Being able to adapt to the challenges life throws at us are an essential part of the fulltime RVer’s psychological toolbox. They say that the only thing that stays the same is change, and that’s certainly true whether you live in a sticks and bricks house, or a home on wheels.

No matter how carefully you plan, there will be times when all of your plans go right out the window and you just have to adapt to the new situation and deal with it. If you can’t, you’re probably never going to make it as a fulltimer, because this lifestyle, as great as it is, holds a lot of surprises.

You may plan to be at a certain campground at a certain time, and bad weather, traffic delays, or a mechanical breakdown keeps you from getting there, and instead you find yourself spending the night next to a hog hauler in a truck stop parking lot. You may have registered for your favorite RV rally, expecting lots of fellowship and good times, only to arrive to find the grounds have turned into a sea of mud. You may want to see Alaska, or drive old Route 66 next summer, but an unplanned medical emergency finds you stuck in Paducah.

You can’t foresee everything that will happen to you, but you can be very sure that from time to time, something will happen to get in the way of your plans! Being able to just accept it and roll with the flow will help keep you sane, and make your RVing life much more enjoyable.

When we originally came up here to Elkhart, it was going to be a quick trip in and out – get the bus sold, get a couple of minor issues handled on the RV, make a quick stop at the VA hospital in Lexington, and head back to the warm, sunny South. As you know, those plans disappeared Friday night.

I was able to get my medical appointment rescheduled for Friday, and the folks here at Duncan RV Repair have been scrambling to get us ready to go, and have just about everything finished. But now we have this terrible winter storm tearing the country apart and making traveling unsafe.

We’ve been through more than enough the last few days to need any more challenges, so if the wind keeps blowing, and the roads stay slippery and treacherous, I’ll just call the VA hospital and either reschedule or cancel the appointment, and we’ll sit tight until it’s safe to be out on the road.

Yes, we’d love to put cold, snowy Elkhart in our rearview mirror, and we’re really looking forward to doing so as soon as we can. But being stuck here is a minor inconvenience. Wrecking our RV and injuring ourselves on a patch of icy road would be a tragedy. So we’re sitting tight, watching the weather reports, keeping our fingers crossed, and rolling with the flow. Like I said, sometimes you just have to adapt.

Thought For The Day – Better to do it than to wish it done.

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My cousin Terry Cook is very active in Scouting, so when he told me that a specially decorated RV is traveling the country to celebrate the Boy Scout’s 100 year anniversary in 2010, and that it would be in Traverse City yesterday, I accepted his invitation to go check it out.

The 32 foot long Class C, donated by Coachmen Industries, is scheduled to visit all 308 Boy Scout Councils in the lower 48 states between now and next February, when it will end its tour at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas. Fourteen teams of Scout leaders from different areas around the United States will take the RV on separate legs of the journey. Traverse City was stop 186 on the “Century of Values Tour.”

The motorhome is wrapped in a vinyl covering depicting the world of Scouting. The curb side of the motorhome has a map of the United States, with the different legs of the trip marked out. The driver’s side has a mural of old Scouting magazines and publications, the doors have the Boy Scout emblem, and the rear of the motorhome is covered with a mural depicting the history of Scouting.

The mural was created by artist Bill Morrison, a former Boy Scout who achieved the exalted rank of Eagle. Morrison has worked designing posters for Disney movies, and for Hollywood animation studios, including the one that produces “The Simpsons.”

The mural is anchored by a portrait of Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, and depicts important events and people associated with Scouting. The crew driving the RV presented local Scouting officials with a framed 24 inch by 36 inch copy of the mural. Then there was cake and punch for everybody gathered, which included local Scouts and Scouting officials, the mayor of Traverse City, and at least one State Assemblyman.

In all, the RV will cover more than 45,000 miles during its trip, and then will be donated to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. I spent a few minutes chatting with one of the fellows who picked the rig up in Cleveland, Ohio and brought it to Traverse City, and he said he had never spent any time in an RV before, but now he’s hooked. When I told him about our life as fulltime RVers, he was fascinated. He had no idea that people actually lived and traveled every day of the year in RVs, and he couldn’t wait to call his wife and tell her about it. Do we have another future fulltimer in the wings?

Terry and I have enjoyed our visit to Traverse City, but it’s time to move on. We will be leaving here today and driving about 130 miles to Muskegon, Michigan to visit with Rocky and Berni Frees for a few days. I’m hoping we can get our kayaks out on the water again, if the weather cooperates. We really enjoyed paddling with them when we were there a few weeks ago.

Thought For The Day – Humans are not the only species on earth. We just act like it.

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