Lake Powell, AZ Sunset

Lake Powell, AZ Sunset

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Changes in Attitude, Changes in Latitude ...

The Magic Bus
It's funny how the Universe, Great Spirit, God, whatever you may choose to call that Higher Power, throws interesting curve balls at us. The old saw of "You makes your plans and then life intervenes" really is true. There were a lot of years where I (Quietly, under my breath, most of the time.) kicked and screamed at those curve balls. I've outgrown that tendency, for the most part. I've come to realize that everything works out for the best. Sometimes you just have to be patient and open-minded enough to see it.

Two years ago we decided to buy "The Magic" bus so we could take our "girls" along on weekend fishing trips. The girls being a 40 lb. Blue Heeler and a 95 lb. Ridgeback/Mastiff cross. Babysitters are just as much of a problem for four legged kids as they are for the two legged kind! And besides, we felt guilty leaving them home while we were enjoying the outdoors.

We were working for this goof of a person and apparently she got it into her head we were going to quit and go RVing. Hmmm ... not a bad idea, eh?! So anyway, she apparently decided to beat us to the draw and fired us!

The look on her face when I smiled and said, "Thanks!" was wonderful. I guess she expected tears, begging, whatever. When she asked what we were going to do now, off the top of my head I said, "Retire and go full-time RVing!" When I told Terry, he thought it wasn't a bad idea, BUT ... working for peanuts one can not afford the luxury of retirement. Instead, we moved our base to Page, on the shores of Lake Powell in northern Arizona, and worked, boondocked and enjoyed the cooler weather and lack of crazy people as employers. TJ worked for the Navajo Power Plant during the winters and they are normal people. At least they pay a living wage!

It's been a pretty great two years, all in all. We loved the freedom, the quiet (since we boondocked in the desert of northern Arizona or the mountains of Colorado most of the time). We got to spend time alone and with our son whom we haven't had much time with since he was a teenager. We met a lot of interesting people. We've seen a goodly portion of the USA. Got some great photos. Had quite a few adventures, both excellent and not so excellent. Time well spent.

We said that this was the life and we'd never go back to living in a house.

Well, let me tell you friends ... never say never!!! It will come back to bite you in the butt at least 99% of the time!

Terry's gotten tired of not having a shop to do stuff in. It is pretty cramped when you try to be creative in an RV! As much as we love one another, the lack of personal space got a bit tiresome after a while. Unless you're independently wealthy or are lucky enough to have a really good retirement nest-egg, you have to learn to live frugally. That part wasn't a problem. We're pretty much "non-attachment" kind of people where "stuff" is concerned.

But it was time for a change. So now we're back in a four-walled house with private bedrooms and a shop for Himself. We're contemplating bidding good-bye to the Magic Bus. I look at her and I have so many good memories that I feel sad thinking of letting her go to someone else.

On the other hand, I look at her and I think how lucky someone else will be to have her and be able to live free, explore their world and themselves. Mixed emotions. Over a piece of machinery. Maybe I'm not as unattached as I think I am, eh?