Where Did the Holidays Go?

Bob and I made it through our first time managing the See's Candies Kiosk in Texas. It was a lot of work, but a lot fun as well also. We look forward to doing it again next year. Texas is much different than we imagined it - lots and lots and lots of traffic. We were about 20 miles from Houston and the traffic and the way people drive was crazy. We were very fortunate that the RV Park we were at was only 5 miles from the mall we worked at. Even at that the traffic was pretty nutty. The Christmas decorations at the mall were beautiful and helped us keep the Holiday spirit even on the busiest of days. The weather even made it feel like Christmas. The first couple weeks we were in Texas the weather was great, then it just got consistently colder after that. We even had snow a couple days - certainly not weather we were looking for. Bob and I worked November and December and the 2 months went by so fast, that it seemed like they were over before we knew it. Hope everyone had wonderful Holidays and we kept everyone in our thoughts even though we weren't able to send out Holiday Cards. Maybe we can try and send out "Christmas in July" cards instead. Tomorrow we head out to Arizona to meet some friends, relax and hopefully enjoy some warm sunshine. Love, Bob, Sharon & Toby

Reflections of our RV Life and Friendships

One of the things that Bob and I have enjoyed upon embarking on our new lifestyle is something that we never anticipated: meeting people that we would form lasting friendships with. We certainly meet a lot of new people in our ventures, and the probability of staying in touch isn’t a lot as everyone is going in different directions and has their own itinerary they follow. That isn’t the case when we met Robert and Jane, last January (2009), in Quartzsite, AZ They were vendors there and I was helping out at another vendor booth. The four of us really hit it off and enjoyed spending time together and we agreed to stay in touch.

You might wonder where this story is going – while we were in South Dakota over the summer, they stopped to see us as they were traveling through on their way back home to California. Then when Bob and I were leaving San Francisco we thought we’d see if they lived near the route we were traveling on our way to Texas. As it turned out, they were leaving Houston, TX, which was where we were heading to, on their way back home to California. They didn’t live far from where we would be traveling and they would be home by the time we got there. It was great that we were able to stop and visit for a few days.

It is sad to think we would have missed out on the opportunity to meet such nice people if we hadn’t decided to workamp full-time. I guess the reason for my story is that, we are grateful and blessed to have been able to meet Robert and Jane, and know that we have a friendship that will last for the rest of our lives.

My other point is, that Bob and I have met so many nice people in our travels, that any skepticism of living in our RV full-time and workamping has cemented our decision that we made the right choice in what we are doing. It is hard to believe that we have been on the road for a year and a half already. God willing, we are looking for many more years and miles to go yet.

We will post again soon.

With Lots of Love,

Bob, Sharon & Toby

California Bound

With the hot air balloons and New Mexico behind us we are heading to South San Francisco, CA for training for our next work assignments.  We are going to See’s Candies for training in operating a kiosk, or a holiday gift center, in Texas for the holiday season.  Normally they like to fly you to San Francisco for training, but due to the fact we really didn’t have anyplace to park our RV or a babysitter for Toby, we decided to drive there.  We stayed at Candlestick RV Park, right across from Candlestick Stadium.  While the park itself was pretty safe, the neighborhood probably wasn’t the best, but it was our choice to drive there due to our limitations.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos of our time in San Francisco.  Our training was only for 3 days and our time was spent mostly on that without much time for site seeing.  See’s is a fantastic company to work for and they really were generous to everyone that attended the training.  We really didn’t know much about the company.  See’s is actually owned by the Berkshire-Hathaway company which is owned by Warren Buffet, but is still run the way the original family had operated it.  We must also personally endorse the candy.  Neither Bob or I had ever had See’s candy before, and we will both attest to how great it is.  They even have a variety of sugar-free candy also.

Bob and I definitely want to go back to San Francisco and be able spend some free time  farther north where we will be able to visit Alcatraz, see the Golden Gate Bridge and many other places San Francisco is known for.  We will be leaving San Francisco on 22nd then head towards Los Angeles where will stop and visit with friends before putting down roots in Texas for a couple months.

Love,

Bob, Sharon & Toby

Balloons Over Albuquerque!

We finished our summer work assignments and left South Dakota at the end of September.  Bob and I so much enjoyed our time in South Dakota.  As I have said before, it is such a beautiful area that we both love, and it is for that reason we agreed to go back for the summer of 2010 season.  From the Black Hills we headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico where we had the opportunity to attend the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta.  We met some really nice people, and neither of us had ever seen hot air balloons up close.  You were even able to go out on the launch fields as they were airing up and launching the balloons.  There were over 500 balloons launching almost every day.  The wind determined whether balloons could go up or not.  Launches were scheduled early sunrise and daytime.  They even did what they called a night glow, where the balloonists would light up their balloons at night.  There were also fireworks scheduled quite a few of the nights.  The colors of the balloons were so amazing, along with the many different shapes and sizes.  Given the time and opportunity we would definitely go again.  We have made a photo album of our favorites, we hope you enjoy them.

View Full Album

Until next time, we send our Love

Bob, Sharon & Toby

Where Did Summer Go?

Time has gone by so quickly this summer and it is hard to believe we will be leaving South Dakota in a couple weeks.

Bob and I have really enjoyed our jobs, and we have decided to come back again next year. It is hard to describe how much we love this area of the Black Hills.

There is so much here that we want to explore yet. We are in area that we can drive to so many places within a short time. One of the towns we visited is Deadwood. In Deadwood is Mt. Moriah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried. Wild Bill has quite a decorative monument for a headstone, but Calamity Jane doesn’t.

We’ve also enjoyed watching the baby mountain goats growing up this year. Here are the babies in June.

This is one of the babies in August

I’ve also attached another album of our photos from the summer.

View Full Album

All and all we’ve had a wonderful summer. We will be leaving South Dakota Sept. 28th and heading towards new adventures for the winter. Hope everyone is well and we will post again.

Love,

Bob, Sharon & Toby

South Dakota Update

We are back in South Dakota for the summer. Bob and I really enjoy being back here - it is such a beautiful area. When we first arrived at the end of April there was still a little snow on the ground and we had snow squalls on and off for a couple weeks.

Bob is working the front desk at the lodge and I am a concierge at the campground. Our managers are very nice and we’re enjoying working here.

We’ve been to visit the buffalo and the wild burros at Custer State Park. Have also made another trip to Bear Country. I just love the wildlife here and being able to photograph them. So I’ve posted some of our favorite photos that I have taken so far. You’ll notice since the weather is getting warmer the animals are losing their winter coats making way for the summer coats.

This was at a Ranger’s home at Custer Park. How would you like to find these guys sitting on your lawn?

Also – there are NO VEHICLES allowed next to this guy!

The wild Burrows at Custer State Park

Below are some of the wildlife at Bear Country

Reindeer napping – guess

he doesn’t mind the bird

on his back. Below – Mom

with her baby.

Below I’ve made an album of more photos. Just click on the “View Full Album” to see the rest.

View Full Album

We have quite a few more photos to post from our travels from New Mexico to when we arrived in South Dakota. I am just learning how to make the photo albums for our blogs, so I’ll try to make another album soon with those photos.

Hope everyone is doing well -

All Our Love,

Bob, Sharon and Toby

Advice From a Wolf

Advice from a Wolf: Trust your instincts, Be at home in nature, Keep your den clean, Stand "fur" what you believe, Stay on track, Howl with your friends, Be a Leader and Pack Life with Good Memories. Monday we left Meteor Crater RV Park and headed east towards New Mexico. We reached our destination of Ramah, NM late in the afternoon. The area we decided to stay in is not very populated and is off the beaten path, therefore, we’ve had no cell phone or internet service for the last couple days. We chose this area because as some of my friends know, I love wolves and there is a wolf sanctuary here that we wanted to visit. It is called Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a non-profit and I believe, privately owned organization that cares for approximately 54 abused and abandoned wolves and wolf dogs. Since the wolves never lived in their own natural environment they cannot be rehabilitated and released back in the wild. They once belonged to people who either neglected or abused them or bought them as pets and could no longer care of them. The sanctuary is a safe place they will live for the rest of their days. Bob and I visited Wild Spirit Sanctuary on Tuesday and had a great time. To be able to see wolves so close was just awesome. They are so large and powerful, yet beautiful. It is so wonderful that the sanctuary is taking such great care of these wolves not only giving them the medical care they need, but also provide a place they can live and play for the rest of their lives without fear of abuse or neglect. Bob and I hope to come back maybe in October and stay at the campground they have at the sanctuary and possibly even volunteer there for a week or two. It was definitely a great day and we enjoyed our visit with the wolves.