Fulltiming: Do You Lose All Your Friends?

At Goldfield RV Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado...

We have been enjoying the afternoon showers that are often present here  in the mountains. The rain brings a freshness to the air and often a little chill that chases away the heat of the day (if you can call temperatures in the eighties 'heat'). Temperatures in the fifties and sixties are the norm at night here and yes, we feel for our fellow Texans whom we have abandoned in our flight from the hot weather down there. However, based on the gang that we've run into here in Colorado, we're thinking now that we didn't leave all that many of our friends behind after all!

Believe it or not, we have counted no fewer than three dozen of our friends--mostly RVers from Texas--with whom we have visited here this summer!  You've already seen photos of our local friends Phyllis and Vicki and the large contingent of RV friends occupying spaces at Mountaindale, about 15 miles south of town. Amazingly,  we have also been blessed with the presence of perhaps five or six additional couples, most of whom are members of our Tiffin Bluebonnet Club in Texas, but they also include new friends Glenn and Joy, whom we will see again in Estes Park. Here are photos of some of the bunch from our Tiffin club:

So what is a favorite pastime of the group?  Eating out, of course! This is a seafood boil-in-the-bag orgy at a place called Krabby's in Colorado Springs. It was a little messy but good, and we were well protected, as you can see. No one was injured in the process.  Left to right are Sandy, Chip, Hank, Jackie, Steve, Shirleen, Diane, Shirley and Art. A great time was had by all.

Hank, a member of the Elks, got us into an Elks lodge for an inexpensive but tasty taco dinner, after which some of the couples danced a bit to tunes from the jukebox. Art and Shirley in the foreground and Hank and Shirleen on the right. Suddenly, it was the fifties again!

Normally, we sit around outside in the cool early evening, but on this day, a rainstorm forced us to take refuge in Art and Shirley's coach. Not too shabby!  We engaged in a trivia game, and I think the guys won. We're not entirely sure, because we think Russia might have rigged the scoring.

I mention all of the camaraderie among these friends to illustrate a partial answer to the question I posed in the title of this piece--whether you leave all your friends behind when you begin fulltiming. The answer is that you not only don't lose your old friends, you gain many new ones!

In today's communications age, the world is a much smaller place than it was a few decades ago. We may not see the friends from our old neighborhood as often as we used to, but that doesn't mean we don't keep up with them through social media and visit them from time to time. It has been my observation that good friends are good for a lifetime, and the reunions are all the sweeter after a little absence.

When we began this adventure, we would never have guessed that we would meet so many new friends who, like us, share a common interest in this kind of travel and who enjoy each other's company. We feel doubly blessed that we have the health and resources to enjoy this window of opportunity to experience the freedom of movement around the country, enjoying God's creation. It will not always be so, of course; we will eventually have to hang up the keys, and we will rely on our memories (or what's left of them) and this journal to remember all the good times. But right here and right now, with so many of our friends around us, it is a sweet time we will always remember.

Oh yes, and we shouldn't forget that there is another contingent of friends I haven't mentioned who are touring other parts of the country now, with whom we will certainly get together in the fall when the great RV migration begins from the north back to the south. And, of course, with social media, we keep up with them and know when and where our paths are likely to cross. We are certainly looking forward to seeing them again.

Friends? We never had so many. So, if this is something that you're worrying about as a potential fulltimer, you can scratch it off your list. 

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; 

please forgive me if I don't appreciate it as I should each day.

You don't stop playing when you get old; you get old when you stop playing.