I first started my camping in a make shift motor home. I was stationed in Alaska. I wanted to spend more time out in nature and enjoy it all with the kids. Not having a lot of money in those days I did the best I could. I bought an old 1955 Ford bread truck. The year was 1975. I put in all that I knew how and went camping. The large front split windshield was a great view. I raced snow machines on the frozen lakes during winter, enjoyed fishing them in the summer. I had put in a propane heater, water tank and sink, bunk beds for the kids, table that made a full size bed, bathroom closet for the portable toilet, large captain seats in the front. It was the 70's so the walls were all orange carpet, haha. We did all our cooking on the open camp fires and everything seemed to just work great. We even took that old truck to the local drive-in theater. When the kids got tired, they went to bed. We toured all over Alaska and camped the many miles of shorelines. Mt. McKinley was a favorite of ours.
Many years later I would again buy a motorhome. I had retired from the Military. It was now 1999, I was living in Florida. The boys were now grown and had their own family's. My new to me bus was a 1986 Executive. It was a grand old lady with lots and lots of oak wood trim inside. It was 37' long and had everything my 1955 didn't have. I drove it lots of miles and visited lots of places. For some reason I didn't enjoy it as much as I did that old Ford. Maybe because of the poor mileage and the high cost of gasoline. After a year I sold it and bough my first Fifth Wheel Trailer
The Fifth Wheel Trailer was more of what I felt I need. I bought and sold several of them. Each floor plan was different and each was equipped with extra's the others didn't have. Finally I bought my first new one and hit the road. It was a 2003 Wilderness by Fleetwood I had bought a new 2001 Dodge Dully a year before that. I was divorced and hit the road and discovered much about myself. I had lived a sheltered life. Now I was alone and having to do for myself. What I discovered during those days was that I actually liked myself. I became a stronger person and found I liked the nomadic life style. The freedom of travel and the peace it gave me as I moved about the country with no cares or worry's. I visited many of our National Parks and traveled thousands of miles. Selling my rig, I again took up the responsible life of a homeowner and settled into what I found to be a dull life.
Once I settled into my dull life of homeownership I found my mind was never on the life I was now living. I had long days of my mind always wondering back to my travels and the life I enjoyed. I tried to settle into the life and make repairs on the house. I had bought the house on a Foreclosure. It was a large home, five bedrooms and four baths. It needed lots of work. I had planed to make the repairs, sell the home and return to full time RV lifestyle. I worked long and tireless days. It seemed the house needed much. I landscaped and poured all my time and money into making this old house a beautiful home. After six years I felt I had achieved about as much as I could. Real-Estate values were dropping and if I had any hopes of selling, it needed to be now. Then Life took another turn. More about that in my next blog :)
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