We listen to an RV podcast each week called Living the RV Dream.  It has been quite helpful for us while prepping for this lifestyle.  A couple of weeks ago they invited people to share mottos for their RV travel.  We didn’t share with them, but we came up with “Fun Will Now Commence” a quote spoken during an episode of Voyager, an old television show we enjoy.

A couple years ago we heard that friends, the Kuklinskis and VanSkivers, made it a Sunday evening activity to watch episodes of Voyager together.  Randy and I had seen a lot of episodes of Voyager years before and decided to watch the series from beginning to end.  We got the episodes first through Netflix, then by borrowing season sets from Karen Kuklinski, and now through Amazon Prime.   It was in late season 6 or early season 7 when former Borg, Seven of Nine, told the children, “Fun will now commence.”

Fun can certainly commence where we are now!  We are at the Bend-Sunriver Thousand Trails RV Resort in central Oregon.  Many RV campgrounds call themselves a resort but this is the first that we have experienced that truly deserves the title.  The place is huge and the campsites are generous. We attended a breakfast and a church service on-site.   The recreational activities abound!  We have gone in the adult pool and hot tub, played mini-golf, ridden bikes and played pickle ball.   (Pickle ball is a cross between tennis and ping-pong and was quite fun.)    There were many more activities we did not have time to take part in!

The only down sides to this park is that it only has 30 amp service and no sewer hook-up.  Most newer parks have 50 amp service and many have sewer.  We can work fine with 30 amp, we just can’t run the bedroom electric heater, the electric fireplace, the electric water heater and the microwave at the same time.   That means I have to do a little juggling in the mornings when I want to warm up and have some hot cocoa.  We do have propane systems, we just don’t usually use them.  No sewer service has meant quick showers (or showers in the pool clubhouse), a visit to the laundromat and paper plates.

Another huge thunderstorm is brewing outside this afternoon.  This is the third day in a row!  We are glad to say that we haven’t had a leak even though the rains have been torrential.   There are fires in the area so hopefully the rain is helping more than the lightning is hurting.

We are here in a golfer’s mecca and Randy hasn’t gone golfing one time.  In fact, he hasn’t golfed all summer.  The club championship is coming up at Shadow Valley soon and it will be interesting to see how he does.

This summer initiation into our lifestyle has been very good but not without some challenges.  First and foremost, technology problems are so annoying!   We want cell service, internet service and satellite service, and I am the one that doesn’t do so well when we don’t have them!  I really enjoy watching the Mariners on TV and Randy has been very patient trying to find and/or move to a spot that has southern sky access to satellite service.  (We have moved mid stay at a park 3 times, but only once was for satellite.)

Randy has decided that the most stressful part of this venture for him is trying to get fuel.  We are just so big and long that we can’t get in and out of regular stations easily.  Truck stops are our friends!  We were on the phone today talking with someone about getting a Pacific Pride card so we can use their commercial fuel stops.

Another challenging thing has been lack of recycling, something we were very diligent about in Boise.  Most campgrounds have little or no opportunity to recycle.  The best set up we have had in two months was at Dworshack State Park in Idaho.  A few have had aluminum bins, but most have nothing.  It is discouraging.

Tomorrow we will leave and begin the trek back to Boise, probably stopping in Burns to break up the long drive.  It has been fun to talk with people this week and set up lunches and pending activities.  I have been logging on to my district email almost every day for a couple weeks trying to get my mind around going back to work after wandering all summer.  Monday will come soon!

Our friend, Jonna, asked me the other day if it will seem strange to come back to Boise and not go to our house.   I don’t know – we’ll see!   Home will be the RV park in Eagle for the first 10 days.

We are very excited to see grandson, Archer – and of course, his parents –   just two days away!   Looking forward to seeing all of you Boise friends!