Author Archives: twosheepstothewind

The process of doing photos here has been a bit of a challenge. Resizing and converting to an accepted format is not as simple as it should be. So let’s experiment with posting via iPhone That seems to have worked smoothly enough. The Cottonwood campground near Yankton, SD, is technically in Nebraska. It is full,Continue reading “Trying something different”

Vicki and I don’t have much claim to be birders. We have a nice set of binoculars and a pretty good birds of North America guidebook. But we don’t have to be serious bird-watchers to really get a kick out of it. Our last stop in Oklahoma was at the Cowlington Point Corps of EngineersContinue reading “Birding (after a fashion) at Cowlington Point, OK”

When you live in a 6-by-17-foot box of a travel trailer, almost everyone asks, “How can you survive each other in such a small place?” Even other full-timing couples, the ones in the giant fifth-wheel trailers, have the same sort of comment. Having the whole great outdoors just outside the window is of limited benefitContinue reading “Raspberry Relationship”

McALESTER, Oklahoma — It’s good to be able to use a dateline that is not in Texas. We spent about a third of our retirement so far tethered to medical needs in the Plano area, but no more. Recently my doc gave me a green light to doing pretty much what I wanted to do,Continue reading “Day 167 of retirement: Back on the road”

Our neighbor Dave wasn’t ready for the cold. Perhaps his fifth-wheel was ready, with propane and solar and all the usual precautions against freezing.  For Dave, that wasn’t the problem. “I left New England to get away from this,” he said. Vicki and I didn’t want the cold and the freezing rain and the sleet,Continue reading “Chilling in the Longhorn State”

I’ve never been accused of being in much of a hurry for anything. Is it any surprise that we’re not in a hurry in retirement? Today marks 100 days of retirement, and something less than that of actual full-timing in our little R-Pod. It really shouldn’t be surprising that plans have changed. Evolved, perhaps. SidelinedContinue reading “Day 100 of retirement: the best-laid plans …”

It’s true. When you’re retired, it’s not really a Christmas vacation. But it was special, because we got to share the holiday for the first time with my son’s family. We’ve been with or hosted the other kids and grandkids at different times, so this was pretty cool. There was an observance of “La Posada”Continue reading “What we did on our Christmas vacation”

Much of our travel so far as been just travel, that is, living a regular sort of life except for being in a camper trailer. We eat, we sleep, we read, we mess about on computers, we watch TV, we go for walks. But earlier in December we played tourist and visited Port Arthur. IContinue reading “Port Arthur II: Jurassic to Joplin”

Port Arthur, Texas is a curious place.  Once a boom town and still an important port and refining town, it hasn’t recovered from hurricanes or economic storms that have beset it in modern times. Far too many blocks have gaps, where homes and business were blown away or washed away or just went away. WeContinue reading “Port Arthur: Edith’s Place”

“Work is the curse of the camping person,” to really twist around a quote attributed to Oscar Wilde. Necessary, perhaps, at least for most people. You’ve got to pay for your outdoor experiences, in some fashion. For us, a series of COVID furloughs in 2020 and then full retirement in October 2021 opened the doorContinue reading “How we got here”