It was 10 years ago on a frigid blustery day that Bill and I packed up, shedding all "Pitman responsibility" and took off for parts known and unknown for our Epic Adventure. We had two destinations firmly planted - one to Pensacola to visit our cousins Ellen and Larry; the other to be in San Antonio at the beginning of February because Jon (who had just moved to Australia) was going to be there for a week of training. Other than that, well, the road was wide open. I had been ready to go for awhile - took Bill awhile to get on the same page but finally, he was there. He had found a poem written by an 82 year old man dying of cancer. In it, he talked about what he would do IF he had his life to live over!! He didn't, but we did. We bought an 18 foot Hi-Lo travel trailer, some new sleeping bags and other 'comforts of home' and hitched it all to our old '87 foot Ford van. It got us where we needed to go - well, there were some initial challenges getting over the mountains as we headed to Asheville, NC, but it made it. After some repair work, we were on our way. Maybe this was the birth of PhotoSchmoozer but before the digital camera. WE took film pictures, had them developed and then went to Kinko's to upload them to our website. We did this for about 7 weeks and then, well, it was toooooo much work, so the journey continued without the website!
Would we do it over again? It's 10 years later and we are a tad bit wiser, so if/when we go, it will be with a car and motels. The spirit of the freedom of the road suited us for more than 90 days. We got to our destinations and then on to the CA coast. Camping at the CA state seashore parks was a favorite - falling asleep at night with the Pacific Ocean lulling us to sleep. There are so many adventures...might share a few as the days go on because we have found the CD and the website photos.
We stopped off in VA to say so long to the family...lunch was fun - maneuvering the trailer / van in a crowded parking lot was one of our first tastes of the challenges of spaces. Obviously we did it all - this time - well, there is a trip around the world with Jared Diamond that sounds rather special. The only challenge with that - we would have to win the lottery at least because how else would we pay for the $75,000 price tag? Hey hope and dreams keep one alive. Until then, we have wonderful memories and now create new adventures daily. For the moment, we are calling ourselves retired - quite the different adventure
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