WE SAW "HIDDEN FIGURES"

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 35 Mostly Cloudy High 53)

We recently saw "Hidden Figures" which was based on a true story.

Every once in a while you see a movie that is one of the best you have seen. "Hidden Figures" was just such a movie for us. The acting and direction were superb but even better was the true story that was the basis for the movie.

"Hidden Figures" tells the story of African-American woman mathematicians that until now were largely left out of the history of the era. Based on a book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly that tells the story of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan who are finally getting recognized for their contributions to our nascent space program in the early 1960s and beyond. These three were part of a pool of mathematicians that were "human computers" or "computers in skirts" that checked  calculations on paper without digital computers.

Before the digital computers were available Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory for the first American in space Alan Shepard by hand. She also worked on the trajectory and reentry for John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth. In fact there were some questions on the calculations for the reentry, “Get the girl, check the numbers,” Glenn said, referring to Johnson. “If she says they’re good, I’m good to go.”

Mary Jackson was a mathematician that had an engineers mind so she went to night school while still working and became the first African-American female engineer at NASA.

Dorothy Vaughan was the first African-American manager at NASA, male or female. Trained as a mathematician she taught herself computer programming and ended up as a manager.

We highly recommend this movie, it is as empowering and uplifting a movie as we have seen in a while.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

UPDATE ON HEALTHCARE

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 32 Mostly Sunny High 59) 

We never said the move to Texas for Bob's insurance was going to be easy or fun. When Bob signed up for the HMO insurance he picked a Primary Care at a clinic with multiple doctors in Kerrville Texas. When he got the insurance card there was a different doctor. Unfortunately he thought he was assigned a different doctor in the clinic.

It was not fun when we got to our Monday morning appointments. Turns out the assigned doctor was in Livingston Texas. Bob had to change his Primary Care or pay full price. He first tried the 800 number but calling on a Monday morning was a long process. While on hold he tried to use his phone and the website but the last name was unique enough he could never find the doctor. After an hour he finally talked to customer service and changed. By this time it was too late for his appointment that day and his initial visit was delayed a week.

Jo on the other hand had a great first appointment and liked her doctor.

One more update on the healthcare front involves our cat JJ.

Off and on he has been sneezing and wheezing. We changed his food and he got better so we thought food allergy after it got better. When it came back and persisted we decided to take him to the vet in Kerrville. Turns out he has a respiratory infection and is on antibiotics for a couple of days and is already better.

We'll keep you posted on our healthcare adventures.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ADDED MORE FLICKR SETS

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 45 Sunny with Winds Subsiding High 67) 

We use flickr.com for all of photos online.

With all of our travel this summer and dealing with data limits on our jetpack we haven't uploaded photos for awhile. Since we were on the last day of our plan recently and having date remaining for the month we uploaded a number of our stays. We added albums for April 2016 once we left Goodyear Arizona and includes stops at: Winslow AZ, Albuquerque NM, Tucumcari NM, Liberal KS, Wichita KS, Kansas City MO area, Stanton IA, Storm Lake IA, Center Point IA, North Utica IL, Elkhart IN, Sault Ste. Marie MI, Newberry MI, Houghton MI and Deerbrook WI.

Here are some of the photos that you will see if you go to flickr.com. A collection of meeting family, great sunsets, big ships going through the Soo Locks, waterfalls and shipwrecks.

It was tough to pick a few pictures for all these great places we visited. We have more photos to upload so stay tuned.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO KERRVILLE TEXAS

Currently in Kerrville Texas (Low 38 Mostly Sunny and Mild High and Mild 74) 

We departed Sheffield Texas yesterday and headed to Kerrville. We noticed these great rock cutouts on Interstate 10 so the road could be completed. Here is one example.

It was approximately 190 miles, this was the route we took.



While we are here we are staying at the campground in Kerrville-Schreiner Park.

How long we stay this trip will depend on how long it takes to establish Bob with his new doctors. 

Now we are going to play a game called 'Pick a Forecast'.

Kerrville TX
Friday Mostly Sunny and Mild High 74
Overnight Patchy Clouds Low 45
Saturday Mostly Sunny and Mild High 75

Goodyear AZ
Friday Occasional Rain High 56
Overnight Rain Tapering Off Low 47
Saturday A Couple of Showers High 60

Kansas City MO
Friday Cloudy and Breezy High 53
Overnight Mostly Cloudy Low 37
Saturday Partly Sunny and Mild High 56

Des Moines IA
Friday Cloudy High 45
Overnight A Shower in the Evening with Clouds Low 39
Saturday Cloudy and Mild High 75

We do this for our friends still in Goodyear wondering how our weather is here and for friends and relatives in the midwest.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO SHEFFIELD TEXAS

Currently in Sheffield TX (Low 38 Mostly Sunny Currently 43) 
Heading to Kerrville TX (Currently 49 Clearing and Mild High 71)

After one night in Van Horn Texas we departed yesterday and headed to Sheffield, also in Texas. Along the way we saw some natural gas being burnt off. 

It was approximately 205 miles. This is the route we took.



We stayed at the Pecos Village RV and Mobile Home Park for 1 night. The best thing we can say is that it is good for a one night stopover to cut a long trip into two legs. All of our GPS devices had a horrible time finding these sites. We unhooked so Bob could go get diesel, the closest being 18 miles away. There are no restaurants or groceries in Sheffield either. Jo was thinking, "Bob what have you done to me now".

We are leaving for Kerrville Texas today.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO VAN HORN TEXAS

Currently in Van Horn TX (Low 29 Cloudy Currently 33) 
Heading to Sheffield TX (Currently 41 Warmer with Clouds Breaking High 61)

We didn't have the greatest time in Deming this visit. We both had colds in different stages which caused us to stay a day longer than planned. This allowed our sports watching (NFL Playoffs and college basketball) to get even worse as the Chiefs lost, the Iowa State men's basketball team lost Saturday and Monday night and the Iowa State women's basketball team lost on Sunday. We can understand the Russians hacking the Cowboys game so that "America's Team" lost but what does Putin have against the Chiefs and Cyclones :-)

Plus it rained pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday. It was time to leave so we departed yesterday and headed to Van Horn Texas. We finally made it to Texas.

It was approximately 220 miles, here is the route we took.



Here is  shot from the road as we are approaching Las Cruces New Mexico. As we were descending into Las Cruces the snow capped mountains in the distance looked neat.

You know you are in God's country when you see this.

We stayed one night at the Southern Star RV Park as we continue our trek to Kerrville Texas to establish ourselves with all the doctors there.

We had our first clock change in a long time as we are now on Central time. We leave today for Sheffield Texas.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO DEMING NEW MEXICO

Currently in Deming NM (Low 37 Clouds and Sun with a Shower High 62) 

After an overnight stay in Tucson we departed yesterday for Deming New Mexico. It was approximately 215 miles to Deming, a little longer than we normally like but this one was all interstate which allows us to go a little longer. Here is the route we took.



We took a stop at a picturesque rest area in southeast Arizona.

Of course we had to take a picture of our Lifestyle next to a semi. The red rock in the distance made this a neat shot.

We will be here 3 nights as we continue our trek to Kerrville Texas. We are staying at the Escapees Dream Catcher RV Park.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO TUCSON ARIZONA

Currently in Tucson AZ (Low 40 Clear Currently 41)
Heading to Deming NM (Currently 38 Sunny to Partly Cloudy High 65) 

We left Goodyear AZ yesterday on our trek to Texas to establish doctors for Bob for this years version of ObamaCare (aka The Unaffordable Scary Act). We drove to Tucson Arizona. This is the route we took on our 174 mile journey.



We took a little longer route (AZ85 and I-8) through Gila Bend to avoid downtown Phoenix traffic. Bob could not figure out how to embed the alternate directions map so that gives him one thing more to work on. We are staying one night at the LazyDays KOA in Tucson.

We depart today for Deming New Mexico where we will stay a little longer over the weekend so we can watch the NFL Playoffs.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

CATCHING UP - REVIEW OF OAKWOOD RV PARK IN CLEAR LAKE IOWA

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 41 Partial Sunshine High 64) 

We are way behind in our blogging of our summer activities. We hope to have them all posted before we begin our travels this year :-)

Catching up on our stay in Clear Lake Iowa at the Oakwood RV Park. This park has one of the longest, if not the longest pull thrus we have seen in our over 7 years of fulltiming. The GPS got us right to the park. The roads and sites are gravel. We had convenient 50a full hookups and a great line of sight for our roof mounted dish. Here is a picture of one of the long pull thrus from the web and a google satellite view. We forgot to take the requisite photos of the Lifestyle in the lot.

We had a great time in Clear Lake. Bob's sister and friends joined us for camping. We did some sightseeing and eating out and cooking at the camp site. A great time had by all. This is our go to camping site while in Clear Lake and we will be back.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

TIPS FOR RV'NG - STAYTION PRODUCTS

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 41 Partly Sunny High 67) 

From time to time we like to share tips that make our RV lifestyle more enjoyable. This time we want to share Staytion products for the shower.

RV showers are small and there is a need for storage within the shower for shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. We have tried various suction cup products with not much success until we came across Staytion products. The great thing about these products is that there is a patented red line warning system. If you start to see more red you just push the button in and restore the great suction. The old style suction cups would fail about every month but the Staytion suction cups with red line warning have only failed once on us and that was because we ignored or missed the red line warning. There are other products that we have not mentioned here.

