Meriwether Navigator Brittany Highland and Captain Eric Highland of RV Wanderlust- Date: 05-07-2014
- Current City: Early, TX
- Current Location: G Country RV Park
- Site Number: 6
- Wi-fi Signal: Verizon – None / AT&T – Weak / Campground Wi-fi – Very Strong!
- Mission: Work week, Tim’s Graduation, Family Get together!
- Compliment: 2 Officers, 1 Crew, 0 Guests
- Captain: Eric Highland
- Navigator: Brittany Highland
- 1st Mate: Trogdor the Burninator
- Weather: Clear / 77°
- Precipitation: 10%
- Humidity: 61%
- Wind: 14 mph
- Fuel: 45 Gallons of Diesel – Just under half tank
- Odometer: 100,902
- Generator Hours: 4611.8
- Estimated Date of Departure: Sunday, May 11th
- Next Destination: Austin, Texas
Special Orders: None.
Captain’s Remarks
10:40 – I’ve been reflecting on the past four months and have been astonished by how much we’ve done! More on that in a moment.
10:41 – But first, some really encouraging news… We looked at our Google Analytics for the RV Wanderlust blog (that’s geek talk for checking to see our stats) and saw that we already have 139 comments on this brand new blog! Brittany and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who is joining us virtually on this journey. It means so much to us that you are following along! Don’t forget to subscribe via email in the top right of the blog. We promise to guard your email forever and never spam anything at all.
We try and respond to every single comment that is left here. And we really do love to interact with folks and meet new people, so if you have been lurking, please take a moment and leave a comment on one of our articles. We’d love to hear from you!
10:43 – We are heading back “home” to Austin at the end of this week. Our journey is far from over, heck we just got started. But Austin, TX is a very special place for us and we have a lot of friends there.
Austin Texas The Live Music Capital of the World!John Cabuena of Flipintexfotos.com
So we are really looking forward to some hugs and visiting some of our old haunts.
11:06 – I’ve been personally reflecting on the past four months of our lives. On February 21st of this year, we closed the door to our little apartment in Austin for the very last time.
Life has changed so much, in so many ways.
We used to sit in our little apartment in north Austin and work diligently. When the workday was done, we’d go out and explore around the city a few times per week and on the weekends we’d try and take a day trip somewhere. It was fun, and Austin is still our favorite city… but our lives have changed drastically.
11:10 – Here are some of the things we’ve done in the past four months…. keep in mind this has been just 4 months while still working full time! (All those listed with links are direct links to an article on this site that we’ve written on that trip or topic, so go ahead and click it, it’s safe!)
- Visited the Dr. Pepper Museum
- Had amazing burgers in Dallas
- Visited Dealey Plaza and toured the Sixth Floor Museum the site of JFK’s assassination
- Stood on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River in Natchez, MS
- Driven the entirety of the 444 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway a bucket list item for us
- Walked through the Cypress Swamp
- Had some of the best fried chicken in the world in Lorman, MS and Brittany got serenaded by the owner
- Visited the HQ of Tiffin Motorhomes and went to a Saloon in a cave only accessible by 4×4
- Saw the gravesite of explorer Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark) that our rig is named after
- Went out on the town in Nashville
- Explored Chattanooga including the steepest incline railway in the world, Rock City and Ruby Falls
- Went rafting with the kids during Spring break
- Toured historic downtown Vicksburg, Mississippi and visited a massive civil war battlefield
- And so much more…
There is a saying that one should never get so busy living that they forget to make a life. These are definitely words to live by!
There is another saying that we travel not to escape life, but so that life doesn’t escape us. And this really defines our thoughts on this lifestyle.
We know that this lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but we’ve been utterly amazed by the things we’ve gotten to do over the past four months. We wonder what the future holds and we’re happy to have our friends tag along virtually through the blog.
11:29 – One of our talented filmmaker friends has asked us to consider doing a month long documentary of sorts about our crazy journeys fulltiming in Meriwether. We think it would be a blast to do, but we’re not sure what the details look like. I wonder if anyone would be interested in watching it.
11:35 – Brittany really needs a new computer. She can’t even play music anymore on it while working. Theodore Milton (The name of her computer.. yes she names practically everything) has seen his last days.
Remarks – If we hadn’t taken this leap, we probably never would have done any of the above. There was nothing wrong with being stationary in Austin, there are countless things to do there. But our United States has so much more to offer, and we still haven’t seen the biggest ball of yarn yet! We eagerly look forward to exploring more of America and we can’t wait to share it through this site with everyone.
If you are enjoying the blog please comment below and let us know, it really keeps us encouraged and in this lifestyle you are our only constant friends! ~ E
Navigator’s Addendum
14:56 – Looking forward to this evening. My brother Timothy is graduating from university on Saturday, and tonight his girlfriend’s grandmother is throwing him a party. Yes, he’s gotten in good with the fam. <3 It’s been hard to give him space this week when we’re in the same little town. But I know he has finals, and it’s important for him to enjoy time with friends during his last days as a student. He’s been very generous with his time so far.
