We begin this month unemployed with no plans to find a job anytime soon. Joan and I have decided to take some time off and see what we can see. We started our journey by getting out of Oklahoma City as soon as we could. It's not that we didn't like staying in OK City, we where just tired of sitting in one place.
Our first trip was from OK City up to Lone Rock, IA where Joan's mother lives. We had not been able to visit her since moving into the Phaeton so we where looking forward to a nice stay. Lone Rock is a very small farming community in north central Iowa, about 10 miles from Algona. We spent about five days relaxing, visiting family and I took advantage of a well equipped wood shop to build some things for the Phaeton.
Our next stop was Sioux Falls, SD. Joan's brother and his family live there. David, Beth and Jessie had spent about three years working in Cambodia and had just returned to the states last winter. They returned about the same time Joan and I where trying to figure out what to do with all of our "stuff" so we could begin full timing. It worked out really well, we had a house full of "stuff" and David and Beth needed allot of "stuff" for their new home in Sioux Falls.
When we where dreaming of full timing we had done some research on establishing a home base and had decided on using the Escapees organization in Livingston, TX. Since we where already residents of South Dakota we had enjoyed the low vehicle registration expense and no state income taxes. Our research showed Texas to be basically the same and since we had heard allot of good things about Escapees we decided to just establish residency in Texas. The one thing we did not think about was the cost of our vehicles insurance. When we notified our insurance companies (RV and Jeep) of our new address in Livingston, TX our insurance rates went up almost 30 percent. We started looking for services back in SD and found Alternative Resources. They offer the same mail services that Escapees offer and for a ten dollar fee they will renew your vehicles registrations and mail them to you. Another plus was South Dakota does not require any vehicle inspections.
After Sioux Falls we followed I90 across the state to Rapid City. We had lived just west of here, in a town called Black Hawk prior to full timing. We spent several days visiting Joan's old friends at the Quilt Connection where she had worked. We stayed at a couple of RV parks, Berry Patch RV Park and Lake Park RV Park and Cottages. We had stayed at the Berry Patch back in May and still enjoyed it. We wanted to try out a different one and found Lake Park to be very nice. It's located on the western edge of town in a beautiful setting.
Next stop was Denver, CO to visit Joan's father, sister and nephew. We stayed a couple of days at Denver Meadows RV Park. It's not the nicest place we have visited but when we had stayed here before it was priced fair and was really the only park conveniently located near our family. They had raised their prices recently so we've decided they are no longer worth the convenience and we will try to find a different place for our next visit.
We did have a nice time visiting. Joan was able to take her nephew Ryan to the local Dave and Busters. They both had a great time, that place is perfect to take kids too.
Our last stop and what is going to be our home for the winter was Lake Elsinore, CA. My family has lived in Southern California since 1959 and this is going to be my first winter here since I joined the Navy in 1970. My parents live just south of Lake Elsinore in Wildomar, CA. and I have sisters in Corona, Santa Ana and Sun City. We are currently staying at the Lake Park RV Resort located on the northern end of Lake Elsinore. It's been here for quite awhile, has mostly full time residents but is clean and well kept. The people are very friendly.