THIS LAZY BLOGGER IS READY TO ROLL – SACRAMENTO, CA

I received an email this morning that cracked me up, from our friends Doug and JoAnn: “We liked your old computer better.....it wrote blogs.” 

Yes, it did, much more frequently than this new one!

It is obvious to me that I would not blog if we did not travel.  New experiences and new sights – and flavors - nudge me to the computer in a way that walking the same bike path, visiting my dentist, buying groceries at Safeway and driving the familiar streets of Sacramento does not.

Our time here in Sacramento is winding down, and it has been alternately fun – great times with family and friends – and productive.  Now that the big Thanksgiving meal is over, our thoughts have turned completely to hittin’ the road.  We’re planning to leave on Monday, by noon, after my last doctor appointment (yes, can you believe it – still one to go).

2003, our first year of fulltime travel, was a whirlwind.  We only stayed a few days (frequently, just one) anywhere, always anxious to see what was over that next hill.  2004 wasn’t much different – just about everywhere we went was new to us - but then we began to revisit places and campgrounds we had seen and liked in prior travels.  2005, 2006, and 2007 were a mix of longer stays in favorite spots interspersed with explorations of new areas. 

2009 was a different story.  With our prolonged stay in southern California last winter, our two-month volunteer job in Oregon, and an unanticipated several-week-long trip back to Sacramento last summer, this year included very little new ground for us.  Instead, we concentrated on repairs, maintenance and upgrades to Scoopy, bringing her back to tip-top shape after her 7 years of travel. 

Now we are ready for adventure!  If 2010 unfolds as we envision it, we’ll be filling in some of those big white spaces on our travel map.  Instead of our usual winter months in the southwest (no visit to the Quartzsite gathering for us this year), we’re going to head east, beginning a big, slow, counter-clockwise exploration of areas east of the Mississippi.

We’ll hit Texas shortly after the new year begins. Winter 2010 will be spent in Texas and Louisiana, and on into uncharted (for us) territory: Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas.  In spring (late April?), we’ll head back west to Memphis to visit Odel’s family, maybe as far west as Little Rock, Arkansas, for a longer (re)visit there.

By early June, we picture ourselves in Maryland – maybe via Cincinnati to see Joy and Greg? – for a visit with Odel’s daughter and her family.  While we are close, we might as well explore those little New England states before we head across the top of the US enjoying the Great Lakes, a highlight of our first year of travel.  For fall… maybe a return trip to Glacier National Park?  Yellowstone?

As all full timers know, this isn’t a plan, it’s a seed, ready to germinate and flower as we travel.  The details are blurry (or non-existent), but the desire is strong.  With Scoopy in great shape, it feels almost like our first year, but better: all the happy anticipation, far less of the “what if” anxiety.   

So, Doug, the travels resume soon, along with the blog posts.  Good times ahead.