In The Beginning...

This is a tale of adventure on the road, and a BIG change in life...I bought a 2011 Lance 1685 travel trailer at the end of November 2010. I'd hiked and backpacked for over 20 years, going on weeks-long vacations from work (I was a pharmacy technician at Kaiser Permanente in the South Bay of Los Angeles, California), living out of the back of my truck.  This was fine until I was a few years past 50, when my body rebelled against crawling out of the back of the truck every morning, so I researched the travel trailer market and settled on a Lance. I decided on a towed trailer because I could still take my truck with its camper shell to do day hikes in locations where the trailer couldn't go, yet come back to a nice "unlumpy" bed and a hot shower.  This model of Lance TT has it all, with lots of storage space on the outside ---- even a pull-through storage tray.

Inside it's spacious, and while it can sleep up to 6 people, it's much more comfortable for just one or two.

Above you can see the bed area off to the left, and the kitchen galley has a 6 cubic-foot refrigerator and freezer, microwave, stove and oven, and a large sink.

     That first interior photo was taken at the RV dealership just before I bought it; this one shows it during one of my vacation trips. The dining area on the right is created by a super-slideout, and the bathroom with shower, toilet and sink is behind the mirrored door. That's all closet space to the left of the bathroom door. This looked like the perfect "home on wheels" for me -- so I bought it. And I gave "her" -- my truck, a 2004 Toyota Tundra V8 4-wheel-drive, is a "he" -- the name "Discovery", after the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. For the next 2 and 1/2 years I took Discovery on trips during vacation time from work, but I always felt a bit sad when I had to head back home. Why not just retire, and stay on the road? So at the end of April 2013 I left Kaiser after 34 years of working there, found tenants to lease my condominium in San Pedro -- the harbor town of Los Angeles -- and right before Memorial Day I took off. I have to admit it took me a long time to adjust to my new lifestyle. Life is much more regimented when you're working, therefore many decisions are made for you.  You know where you have to be during your job shift at, say between 8 and 4:30;  once you're retired, it's up to you what you do with a with every single hour of the day. I have friends who say they can't retire because they don't know if they have enough interests or hobbies to occupy their time -- or, worst of all, that work has become their life. And for the first months of the journey I began to agree with them. Then -- it all clicked, and I now know I'm having the time of my life. I've been to Yellowstone -- twice --

Been amongst the giant redwoods on the northern California coast --

Stood at the edge of the glacially-carved valleys of eastern Oregon's Steens Mountain -- 

Witnessed the splendor of MacArthur-Burney Falls north of California's Lassen National Park --

And during that time having many of the creature comforts of home -- although in a smaller space...

And with that introduction, let's begin with the (hopefully) daily blog of Travels of Discovery...