Category Archives: what the hell are we thinking?

Miss us?

I keep thinking I will be stoping by here much more often then I have been for the past year, but as you may know, life gets in the way.

For the most part, life is good for us. It could be better of course, but it could also be much worse.

I have a job I actually enjoy. At time’s it is hard work, at times it’s painful work, but still, I do not wake up dreading the idea of having to go to work. That tells me I have a good thing with a good future.

I admit, this is not the “dream job” I would want, but its a good job with a bright future. I work with good people and I have full control of my area with a good reputation with the owner as well as the upper management, so I feel “wanted” which is also a good thing.

Bad side, Pauline and I have not been getting the free time we once had and even as spoiled as we know we was, we miss it. The total freedom of being able to take off when we wanted, where we wanted, has long as we wanted.

There is nothing like the total freedom of being able to be yourself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

But, I have do have more freedoms here then I would have elsewhere, so if I had to take a job in “the real world” like I had to do, I really lucked out with this one.

Just over a year ago I lost a relationship that once meant the world to me, almost as much as my relationship with Pauline. At time’s Im so ok with it being over. At time’s I want to cry. It was doomed from the start. I know that. We knew that. But still. I miss it. Well, parts of it.

Yeah, ok, so I’m not over it yet.

My best friend’s “death date” (for lack of a better term) is coming up. He died July 9, 2009 of brain cancer. There is not a day that has gone by that I haven’t missed him. He taught me a lot about a lot. Things I would never have experienced or thought of without him. The most important thing that I learned too late…

Real Unconditional Love.

He left 2 incredible boys who I miss so very much but just have not had the chance to see as much as I wish I could.

I have Bruce Springsteen London Calling Love at Hyde Park playing.

It’s one of my favorite concert’s ever.

Peace.

ToRn

Change of email

I was forced to change my email address due to a MASSIVE amount of SPAM.

Like 8,000+ daily amount of SPAM. Even with very tight SPAM filters I was still getting too much, so if you are trying to contact me and the email bounces, contact us here via the comment sections and I will send you the new email address.

To all the Spammers of the world.

DIE!

 

Just where the hell have we been?

Hello!

Yep, it has been a long time. We wanted this blog to be as “positive/happy/joyful” as we could make it. We do have a few post of complaints and negativity of course, but we really tried not to take out our life’s frustrations here.

Which is why we have not posted since June.

Long story short…

Since 1999 we have worked online as independent contractors for various online marketing companies and since 2004 we both worked for the same company.

I was laid off September 30, 2013.

Pauline made enough to keep us going, but not by much, so we weighed our options and decided to stay on the road with the idea of me volunteering for a site with her income paying the bills and maybe getting a few odd jobs here and there. It would be very tight, but we could do it.

That is, until Pauline was laid off on June 3, 2014.

Ouch.

We was very happy to be back in the Northwest when this happened. Had we still been in Arizona or elsewhere, it would be much worse for us personally.

The good news, we had already downsized prior to going on the road. We of course still had expenses, but not like we once had. So while it hurt to lose her job, (And it hurt, A LOT) we was still in a better position for this to happen now then had it happened 2-3 years ago.

We did find some temporary work, which required much more work, with much less pay, but at least we had some income. (And a big THANK YOU to our Doc for the work!) Pauline also did a masterful job of making all our payments on time and in full and we still have a savings account with a good chunk of change in there.

We both have been job hunting since June 6 (When the shock started to wear off). The very first place I applied to was on June 6. I heard nothing from them until mid August at which time I had completely forgotten about them and had already been to a few other interviews and had applied countless applications for other jobs.

In late August I took a test to verify I was qualified for the position, then I had a interview a few weeks later, then a UA test a few weeks after that and finally on September 3 I was offered the job. I started working on October 2.

I was unemployed for 1 year and 3 days.

I now have a job in a completely different field then I have ever been in, and I am about to start week 5 of 5 weeks training and so far, I like this job for many reasons. Mostly, it’s nice to have real leadership again. And to be respected. And to have my opinion and judgment actually listened to and considered. It has been so long since this has happened.

The training has been really good. I’m being trained in multiple fields, and have earned many qualifications since I started with opportunities to earn more qualifications which I will be doing as soon as I am able. (After 90 days, which will be in late December).

