IMAX Experience



Before beginning our fulltime adventure, we lived here in Alamogordo, NM for 2 years and somehow managed never to visit the NM Space History Museum or attached IMAX Theater. I have never been to an IMAX movie and vowed not to leave the area again with out seeing one. So Saturday, while thinking of something to do, I though, hey, lets go to the IMAX. Sheryl thought it was a good idea, so off we went, and all I can say is WOW!!!. If you have never been to one, make sure you do when ever you a chance. The movie we saw, was "Amazing Caves" about two explorers exploring several caves around the world. along with the underground scenes, there were fly through of massive canyons and kayakers in whitewater. Being my first experience with IMAX, I was just blown away, we'll definitely be going back again when the change movies.

We didn't take in the Museum, as we have been to more than our fair share of aerospace type museums over the years. I did have some nice displays outside, we gave them alook and then headed out for some shopping and then home.

We haven't really done much fun staff since we've been here, so it was good to get out and experience something new.

Our little park here is full to the gills with folks passing through heading back north from their winter stay in AZ. It's interesting meeting all the folks as the pass through on their way home.

Ok, that's it for today, so until next time, keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours.

Stayin Put for a Bit

Southern New Mexico sure seems to have us in her grips. Actually we've decided to stay put for at least 4 months. This will give us time to get the whole medical appeal sorted out, Sheryl time to recover if the surgery does get approved and lastly we'll be saving some money to buy a new to us 5th Wheel. The trailer we have now is nice and has served us well over the last year and a half, but we decided it was time to get something with alittle more room. We want to go with a 5ver for the under belly storage room, and generally increased living space, instead of a larger travel trailer. It'll be nice in Sept to hit the road with a larger more comfortable rig, until then our little trailer will do just fine.

Were debating on trying to stay here at Holloman AFB Campground for the whole time, or maybe move around to different campgrounds in the area for a change of pace, may just stay here another month and go from there.

Ok, just an update on our decision, we'll be finding things to do here in the area to keep us entertained and of course we'll be posting those adventures and maybe even get to find some more off road areas that eluded me last time. Until then................................................. 



Day to Day Life

Not a lot of posting going on here lately as we have settled into day to day life. Since this area is our homebase and we have pretty much seen everything here, there'sactually not much to post about, and I'm not one to bore you with our daily meals and laundry adventures....lol. I was talking with a gentleman a couple of RV's down, who has the same make and model truck as us, just a couple of years older. We were talking guy stuff, truck power, ride and then of course mileage and it seemed he was getting much better mileage than I am. Well one thing led to another and I thought I'd check the air filter and change it if needed. The truck came with an aftermarket cold air system installed with a reuseable filter, but just my luck a brand that is not real popular in this area. I pulled out the filter an WOW, was it dirty, and I don't mean a little bit dirty, it was packed with dirt and dust. Hmmmm, maybe thats the problem with the poor mileage (Ya Think???) so I headed downtown and picked up a cleaning and recharge kit, a different brand, but they work just the same. So after two good cleanings and a recharge of the filter, we'll see how she does. Should do much better as the truck seems to even run a bit better since she can breath now.

The only other big news, incase you were waiting to hear, Sheryl's surgery got denied by our insurance company, so we are having to do an appeal. Hard to believe they have that much power over a person, that they can dictate what they think you need and what the doctor that examined you says you need. So the fight is on!!! Of course we both are pretty down and upset about this, mainly Sheryl as she is the one living in pain and surviving on pain killers and other meds.  It's driving her crazy, thinking she may have to live like this, until it gets worse or something really bad happens. So we'll fight the good fight and see what happens.

Depending on how everything goes, looks like we'll be here for at least another month or longer if we can get the surgery approved. We've been in the area for just over a month now, and the travel bug sure is biting at our heals, hard to believe how quickly you can get that itch.

Well, thats it for now, we'll wait and see what happens. Thanks again for dropping by for a visit and until next time, Take Care. 

