Slow Day

Work has been very slow today.  Cleaned and stocked 2 boxes of books and waited on a few customers.  Spent the rest of the time reading travel blogs.  Business has been picking up a little so I can pay the bills for another month.  Tina was going to come in and work today but she hurt her ankle this week and cannot walk on it for a few days.  Hopefully it will be better when she has to go back to work on Monday.
I've eaten several pieces of chocolate candy today which is not good for diabetes but sometimes you just want something special.  I'll have to come up with something very low carb for dinner tonight.
Speaking of low carb, Thanksgiving is at my house this year.  I've got to come up with some low carb recipes for side dishes.  The kids all want mashed potatoes, bread stuffing and mac n cheese.  We'll see what substitutes I can improvise.
That's it for an exciting day at the office.
Have a wonderful weekend!

STILL NO VACATION PICTURES

When on vacation I'm usually the first one up.  I make coffee and go for a walk or sit by the water and enjoy nature and my morning coffee.  When in parks we don't usually hike very far but I enjoy the short walks and if my daughter is with me (she likes hiking) we take longer hikes which I enjoy.  I dream of waking up every morning in the woods or near water (a lake, river, ocean) or viewing the snow cap mountains in the distance.

I can't find the cd for my camera so I cannot download the pictures from my trip to Michigan.  Even with no pictures I can tell you it was a great trip.  We saw all the lighthouses from Cheboygan to Port Huron, MI that could be seen from land.  It was a very relaxing trip, no rushing around and very little getting lost.  Sometimes getting lost is part of the fun as long as you're on back roads and enjoying the views.

While staying in hotels we watched a lot of HGTV which only makes me want to do some remodeling to my house.  Since being home I've revisited some of the numbers for keeping my house and I always come back to the same problem.  NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO KEEP THE HOUSE AND TRAVEL!  I'm not particularly attached to my house but I'm not thrilled about living in a trailer the rest of my life either.  I feel that when the time comes to get off the road I'll be forced into an apartment community that I may not want, or worse yet I'll be a burden on one of my children.

I've been reading a lot of blogs and information about the lifestyle.  I'm not sure I want to be alone 24/7 with nothing to do for weeks on end.  I enjoy going for short hikes, walking in the woods, sitting on the beach and exploring new places but I'm not a great outdoors person.  Right now I work 5 days and have 2 days off.  I have no trouble doing nothing on those days but when I get day 3 off I need to go somewhere and do something.

From what I have learned most full timers fall into 2 categories.  Group 1 stay in the wilderness most of the year enjoying nature and  their survival skills, often joining up at campgrounds for the winter months.  Group 2 stay in camp grounds and socialize on a regular basis. Obviously this is simplifying things quite a bit and I'm sure there is also a large group that do a combination.   I don't see myself falling into either of these groups so how well will the full time life style fit my personality.

I think of myself as a loner but I've come to realize since I've owned this store I've made a lot of friends who would be missed very much if the store closes.  Maybe this indicates the work camping or volunteering plan might work out for me.  Working in an environment that requires some interaction with campers but allows me the freedom to visit and explore on my own may be the right answer.

Is anyone out there?

I haven't been blogging for the last couple of weeks, I was just wondering if anyone noticed.  If so please leave comments.

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  I've ordered a lot of new books for the store and started some new advertising.  Hopefully this will increase income for the end of the year.  If things don't get better I will be closing the store next year. 
Sometimes I just want to give up on the store but then other times I remind myself that it would benefit me to actually make enough profit to sell the store.  When I started this store it was never my intentions to work 6 days a week forever.  I dreamed of taking on a partner so we could each have time off to travel and do the other things we liked.   However, the store has never done well enough to support 2 people so I'm on my own.

Change of subject...
I'll be leaving on Sept 21st for Michigan.  We will drive to Frankenmuth on Sunday then onto Cheboyan, Mi on Monday.  The rest of the week we will travel down the east coast of Michigan visiting lighthouses, state parks and any waterfalls we can find.  I can't wait, this will be my only trip this year and I'm getting very antsy.  It's time to travel!

This is the bed & breakfast we stayed in when we were in Natchez, MS in 2010

IRELAND PICTURES

A few more pictures of Ireland

9 members of my family traveled to

Ireland in 2007

 

 

 

 

My daughter & niece

My brother Mike passed on this past spring

 





 

My mom in the white scarf

TRAVELING ALONE

I've been giving the fulltime RVing a lot of thought.  I've been thinking about type of tow vehicle and type of trailer.  I've been researching Casita and other travel trailers.  Then last week I started thinking about traveling alone.
I've never given it a lot of thought.  I love to travel.  I've taken short trips by myself for a night or two but I've never camped alone.  I've tent camped with my children and traveled with friends. Whenever I've thought of traveling I saw myself driving from destination to destination but never really saw myself sight seeing alone.  Very interesting, I may have to rethink this fulltiming plan.
I decided to go hiking alone and that was a failure.  It was only a 1 mile trail and I only went about a quarter of the way before turning around.  There were ticks and spider webs and it was hot and humid.  I never think about these things when hiking with other people it's just part of the experience.  Not a very good showing for my first experiment in hiking alone.
Maybe I should buy a van and try a couple of week long trips before I waste money on the RV.  In the mean time I am working  on getting my house ready to sell by next summer.  I'll be ready no matter which route I settle on.

Here's a little touch of Ireland from our 2007 trip

Up Comming Trip

I love planning trips.  We will be traveling along Lake Heron in Michigan visiting lighthouses. We plan to spend one day at Frankenmuth to check out their Christmas store, and to eat German food.  I can usually skip the tourist towns but I do like good German food so we will give it a try.
Last year we traveled the Upper Peninsula and along the coast of Lake Michigan.  Just a few of the lighthouses we toured:

 

The first picture is the Mackinaw bridge as seen through the window of the Old Mackinaw Point lighthouse.

Have a great day!

RAINY DAYS ARE GOOD!

My normal morning routine requires getting up early, walking the dog, exercise, eating breakfast, fixing lunch, preparing food for dinner and getting ready for work. I'm tired before I reach work.
This is why I love rainy days.  I fix tea or coffee and I sit on the front porch watching the rain, my small pond and the birds.  It's so quiet and peaceful.  This morning I drove to McD's for coffee and stopped by the little river near my house and watched the ducks playing in the rain.  Okay, so maybe they weren't playing more likely fishing. All things must end though so off to work I go.

I have been following a blog: http://rvsueandcrew.net/.  It's very interesting.  Sue was in a somewhat similar situation when she decided to full time RV and she is very happy with her decision.  I enjoy reading about her adventures and how she made her decision to go fulltime.  If you have ever considered RVing fulltime you should check out her blog.  She tells it like it is living on the road. Also try: http://www.hitchitch.com/links.html

I've been rather amazed by all the blogs.  There must be blogs on almost every subject.  If you have a dream and feel unsure about following through just start reading blogs about that subject.  The blogs cover successes and failures exposing the good, the bad and the ugly, helping you to learn from others.

Wishing every one the very best with their dreams.