Last night after dinner I was feeling restless, so we decided to go paint the town. Sort of. We decided to scout out a restaurant called The Turtle that Timothy recommended for my birthday dinner tomorrow. It’s a cute little spot, and we went ahead and made reservations. Then we walked around the university campus (which took about five seconds…it’s not UT’s 50 Acres) and got ice cream at Sonic.
Underwood’s in Brownwood, TX Christopher Jowaisas via Flickr CCIf you’re ever passing through Brownwood, TX, these are some other restaurants that I definitely recommend:
- Humphrey Pete’s – steakhouse, burgers, seafood
- Runaway Train Cafe – burgers, soup, salad in a real train car
- Underwood’s – BBQ, cobbler, possibly the most well-known local restaurant, get your food cafeteria-style
-B
Love follow your blogs. I haven’t commented much but sure do enjoy the pictures and adventures. Tomorrow is my last working day; my husband and I will be hitting the road in our 1978 31’Airstream later in June to go see the USA.
CONGRATS!!! Happy last day of work Regina! Definitely stay in touch, we’d be happy to meet up sometime! I’m sure you’ll find plenty of Airstream groups and rallies if you are into that sort of thing. The Airstreams we’ve seen are pretty darn cool!
Love to see what others just ahead of me are learning on the road. I’m planning on leaving June 1. Thanks for sharing your journey! from Terri at http://www.GreytRVadventures.com
Hi Terri! Just took a look at your blog. Wow! 4 greyhounds with you? Now that has to present some unique challenges. Looks like you are getting some good practice in on your driving and your launch is just around the corner. Congrats! Maybe we’ll see each other on the road sometime. 🙂
Another great blog 🙂 Our journey full timing is still a ways off, so it’s cool to hear how you guys are doing it. As far as the documentary…DO IT! That would totally be worth watching in my opinion. Not to mention, it might dispel some of the myths about full timing and make it easier for others to accept. Safe travels!
You are another vote for the documentary. I’m going to have to tell my filmmaker friend to read these comments. You are correct in saying that there are a ton of myths about this lifestyle. Thanks for the comment Deborah!
Congratulations on 4 months of the RVing lifestyle. My husband and I read your Captain’s log everyday and enjoy living vicariously through you guys. We hope to be on the road with our “Bettie” in just under 3 years. Until then, we’re venturing out at least once a month. What a fabulous country we live in!!
Here is to many more Captain’s log posts!
Thanks so much @stephanie_sikes:disqus really appreciate that. So glad you are joining us for the journey! Can you tell me more about Bettie? And where you go on your once per month adventures?
Bettie is our 2004 Damon Challenger we purchased last July. Since then, we’ve ventured to various places here in Florida, including: Sun n Fun (Sarasota,) Fort Wilderness (Disney,) Key West.
Our biggest trip we’ve taken was 10 days to Tennessee last October. Our nephew is stationed at Fort Campbell so we spent a few days at the MWR campground on the edge of the base (it’s open to the public.) We then continued to Gatlinburg and experienced the Great Smokey National Park in its Fall Splendor!
We have a blog where we’ve been sharing our adventures (www.sikescentral.com)
We can’t wait to get going again soon.
Cheers!
I really enjoyed taking a look at your blog, @stephanie_sikes:disqus! And thanks for the tip on Fort Campbell.
Do the documentary! We would love to see it! Another thing to add to your list could be all of the people you have met (virtually). You have two new friends in WV that you may have never met if not for this lifestyle and blog. Keep up the great work!
On another note, we are still deciding on a blog platforms…we used to use blogger (www.gladadventures.blogspot.com) but we think the functionality of wordpress is too good to pass up 🙂 We’ll keep you posted but in the mean time check out our old blog…mostly from our time in WA state but a little in WV too. My wife Lindsey gets all the credit. Make sure you read the one about the squirrel (July 9th 2009 – Lunchtime Bully)!
Haha! Ok, you two have officially become two of my favorite people I’ve never personally met. Loved the bully blog! Here is a direct link for any other readers that are interested! https://www.gladadventures.blogspot.com/2009/07/lunchtime-bully.html
Really hope to meet you guys. Let’s stay in touch! Seriously!
Congrats on 4 months.. and so glad our paths crossed to meet in person! Keep on keeping!
Thanks Cherie and Chris! It was great hanging out with you guys in Chattanooga! Wish we could have spent more time together. Excited for you guys and all that you have going on and we’re glad to call you friends!
We are really enjoying all your posts and seeing how your first few months on the road have been. My wife and I are anxiously awaiting hitting the road on September 1st of this year after we get our youngest son all settled in at ASU for college. Very excited to get to meet others living on the road and hope our paths cross at some point. Keep up the good work! http://www.thekuhlodyssey.com
Enjoying keeping up with all your adventures and looking forward to many more. Any recommendations on camping around Dallas. Leaving 25 June for 6 weeks, going from Maryville, TN to Phoenix then up to the EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh, Wi July 28.
Joe, we’ve really enjoyed Treetops Carefree RV Resort in Arlington. It is half way between Dallas and Ft. Worth and right off of I-20. So it should be along your route. I’d call early to get a spot. But big rigs are welcome. Everything you could possibly want or need is a very short drive away. Here is the review we did on the park: https://rvwanderlust.com/treetops-carefree-rv-resort