Windy Day Project

The other day it was quite windy (ok, crazy windy!!) so we stayed inside and rode it out. Sheryl was busy with all her projects (quilting, crochet, etc) and I was just staring at the tube..........mindless entertainment. We had some left over window insulation from Camping World that was just laying around, so I got the idea to rap our little electric cooler in it, in an attempt to make it more efficient. The cooler is one of those Colman electric coolers you find at Wal Mart and other stores for around $100.00. It runs on AC or DC power and will keep things cool to the tune of 40 degrees below the surrounding temp. With the limited space inside the trailer the cooler lives outside underneath out of the weather and does great in the Fall /Winter/Spring, but in the summer it begins to struggle with the higher temps. The cooler goes in the trucks backseat and filled with snacks when travelling. We like to buy our drinks by the case, and usually put a few in the fridge and the case in the bedroom and refill the fridge from there, but we also keep the little cooler full as the drinks get colder faster from when transferred from the cooler to the fridge. In the cooler months we just keep the drinks in the cooler to save space in the fridge. So anyway, I broke out the duct tape (mans best friend) scissors and insulation and went to work. About an hour later I was finished, and not a bad job if I do say so myself. Now it's just a matter of seeing if it works, it will at least reflect the suns heat and help in that aspect. The cooler has been living outside for over a year now and I can tell you, it's one tough piece of equipment, it's been through all kinds of weather (rain, not direct exposure/snow/heat/dirt/dust/wind/etc) and just keeps chugging along. One day I'd like to pick up an actually AC/DC portable fridge, about the same size, but at $600.00 to $800.00 a pop, it will have to wait abit.

Well, that was my project for the day, we'll see how it does, if it works, heck may just rap the whole trailer in it!!!.....lol. Take Care and see you next time.

Back at Holloman AFB, NM.

It's been a bit since we last posted, but it's been a pretty emotional couple of weeks. Started out with some very bad health news for Sheryl, during her yearly check-up. Then a few days later she ended up in hospital for several days, for her back, but was kept for testing because of the other news. Well, after all the tests were run, it we determined, the first Doc miss diagnosed her condition and she is fine!!! Thank Goodness!!! After that, we visited her back doctor and he was able to schedule her back surgery for this week. Sheryl is so grateful she will finally be getting some relief from her back pain, that she actually broke down and started crying at his office. The procedure will also be much less intrusive than we were expecting, so her recovery should be that much quicker. Did I mention how grateful and happy she is!!! Along with some other issues, you can see it has been a very emotional roller coaster ride for us, and we just needed time to get things sorted out.

We also decided we wanted a change of scenery, so after a month in El Paso, we pulled up stakes (or jacks as it were) and headed north into New Mexico and are staying at the Holloman AFB RV Park. We forgot how nice this little park is, if you remember, we Camp Hosted here just before leaving on our grand adventure.

We did finally get our awning installed the other day, however, they found one of the springs in the hardware was broken, so they have to order one for us. So, yup, nice new awning and can't use it, plus with Sheryl's surgery scheduled for this week, we'll have to wait for a while before we can take the rig down to have that part fixed. Good thing is, our RV site faces North to South, so our patio area is actually well shaded by the trailer, just right for sitting out in the afternoon/evening.

The new truck pulled our little trailer like a dream, as we imagined it would. We are very happy with it so far, and glad we made the switch from the Jeep. The only issue is the truck will need new tires before too long, at least before we head out again on our travels. Will be looking for a good long lasting smooth riding tire, but also an A/T tire for off road travels. Looking at the BFG A/Ts, but there pretty high dollar, so if you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them.

The photo above, is from 5:00 pm today looking directly into the sun, it's been a really high wind/high dust day, so we've been huddled up inside, out of the mess.

Ok, that's all for today, things are really looking up now, after all that has happened these last couple of weeks, so as we say, keep "Lovin Your Life" as we do ours and we'll look forward to seeing you next time.

Big Red, The Reveal!!!

