Bucket List…Do You Have One?

We were contacted the other day by author, freelance writer, travel columnist, adventurer extraordinaire, Pam Grout, about our Bucket List. She was quite interested in how it all began and she had so many more questions. She is gathering the information for an upcoming article in Highway Magazine and once she gives us all the information, we will pass it along.

But for now, this has once again raised my interest in writing an article regarding our list and all the information about it. I think about interesting things but for reasons uncertain to me, feel that it would not be interesting to others, but then within a few weeks find an article about the exact subject I was contemplating, life is funny that way.

Anyway, back to the Bucket List. Being a writer, it has always been natural to me to put my thoughts, my desires, my dreams in writing, but only recently began calling it a Bucket List, probably due to the movie. Soon after we married we began our own Life List, as we called it, one that included our personal lists then through the years we have blended them all as one list. Our list changes daily, we add, we complete or we change it. Here are a few items we have as of today,

Cross every State line as a couple - take a photo of sign
Visit all NASCAR Race Tracks - photo of us in front of track
Swim with the dolphins
Be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune
Be a guest on Oprah
Travel the Pacific Coast Line
Eat lobster in Maine
Visit the Keys
Ride all the Roller Coasters at Cedar Point
White Water Rafting
Horseback Riding
Alaskan Cruise
Win the lottery or a huge jackpot
See the Redwoods
Sing the Star Spangled Banner at a NASCAR event
Visit the Statue of Liberty
Visit Washington DC
Visit Disney World
Visit Universal Studios in Orlando

The list goes on and on…some so bizarre we may never get to them but you never know, there are so many we have crossed off that we never thought we would either but we did.

Have you started yours yet? Don’t you think it’s time you began living your life to the fullest and stop making excuses why you can’t? Life will not wait for you, you have to grab it and take it as far as you can without giving yourself permission not to fulfill all of your own dreams. Make that list, put it on paper and watch it become real for you.

There’s Snow Up In Those Mountains

As we were headed for Las Vegas Motor Speedway we noticed a sign that read, “snow & fog on mountain pass”.  When I brought this to Jerry’s attention, who has driven through this mountain too many times to count said, “No, they can’t mean this pass”.

Famous last words… 

 

We have been on this road together a few times and snow was present but nothing like this.  Weather has been strange and this incident taught us that no matter how bizarre those signs might be, we will no longer disregard them!

Another NASCAR Track Off Our Bucket List

We love new things…doing new things…tasting new things…everything!



Auto Club Speedway in California is our eighth NASCAR track to cross off our list of been there, and as usual, we had a blast.



The crowd is just so different then any other; NASCAR fans are the greatest around. We were barely pulled into our site when our neighbors came by and we were all exchanging our experiences. Not just our NASCAR experiences and our camping experiences but our life experiences too!

We took advantage of the RVs.com deal where we dry camped in a spot about a ¼ mile from the track. We had a blue lot pass to park our tow vehicle or they also offered a shuttle to the track. The package also included, two tickets for each of us for both races, it was an extra $20 each for general admission for qualifying on Friday.



We picked up our Sprint FanView that we will now be able to use at every track we attend. Every NASCAR fan should rent one for a weekend, but once you do, like us, you will not be able to do without it. We will do an official review of our experience of it in an upcoming article. For now let us just say, try it once and if you don’t like it then you will only be out a little bit of cash, but if you do like it, you could then purchase one instead of renting it every race you attend.

We hung out at the track all day on Friday for the practices, qualifications and of course shopping for all of our souvenirs, including a few new shirts.



On Saturday, we watched an exciting NASCAR Nationwide Series race, with the final laps being the most exhilarating as Kyle Busch took the checker flag. As for Sunday’s race, due to the weather forecast, we chose to leave prior to the race and make it partial way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It was a pay it forward day, as we departed we found a young couple who did not have tickets yet, so we gave them ours. Then, we stopped at Wal-Mart in Barstow and there was this young man about 10 years old in front of us in line. As we spoke, we found out it was his birthday and he liked NASCAR, so we asked his parents if it would be ok if we gave him our Jeff Gordon remote control car we had, so we did. Giving…something that becomes very infectious. Life is Good!

We will be adding all of our photos of our Auto Club Speedway adventures to our Picasa website...we took so many!

Martin’s Famous Louisiana Sausages

Martin’s Famous Louisiana Sausages
MartinsSausages@SBCGlobal.net

626-798-3050

They do not have a website, they do not have a store, but while we were at the California Auto Club Speedway we did find that they had a food tent.  

Anita Martin took the time to speak with us and explained that she has always loved cooking but could never find the perfect sausage, so she came up with her own recipe.

Once we tasted this juicy, spicy sausage, we could taste the love and time that she had put into it to find the perfect blend. The casing and the spices are unique, only if you like it hot should you dare to try the spicy.

We love spicy and Walter Martin gave us samples to see if we could handle it, we could. The spice was nice, but did not burn our mouth or lips, instead it raised the temperature and filled our mouths with such pleasure, leaving us wanting more.  But, the only way to get a taste of them is to either email them or call to place an order or to find out which event they will be at next, it is well worth the extra effort.

Fisherman's Retreat - Halo Resorts

32300 San Timoteo Canyon Road
Redlands, CA 92373
888-252-3133

We stayed with our Coast to Coast and this was another park that added $3 per day for electric once we arrived, with no word about it until then. We ended up paying $13 per night, instead of the Coast to Coast rate of $10.

The area is breathtaking, very secluded and surrounded by mountains.

