Monday, March 15, 2010

From Treading Water to Foot in Mouth Syndrome

Oh, my! When I posted yesterday's blog about feeling like we were treading water, I wrote about two other bloggers, Rick and Al. My intentions were good, but the results didn't come out right.

By putting my descriptions of how they have chosen their style of RVing right after the opening question ("Do you ever feel like you're just treading water?"), I inadvertently made some readers feel that I was applying "treading water" to how RIck and Paulette, or Al and Kelly, are spending their time. That was the furthest thing from my mind.

Suzy and I are the ones treading water for the time being. Al and Kelly are actively pursuing their delight with the open desert of the southwest. Rick and Paulette are enjoying basking in the sunshine of Southern California, relaxing in the mode that is most comfortable to them. Treading water? Not on your life.

Every RVer can follow their dream the way they want, whether or not their style would fit what we like to do. Margie and Bruce have a home park in Tumwater, Washington, and they return there regularly for family times, and they blog about fun times with their grandchildren.  Donna and Ralph like to visit national and state parks, touring historic places. Donna and Stu are bikers, who dream of visiting every Harley Davidson store in America. Don is ex-military, so he and Sharon stay in a lot of "fam camps" around the country.

Nick and Terry make their living on the road, writing and publishing the Gypsy Journal as well as Nick's books. Mike and Pat are vendors, selling tire pressure monitoring systems and other RV necessities both at rallies around the country and on the Internet. They have a regular circuit they ride among three or four base locations and several rallies.

Some people travel with pets. Many of them have dogs, but Jim and Linda have a cat that they walk around the park on a leash. We've met people traveling with birds. We know others that are avid birders. Many others do it differently from these examples.

Would we live any of those guys' lives? No, our style is different, sort of a combination of several of the others. Right now we are kind of envious of all of them, living their dream while ours is on a temporary hold.

So, if any of our readers thought I was being demeaning of other people's versions of the RV lifestyle, I apologize. It was an awkward juxtaposition of ideas, written quickly. "Open mouth, trade feet!" A bump in the road along ... Our Life on Wheels.

6 comments:

  1. I was certain you meant no harm to anyone else when posting about treading water. Sometimes, in my case, I'm thinking of typing out certain words or sentences and then when they get on the page I may still not see what readers may "see". It isn't until I read my own blog post an hour later that I can say to myself, "Uh-oh, that didn't come out quite right". Then again...sometimes I type things in such a hurry and post a comment that got all screwed up when my fingers were going faster than my brain. Just like when I commented on your blog that "I'm glad Suzy was seriously injured in the fall" when of course I intended to type out NOT SERIOUSLY INJURED. It happens. You've made your apologies, and we can all move on!

    Have a great week!

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  2. Dang it, Jerry!! I just plucked the feathers off of 40 chickens, had a big tub of tar bubbling in the back of my pickup truck, was planning on picking up Al on the way and we were coming down to visit you!! Now, you go and say it was all just a big mistake!

    O.K., so I guess you'd better take off the sackcloth and ashes and we'll all return to normal until the next time one of us catches the dreaded 'foot-in-mouth' disease. It's extremely contagious, Al and I have had it a few times already but are still haven't developed an antibody to fight it off, so I imagine we'll be catching it again before long.

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  3. I understood exactly what you meant by you and Suzi treading water trying to stay afloat until you could get back to your dreams. I went back and re-read the post, and cannot figure out how anyone could think you were referring anyone other than yourselves. I wouldn't worry about it - there are always folks who purposely misinterpret what you say, probably for the sake of contradiction and argument. You just keep on treading!

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  4. Hi.... i was surfing around online today looking for blogs about people living and traveling around in RV's. I came across yours.

    I especially liked the previous posts as they illustrate the different things people are doing, the successes/questioning etc.

    I am working at putting a resource site up for RVing and would love to repost some of your blog items there.

    The site is www.rvingcentral.com. Essentially I'm trying to build up stories, resources all with the aim to provide people inspiration so they take the plunge and live the dream!

    If you feel you'd like to participate, you can email me at info@rvingcentral.com, or just reply to the comment and i should get that.

    Thanks!

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  5. Hey Jerry, what the heck is all the fuss about. I never have to tread water cause I got water wings. When it comes to messing things up or not getting something across just quite right in a blog I think I'm pretty much right up there at the top of the list. Happens to me all the time. Seems I'm always stepping on toes somewhere but I'll be darned if I'm a gonna give up dancing...how about you:))

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  6. Oh Jerry you didn't offend anyone... I knew exactly what you meant and I agreed with you... It is fun following different blogs to see how they enjoy the lifestyle we have chosen... And it won't be long before your right out there with the rest of us! Have fun & Travel safe my friends... Give that sweetie of yours a hug from us!
    Donna

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