Here is the soap dispenser

Hooks for microfibers or squeege 

Large bin for shampoo, etc.

We are very happy with these shower products that can also be utilized in a sticks and bricks.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

HOLE IN THE ROCK IN PAPAGO PARK

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 41 Times of Clouds and Sun High 64) 

We recently went with our friends Bob and Wilma to Hole-in-the-Rock in Papago Park in Phoenix Arizona. Hole-in-the-Rock is a series of openings eroded in a small hill of red sandstone. 

The hill was formed beginning about 15 million years from the accumulation of materials eroding from granite. The openings are thought to have been eroded by water. There is evidence that the earliest inhabitants of the region, the Hohokam, used the openings to record the sunlight to mark the season, notably the equinoxes and the solstices.

There is an easy trail to the back side of the hill and you can walk right up to the openings. 

Here is our truck in the parking lot seen through the large hole.

Another shot through the hole.

One of the smaller holes.

Although we didn't walk up to Hunt's Tomb we did see it in the distance.

Hunt's Tomb is a small white pyramid behind a fence at the top of a hill within Papago Park. George Hunt, the first Governor of the state of Arizona, built the tomb built in 1931 to entomb his wife. He was placed there after his death in 1934. This a Roadside America attraction.

It was a real good day.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2016 WAS THE YEAR FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT FULLTIMING

Currently in Goodyear AZ (Low 53 Cooler Rain in the Morning High 57)

Happy New Year!!

This year more than any year we have been asked about living fulltime in a RV. First it was a guy Bob used to work with, we me him and his wife at lunch. Then it was the nephew of a gal in our church group. Finally it was a couple that was parked next to us that just bought a RV and was going on their first trip and if it was successful they would think about fulltiming. We thought it would be good to document what we told them and to update a posting we did in 2012 about fulltiming that we did here.

We thought about breaking this long entry into multiple ones but decided a single file for future reference might be a better option.

In our opinion the real key to have fun full-timing is to take what you like about living in a home with you on the road, albeit a much smaller home.

First and foremost both of you must want to at least give it a try for a good length of time, at least 2 years. The first 6 months to one year you will be questioning your sanity but just give it time, it is an adjustment just like anything else.

Secondly you need to realize that all the 'stuff' that you have accumulated over the years is just that, 'stuff'. It is amazing how liberating it is to be able to live with just the small amount of 'stuff' that you can bring with you.

So you have made the decision to full-time and to get rid of most of your 'stuff' now you need to make the RV seem like a home. We break that into major categories.

Water pressure; get a good water pressure regulator that does not cut down on the water flow. We got the Watts 263A which is one of the best you can get.

Showerhead; the one that is in most RVs is worthless. Get a good showerhead like the Oxygenics Body Spa and you get great pressure that feels like a home shower that does not use that much water so that will also last longer. 

A good tip is that your hot water heater will recover faster if you have both the propane and electric turned on.

Laundry; we recommend getting a washer and a dryer or a washer/dryer combo and doing the laundry in your new home. It may be smaller loads but you will find that a benefit of this lifestyle is that you will probably have less laundry to do.

Speaking of television; if you like to watch TV then get a good satellite dish, we have an automatic dish on the roof, and also bring the comfort of home and get a DVR. 

Full-timers can also get a waiver and get what is called Distant Network Service from DirecTV which gives you the east coast or west coast feeds of network television. This way you won't miss your favorite shows. DVR'ng your shows will also allow you to extend your sightseeing adventures.

Speaking of sightseeing; if you love to travel and want to see more of the USA but don't like the hassles of airline travel then full-timing just might be for you. We have been full-timing for 7 years and have barely scratched the surface of what we want to see.

Take it easy; first by realizing that you are not always on vacation. In fact strange as it seems there will be some times when you will need a vacation. Since you have everything with you there are some days when you will need to do laundry, dust and vacuum just like you did when you lived in a house.

Also take it easy by limiting the miles you drive in one day and stay for awhile. There is a lot of great stuff to see in what we call the "drive thru" country, you will be amazed.

Hookups; for the first few trips always get full hookups (electric, water and sewer) and try to get 50 amp electrical whenever possible. With 50a you can run what you want when you want it and not have to worry have tripping breakers. Save boondocking (no hookups at all) for the second year of your trial.

We hope that we have helped those that might be considering a move to full-timing because we would love to see you on the road sometime. One of the best things about this lifestyle is the great people you will meet.

Finally the best advice we can give to full-timers heading out for the first time is that the first thing you should pack is your sense of humor because you will need it, especially for the first 6 months.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo