This obsession for more travel began with my parents. They really wanted to be wanders and were when they retired. So I have wanted and have wandered the world.
Finally it is close to retirement time but not quite yet so I work from home. I am a freight agent when I am not driving down the road to somewhere. When I get to somewhere I work.
The actual physical journey began in February 2013. That is when I decided this was the year and it was time to shop for an RV. First was what kind, what style and what could I afford. The afford part was not much. I knew I did not want a motor home when I test drove one. My parents had mostly had 5th wheels. My Dad had complained that travel trailers had to much sway. So now we are at the juncture of 5th wheel and travel trailer. Off to the internet to begin my research. One look at the price of even a used 5th wheel helped me make my decision. Now that I have decided on a travel
trailer what features did I want or could afford and how was I going to get it down the road. I knew I wanted a Ford F-150 as Dad was a Ford man and I knew the F-150 was used extensively in the Texas Oil Patch.
Now I had to really figure out what I could afford. Most everything was more than what I wanted or could pay. My friend who lives in Texas to the rescue. She was going to sell her Ford F-150 named Trigger and her 21' Travel Trailer. Arrangements were made for me to purchase my rig. It was not sight unseen a number of years before I had spent a week in Destin, FL in this rig.
The new journey begins with my flying to Dallas and taking to shuttle down to Winona, TX. The first trip in the Dragonfly was to a music festival about 50 miles from Winona. I actually did not have that much of a problem driving but was somewhat nervous.
I spent the first three months in Winona. I headed East the end of August. This was the first trip with just Trigger, Dragonfly and me.
The first one hundred miles I gripped the steering wheel telling myself to relax. I eventually did relax, got into the groove and was an old hand by the time I reached Birmingham, AL. This was my first planned outing with other women who were RVer.
It was so nice I met these two great ladies and one of them had made dinner and were just waiting for me to get into Tannenhill State Historical Site. One of the ladies had everything planned food wise for the next couple of days. I did throw in breakfast the next morning. Later in the day I met a couple of other RV women. I had a wonderful time and cannot wait to meet up with the ladies again.
The next day I returned to Surfside Beach, SC for two weeks.
Mid September I left for WV with a new passenger aboard, Alousie Boudreau the Lhasa Apso. I gained some new experience in pulling a travel trailer. I drove through the mountains for the first time. This is how my little girl got the name of Dragonfly, she was dragged up the mountain and would want to fly off the mountain. I can attest to one thing, for sure, it does not pay to plan on when you will arrive anywhere especially while traveling through the mountains. We finally reached our first destination which was a 1 am. I had left Myrtle Beach, SC at 9 am the previous day. We had made no long stops. Our first destination was to pickup our other traveler, Bluegrass Bud-e-Boy our Bouvier des Flanders.
West Virginia was great fun. I painted primitive art for my sister-in-law. Hung out with my brother and nephew. I went to a old time cider pressing, the Black Walnut Festival in Spencer, WV, and a wine tasting tour. The best part with just hanging out with my sister-in-law.
I returned to Surfside Beach the end of October. I am not off the road for the fourth month. I have been working on the travel trailer. I have made to valances for the windows and will be making new curtains and am considering other changes.
