WELCOME to our travel blog, Ricochet. It is our attempt to stay in touch as we travel across America in our motorhome on long weekends and a couple of weeks during the year. Our new adventure will be fun, but we will always look forward to coming home to our family, friends and our fabulous, pocket-sized town on the lake.
WORDS ROCK!!
Some of my favorites include....trajectory, addendum, serendipity, and ricochet. I know it's weird, but there's something about the way certain words feel when I say them that has always been fascinating to me. I even keep a list of words I love on my computer notepad. Anyway, I've admitted that little secret to say this..when it came to naming my blog, I gave it lots of thought and did some research to come up with just the right title.
Ricochet is described in the dictionary as follows: A ricochet (pronounced RICK-uh-shay) is a rebound, bounce or skip off of a surface; the Thesaurus lists as one of the synonyms the word return. Returning is exactly what we have in mind as we begin our new, motorhome journey across America. David and I have always loved the return home as much as we've enjoyed our travels. So, don't worry, as we begin this new motorhome adventure. To borrow a catch phrase from Arnold Schwarzenegger's character from the film 'The Terminator', "I'll be back!"
THE MOTORHOME
In preparation for this new adventure, we've purchased, with a huge amount of input and help from Sam and Terry, a 2006, 32 ft. Gulfstream Ultra with a super slide-out. It has tons of storage, both inside and out, which is a must for David and me since we are both collectors...aka junkers. It is a class C mini motorhome which means it has an over-cab compartment. Some class C motorhomes have an entertainment center in that compartment. Ours, however, has a bunk over the cab instead. We figured it would be the perfect place for the the grandkids, Jacob and Hannah, when they travel with us, which we're planning on happening very soon. I'm having a privacy curtain made for the space so it will be like their very own hide-away!
Sam has been very helpful in educating us on all things motorhome. Wow, there's a lot to learn!! We consider this motorhome our starter unit to try out and make sure we really like it. If we do, we'll probably upgrade sometime in the future to a class A coach as Sam has suggested. This one is a plain vanilla variety, with shades of beige as the color palate, and linoleum throughout. Here is a link to one exactly like it that I found on Ebay.
http://my.autorevo.com/Revo/Templates/RV01.aspx?iid=666502&aid=578
Those are the before pictures.
Terry has helped me so much through the process of making it my own. I emailed pictures to her and she immediately gave me wonderful ideas. Amber called a few days ago and will be helping me decorate it next week sometime. We're going to use my own things plus a few items from Nuance Decor to take away some of the cold and bland look. Can't wait to get started! I'll post the after pictures in a couple of weeks.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Our first outing will be to Honeycreek State Park. We wanted to stay close to home the first weekend out. It was my mother's suggestion and I think it is a good one. Yesterday, I drove through the park, talking to Terrie on the phone, while scoping it out and think I've located the perfect, picturesque spot overlooking Grand Lake.
Some of my favorites include....trajectory, addendum, serendipity, and ricochet. I know it's weird, but there's something about the way certain words feel when I say them that has always been fascinating to me. I even keep a list of words I love on my computer notepad. Anyway, I've admitted that little secret to say this..when it came to naming my blog, I gave it lots of thought and did some research to come up with just the right title.
Ricochet is described in the dictionary as follows: A ricochet (pronounced RICK-uh-shay) is a rebound, bounce or skip off of a surface; the Thesaurus lists as one of the synonyms the word return. Returning is exactly what we have in mind as we begin our new, motorhome journey across America. David and I have always loved the return home as much as we've enjoyed our travels. So, don't worry, as we begin this new motorhome adventure. To borrow a catch phrase from Arnold Schwarzenegger's character from the film 'The Terminator', "I'll be back!"
THE MOTORHOME
In preparation for this new adventure, we've purchased, with a huge amount of input and help from Sam and Terry, a 2006, 32 ft. Gulfstream Ultra with a super slide-out. It has tons of storage, both inside and out, which is a must for David and me since we are both collectors...aka junkers. It is a class C mini motorhome which means it has an over-cab compartment. Some class C motorhomes have an entertainment center in that compartment. Ours, however, has a bunk over the cab instead. We figured it would be the perfect place for the the grandkids, Jacob and Hannah, when they travel with us, which we're planning on happening very soon. I'm having a privacy curtain made for the space so it will be like their very own hide-away!
Sam has been very helpful in educating us on all things motorhome. Wow, there's a lot to learn!! We consider this motorhome our starter unit to try out and make sure we really like it. If we do, we'll probably upgrade sometime in the future to a class A coach as Sam has suggested. This one is a plain vanilla variety, with shades of beige as the color palate, and linoleum throughout. Here is a link to one exactly like it that I found on Ebay.
http://my.autorevo.com/Revo/Templates/RV01.aspx?iid=666502&aid=578
Those are the before pictures.
Terry has helped me so much through the process of making it my own. I emailed pictures to her and she immediately gave me wonderful ideas. Amber called a few days ago and will be helping me decorate it next week sometime. We're going to use my own things plus a few items from Nuance Decor to take away some of the cold and bland look. Can't wait to get started! I'll post the after pictures in a couple of weeks.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Our first outing will be to Honeycreek State Park. We wanted to stay close to home the first weekend out. It was my mother's suggestion and I think it is a good one. Yesterday, I drove through the park, talking to Terrie on the phone, while scoping it out and think I've located the perfect, picturesque spot overlooking Grand Lake.
Our second outing will be to Branson. We're looking at staying in an RV park close to Lake Taneycomo. Our plan is to always find places to camp near water and that have bicycle trails nearby. We are purposely NOT towing a car, aka dinghy in RV speak, to force us to either walk or ride our bikes. I'll let you know about our new health initiative in another entry.
If both outings go well, we'll try venturing out a little more until we're comfortable traveling to the Florida Keys, a diving destination that's been on our bucket list for quite some time. Never in a million years did we ever dream we'd be heading there in a motorhome, though! That's the plan now. I just hope we don't add so much to our collection in the ample storage compartments that we no longer have room for our dive gear : )
Other destinations on our list include fall in the New England states and spring in California wine country. If anybody has suggestions of places you've been that you think we might be interested in, please let us know.
The main purpose of Ricochet is to keep our family and friends updated on our travels, but will add a few other musings along the way as the mood hits.
