I may not have done a fantastic job of posting, and I am going to work on that. But I HAVE been living full time RV now for just over a year. I am on my second coach already, you may have noticed the header on the main page is still the old one. Her name was Nancy. The new Coach is Rosie. The header remains as a reminder and also a place holder. Next Spring June of 2021 when Rosie makes her way to upstate NY, I intend to park her in the exact same spot for a little photo op. That moment in time captured was day one of full time RV life. Two hours prior I had locked the door to an empty house in Syracuse NY for the very last time, and drove off in Nancy headed north. My Family has a camp on the St. Lawrence River in upstate NY and this rest area is not too far away from it. For privacy reasons you wont really find me posting many pics of Camp publicly on the internet and so for that reason I pulled off that day before arriving and took the photo. I am gonna do it again with the new coach 🙂 only this time it wont be celebrating day one of full time Life, but Rosies Grand achievement having tackled VA, WV, PA and lower NY mountains. Its a trip I had originally planned to take this summer but Covid and fate decided to change them for me. The North Country upstate NY is very special to me and bringing my new coach down that camp road will be one of the major highlights of my Adult Life. If you are wondering what happened to Nancy, well. The trip to florida that came shortly after that photo was taken. Thats what happened. Those horrendous mountains in PA and VA. At some point I remember doing about 22MPH in the middle of I-81 up hill engine backfiring my foot in the carburetor 4 ways on and traffic screaming past me, I was pretty sure I was about to Die and VERY sure I was never going to attempt that crap again until I got a Diesel. Nancy and I had one crazy adventure, one last and only crazy adventure together. After spending the entire year prior rebuilding her she proved to be inadequate on her very first trip. I said alot of Prayers. it helped that the Radio died somewhere near Cortland with 1000 miles to go. Talked to God the whole way to Florida because I knew I was in serious serious trouble. I had every single thing I own on board and both pets my whole little World and it wasn’t going very well at all. Half way through PA the breaks started acting up. lets not forget the Fuel pump blew before I even left and I had to drop the tank and replace it. This was turning into one hellacious trip and I knew I was in trouble. Never have I prayed like that. Basically the entire trip.

So with the breaks failing and I didn’t even trust it to stay in park I had little choice to keep on going. I drove 27 hours non stop no sleep from Upstate NY to Central Florida, and for the final stretch on I75 I could hardly keep it between the lines but I just kept on Praying. God please get me there this whole thing was a big mistake, let me arrive in one piece please I begged…. And I talked to the camper too coercing her the whole way just a few more miles Nancy girl, its all flat here you got this….. And finally we arrived. within Days God showed up. He showed up in a Big way. The first thing to know is that I had this eagle on the back of Nancy.

It had always been there but I didn’t know its history just came with the camper. It was hand painted by some Guy named Wesley and it was just like this thing. The camper had come from some place out in Arizona and then was parked in a field for years in Watertown NY before it came to me, and I had no idea but the Park that I had just pulled into in Central Florida was the back YARD of the artist who painted that. His name is Wesley Stout. He does Murals and paintings and he literally lives right there his house is visible from the camp site I pulled into about 500 feet away. Back in the 90s he had painted the mural on Nancy at some gathering in Arizona back when he was full time RV. He had JUST recently done a big huge Mural in town in there – Leesburg FL, around the electrical sub station in the center of town, with – you guessed it…. an American Eagle. : http://gm5-lkweb.newscyclecloud.com/news/20200119/leesburg-substation-murals-completed and so upon learning this I just HAD to meet this guy. He came and looked at his old faded painting on the back of Nancy, and old faded Eagle on an American Flag. He smiled and he just went on and on about all the campers and things he had painted back then. And he began to tell me about a website he was working on. One which I am proud to see he seems to have launched successfully because I was supposed to help him with it and now I look back I owe that man some time. But his new mission today in life, to Bring God back into Family life. And here it is: https://myfamilyhope.com/ God shows up. SO now I’m just about in tears from it all, but not done yet…. Another few days goes by I meet this wicked sweet old lady in the park shes got a coach she wants to sell. Its been sitting for a decade and needs alot of work but its a Diesel. The BRAND of the Coach ? An American Eagle. By Fleetwood. Got Goose bumps yet? So we make a deal I buy it and the day she hands me the keys gives me this huge hug I look up in the sky, theres a freaking Bald Eagle flying around overhead. So, OK. Now I just HAVE to get Wesley to paint me a new Eagle on the back of my new Eagle. Hence where that came from:

While he painted this SIX Eagles soared overhead. They found a thermal I guess and it was a beautiful sunny day and they just circled around up in the sky, happy as clams. Well. At this point God had smacked me with a 2X4 like HERE I AM !! And I found myself owning two campers. I began to sit down and think what I should do next. I knew I had a heck of alot of work to do on the new one and not a lot of money. The old one had value at least 5-7 Grand and it would sure go a long way towards tires and such on the new one. But I was just so overwhelmed so taken by the events of these past few weeks and how I had never felt so taken care of by the man upstairs. I decided to Give back. And I prayed again. God how can I give back. What can I do. He showed me what to do. And That became the fate of Nancy. I took her on one final drive, her and I. Not too far away. I donated her to a place locally that provides temporary housing to Homeless families. Its called ” The Refuge ” https://www.therefugeatjumpercreekinc.com/ my intention was for them to set her up as a place for a family to call home because she made a fantastic home. She just wasnt very good at climbing mountains. Or um… Driving…. …. details… Well I guess because of zoning laws and such I don’t think they kept her I think they too sent her down the road for a profit but not long after I watched them build a brand new ministry building on Facebook and I smiled. I think Nancy proceeds had a part in that. I don’t actually know where she is today. She’s probably in florida still making someone happy. I hope. But thats what became of her. And thats how I got Rosie. And Thats the meaning of the Eagle and Thats how this all went down.

Its taken me a year to be able to reflect on all of this to a point I could type it up for you. I still don’t get it all. I had a SERIOUS spiritual encounter last year on the start of my journey Full Time RV. And I think after a year of reflection, here is what I take away from it. I am right now, this moment, Exactly where I am supposed to be. I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. And I don’t really know whats over the next horizon. But I know I am gonna Press the Gas and go find out. I am onto the Next Chapter now. For better or worse. I am trusting fate and the man upstairs to guide me. And I am gonna go catch that sunset.

Happy Trails my friends. And God Bless.