Manatee

Now for the story of the new "MTN DAWG 5". Maybe "SEA DAWG" because, well, it should be obvious, right?

Her name will remain "MANATEE" as named by the previous owners, Chris and Kelly, who took great care of and loved her as a child.

Manatee is a 1980 Gulfstar 47 foot Sailmaster. She's 47 ft long and 13 ft 10 inches wide, ketch rigged, she has two state rooms, and two heads.

Here are a few pics from when we had her hauled out for the vessel survey...

We are upgrading a few things and fixing a couple minor items, moving in and making it our home. I know what you're thinking "where are they going next" or "what the hell" or "I want to go!" Or maybe "when the hell did Rob and Becky learn to sail"...

We are formulating plans right now so we will have to update y'all more pretty soon.

For now, good sailing to all you landlubbers.

Like The great Captain Ron said, "if it's going to happen, it's going to happen out there".

One last though for this post, from Chief Master Sergeant to Captain, that's a pretty good promotion...or demotion...no, it would be a Navy Captain (O-6 style)... Suck it Rogers!!!!!!

Love y'all

R and B

December update

ok, so we have been out of touch for a while, not posting here or Face Book, sorry about that! We do have a little update though...

From Pismo we went a little further South and spent some time at our friends house (parked in their driveway), Frank and Andrea. We spent almost two weeks with them to include a GREAT thanksgiving day and dinner. The company was great and the food was amazing!!!!!! Becky pitched in on the thanksgiving cooking and baking. Becky makes some of the most amazing cookies!

We got to spend time helping on a few small home projects and spending time with Franky was awsome.

We continue to meet some very interesting people along the way...Gary, I can't say enough about the things he has done or people he knows. If you are a friend of Becky's on Facebook, look him up.

Oh yea, for those of you that do know the plan of looking at sailboats in a few years, we decided to take some time in the warm Southern California weather to take a look at a few boats and start getting ideas of what we wanted.

So we headed for Long Beach and set up a few appointments. Man there are some pretty crappy boats out there. 

GUESS WHAT??? We fell in love with a sailboat and it was a deal that we couldn't pass up...that's right boy and girls, we went ahead and bought a beautiful yacht.

Yup, this one is the teaser...

Pismo beach late October

Our first real designation was the beach. We love beach camping and it's a great place to watch, meet, and talk to people from all over.

If you are interested in camping on the beach here, there are a few things you should know. We figured we would give a little review and some tips.

Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area

http://www.yelp.com/biz/oceano-dunes-state-vehicular-recreation-area-oceano

Is a great place for riding on the dunes. We have seen dirtbikes, quads, side-by-sides, buggies, jeeps, etc out on the dunes. Other activities here are surf fishing, surfing, jet skis in the surf, and all you normal beach stuff.

Camping on week days is pretty good but the weekend brings tons of people when there's good weather. As with anytime you get people, multiple activities, and alcohol all packed into one relatively small area it can get frustrating sometimes...

TACTICAL TIP - calm the f@ck down and enjoy watching the crazies.

TIp - come early and find a nice spot to camp, above the high water marks, and read tide reports.

Also, there have been people camping here for a long time and campfire pits get buried by the blowing sand. This means you will most likely be parking on top of an old fire pit. Add to this, people who's parents did not teach them well enough to clean up after themselves, and you may be setting up right on top of glass bottles, used paper plates, etc. the Parks Department does a great job of cleaning up after the slobs, but they aren't everywhere and can't pick up everything. 

Read all you can online (trip advisor, yelp, others) before you come down.

As for meeting great people, we met Josh and Patsy from Canada. We wound up sharing a few days, stories, campfires, some drink (Josh) and meals. 

Talks of travel and rigs and food and kids, and family were all great and I hope they get home and are still saying "I tell you what?" With a harsh Sothern accent.

It was wonderful meeting them and look forward to seeing them someday up in the cold North East, cheers to Canada!

The adventure begins

As of 1218L on 22 Oct 2014, we are officially on the road!!

We tied up loose ends in Reno, got to go to sushi for Lisa's birthday and play a little Cards Against Humanity, and say so long to friends and family.

We first went to Susanville CA for a hair appointment for Becky (yea, I know what you're thinking). After the exciting time of niece Karma doing Becky's hair, we are off to see family here in Susanville and then make a loop through Northern CA over to the coast and head South, finaly.

Adventure gene...now I know why

Great article. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/125-restless-genes/dobbs-text

Count down to hitting road towards North America

This last 12 days are packed full of many things; VA appointments, a run down to Vandenberg AFB, final gear layouts, etc.

I know we will get there but damn, I could leave now. But we really need this time to finish thing so we can hit the road and not regret not seeing someone or not getting something accomplished.

We both can't wait to get going on this, our next adventure!!

Last few things

We are now completing the last few things that we need to do before we hit the road. Fixing a couple items on the rig, moving a few more things into storage, doing a final layout of gear in the rig, and the best and toughest part... Planning time to see a few friends and family for the last time for a while.

Our social calendar is packed with diner dates, lunch dates, cocktails, etc. it's a little hard but also good for us because it is giving a little closure and allows us to make sure people have an idea of our plans and know how to contact us if need be.

1week to go (sort of)

We'll, we are 1 week out from the true start of the adventure. 1 Oct is our official last day in the military! We will most likely stay in the Reno area for about 3 weeks while we do final preparations to start traveling.

Last shakedown

So we are getting closer to our last day in the Reno area, it's coming fast. We have accomplished another good shakedown/practice run and think we are ready now. So it is only the calendar that we are waiting on.

Becky and I on the North rim of the Grand Canyon

I had to fix a number of small things on this trip but all was easy. Thank you to Julie (sister) and Milton for the use of their driveway and shop and thanks to Chuck and Rick for the help. 

Sorry we don't have more pictures for the blog but we are working on a good way to export and edit photos from the SLR to ipad.

Ok, here we go with some major changes

Ok, so here is the plan, some people know and some don't...due to the fact that we have both been "forced" into retirement and jobs making 80k - 100k a year don't fall in your lap, we have decided to take the RV that we ( Becky, Chuck, Elaine, Robbie, and I ) have been slowly working on for over 2 years and travel.

We will be living on only our retirement checks and trying to make that stretch. Making 75% to 80% less money than we are used to will be tough. We have set a budget and been living by it and pay on bills with the rest.

It is time for us to quit the rat race and go enjoy life OUR way. We don't know what will happen, but that's when the best parts of an adventure hit you...when you know what's coming next.

Becky and I have talked about the plan and the biggest thing we are unsure of is, what label to put on us. Are we full-time rv'ers, gypsies, vagabonds, traveling rednecks, hippies, etc.

We tell people we are retired and they look at us like we have a dick growing out of our forehead. Some people ask what we are doing and we tell them we will be living in our RV and traveling, they say "that's cool, for how long?" And we say "forever, well the foreseeable future anyway, maybe 3 to 5 years in North America and then we'll see from there". We get the same look as above and they have now way of understanding.

Oh well, it's our life, our plan, and for sure our adventure.

Here we go......

Well, we got some sort of not so good news this last Saturday. I have been non-retained. This means I am being forced to retire early from the military. I say sort of bad news because I do get my pension (although it's 75% or less than what I am currently making).

Becky and I are, very soon, going to be in a state of mutual retirement.

It's now time to start our retirement life of  adventure.

More to follow soon.