Still Alive

When our kids were growing up we often thought they had two sets of friends.  They had their lake friends and their town friends.  Since we sailed every weekend the kids got to see their lake sailing buddies weekly.  Now as adults we still have our sailing friends, and have added our RV friends.  So from winter to summer it is like the stage set is simply changed.  Living in the small confines of a sailboat in the summer and the small confines of the Earth Module in the winter.

Sailors and winter travelers all have that need to roam and explore.  The sailing friends have pretty much been the same people for many years, but in the camping life new people constantly come and go.  On the lake you gather up in a bay here or there.  In the southwest you bump into friends in Utah, Nevada, or Arizona.  Since we have wintered and worked for The National Forest Service we are mostly in the same place all winter, but that works too.  Our traveling friends stop for a week or two and we hike, eat, and lounge together.  The natural order of things is that one person is introduced to another because we all have the same interest.  Everyone likes to hike,  biking is also common.  A few of the men like to explore the back country by motorcycle.

Everyone finds little gems of places to visit.  There is a vast supply of nooks and crannies to park campers.  Inevitably we end up at home in North Dakota and some of our traveling buddies stop by. Another certainty in this life style are invitations to nice home bases, and other adventures.

There is an international flavor to all of this also.  About half our winter friends are Canadians.  A few times we have become close with some Europeans.  The mixing and matching is always fun.  The great thing about this play are the characters that keep changing.

So as life would have it this winter a lot of our sailing friends are in the southwest and we will get a chance to share some trails with them.  In the end life is what you make it. If you want to sit on your ass and watch television that is your choice, but until they develop 3D television you will miss a lot.