Well here she is, ain't she a beast...I mean beaut!!! 2006 Dodge Ram 2500, 4X4, with 83,000 miles. Not bad for a diesel. The price was fair, and we were treated well by the dealer, it meets all our requirements for towing now and in the future. We have been talking for a while now about getting a truck like this one, we just wanted to wait for the right one to come along. We knew we wanted a diesel if we could afford one, plus it had to have 4 wheel drive for off roading.  We headed out the other day to just look but all we were finding (in our price range) was very high mileage beaters. So we decided to pack it in and get some lunch, funny thing was, there was a Dodge dealer right across the street from the resturaunt. On the way out Sheryl says, hey, why don't we look and see what they have, and well.......the rest is now history as thats the dealer we bought from. Also, you can tell it has four wheel drive, so our off road adventures will continue, just in a different vehicle. It will certainly take alittle getting used to driving it, both on and off road, as it's much bigger than the Jeep.
Tomorrow, we'll see how she tows, we are taking the trailer up to Camping World to get our new awning installed. Yep, we finally decided it was time for a new one, with summer almost here it'll be nice to have it out to get away from the blazing sun here in the Southwest. As you may remember (or not) last year just before we headed out on the road, one of those lovely El Paso winds came up out of nowhere and our old awning was history. I was at the VA Hospital, and poor Sheryl was just no match for the wind gust that so kindly removed the awning.
Tomorrow is also my "your officially getting old" appointment at the VA, yep, being fitted for my hearing aids. I've been putting it off for so long now, but my hearing loss is really starting to affect my (our) everyday life, so I guess it's time.
Ok, well, that was the big reveal, we'll miss the Jeep, but we'll have just as much fun with our new friend. Towing will be less stressful, not worrying about being over loaded, and there's alot more room for Sheryl to move around and be Comfy.
Take Care and thaks for stopping by.

Busy Busy Week!!!

My how time flys when your crazy busy!!! This week we have been running like crazy, between doctors appointments, driving up to Alamogordo a couple of times, spring cleaning and of course the ever present poor wifi connection here at the park, it's no wonder I haven't posted all week.

 Spring Cleaning started with the Jeep. After my last outing with it, Sheryl had, had enough with the scratches and wanted them taken care of. Now the scratches are just from the desert bushes, and always look worse than they are. I keep telling Sheryl, awww don't worry, they'll bufff right out, I just never seemed to get around to the buffing out part. Well all that changed this week, so with wax in hand they were taken care of, while Sheryl cleaned the inside.

Now, with the Jeep all nice clean, it was time for inside the trailer, so out came alot of stuff from the cabinets, as we tried to decide what we needed and didn't. Hard to believe how much stuff you can collect and all the little heidie holes you can find to put it in!!! We we made a pretty good dent in it, but there is still always more to do.

As I said, doctors appointments and general running around took up most of our time, but we also made time for alittle truck shopping...................seems Sheryl had an ulterior motive for getting the Jeep cleaned up, boy that girl can be sneeky sometimes...lol. Actually we have been talking lately about trading the Jeep in for a truck. With poor Sheryl's back and other issues, the seats in the Cherokee just are not that comfy for her on travel days. We also think we are pushing the limits of the Jeeps tow rating. Now don't get me wrong the Jeep has lots of power, but the springs are struggling and with the really poor milage, it's just time to start looking. I also love the Jeep for it's off road capabilities, but, with this new lifestyle it may be time for a change. So we strike out to "JUST LOOK" and see whats out there and which trucks have the best seats for Sheryl. OK you can see where this is going, so long story short, we bought an new to us, pre owned truck (but you'll have to wait till next post to see it as we won't get it from the dealer until tomorrow). After telling the salesman what we were looking for and our budget, he showed us one that they had just traded for (not even cleaned up yet). We did the test drive, looked it all over and found a couple of issues that are being taken care of, before they'll hand her over. So stay tuned and see what we got!!!

We get commented to all the time on how young we look to be out fulltiming (great compliment) and how we managed it. Hmm, well it all began when Sheryl and I were dating, she said she would just love to buy an RV and just travel. Funny as that had been a dream of mine for a long long time and I had never mentioned it to her, so I thought wow, is that perfect or what. Fast forward a few years, I'm now retired from the AF and Sheryl is looking at doing Travel Nursing, we will buy a motorhome and begin our travels. Well, as they say Life Happens and those plans were put on hold for a while with Sheryls heart surgery. Fast forward alittle bit later, Sheryl (after going back to work) decided she just couldn't do nursing anymore as it was just too much for her. We applied and she was approved for Social Security Disability (nice to know it was there, after paying in for so many years). So with my retirement and her SS, we decided to hit the road, we found a trailer we could pay cash for and that the Jeep could tow, so we were set. That's how we are able to Fulltime at 52 (me) and Younger (Sheryl).

Ok, so until next time and the big reveal................................