Pauline just accepted a new job as well. She starts her training in a few days. She is also going back to school to earn another degree. This will help us in the long term and at some point, help get us back on the road.

Another negative we had to deal with was earlier in 2014, I ended a relationship with someone I cared very much for. But it was for the best and I have no regrets over ending it. I will of course miss this once close relationship, but toxic relationships are good for no one involved.

 

So that is the main reason we have not made any post. We just did not have much things to say that would be positive and now we do.

Our long term goal is to spend the next few years (3-5?) doing what it takes to pay off our Jeep and Admiral Ackbar as well as get everything we wanted to have when we started this full time RV lifestyle.

All the cool toys we didn’t have the income to get a few years ago like better camera’s, bikes, kayaks, maybe take some classes to be better prepared such as backpacking, survival, maps/compass etc. We will now have the financial means to get exactly the equipment and training we want.

We also will have to get another vehicle and have been looking, we are getting closer in making a decision on what to get, and with Pauline’s great money management skills, we have more then enough to make a huge down payment in cash which is something we have never been able to do.

Kermit the Jeep should be paid off in early 2016 as would the new vehicle and Ackbar would have a good chunk paid down as well and then we think we will be looking for a bus, which was originally our choice but we decided to get Ackbar. I can’t say we regret getting Ackbar, we just think a bus is a better choice for us.

We will be redoing the interior of Ackbar as well since we no longer have the need for a large desk area, we will get a new couch and dining table/chairs at some point.

We of course had to make some major sacrifices such as we will be stationary longer then planned, but we have many great friends and my BoyZ are all within a 90 minute drive.

We are already planning a few road trips when we have some vacation time saved up. Of course, we are going to see some National Parks. 🙂

We now live in the Everett, Washington area and I am now a Washington resident as required for my new job. Not saying this is “bad” but honestly, I LOVED being a Oregon resident and when we are able to get back on the road, I plan to get that back.

I also had to give up my favorite “vice” for the job as well, but that is a small sacrifice when compared to the big picture. It will be there when I am once again able to do it.

In short…

Life is good. Life has changed drastically of course, but life is good. Pauline and I are very thankful for what we have, what we have done, and who our friends are, as well as our stupid cats.

We wanted to say thank you to some of the great people we have worked with in the past year and who have helped us in our time of need.

Ranger Zimmerman and Lori and Ranger Terada and Don and Kevin at Fort Flagler State Park.

Ranger Cimmins, Ranger Lease, Ranger Spaulding, Ranger Curt, Ann, Rik, Danny and Amber at South Whidbey State Park.

Thanks to you all, you made our lives much easier in a time of great stress.

Much love to our Doc!

And last but not least, much love to Daphna and Allen. The Best. Friends. Ever.

 

 

 

 

Deception Pass State Park

Pauline and I made the terrible mistake of youth and moved our original wedding date of October 15 to May 31. What we failed to see was, May 31 is usually a Holiday weekend.

We soon discovered that everything we would LOVE to do on our anniversary, is sold out, booked, and just generally over crowded that we don’t want to be there. We prefer to go site seeing/camping on weekdays over weekends to avoid crowds of any kind, and now that we are camp host, we have to be here for weekends anyway, so we spent our two days off site seeing/birding/hiking around Whidbey Island.

I had a “West Coast Guarantee” when I enlisted in the Navy and was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island from 1990 to 1993. Prior to coming here I have never even heard of Whidbey Island, and when you are 18 with a “West Coast Guarantee” you are thinking “Hawaii” or “San Diego” and when you get Whidbey Island, you can’t help to be anything but disappointed.

I was gone well over a full year of those 3 years, and when I was here, it was usually winter and total crap weather, so I never went out to site see except for what I could see from my bar stool.

When I left the Navy I went back to Indiana and soon met Pauline, we married and on our second anniversary Pauline said she wanted to see the Pacific Northwest, so we came out here for 10 days and visited with my best friend/brother and drove all over the area.

That is when I realized what a great opportunity I had in my youth that I wasted. The Northwest is the best place in the World for Pauline and I.

Some years later, Pauline and I moved from Indiana to Florida and some years after that, we moved to Oregon. As one close friend told us when we arrived.

“I didn’t understand why you ever moved to Florida, you are not Florida people, you are Northwest people”.

One of the greatest compliments we have ever had.

While at NAS Whidbey Island, I drove on and off the island the only way we could, via Deception Pass. I could not even estimate the number of times I have driven that area. And I never once stopped to see Deception Pass State Park. My favorite hangout was the Deception Pass Saloon. I spent countless hours there. It was less then 100 yards from the entrance of the park.

Pauline and I finally stopped to see the park in 1999 and we was both blown away by what we saw. How did I ever miss this?

The ignorance of youth.

We have since been to the park at least 4 times since 1999 and on two of those visits we came across “The Fish Lady” as we called her, since we have no hope of pronouncing her name correctly. The other 2 visits we couldn’t find her.

This trip, we realized that we have never been to the North side of the park, so this time, we started there. Only to soon realize, we had been here before. So we went to the South side of the park expecting to find “The Fish Lady” and soon realized, she must be on the North end.

We go back to the North end and while driving to where we expected to find her, I blew by the park entrance, and since there was a car behind us, I was not able to o a U turn, so we kept driving to find a place to turn around, we soon arrived to a section of the park we have never been to, and since we was there, why not stop and look around?

WE FOUND “THE FISH LADY!”

Lesson 1) We have terrible memories.

Lesson 2) We have really terrible memories.

We also walked on a rocky beach and soon realized there are a bagillion crabs under the rocks we was walking on, I moved 1 rock and there was at least 7 crabs of all sizes running in all directions. We could even hear them moving under the rocks. It was border line horror movie vibe.

We also just missed the lowest tide of the month. Something else we failed to think about prior. They have a really neat “rope trail” going over lava rock, you stay on the rope trail and you can see all sorts of ocean life all around. Had we been a few hours earlier we would have see starfish and octopus and whatever else we could have seen during low tide, but the tide was returning as we was there.

Next time.

We had a Volunteer point out some crustaceans and we saw some seals, both Barn and Tree Swallows and Bald Eagles, Sparrows and of course the countless crabs.

We spent about 4 hours looking around Deception Pass before we went to Oak Harbor and had some Greek food that was really good, the lamb meat was cubed over shaved, but it was still REALLY good, but when you are use to gyros one way, small changes are noticeable.

We then spent a hour or so at Fort Ebey State Park, we planned to do more site seeing there, but we was both getting tired, so Fort Ebey will be another day.

We was also able to see some F/A 18’s and P-3’s doing some “touch and go’s” at NAS Whidbey Island. While it got VERY loud at times, it was still great to see, Pauline and I both miss the military life.

Here are the pics.

“Here is your sign”

Bill Engvall said it best, we need to give a sign to stupid humans when they are being stupid.

Tonight Pauline and I and a Ranger were in the booth checking in campers, selling firewood, etc when a young woman came to the window and was asking how much the firewood was, Pauline told her “$6 a bundle” which brought immediate attitude from this young woman as she blurts out “You’re going to do everything you can to take my money!”

The Ranger, in a very polite and professional way, explained to her why the cost is so high which is due to the State has cut back State Parks budget’s so drastically, the Park system is dying.

Her reply to the Ranger…

“Well, maybe if they fired people like you, firewood would be cheaper.”

You could have heard a pin drop in that booth.

I was about to say something, when I realized there is NOTHING I could say at this time and moment that won’t come out in a “I’LL KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!” tone so I just walked out of the booth.

To his credit, the Ranger was still polite and professional and told her “They do and have fired people like me, many of who are my friends.” which made the young girl realize, what a crap thing she just said.

She apologized and said she didn’t mean it that way and tried to joke it off, but come on, that is the shittiest things I have ever witnessed regarding a Park Ranger.

I have been to 39 States, visiting countless State and National Parks and always try to talk to a Ranger regarding the local Park or area, and I have never once got an attitude or anything from a Ranger except a polite and professional encounter.

I can not think of a time when I did not enjoy talking to a Ranger. They are paid like shit, treated even worse, and yet, still go on do everything they can to make sure their Park is as perfect as it can be.

Respect the Rangers.