Time to Reflect....by Russ Farmer

As we enter the last week of 2007 we thought this to be a good time to reflect on our travels. In less than two weeks we will have completed the first leg of real full-timing on the road. We will have come full circle as we return to the starting point in Denham Springs, LA. We've gone more than 4,600 miles in six months while driving the Folly down the road. We have added an additional 5,000 miles in the Saturn Vue, and we have a lot to show for it. One thing that has struck us is the absence of the crime, and the worthy values of those we have met. We found almost every person we met, both in the cities and in the country, to be the kind of decent, caring people we thought had disappeared in our country. We can't really blame it on the media or TV for feeling that way. We are at fault for not getting out and meeting America on her own terms before now. It's too easy to get caught up in isolation induced by job, family, TV, and just not enough time.

I used to marvel at Charles Kuralt and the people he found for his Sunday segment of "On the Road". I wondered how he ever found the unique characters he presented. Not any more. I now know they're on every corner, of every town in our great country. We have only highlighted a few of the people we've met the last six months. We haven't mentioned all the dinners we've eaten with new acquaintances, all of the chats with characters we've met and shared some moments with. Just the thousands of smiles and handshakes would take a book. And we have just begun our journey.

But more importantly, we have met a lot of great people who've helped us make it every inch of the way. Anyone can buy a rig and hit the road, but there's a lot more to it than driving and parking a 55 foot rig and car through narrow roads and towns. RVers are probably the last of the American pioneers. With all the camaraderie, genuine assistance, and common bonds that the early RVers in their conestoga wagons had. As a group we have found them honest, helpful, and as much, if not more, talkative than us!

But more to the point, as we gather each day in front of our rigs, we have experienced more of the old fashioned sense of community, with perfect strangers for the first twenty seconds or so, than I ever felt in a tract house community with neighbors of two or three years. The common bond is that we are doing it, and talking about it. Each person we meet has a story and each story has made us better for listening. It doesn’t matter where someone is from, how old they are, how much money they have, or what type of rig they call home. At these moments in time we are just neighbors.

Last night we watched The Polar Express with a half dozen others. We enjoyed popcorn and a sense of community. There was a line toward the end of the movie: “The thing about trains…it doesn’t matter were they are going. What matters is deciding to get on.” As we walked back to our home, we realized how true that was about our RV. We also realized that we were glad we decided to get on. Home for us is truly where we park it.