This one's for our RV friends who like to travel from place to place and don't just sit at one site for months on end -- because they can probably relate to this -- and for anyone who wonders what it's like to move around the country in a rolling residence for most of the year.

This isn't a cautionary tale, just a funny incident I want to relate. The photos are ones I took on Monday on my Timberline Lake hike.

Jim and I are still tweaking our plans for where we want to go the rest of this summer and fall.

Since he is unable to run (maybe forever) due to his knee injury, we no longer want to follow the schedule we had for ultra marathons he planned to run. Now we're looking for different places for me to hike and for him to ride, and possibly race, his mountain bike.

All that requires internet research and lots of maps. We've been diligently looking online at races, trails, all sorts of parks, national forests, and campgrounds in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and other states for several weeks now.

I'm also 'way behind on this website again this summer. This week I've been concentrating on entries and photos from two months ago in the Black Hills, not working on current Leadville activities.

One night this week Jim and I were talking about potential travel plans. I had several maps spread out on my desk and I suddenly realized I couldn't remember where we are right now! I blanked it out because I'd been thinking about so many different places all day.

It was dark and the camper blinds were closed. I couldn't look outside the window to see Jack's office building next door or the school across the street or Mt. Massive through the woods . . . and know that I was in Leadville, Colorado.

 

I looked at Jim and said, “Where are we?? I can’t remember!!” We both started laughing.

Too funny, and not the first time this has happened to us when we’re moving around every few days or weeks and thinking about several different places. Usually it happens when we’re in bed and either can’t sleep or just wake up in the middle of the night, wondering . . .

Where am I??

VALIDATION

That night Jim sent sent a post to the Carriage internet forum and related what had happened. He finished it by commenting, "I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm thinking good, because we enjoy traveling. But there could be other implications. Anyone else experience this?"

Oh, yeah -- other Carriage owners quickly responded that it’s happened to them, too.

Here are some of their replies:

Dave and Connie, full-timers for about 16 months, wrote, "Day!! Month!! We had a disagreement on what year it was!! When I am sitting at night watching TV it feels like I am sitting next to the house that we sold two years ago. I love it!!"

A guy who apparently isn't able to travel in his camper as much as he'd like wrote, "I wish that would happen to me. Buy a GPS with the 'where I am' feature." He signed it, "Bill, glad to be spending a week in the trailer."

Di, who's been full-timing with her husband Dutch for several years, commented, "Can't think of any part of your 'where am I?' post as bad. Isn't it wonderful to be having so much fun that you forget where you are? It happens to us frequently, as does 'what day is it?' and 'what's the date today?' Remember, it's only temporary. Something or someone will remind you in short order where you are."

Another full-timer, Sue, responded, "Agree 100% with Di. Nothing better than to wonder where you are . . . especially when you are rolling for days at a time. Has happened to us. Don't even care about the day or date any more. There is always the cell phone or computer to let us know what might be happening! This is the best life can be as far as we are concerned."

NOT JUST US

Whew! These are definitely our kind of people!

We also do the "What day is this?" -- almost every day. It's not a memory thing as much as an everyday-is-Saturday-when-you're-retired thing. It's even worse when you're wandering around the country like we do and not tied to more of a routine in a house and community.

Whenever Jim asks me what day it is, or I wonder about it on my own, I just look at my watch. It doesn't have the year, though!

It's always good to know we're not the only people who have these memory blanks because of our lifestyle . . . and hopefully neither of us is suffering from dementia quite yet. That's a valid concern of ours, since my mother had Alzheimer's when she died and one of her sisters probably did, too (Mom was autopsied; my aunt wasn't).

 

To end this on a positive note, I can assure you that Jim and I love our nomadic lifestyle and wish we didn't still own a house. Otherwise, we'd be traveling in our RV twelve months of the year instead of ten.

It's a big, beautiful continent and we have a lot more of it to see! Who cares where we are or what day it is as long as we're enjoying ourselves?

Next entry:  "I'm only a doctor, not God" -- an update on Jim's bum knee and Sue's black toenails (perils of cycling and ultra running!)

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the Ultra Lab

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© 2011 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil