"I was born lost, and take no pleasure in being found"
- John Steinbeck

"The Sure Sign of Life is Death.  Why Else Would humanity Thrive So Hard To Leave Its Mark on This World"

- Unknown

"To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float."
- Alan Watts

"I Have Learned Something About Creating Art.  People Do Not Want to Hear What You Are Going To Do, People Want To Hear About What You Done Did."

- Unknown

The Only Normal People Are the Ones You Dont Know Very Well

"Any man who thinks he is going to be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him should take a close look at the American Indian"

This is Your World.  Shape it or Someone Else Will

Life is Too Important to be Taken Seriously

We Make a Living by What we Got, but we Make a Life by What we Give
~ Winston Churchill

"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks"
~ Daniel Boone

"You can spend life any way you wish but you can only spend it once"

After Monday and Tuesday,
even the calendar
says W T F....

Make Peace With
Your Past
So It Wont Screw Up Your Present

There's nothing worse than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong

I take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger

"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: always cheat and always win."
 

Was learning cursive really necessary??

Bad decisions make Good stories

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

"Do something. It may be wrong, but do something."
 

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain!!

Pat's February 2010 Blog

If this is your first time here, you might want to start from the beginning of our fulltime RV Journey with our Past Blogs

If You Don't Know Me Yet, Click Here to Read Pat's Bio

Photo Gear We Use  -  Solar Tips, Fact's and Trick's we've learned while on the road 

Camper Check List - A list of things we do before leaving camp.  Again, this isn't gospel, but its a good start for those who might not already have a list made up.

****

February 8th 2010 - Moving into our Second Month of the New Year

Cindy's complaining about the fact that we're experiencing dreary weather and temps in the mid-50's here in Cedar Key this morning.  She then turned on the Weather Channel to see what was in store for us and saw what the rest of the country is experiencing.

She then laughed and said "Here I am complaining about wearing my slippers and D.C. has waist deep snow and no power!"

So I guess we need to count our blessings and enjoy our mid-50's.

My last few days have been a marathon of building.  The tiki bar is really taking on a look of its own after I found someone selling a group of old wooden doors on Craig's List.

I had built a wall to block some wind and add a barrier between the back of the motel and the tiki bar.  I didn't want people to be sitting at the bar looking onto the private patios behind the motel.  But once I built the wall, it looked just like it sounded, a bare plywood wall lacking any character, and this place oozes character, so this needed to be fixed.

I started looking through the Construction Materials page on the local Craig's List to see if I could find any salvaged materials that might add to the look of the bar and keeping with my recycled theme of the whole place.  That's when I found the doors.  $50 for 8 solid wood doors isn't all that bad and surprisingly it looks pretty cool.  I lost one of the doors to Miss Cindy who fell in love with one in particular and wants to use it as a headboard in one of the rooms.

Cindy removing the old Railing

The Building of the wall

The Completed wall with doors and bamboo up,
now all we need are some shrubs and it'll be finished

We thought rather than just call the bar 'The Hideaway', maybe we could call it the Backdoor Hideaway.  It's out the backdoors of the motel, and now that it's covered in doors, we figured The Backdoor Hideaway sort of has a catchy name.

My 3 compartment sink came in the mail late Friday afternoon and I'm hoping by next week to have my Beer & Wine license so we can officially be serving drinks.

To think that one year ago, we were leaving Michigan after a hiatus and were getting our travel legs back under us.  In the past year we've went from South Florida to California, spent months working in Yellowstone and exploring the rustic South West, traveled the Pacific Coast HWY in a Vintage VW Bus and had a bunch of fun in-between.  Almost seems illegal to have this much fun in such a short time doesn't it?

I think about this while I'm working to keep my mind at ease.  My work is now a tool needed to get us towards our next leg of the adventure, where ever that might bring us, but something that I'm always thinking about.

Having stone brought in to Level the RV Sites

In the past week I've started building a shed out of scrap lumber which meant I had to tear down what was supposed to be a shed on a different side of the property.  I had a few loads of dirt delivered so our RV sites would be raised and level.  Something that was bothering me because anytime it would rain, one of the spots would hold water.  That is now fixed and the shed is coming alone just fine.

The new fiberglass doors have been painted and one of the rooms is being tiled as I type.  It looks awesome and I cant wait to be able to photograph the rooms once they're finished.  We only have one photo posted on the Low-Key Hideaway website of the interior of the rooms because of how embarrassed I am with the way the carpet looks currently.  Once they're tiled, they'll be everything I've hoped and except for a few little things here and there that need to be decorated, we'll be done with our refurbishing.

Shed being built out of recycled wood

If you've read Cindy's blog that was finally updated, you'll know of my scolding I received for my spending spree.  Yes I do believe that "If You Build It They Will Come" as Cindy likes to rag on me about.

I also fully believe that you have to spend money to make money which is something that's hard for her to understand.  You cant entice people to come stop in for a drink at a bar that lacks character, and sometimes that character comes at a cost.  Who wants to spend the night at a motel that is a dump?  For those who will stay at our place this spring, they'll be staying at the funkiest, coolest place in Cedar Key.

Being in debt is the least of my worries.  Especially in a time when debt is something of a joke.  If we dont succeed, which is something I'm not worried about because it's not really an option for me, than we move on and try again, but I'll do my best to show her how much fun we can have whether we're dead broke or living like royalty.  And quite frankly I think we'd have much more fun living like a couple of bums anyway.

When I was younger, I felt the need to make as much money as possible and make a mark in life.  Now, that want or need to make money has passed, and that pumping of the chest to make my mark is starting to hurt...LOL

I'd much rather just have fun, kick back and take some photos and go with the flow of life....where ever that flow might take us.  On a completely different note.....

We receive a ton of emails from fellow travelers, people thinking about jumping into this sort of lifestyle or people wanting answers on items we've already made mistakes on and learned from.  But a few weeks back, we received an email from one couple who are just starting on in their fulltime RV Lifestyle that was especially unique.

Reading Ken and Nanette's email they sent us, I could tell they had already made the leap into the Fulltime world and they had some genuine questions they needed answered.

Not our typical type which might be some simple question like "We're thinking about buying an RV, which one would you recommend?" or "We're heading to this area and we see you've already been there, have anything cool we should make sure we check out?" or our most common one of "We really like your photos, what camera do you use so I can get pictures like you have?"

Ken and Nanette said they had started from Day 1 and read our entire website which alone is quite a task.  So we felt the need to answer all their questions in as great of detail as we could.

What has come about from our past few weeks of emails has blossomed into what seems like a good friendship already.  Being as they're about to make a life changing decision and become Fulltimers, we're already members of the same club, we just have a few miles under our belt and they're about to start racking them up.

Here was their first email that started our back and forth ramblings.

________________________________________________

Pat and Cindy,

We have hesitated to write knowing how busy you are but decided to go ahead and ask a couple of questions as our curiosity and continued conversation about you wouldn't stop.

The very first thing we want to tell you is how sincerely impressed we are with your story and adventures.

Seldom do you see people truly follow their own path and embrace change in the manner that both of you have.

We also find your life stories filled with challenge and triumph and is a testament to the capabilities of the human spirit and the success that can be achieved when the dream is well defined and the dedication to achieve it never wavers.

We are a younger couple - in the minority for sure - in this full time lifestyle.

We find your current situation with The Low-Key Hideaway very appealing to us and while we could fill a page with questions we would like to ask just a few.

How did you happen upon this opportunity?

Knowing what you know now what advice would you give someone wanting to find a similar situation?

Have there been any unanticipated issues with this endeavor?

We are at one of those "moments of truth" in regard to a change in direction and are looking at all options. This one was something that we had not considered -- Until -- we read your blog.

We truly wish you all the best and follow you closely.

Ken and Nanette

_______________________________________________

I commented in my reply that their word usage was very good and they should start their own blog as their email was easy to read and if they could write this good in simple emails, following along with their travels would be a joy to read.

No sooner did they send back a reply that included a link to their newly started blog, but they said they had been told that numerous times by other friends, so they went ahead and started one.  Make sure you check out http://ouradventurechronicles.blogspot.com to read some of their writings as they get started in this new adventure they're about to embark on.

Then I noticed our web traffic jumping up for no apparent reason, I mean I didn't post any photos of Cindy naked or skinny dipping out back or anything like that?  Then Ken sent over an email saying that he had wrote about the two of us in his daily blog.

His words were way too kind and it feels like an honor to have someone say such nice things about the two of us.  Thanks for all the great words Ken and Nanette, we're only trying to help fellow travelers have as much fun as we have had in the past few years.  And by all means we've been helped tremendously by so many people along the way, that we feel it's our duty to give back as much as we can to help anyone else trying to get started.

I encourage anyone reading our blogs to check out their website.  Many times when I find a new travel site to add to the list of the many I browse through, I love to read the section where the couple is just starting out.

The first few months are usually the most fun because you get to see that fog slowly lift.  You get to experience through another persons eyes the wonder of travel.  The lure of the open road and you can hear the excitement in their voice or read it in the words they write.  I'm looking forward to following along with Ken and Nanette as they get started and learn what it's like to be true Nomads.

To follow on the adventure route, we've confirmed our plans for this April at the Overland Expo in Southern Arizona.

We really wanted to attend last years show, but couldn't arrange our travel schedule to coincide with the date of the show.  Then the event organizers contacted us asking if Cindy and I would like to give a talk at this years show.

At first I felt totally honored because this is a collection of the biggest names in the travel world.  People who embark on serious adventures circumnavigating the globe.  I mean our adventure seems like a Spring Break for some of the veterans who will be giving talks at this show.

There are classes being taught, driving courses for those wanting to learn specific skills and tons of stuff to do to keep everyone who attends busy.

Now I almost feel nervous about it, but we have a few months to plan out our 50 minute talk and presentation.  Cindy has already stated "You're the one doing the talking, I'll just run the slideshow."

So I guess I'll have to work on my public speaking skills.  I'm just looking forward to seeing the vehicles that come from all over the world to attend the show.  Unimog's, Earthroamers, Custom Built Rigs that can handle remote travel in foreign countries and all the goodies that go with them.  It's like a hands on show for a kid, only it's geared for adults....or those of us who are just a kid in an adult body.

Every Miles A Memory