Oh I, I want to be with you everywhere. Fleetwood Mac
When we moved to Texas we had committed to a four-month job with Amazon with no idea where we were headed next but that’s the life of a traveler. We have places on our bucket list but since we didn’t win the lottery and are not wealthy people we go where the money is. I swore when we started this process that we would always have jobs lined up before we moved, it was a good plan, just one we decided not to follow. One of our fellow campground friends had spent a bit of time in South Padre Island, Texas and planned to return after our time at Amazon. He spent nights talking about warm winter weather, the beach, and a decently priced camp ground. So with nowhere to go we said why not go to the beach and enjoy warm weather for the winter.
Don’t worry about being worried. You’re heading out on an adventure and you can always change your mind along the way and try something else. Tracy Kidder
Thanks Tammy for the photo! Wish you were in it but thanks for capturing our night out, our BIG group trip to Decatur and our adventures to Chili’s.
Our time here in Boyd has come to an end but it’s only the beginning of our story. August 23, 2015 we hooked up our home on wheels and set out on our big adventure, 1,682 miles, 11 days, 7 states, 2 National Parks, and 3 State parks later we arrived in Texas. We left Asheville, N.C. where we called home and moved to Texas to work for the Amazon Camperforce program. When we weren’t working we spent time enjoying our new surroundings. Deciding where to travel to on our maiden voyage was purely based on securing employment with Amazon. Weather is one reason we picked the Haslet, Texas location and boy did we learn a few things about Texas weather. Locals told us if we didn’t like the weather just wait a few days it would be completely different and they were right. When we arrived in September we were greeted with hot days, warm nights and didn’t see rain for the first two months. When the rain came it wasn’t playing around. Thanks Mom for the rain boots! When we down scaled our belongings I questioned if I would need rain boots which up to that point I had only used for snow boots and I had no plans to see any snow. Our campground was all gravel and nowhere close to level. That being said when it rained we ended up downstream and our campsite became flooded and soon after the rain subsided the sewer backed up, poured out and well… smelled really bad. Continue reading “The End of this Chapter…”→
This day is a journey , this very moment is an adventure. Rebecca Pavlenko
We all need food to survive so it only makes sense that food would be a vital component of our journey. In our old 9 to 5 life that meant cooking and lots of it. Don’t worry we will return to that but with the combination of long hours, hard labor and some pretty crappy weather recently we found ourselves eating out far more than we ever have in the past. I have enjoyed finding local culinary delights and thankfully the workout that Amazon supplied didn’t cause my waistline to suffer from too many orders of pasta, pizza and fries. Continue reading “Eat, Drink and be Merry!”→
Eschew the ordinary, disdain the commonplace. If you have a single-minded need for something, let it be the unusual, the esoteric, the bizarre, the unexpected. Chuck Jones
It would be easy to travel to this small town in Texas go to work, come home and sleep just to do it all over again the next day. In my opinion that would defeat a part of what this lifestyle means to us. We have worked some long hours and I have missed the first few weeks where I constantly felt like I was on vacation. That being said I try to balance rest and play during the time we do have.
On our way to work we pass the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary and I knew immediately I needed to check this place out. We waited for cooler day temperatures hoping for better animal visibility. We spent a little over 2 hours on our tour of the facility viewing lions, tiger, bears, lemurs and various other cats. Continue reading “Tigers and Aliens and Beer, oh my!”→
Each day I am thankful for nights that turned into mornings, friends that turned into family, and likes that turned into love- Unknown
Today I am thankful for many things. I’m thankful to just be alive. I have a wonderful partner in life, my husband who is truly wonderful. My little girl fairy tale of a husband has been far surpassed by the amazing man I get to spend all my time with now. Living in a camper I now have little desire for items, I’m very thankful to not want things. Don’t get me wrong as we travel we realize we kept things we don’t need, got rid of some things we could have used, and as we travel find things that might make life easier. Continue reading “Let us give thanks!”→
I ain’t here for a long time. I’m here for a good time. George Strait
We arrive in Texas a day late and not happy with our campground so living in a camper we move the house two days later. Okay, now we can have some fun. Our first week consisted of an 8hr orientation and then four 5hr days, piece of cake. Okay, that was a lie, I have been siting at a desk for 8 years, so this kicked my butt. I was hoping I could just stick with the 20hr weeks but that will not pay for play time. We worked our way in with two weeks of 30hrs and then went for the 40hrs. Meanwhile we played to make up for all the aching bones and muscles. Continue reading “Exploring Our New Territory”→
Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles. Thomas Browne
We headed to Crater of Diamonds State Park in search of diamonds to fuel our gypsy lifestyle. It was a good plan, kind of like playing the lottery, but the digging, sifting, and searching was a lot more entertaining. We decided to spend two nights enjoying the park on our way to Texas and spending the days searching for diamonds. We had a great time but man was it hot. Our first night we had a great experience meeting up with fellow travelers, Kenny and Laura, from RVilliage. Kenny was even so gracious to let me test out his scooter. When we arrived we discovered our site was already occupied by a black window and her millions of soon to be babies. We quickly had them evicted and went on to enjoy our day. The second day we bought some steaks to grill and built a nice fire. The campsite was top notch including privacy, a grill and fire pit. Continue reading “In Search of Treasure”→
