Reflections on our nomadic life......

 7:41 am - Monday - July 27th - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 18%, cloud cover 10%, wind 14 mph out of the west.....mostly clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.....

TLE standing by the Hoh River

Moi, standing in front of a 200' tall Sitka Spruce in the Hoh Rain Forest

.....and were visiting the Hoh Rain Forest.  We had been on the road for just a tad over 5 months at the time.  Following the path of US-1 through the Olympic Peninsula was one of our 'bucket list items'.  We've now done it 3, or 4 times; never gets old.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how our nomadic life has changed over the 14 years since we took on that moniker in 2011.  Our first couple of years on the road we acted like we were on a perpetual vacation crisscrossing the USA 4 times, rarely staying anywhere for more than a week.  Other than our 5 week sojourn in Cedar Key from late December of 2012 to early February of 2013, that was our pattern.  We rarely remained in one place to really get to know the area, or the people.  By the time we spent three weeks traveling through Alberta, Canada in July of 2013, and re-entered the USA we were ready to spend more time in one area, so we spent the next month exploring Glacier National Park, and the surrounding areas.  

When we had spent those five weeks in Cedar Key, FL we got a taste of the sometimes stationary nomadic life.  We met many people in Cedar Key, two of which were Devi and Bill Kasson.  They were originally from Lake Tahoe before they began their nomadic journey, so being life long fans of Lake Tahoe we had a lot in common with them.  Over those 5 weeks we spent a lot of time with them, and learned of a summer long camp host opportunity at Tahoe Valley Campground.  Spending an entire summer at Lake Tahoe seemed like an unattainable dream.  When ever my family would visit Lake Tahoe for two weeks each summer back in the 50's I would never want to leave.  

Through Devi and Bill we were introduced to the manager of Tahoe Valley Campground, and by May of 2014 we had secured summer positions there.  Our first summer we lived there, working, from May to Labor Day, and the same in the summer of 2015.....

Left to right: Moi, TLE, Devi and Bill

......each fall (2014 and 2015) we spent two months being docents at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse just north of Port Orford, OR.  We found out about this volunteer position through Chris and Cherie Dunphy, whom we also met at Cedar Key, FL.....

Chris and Cherie Dunphy

.....we spent four summers at Tahoe Valley Campground, our longest stay being 2016 when we arrived in late April, and did not leave until November 1st.

After four summers at Lake Tahoe we decided we needed to get back to exploring new places, so our next summer job was in Yellowstone National Park, then a winter at the Grand Canyon, followed up by a summer working near Bar Harbor, Maine.   Being able to spend months in a place gives you the opportunity to get to know people, and experience that place on a whole different level.   Following our travels to and from Maine we spent 9 months working at Ramona Oaks RV Resort where we met, and became good friends with Rich and Marnie Aaron.....

Left to right: Moi, Rich, Marnie and TLE

.....we've met up with them several times since then, including one of our favorite boondocking places, Borrego Springs, Keystone, SD, Glamis North Hot Springs, and Yuma, AZ a couple of times.

Many of the people we met over the years have had an influence on our nomadic lives, and we will always be forever grateful to them for their friendship and influence upon our nomadic lives.  In late 2021 we began discussing slowing down, and slipping into sort of a 'north/south' arrangement where we would spent summers in the northern regions of California, and the winters in Arizona.  We found, through Workamper.com , a summer job working at Likely Place Golf and RV Resort (Likely, CA is about one hour south of the Oregon border) in late 2021, and began our first summer working there in 2022.  We are now in our 5th summer there working 5-6 months each Spring/Summer.  We now have roots in this cattle country community, and have made lasting friendships.  We cannot imagine being anywhere else each summer.

In February of 2024, when we were working our second winter running the side by side rental operation for Colorado Outback,  Charles and Phyllis acquired a piece of property near Seligman, AZ, and by October of that year we began to spend our winters there, and The Wilson Wilderness then became the permanent 'south' part of the 'north/south' pattern we have adopted.  We are slowly incorporating ourselves into that rural community, and love the time we spend there each winter.....

....over the past 15 years our lives have been immeasurably changed forever.  How we view the world has changed, and what we hold as valuable has changed significantly.  We find our selves somewhere in the 'shoulder season' of our lives caught somewhere between Fall and Winter as we edge toward the end of our 77th trip around the sun.  We have slowed down our pace considerably.  We love returning to familiar places each Winter and Fall.  We are learning to live 'off grid', and immersing ourselves in rural America.  We are still able to change our view without going through escrow, but do not do it as often as we have in the past.  We have now lived in our 1982 Newell Classic for 15 years, and cannot imagine living in a sticks and bricks home again, but I'm sure that time is somewhere just on the other side of the 'shoulder season' in which we now find ourselves.  I haven't taken the time to get philosophical lately, so today, Monday, July 27th seemed like a good time do do that.  Thank you for indulging me!

Oh, and by the way, the 21st Stage of the 2025 Le Tour de France concluded on Sunday.....

The podium winners left to right: Remco Evenepoel - 2nd place, Tadej Pogacar - first place, and Isaac del Toro - 3rd place

.....two of the three podium finishers were from the UAE team (Tadej and Isaac).  It was an amazing Tour de France with twists and turns that no one could have ever seen coming.

Thanks for stopping by!