Doing It Without Guilt

We have come a long way…baby!

It may have taken us over 6 years to finally “get it”, but we have. We work hard and we play even harder but when the time comes to just be able to relax, we now do it without the guilt.


Whenever we work the Christmas tree lot, we know it is weeks of 12 hour shifts and we are tired at the end. We give ourselves the time to play as soon as we can, which we again did this year as we headed for the Laughlin desert. We did an all nighter at the casinos…it was 4am before we came home and discussed what we need to do today. We both agreed…NOTHING! The only thing we had to do was to do it without guilt, which we did.


First off, we slept until noon. Sure can’t remember the last time that happened. Then we just ate and napped for the rest of the day, nothing else. No worries about cleaning, laundry or any other things on our list that needs to get done, tomorrow is another day when we will work on the list, but for today, we simply were there in the moment without a care in the world. Life certainly has it’s way of allowing us to just be, if we allow it.

A Perfect Driving Day

We got an early start and it was a beautiful drive with the weather totally cooperating. We were going to stop in Bakersfield, but since we were having such a great time singing with our new cd‘s, especially the double album by George Straight. Many of his songs remind us of the greatest love that we share with one another, it was a great ride.


We made it all the way to Barstow, a bit on the cold side but it is clear, no rain and since we are actually in the high desert it feels dry. We are staying once again at the Barstow Calico KOA, be sure to check out our review on our blog or at RV Parking.


For the first time going through Tehachapi Pass, there was no snow on the ground. It was still cold and windy but no snow.


This was our first road trip with our new lens and filters and it was fabulous. Here are some of the shots we took today. Now the scenery was great, especially with the weird cloud covering, so taking a bad photo was hard to do.

Christmas Day Adventures

Usually we love driving on Christmas day because of no or very little traffic, but since we didn’t get off the lot as early as we anticipated, and being dirty and tired, we didn’t make it to Bakersfield as we had wanted. We only made it about 50 miles down the road to the Kit Fox RV Park in Patterson, California. See our separate review on our blog or at RV Parking and all the photos on our Picasa Web Albums.


Then we had planned to drive to Bakersfield today, but due to the weather forecast of dense fog, rain, and very high winds, we chose to just stay put for another night.


We caught up on our laundry and had Christmas breakfast at Denny’s. For so many years when we were in our stationary home, our daughter worked on Christmas, we always wondered who goes to Denny’s on Christmas? We now know, the place was packed.


We hope all of our readers have a fun and safe holiday season!

We are FREE…

The last few days have been much more work then we had anticipated and we are tired, plus this nasty cough that caught us and just will not let us go determines the amount of energy we have left.

It is very hard work disassembling a Christmas lot, you have so much to take down, the decorations, the fencing, the poles, the lighting, the trees off the lines, and last but certainly not least the tent.


Then it all has to be neatly packed into a trailer which is later picked up by a semi driver.



Then comes the clean up of the area we had taken over for the past month. There are pine needles to be raked, holes from the poles to be refilled in, and any trees left over to be stacked and ready for pickup.



The good news is that it is over and we have left the lot and are in vacation mode for the next month or so. We don’t DO Christmas anymore…maybe because we have no family…maybe because of this lifestyle…maybe because for the past few years we have been working the lot. We haven’t quite decided why we do not do it anymore, but we know one thing and that is we have one another to share whatever it is that we do on that day. We also have our friends…many we have met and many who we have yet to meet. And, to all of you we hope you all have the Christmas you all desire, for us it’s travel time and to unwind from the last month of serving others their Christmas trees.

When Will Your Someday Arrive?

What a wonderful post I read the other day, written by Just Wanderin’ about “Someday”.

So when will your someday bring you all you ever wanted? Tomorrow, next week, next year? How about right now. This moment is all you have. In this life, there are no guarantees that you will wake up tomorrow to enjoy that someday, so why not enjoy it now. Are you really going to wait for the exact, precise, perfect moment before you begin enjoying your life? Well, let me be the one to burst your bubble…that day may just be a fantasy. You see, even if you finally reach that dream of yours, there is no guarantee that it will be without pain or sorrow. Or, it may not look exactly as you had dreamed it would be. But the good news is that, today, this very moment is still available for you to enjoy and have the time of your life.


As I commented on Just Wanderin’s blog, “This ain’t no dress rehearsal…it is it! This is the only moment that you will ever have, so suck it up and take charge of your life and enjoy it to the very most. We never know when this moment may be our last and why not get all we can out of it before it ends.


We now choose to live our someday every day, every moment, and as happily ever after as we possibly can. Even during the rough times, the sad times and the unsure times. Are you ready to do the same? Well, jump up and do it right this moment and make every one of your “somedays“ into now.

Propane Issues

As many of you know, we are in the San Francisco Bay area in California working a Christmas tree lot. The weather has been damp and cold which has forced us several times to use our main heater more often. Because we have such a small space and a great new electric heater, we can usually get by with it alone.


But, when it reaches freezing or close to it, we have to use our propane heater, at least for a few minutes to take the initial chill out.


Usually we can get by with filling our 9 gallon propane tank every other month or so but when we use out heater it can use it up in just a few days.


We began calling around so we could get one of the companies to come and fill our tank if we run out. We have done this several times before in other areas and we know that it is more expensive but it is worth it so we do not have to unhook and drive to get this accomplished.

Weren’t we surprised to find out that in the state of California, they do not have mobile propane trucks for RV’s, we would have to unhook and go to them. Then this morning while reading the Roadrunner Chronicles blog, they had the same issue in Virginia.

We are certain that Arizona allows this convenience of mobile propane service.
California does not.
As for any other state we have not had to use the convenience so we are not sure which others ones might allow.

So the question for today is,

Which states allow this convenience of propane trucks coming to your site and pumping propane into your rig and which ones do not?

While commenting, please give us the reasoning behind these decisions if you know them.

Christmas Tree Business

The weather here has been wet and damp, not a big surprise for the Bay area, but it has created such a challenge for us. It could be worse, but I seem to have caught a slight cold in my throat and since today it is raining, my goal is to stay inside as much as possible.

This Christmas tree lot is not as slow as we had anticipated it to be, we actually outsold 2 of our 3 other lots this past weekend, total sales is over 300 so far and the busy weekend is yet to come. One of the reasons for this is that we have become quite the salespeople. We try not to allow anyone to leave the lot without one, some people we just can’t talk into getting a tree from us, but many understand why our trees are higher than others and well worth it. Once we receive them from Oregon, within days of being cut, we drill them and put them in water on the lines. They are the freshest trees in the area, and we know this because Jerry goes secret shopping all the time just to see what others in the area are offering. Once they purchase a tree from us, we give their tree a fresh cut,


we shake it on the Shakee (a really neat invention, put a tree in this machine, turn it on and watch all the stuff come flying out),


then we net it,


then tie it or put it into your vehicle at no extra charge.



As I to explain to some folks, you get what you pay for and with us, you get the very best freshest tree with the very best customer service. What more can they ask for?

Only a few more weeks before we leave the area and head as quickly as possible to the desert, so we can dry up awhile before heading to Florida, where once again will be damp, but not as cold…we hope the cold snap has passed by the time we arrive.

Life certainly is grand and taking the time to enjoy each and every moment has been a very enlightening experience for us.