video capability but I'm hoping to get a better action camera this year. I use iPhoto and iMovie on our Macbook Pro. I'm not computer literate but these programs are relatively intuitive and when you're out on the road, one has time to mess around with programs.

One of the great things about posting on YouTube, Instagram, and social media (like airforums) stories, photos, and videos of places you have visited is folks get to share their experiences. One of the bad things about posting is folks sharing their experiences. I have read stories about Instagram causing more visitations and soon after the spot gets overrun. I do like to share our experiences here and wish everyone with a RV or Airstream can do likewise; we've been inspired by others far more adventurous than we are and try to get out there a little beyond our comfort zone. What I'm saying is it's a bittersweet thing: our public lands out West are getting more popular by the year and RVs facilitate peoples' dreams of getting out there, and with that popularity comes wear and tear on those lands; my wife and I are part of the problem. But I get the sense that folks here tend to be more respectful of our outdoors and the way we all travel.

With that said, we've only been doing this a bit over three years and all our travels are out West. We've been very lucky and have enjoyed each of the states with no itinerary or reservations on our docket. This would be our short list of favorites:

1. The Grand Staircase National Monument. Most folks want to see the Big Five National Parks in Utah (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches) but we prefer the less crowded Grand Staircase. One of our favorite spots to boondock is overlooking a cliff that looks out over the Escalante River. We've gone there the last three springs and have managed to stay out there two to four weeks because it's too cold for most tenters and the area is largely uncrowded. Escalante is a great small town - a lot of good folks.
2. The Sawtooth National Recreation Area just north of Ketchum, Idaho. A lot of folks go to Yellowstone but the Sawtooths are largely uncrowded. Late summer and early fall don't require any air conditioning and there's a good amount of boondocking and fishing throughout the Sawtooths. Ketchum is my favorite small town - it's much to expensive for our budget but we were able to mingle with the rich folks while enjoying the good life of shops and eateries. There's a beautiful little library in town and the best YMCA I've ever seen, complete with a climbing wall. I can see why Papa Hemingway lived and died in Ketchum.
3. Glacier National Park. All you have to do is look at the photographs online - it's amazing.
4. Olympic National Park. Green and rainy - perfect for Airstream life.
5. The eastern Sierras of California. Plenty of boondocking and trout. We lived out a dream of boondocking two months two falls ago, fishing for trout almost every day. Never in my wildest dreams while caught in the rat race did I ever think we could live and breathe in the Sierras, and fish for two months straight.

One more tip that we'd like to return to and that's boondocking above the small town of Creede, Colorado.

We have a 2000w Honda generator. We'd like to get solar and probably will just get a 100w Renogy suitcase for charging our two 6-volt batteries. We like to watch movies a lot and using our Honda is fine since we're usually boondocking away from others and not bothering them. Heck, we've watched movies past midnight on some occasions. The sense of solitude is a wonderful thing. To actually be able to step outside and howl at the moon at midnight is so liberating.

Lastly, and I've said it elsewhere, the thing I like the most about our travels is that I think we move around more like travelers and less like tourists - the Airstreams enable that. If we had more money, we'd love to see and move about more often...but staying put for months brings about unforeseen experiences and relationships that somehow turn into lifelong benefits. Adventure isn't always about climbing mountains or hiking through slots - sometimes it's discovering different ways of living with others.

[Roadtech]

Spectacular video, wonderful song. I just ordered the album. Thank you.

[Piggy Bank]

Thanks!

We have the honda 2000 also but have wondered about adding solar. It's reassuring to hear you have been managing spectacularly with only that.

One more question-did your wife already know how to fish when you embarked? Learning fish is also on my want-to-do list. Any resources or suggestions? Videos/guides/just do it?

[westcoastas]

Piggy Bank, I imagine the price of gas will go back up again some day, so a solar suitcase will at least charge the batteries.

We are simple bait fisherwoman & fisherman. If you ever read or watched A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, you would know we are at the lowest level of catching fish. Still, to catch dinner, run up to your Airstream, and have fresh trout is the stuff of dreams. I highly recommend reading that book and then go to Montana or Idaho. Any instructional book or video will do; like golf, it just takes practice. Unlike golf, you won't have a miserable day fishing.

As for my wife's skills, I am the bait man, the tackle man, and net man. But sometimes it's better to be lucky than skilled. I have no photographs of myself to show - she owns all the bragging rights!

[Piggy Bank]

Thanks.

A film I enjoy, I will read the book.

And I never have taken to golf. Probably due to lack of effort on my part for practicing.