About Us

I guess you’d like to know who’s writing this blog and what we look like.  Okay, maybe only some of you would like to know.

This is the Pilot and me.  Bill & Vickie.  Yup, we’re pretty happy together and thoroughly excited about this new phase of our life…living  and traveling full time in an RV…with the dog.

Here’s the dog.  She’s the love of our life.  Bella, our rescued Golden Retriever, who absolutely dotes on us…and we eat it up big time!  Sad note for Bella…she is going to miss our swimming pool big time.  She is a great diver and retrieves her favorite red ball from the bottom of the pool on a regular basis.  She spots the tossed ball, circles around and then dives down with her back legs sticking straight up in the air.  When she comes up for water, it’s a thing of beauty as the water sluices off her head while she proudly displays the retrieved ball!  What a girl!

We have finally sold our house.  We’re no longer sticks and bricks owners.  We are now hotel occupants…for the time being.  Our search for an RV has intensified.  We have put to use all that we have learned and read about regarding RVs.  That special one is out there just waiting for us to pick up the keys.

We also have a residential and commercial inspection business that we used to run from our home.  The Pilot started the business after he retired from 40 years of flying…the last 16 with Continental Airlines.  The Pilot grew up helping his Dad build homes and decided to use that knowledge and inspect houses.  He likens it to inspecting a plane before every take off.  We have three wonderful inspectors who work for us and we manage the administrative end.  Now that we’re on the road, the Pilot plans to incorporate RV inspections into the business.

Pretty hunky, huh?

We’ve got our business finetuned to the point where we can take it on the road and still continue to run a class A business, with the help of our experienced, knowledeable and friendly inspectors.  Oh, Bella and I help with the business too.

I also write and, of course, have a dream novel going at the same time.  Doesn’t everyone?  I love writing about people and everyday experiences of meeting them and talking with them.  It’s one of the ways I keep extending my education.

Bella loves writing about food.  And, then more food.  So, you’ll see recipes listed in the categories.   I also feature guest bloggers who want to share their recipes and skills in cooking certain foods.  If you’d like to join us, just contact me and we’ll work out the details.

The Pilot bought me a new camera for my birthday so hopefully the recipes will feature clearer sharper photos.  However, I’m still learning.

It’s been a long journey, a little over a year now, but it will be worth it to live the best of all worlds…running our business, traveling and seeing friends and family more often.

So, between shopping for an RV and doing the business, I’ll  try  to keep this blog updated every Monday if you care to follow our adventure.

That Bella.  She thinks she’s so smart because she has her packing all done!

As soon as we find our dream RV, I’ll post photos of it.  We’ll be doing some renovations on the inside before hitting the road.  Our wonderful son and son in-law will be helping us get an office set up inside.  I love those boys!  So, keep on dropping by and follow us as we start a new chapter in our lives.

Below is the letter that we sent to our family and friends telling them of our decision to fulltime RV.

“We keep moving forward, opening up new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”      Walt Disney

We (from this point forward “we” and “our” refers to our dog Bella as well) would like to share with you our plans for the future.  We have researched endlessly and have made the final decision to sell our home and most of our belongings and buy an RV so that we can travel around the country and see the gifts of nature and history from the comfort of our living room, and/or in the comfort of the cockpit of our RV.  This transition will take several months to complete but we wanted to apprise you of this now.

Again, let us stress that we have researched this avenue thoroughly and continue to educate ourselves on not only the lifestyle change but the type of RV that we plan to buy.  While our decision to buy a Diesel Pusher motor home will undoubtedly create an active debate of which type of RV is better than another, we have looked at all options and based our decision on what will work best for us.  We respect everyone’s opinion on the type of RV that works for them and that they favor.  We ask the same of you.

The greatest gift that you can give us is one of acceptance for our decision in changing our lifestyle.  To some it may represent craziness and to others, including us, it represents a freedom to enjoy what time we have left in life.

We will always be able to stay in touch with all of you through email and our cell phones.  And, then there’s always the ever present danger of finding us in your driveway some morning as you go out to pick up your newspaper.  If that’s the case, we promise to always fold the newspaper back as neatly as we found it.  You won’t even know it was touched.  In fact, we may even invite you in for breakfast!

We’re not just going camping…we are expanding our lives and living them to the fullest.  We’re just doing it in an RV rather than the conventional stick home.  Mind you, while we won’t have to deal with yard work, cleaning out pools and dusting endless accumulated “tchochkes” (see note), we will still have the responsibility of paying bills, cleaning and maintaining (inside and out) the RV.  So, in many respects our lives will mirror our old life…just in a moving home with an endless variety of scenery.  An added plus…we can even change our neighbors at a whim!

NOTE:  Tchochke (Typically pronounced as “Chach-Kee”):  “A small piece of   worthless crap, a  decorative   knick knack with little or no purpose.    Usually an item that a burglar wouldn’t steal.”  Courtesy of Urban Dictionary

Tchochke:  A Yiddish term meaning a trinket; a knick knack.  Courtesy    Webster’s Dictionary

We give you the two different definitions of the term tchochke so you can decide which one is appropriate.  For us (maybe one of us more than the other) the deciding factor is based on how long it takes to dispose of these tchochkes.  We are leaning more towards the Urban Dictionary definition.

We will not only be on the road seeing the country but, also stopping off and visiting relatives and friends…all the while still doing our business.  Thanks to the advances of the internet and cell coverage, we will be able to work the business while traveling.

Our current plan is to be out on the road for 6-8 weeks and back home here in Texas for 6-8 weeks visiting our family, friends and doing marketing for the business.  We will always be living in the RV.  We find that will be easier than constantly packing and unpacking.

We are following in our children’s footsteps in the fact that we have moved on to a new chapter in our lives and are moving out of the house!  One of the kids refers to us as “Damn Hippies” but other than that they are supportive of our decision.

We will be updating this blog every Monday morning if you care to follow us as we get ready for our journey and what all is involved in doing this. Wish us well and watch for us as you go down the highway!

Best journeyz to all of you.

Bill & Vickie

“Over the river and through the woods to our Grandparent’s house we go—if we can find where they parked the darned thing.”  Author unknown