The First Three Years:
To share with those interested and to create a record to jog our fickle memories, here is a brief summary of our first three years of full-time RVing.

2003:
As Carole handed over Dolphin Secretarial to daughter, Velda, in April, and Les finally sold Pneumatic Accessories in late December, we spent the first seven months adjusting to living in small quarters, taking short trips, and listening to the trains passing through downtown Reno. Finally, on September 1, we left on our first cross-country trip in an RV. We crossed the US on I-80, fishing the Green River in Wyoming, stopping in the Amish-country of Indiana for an Escapees rally, almost losing our awning on the Newburgh Bridge over the Hudson River, and arriving in Danbury, CT, in plenty of time to sightsee before and immediately after the birth of Michelle and Carlo’s first child, Judith Emelia. We headed south the first week of October, stopping at Lisa and Phil’s in Charlotte, NC, then headed west. We spent several days with classmates of Les in Mina, AR, fishing their 7-acre lake – Les had found paradise. Traveling west on I-40, we stopped at Best Friends, an animal rescue facility in Utah, then back to Reno wrapping up the year by watching the fireworks in downtown Reno from the windows of our motorhome.

2004:
* A quick trip south in January to visit friends in Borrego Springs, CA, and Michelle, Carlo, and baby Judy at son Rick’s in Cucamonga, CA. Back to Reno by February end.
* Mid-April, while attending another Escapees rally in Lancaster, CA, the bug bit to upgrade our home. After a year of RV full-time living, we wanted a little more storage space. We bought our 2004 Winnebago Vectra taking delivery at the end of May. It is amazing what a two-foot longer rig can provide.
* At the first of June, we left for Kansas to attend the Great American Rally in Hutchinson. Then, north to Forest City, IA, to see our friendly Winnebago manufacturer (for 11 days) while they made needed repairs (to a brand new rig!). More north to Minnesota to visit Les’s sister and husband, Judy and Terry, west through North Dakota and south to Deadwood and Mount Rushmore – a real thrill for Carole, as one of her clients at Dolphin was Borglum’s daughter. We discovered 1) delightful DuBois, a small western village on the east slope of the Rockies and 2) the realization that if we wanted to stay longer, we could. We were retired! Our home was where we parked it.
* After a short stay back in Reno for reorganizing, at the first snowfall in the Sierras, we headed west to Napa, CA. Son Joe met us there and we toured some of the wine country and visited Copia, a food and wine institute – a must see if you visit Napa. Joe flew home; we drove south. Stops in Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and Valencia, to visit friends and explore before arriving in the Inland Empire to spend time with Rick and prepare for the family gathering at Ricks for Christmas. We wrapped up the year with friends, Peggy and Dana, in Borrego Springs.

2005:
* 2005 started with our third cross-country trip. One a year, do you believe? Leaving Borrego on January 3, we reached Joe’s in Atlanta by the 24th, just in time to celebrate Carole’s birthday!
* Leaving our rig at Lisa’s, we drove by car to Connecticut for the birth of Michelle and Carlo’s second child, son, Marco, on February 28.
* Back to North Carolina and after a long visit with Lisa, Phil, and granddaughters Caitlyn and Megan, we headed south, through Savannah, and on to St. Augustine in Florida, the oldest city in the US.
* By May we were back in the Sierras, spending a week in Yosemite, then back to Carson City.
* June took us to Kauai and Kona, Hawaii, seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and seeing Dana and Peggy marry after all these years.
* We spent July in Oregon, attending Les’s 50th high school reunion, and discovering another “have to go back to”: a camp site right on the Umpqua River in Elkton.
* August took us back to Reno for a mini-family reunion: Michelle, Carlo, and babes plus Rick and his daughter, Amanda, met at Velda and Craig’s in Carson City. Granddaughter Cari is still at home, but we also got to see grandson Scott who has left the nest to make his way out in the world.
* In September, after a stop in Salt Lake City for satellite repairs, we drove south to stop at both Zion and Bryce National Parks, spectacular. Then we went to just outside Cottonwood, about 20 miles south of Sedona, AZ, Palm Springs, and Hemet, three weeks each, before going to Newport Beach for the month of December. Once again, the year ended in Borrego, which has to be one of the quietest places in the west. We concluded the year deciding that we like being warm in the Winter.