Trying New Things

We are having the time of our lives and whenever we are given the opportunity of trying something new, we do it. Riding these banana bikes were fun and really worked the thigh muscles.



Jerry was a little hesitant about riding these but after a little coaxing, he loved it.



As you can see, I was having the time of my life!



Played a few games of miniature golf, I won both rounds. It reminded us that we have golf on our "bucket list", at least Jerry does since he has never golfed but I did many years ago. It now goes to the top of our list, we will get my clubs out of the upper storage and get Jerry a set and we will begin golfing and see if Jerry loves it as much as I always did.


Here is more of Jerry's wood work that he completed while we stayed at the Cape Hattereas KOA in the Outer Banks.

Every Day is a Day to Celebrate

Waking up to this realization has always been something we strive for but for one reason or another not always choosing to make it happen. There are times when we wallow too much in what we should have done yesterday, last week, last month, last year, and even a moment ago. Life changes when we live in the here and now and make better choices for this moment no matter what the result had been in the past, after all this moment is like no other time because it is this moment. We also waste precious time worrying over what we are going to do next that we end up missing out on the special moment we are in right now.

Meditation, breathing, smiling, trusting, and going with the flow of life has not always been easy things for us to do but we are learning more and adding more wonderful things daily. Everyday we strive to be more grateful for all that we have, to be more patient with others for they may not be where they want to be either, and we strive to be more open to new ideas and ways to do things, we are not always perfect and we no longer strive to be.

It is a choice…there are no excuses…life is exactly what we believe it to be down deep inside of ourselves…so we choose to be all that we know we can be…right now with what we have and what we know at this very moment!

Kitesurfing aka Kiteboarding in the Outer Banks (OBX)

Kitesurfing, also known as Kiteboarding is indigenous to the Sounds, particularly the Pamlico Sound where winds are non stop, the water is shallow and it‘s wide without many obstructions. We had not seen such a sport before and we were so impressed by so many of the riders. It is a very dangerous sport and even though many companies in the area offer equipment rental, they still insist on a certain amount of certification first. The expertise showed in each maneuver they made, bouncing off the water and into flight, all awhile making it look so easy, they were awesome.

The winds in the Sound are so strong that it looks as if it takes a lot of upper body strength to be able to master this sport. From what we could see there seems to be an attachment to the life jacket which holds the ropes to the kite and steering this kite that is being pulled at a extremely fast paced since the winds are so gusty is absolutely a sight to see. The more experienced riders get this kite flying so fast then they pull back on it and allow the wind to lift them out of the water and some so high into the air, it looks as if they will fly away.

We absolutely recommend the OBX area, those of you who have never been here before, put it on your list of places to see and while you are here be sure to check out the kite surfers. Just watching them was awesome, but if you are an adventurous soul, you may want to give it go yourself, if you do, we would love to hear all about your experience.

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Change of Plans

Who would have thought that we could actually be living this way? Sure, we are the rare exception to the rules, which we usually are anyway, but we were told so many times that we would never make it happen, but we continue to amaze our readers. We struggle financially and we do not recommend this lifestyle for the meek unless you have some other steady source of income. It is tough but for us, very doable.

We are very adaptable and that is exactly what makes it work for us. There are times, like now, that our plans get totally blown out of any sense of the original dream at all but instead of coming unglued, we go with the flow. Even with the help of the Director of Business Communications from NASCAR, we have been once again unsuccessful in confirming work at every track we needed. Sure we know, as it has happened in the past, just as soon as we accept another position which will keep us grounded, that is when all the tracks that we had been waiting for confirmation will come through but we have chosen not to wait.

We had been struggling for awhile now, because all of our sending out emails, making phone calls and sending snail mail to all the tracks had not received the responses we had anticipated, even using the Director’s contacts we didn‘t get any further in the tracks.

We wondered how we were going to make it to the next track, since we have not worked since Daytona, by the way this was a miracle making it this far on such a tight budget but we did it. We had a decision to make and it was a very difficult one, we could continue to hope for confirmations from the tracks and take our last dollars and head in that direction, or we could find work in the immediate area and be able to eat for the next month. Seriously, our funds were that low and we could not do both, we could either travel or eat. We had been lucky enough to find work on the Outer Banks of North Carolina but it was for site only, so we still had no cash coming in and that work was coming to an end soon. We asked if he could use us for the summer and he said that he would love to keep us but his staff was full.

Neither one of us wanted to give up again but that afternoon, an email came that would change the course of our travels. We were offered a position in the area for the summer, we have made the choice to settle in until Labor Day, then once again get back on the tracks for the fall on our way back to the west.

To some it may sound as if we gave up again, but we know we will never give up on our dream of one day being able to visit every race track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit, we just need to postpone it every once in awhile. We did everything we could think of to do and even though we made it a little further this year, there is no way we could continue without more confirmed work that would give us the funds to go to the next track. Our plans can and will change and we continue to go with the flow and try to understand that even though we can’t see it at times, things are going as they should.

What can you do when customer service is lousy?

A few areas usually go without a hitch in the stationary home that end up being a total nightmare experience in the full-time RV Lifestyle. A few of these challenges are communication with cell phones, mail delivery and receiving local television stations. We managed to conquer the first two but the difficulties are still apparent with the latter, even after five years.

Check out the entire story at our column.

Learning Lessons Along the Way

We had decided not to travel west to Texas Motor Speedway, so instead, we watched the race coverage on FOX, our favorite broadcasting crew. Darryl Waltrip did a segment about passion, or lack of it in the race drivers nowadays and he was so right on point and something we had noticed ourselves.

We know our passion left our lives 3 years ago when we lost our daughter and grandson. It seems that once that awful time in our lives took hold of us, there was no getting it back, it continues to be challenging but we are moving forward one day at a time.

Without passion, what have you got?

It may not be necessary to show it as strongly as Kyle Busch has lately, or is it? His actions show just how passionate he is to win, for him it is all about winning, and isn’t that the way life should be? Being the best you can possibly be and living each moment, each race as if it may be your last? Reaching deep and giving it all you have, leaving nothing behind, no regrets, no thinking that you could have done better?

Life should always be filled with passionate decisions, not decisions because you feel obligated or that you feel you have to do, but because you feel it from deep inside your soul.

Once We Let Go…Things Go Splendidly

We have been up in the air about what the heck we were going to do next. We knew we didn’t want to stop, as we had in the past 4 years and get off the NASCAR tour but we were at a very desperate stage. There were no track jobs lined up for April except for a few days with less than 8 hours per day at minimum wage at Talladega. It was going to cost us much more than that in gas and other expenses to get there and then get back to Richmond or Darlington, whichever we could or would find work. We were confused, discouraged because even with the help of a Director at NASCAR, we were not any further than we had been in the past. The confirmations we were getting were nice but it was not helping our immediate situation, no work lined up and our gas fund was low.



There was a big difference this time, life was not going to get us down and we were not going to give up on our dream, so we moved forward.



There were moments when we went forward only to take a few steps back but we never gave up and we never went deep into that black hole of despair that we usually find ourselves in. This time we had an idea and went with it and if it didn’t feel right after all, we stopped and did something else until finally we came across the right situation at the perfect opportune moment and without having to give up our dream.



We are working in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the month of April and for those who have never been here, please put it on your list and do it. Sleeping with the sounds of the Atlantic Ocean, feeling the brisk winds and the cool air for this time of the season has been an added bonus for us. We will be sharing all about it in the upcoming weeks and then in the beginning of May we will return to the NASCAR circuit.