One Long Winter

It's the first day of Spring Break around here. The sun is shining. The thermometer is above 60. Kids of all ages are doing a happy dance.

Count us in! 

Winter doesn't officially come to end for another week. It can't come soon enough.

This has been a long one. 

Although we had hoped to travel south for at least a bit this winter, our moose still sits where we last left him, in his cozy storage spot. He hasn't moved in almost five months! 

We shelved our travel plans to be here for Paul's Dad, who passed away last month. At 88 years, old he lived a long and fulfilling life. We know he's in a better place, but still, we miss him. We feel so blessed that we were able to spend so much time with him during his last year. We wouldn't trade that time for anything, even the life on the road that we love so much. When we returned to Kansas City a year ago today, we weren't exactly sure what prompted our decision. But, now we know. We're so very glad we followed that inner voice that called us home.

Paul's dear 92-year-old Aunt Martha passed away just one week after his Dad. We visited her several times in our travels. She visited both of our motorhomes and thought they were pretty cool. We will always cherish those visits. 

While dealing with these two losses, Mother Nature has dished out some of the worst winter weather we can remember. We had a rare white Christmas, which was charming. But, after that, it wasn't so fun. A couple of feet of snow piled up several inches at a time. We had a long string of days where the temperature didn't reach double digits. Sub-zero weather is rare around here. But, not this year. There were so many nights where the temperature started with a "minus" that I lost count. And, let's not even talk about wind chill. 

Remember, we're talking about Kansas City. Not Minneapolis! Our first winter here nearly a decade and a half was definitely one for the record books. 

The wicked weather put our new stick house to the test. Through it all, it kept us warm and dry with very little effort. We didn't have to keep an eye on any propane. We didn't have to run any water pump. Best of all, we had a very comfy 1700 square feet to hibernate in! More than once we gave thanks that we weren't trying to keep ourselves and our moose from freezing this winter. We couldn't imagine having to deal with that weather while living in our coach. Thankfully, we didn't have to. 

We've been in the house for almost 10 months already. Believe it or not, we're still settling in. Of course, it took us a year to get rid of everything before we hit the road. So, I suppose it should come as no surprise that it'll take a full year of home ownership, at least, before this house is stocked with what we need and we really feel settled. We're getting there. 

This long winter has resulted in a bad case of hitch itch, which we have plans to scratch before too long. We're planning a little "dewinterization" trip soon. We'll dust off the cobwebs and flush out the pink stuff. It'll be great to spend a little time on the road. Our fingers are crossed that Bullwinkle has survived this brutal winter without any problems. We shall see. 

The change of seasons feels like a natural place to bring this blog to a close. I've been meaning to do it all winter. But, I just couldn't. Besides, we've been busy. Now it feels like the right time and place to wrap up our fulltime RVing story. It feels like we've come full circle from that first day when we hatched the idea. We've cleared out and sold one house, spent nearly four adventure-filled years on the road in a couple of rolling homes, landed in another stick house, (Although, let me assure you this house will never have that much stuff. Ever.) and began the transition to life as anytiming RVers.

It's been fun to chronicle it all. If another soul finds a spark of inspiration or helpful information in our story it's worth the effort. At the very least, I hope it makes somebody, somewhere chuckle. Even if nobody else finds value in this blog, we sure did. It helped us meet a bunch of great people. (A few of them are listed on that blogroll to the right.) Those folks helped make our journey the trip of a lifetime. To those dear friends we are eternally grateful. 

I'm going to write one very brief final post to help future readers get their bearings in this piece of history and catch any questions folks may have. But, as far as long missives go, this is it. (I'll try to bring Bullwinkle's Travels up to date. But, I'm not making any promises.) It's been a blast, dear readers. Thanks so much for joining us on the ride. Safe travels, y'all!

For The Great RV Escape, Bullwinkle, Rocky, Boris and Natasha are signing off. 

See you on the road somewhere!