Four years as Fulltime RVers

Kathy health update:
Since we have been here Kathy has been seen by four doctors, had surgery, X-rays, ultrasound, laparoscopy and colonoscopy. After all of that they don't know what is causing her original pain and don't know what else to try. They told her to "give it a few months and report back". We can certainly wait a few months at Arizona’s Kartchner Caverns State Park as well as we can wait here.

So, we will be leaving on Tuesday for  Kartchner Caverns State Park near Benson Arizona. To start our 2 months as volunteers on January 1st.

Our Four years as Fulltime RVers:

Yes, on Monday the 26th it is 4 years since we pulled out of San Jose and started our adventure. Oh, the places we have been, the things we have seen and the people we have met. It has been amazing! As I think back on it the time has flown by and yet I can’t believe we have had the time to go so many places, do so many things and meet so many people. It continues to be a great adventure.

Our past year in review:

Back on January 1st I posted the following:

“New Year’s Resolutions:
1. To get the rest of our 2010 travel blog and pictures posted.
2. Do a better job in 2011 than I did in 2010 at keeping the blog up-to-date. Really, could I do any worse”

Well it took me until April, but I did finally complete the posting of our 2010 travel blog and pictures. I also think that I did a much better job of keeping the blog up-to-date.

I also wrote:

“Plans for 2011:
Having travelled so many miles last year, for 2011 we are going to try to go no further than the Mountain Time Zone and stay at places longer. We are also thinking that  we would like to do some volunteering at a wildlife refuge, state or national park. We don’t want to commit to a 3 month stay, but if an opportunity to volunteer for a month so that  we can “get our feet wet” in volunteering were to come up we would jump on it. However, the plans of fulltime RVers are always cast in Jell-O.”

We cut back dramatically on the number of miles we travelled this past year. We only did about 8,000 miles. We never made it into the Mountain Time Zone but rather spent the whole year in the Pacific Time zone. After visiting 28 states and 4 Canadian provinces in 2010. We only visited 3 states in 2011.

The part of our 2011 plan that really came together was “we would like to do some volunteering at a wildlife refuge, state or national park. We don’t want to commit to a 3 month stay, but if an opportunity to volunteer for a month so that we can “get our feet wet” in volunteering were to come up we would jump on it.” We found 3 different Oregon coast Lighthouses to volunteer at for a month each. These were each a wonderful experience. Each Lighthouse has its own history, setting and personality. We met great volunteers that we remain in contact with and literally thousands of happy people that  went on our tours. Of course they were happy after all they were on vacation. At each Lighthouse we would have gladly stayed longer and look forward to returning at some time in the future.

Our tragedy in 2011: 

It has been almost 3 months since Raider past away. Neither of us can even look at a Golden Retriever without tearing up and yet if we see a Golden out for a walk we run over to it so that we can give it a hug. We still think of Raider everyday and miss him dearly.

Plans and resolutions for 2012:

None and none. We have been so focused on Kathy’s health issues that we haven’t even thought about where we might go or what we might do in 2012.

Merry Christmas

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MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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Another Month Has Gone By

Kathy's recovery from her hernia surgery has not gone as hoped. The pain from her surgery has been slow to heal. The Doctor said that is to be expected as her "intestines were like Swiss cheese".

More disturbingly is the original pain that brought Kathy to the doctor has not improved and has actually gotten worse since the surgery. The doctors are baffled by what the problem is as nothing shows on her CT scan.

We're still stuck in San Juan Bautista, CA, waiting for more medical tests
to be done. Some can't be performed until a certain time has elapsed since Kathy's
surgery. Waiting. Walking. Reading. A little more waiting...

However, the hills are getting greener around us, which make for lots of "happy cows" munching away. We actually can spot the resident coyote making his rounds among the cattle on our walks. Temps have gotten colder, dipped down to 26 degrees on Sunday morning! Ice on the truck's hood and windshield as we made our way to breakfast! And we've experienced at least 3 minor tremors (around 3.0) in the past couple of weeks. But then we're less than 5 miles from San Andreas Fault that goes up and down California! (pun intended :) At least we're on rubber tires and just bounce!

Bird population seems to be the same, although the Swainson's Thrush has been replaced with the Hermit Thrush.