There is a major thorough way for the trains and they are loud, it seems like they run every hour, even through the night. The have three lakes for fishing, one is mainly for the members. Because they are private lakes, no license is required but the campground charges you $15 for a 12 hour period, we chose not to fish.

It’s a weekend park, on Friday the place filled up and then on Sunday, it emptied out again. No rules are given, so none are followed. We had people coming through our site constantly, we had dogs wandering onto our site, including urinating and pooping on our site. People have to be more responsible for their pets, we do not have pets and I really do not like having to pick up after them.

Most everyone was friendly but we never really felt safe, the folks that worked there were a little questionable and we heard some loud arguing, slamming doors and some pretty abusive language from several of the long-timers.  We would not return here again and would not recommend it to others and that is unfortunate since it really has great potential for being a really nice retreat.

NASCAR Weekend

Once again the season kicks off, we have been so ready for it and are grateful for making the decision of NOT heading to Daytona as we had discussed. The weather is frightful there, cold, windy and lots of rain and has been for the past few weeks, it was nice watching the races from the warmth of sunny California.

Saturday we watched both the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series (NCWTS) since Friday night’s NCWTS was postponed due to rain. Both were very exciting, mostly due to NASCAR changing it’s strict rules they have made in the past few years. They decided to let the drivers drive, bumping and grinding just like they did prior to NASCAR becoming the overly protective parent that would not allow it‘s children to grow and be all that they can be. Now this is racing!



They are still using restrictor plates, but what they did was widen the holes so that the horsepower could be a few mph higher. NASCAR gets a thumbs up for listening to the drivers and the fans, after all, without us, where would this sport be?

The Daytona 500 was red flagged twice because of a hole in the asphalt. It took several hours to complete the repair which made it a very long and very strange race. Because of the new rules of attempting a green, white, checker up to 3 times and they used every one of those attempts, it was a very exciting and emotional ending for Jamie McMurray, the winner of the Daytona 500 in 2010.

It is always nice to watch a race that we can say, “We were there!” Seeing a NASCAR race live is like no other dream we ever had that turned out to be more than we expected. Most of the time our anticipation is higher than the actual event when we finally arrive at it, but attending the NASCAR races has exceeded all of our expectations and we look forward to many more tracks in the upcoming years.

These photos are from our experience in 2009!

California Earthquakes

It was a 4.1, then a 2.5 followed by another 2.5...so far! We always know when we are here that it is possible for that BIG one, we know that this little jolt was not even close to the BIG one but it did get our attention.

While we were watching Tony Stewart win the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race we both felt this tugging feeling. Jerry immediately said it was an earthquake and I thought it felt as if somebody was trying to take our bikes off the rack that is connected to the RV’s hitch. He ran out to look even though he knew what it was, after all he needed to appease me. We looked around and nobody else seemed concerned so we just went back inside. Researching on the computer we found this great Earthquake Website which we plan to keep in our favorites file to keep an eye on for any further movements and it confirmed what we felt was an earthquake.

The trains coming through this valley creates movement on the ground, as well as a noise that we have not experienced before, hour after hour but the uncomfortable feeling of being in an area that is right on active fault lines is just unnerving but also makes our life exciting.

Desert Pools RV Resort

70405 Dillon Road
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92241
760-870-1081



We moved just down the road to another Coast to Coast/WHR (Western Horizon Resorts) and paid $10 for a FHU.



When we first checked in they gave us a site that was more like a half site right on the road, if we put out our awning it would have been in the road. At first she said they were full and it was the only available one but after some convincing, she reluctantly moved us to a very nice, wide and much more private site.



The facilities are a bit outdated and not really clean, but not filthy either. Laundry was part of our plan and their washer and dryers were only $1 each, they were large and did their jobs well.



It was quiet and dark for a good night’s sleep.

Never Say Never…

Another lesson learned since being out here in this wonderful lifestyle. We were discussing how much we have changed since we began living as gypsies. No longer confined to thinking that we can’t do something, where all along it has been we won’t do something, it is and has always been, our choice.

Living every day with adventure in our hearts and trying something new just because it is there has been part of our growing. We are no longer stagnant in our lives, we try new things all the time and if we don’t like them, we don’t do them again. Hasn’t always been this easy, once we gave ourselves permission to have fun and figuring out that everything in our lives is about…choice!

Choosing to be happy, no matter what has been the biggest challenge. We always thought, we had to suffer, especially during sad times, death, losses and other not so good times. Instead we know that all we have to do is choose. Choose to accept what is happening and move forward. Choose to see the brighter side of every situation. Now we are not saying that there are not valid reasons to be sad, there are but being sad should not be forever. We choose to be happy even when we are sad and eventually the sadness melts away if we allow it to.

Learning something new every day…trying something different every day is all part of our growing process that is allowing us to become all we have every dreamed we could be and living our dream life like we never imagined we could is all a choice we make every moment!

Life is Good!

Flower Photos Today

Today was a day for walking and photos...for more photos, click on the title to go to our other blog of only photos...the bee was photogenic!

Just Hanging Around

It’s still hard at times to just relax, when we are working or traveling or something then we are constantly on the go, but then there are times like this when relaxing is all there is to do. We have some spare time before we head into Fontana for our first NASCAR race of the season, so we are currently hanging out in the Desert Hot Springs area, staying at a few different Coast to Coast resorts. The mineral spring waters are fabulous, the softness of the water and the good feeling on the bones, let’s not forget the marvelous weather, no rain, no wind and no frigid temperatures.

We have been walking, playing miniature golf, swimming and soaking in the springs and doing some more purging and remodeling on the rig and of course…relaxing.

Good news…NASCAR began…today was media day and practice…seeing them on the track again is just what we needed…Life is Good!