Saturday, June 15, 2019

Meeting Blogger Friends

One of the weird things about fulltime RV’ing and blogging is that you make friends with likeminded people across the country, many times before you even meet them in person. Such was the case with fellow FT RV’ers and bloggers Al and Ingrid. After skirting each other several times in the past 5 years our paths had yet to cross. Well, that all ended last week when they stopped by for a 4 night visit on their way east towards Wisconsin.
One little known fact about blogging couples is that one usually writes the blog and keeps up on other bloggers by reading and commenting on their posts. In our case that is me. Barb rarely reads blogs and relies on me to keep her up to date on the adventures of our fellow travelers. So hours before Al and Ingrid’s arrival she was quizzing me. “Who are these people and what do they do?” I would answer her questions so she could get an idea of who was about to arrive and set up camp in our driveway. Little did we know miles away Al was asking the same questions to Ingrid. “Who are these people and what do they do?”
What made it even more confusing is that there were two Jim’s here since the Belisle’s were still on the property. As Ingrid later described it, she referred to me as “Fishing and hunting Jim” and Jim Belisle is “Michigan Jim”
The neighbors horses posed for a couple of pictures

The other unknown when meeting a couple for the first time is whether you will have anything in common. Well no fear there with Al being an avid outdoorsman and Ingrid’s passion for photography. Check out their blog to see some of her great photos. The only downside of their visit was that Barb and I were focused on getting the windows in the house and were not able to spend as much fun time as we would have liked to with them. Ingrid did not let that stop her as she went out exploring Custer and Wind Cave Parks each day while Al and I chatted about all things outdoors while putting in windows.

Our place from across the valley
At the end of each day we relaxed and had happy hour telling tales of past adventures, places to go, things to do and future travel plans. One such tale included Barb’s doctor visit up in Rapid City this week. She was up there getting some tests done when the doctor asked her “Where did you get all these bruises?” Luckily Barb was in a good mood and explained that we were in the middle of building a house instead of blaming me for all her bruises!

How do these trees grow out of rocks?!?
Al and I got out on a 4 wheeler and a jeep ride into the National Forest and Ingrid and I got out on one photographic adventure where she shared some of her tricks and tips for taking great photos. In fact most of the photos in this post are from that outing.

Unfortunately, they cut their visit a few days short as there was rain in the forecast and they had seen pictures of our driveway after a soaking rain and wanted nothing to do with that!

On their last night here friends Phil and Rudee invited us all to see the play Sherwood; The Adventures of Robin Hood at the Black Hills Playhouse. It was something none of us would normally have done but it was a fun and entertaining night.
The Playhouse stage
The next day Al and Ingrid departed heading east towards Wisconsin and Barb and I carried on with the last of the windows in the house. Which I am happy to report…..are all in! Later that day, the rain came and made our driveway a muddy mess, I think Al and Ingrid made the right decision!
I hope the eggs hatch soon!
With the windows in, we are at a point where we can take a much needed break.

Tomorrow we are packing up the pickup camper and take it on its inaugural trip! We are going to stay in the Black Hills area and check out some of the local campgrounds and explore several of the trout streams we have wanted to fish but never seem to have the time. Stay tuned!

29 comments:

  1. Great you're all dried in. Al & Ingrid are so much fun, we've had lots of fun adventures with them. Enjoy your excursion, very much well deserved.

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  2. I can't wait for a report on the camper. I've actually been thinking about downsizing .. maybe not quite THAT much, but MAYBE .......

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    1. We stayed in a similar camper for 6 months in 2016 when we went to Alaska and it was fine. This was before we had Dakota however so this will be a little different.

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  3. After meeting Ingrid in Sedona, it was great to be able to meet Al! Glad the windows are finally done, as I’m sure you are also, Jim. Have fun on the inaugural truck camper trip!

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    1. Al and I had a lot in common and lots to talk about. I am sure we will meet up with them somewhere down the road again!

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  4. WE have a Six Pac camper that we've had many wonderful adventures in at times! Enjoy! How nice you had more company for a bit, sounds like they enjoyed their time there, but does sound like they left at the right time!

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    1. We are going to take the camper up to Ontario for a 4-6 week adventure and want to get all the bugs worked out locally before we leave the country.

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  5. Enjoy breaking in the new camper. We have friends that live in the Black Hills and they would probably let you stay at their place for free.

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    1. Who are these friends you have in the Black Hills and do they have beer?

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  6. Your opening comments are so true about full timers. I am the blog reader and set up the get togethers. John will do the question thing and then read a couple blogs so he isn't going in blind. I talk the same way when I share blog info...you know Jim we met at Starbucks, Jim the hunter in SD...haha!! Glad you finally got to meet Ingrid and Al. Being home builders I thought they might be some help. Sweet that you have all the windows in! Have a fun time getting away!

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    1. They gave us several ideas. One was getting some caulk and laying out the kitchen counters, island and appliances. Barb did that the other day and now has a better idea of how things will lay out.

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  7. I think those of us who write the blogs like to read the blogs of others because we know the work involved in writing, and we get ideas on how to make our blog stories a bit more interesting. Those who don't (Marcia in our case) just want the Readers Digest Condensed Version when needed.

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    1. You are right, I often get some great inspiration from reading other travelers blogs.

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  8. Nice to take a break from the house and Enjoy visiting with Friends.
    Be Safe on the inaugural trip.

    It's about time.

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  9. Haha... I can totally relate to the blogging thing. I can't tell you how many times we've been in the car on the way to meet folks I feel like I've known for years and Kevin is like "Wait... who the hell are these people???" Ingrid's blog was one of the first one I started following and she was always willing to give me advice over email about the places we were planning to visit, which was awesome. We finally got to meet them after many months of blog reading and emailing and it was great to chat "in real life." It's crazy how small this community is!!

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    1. Very true, our situation was very similar where I felt like I knew Ingrid for years while Barb is a lot like Kevin where she felt we were meeting total strangers.

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  10. So glad to hear y’all got your windows in! Enjoy truck camping! Such a fun way to travel! And it’s true about full timers and blogging. Ron never reads our blog nor other blogs I follow......

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    1. It is such a relief to finally have all the windows in. We should have the doors in by the first week of July and we will be all set!

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  11. Great wrap up of our visit and glad we left before the rain came even though we really weren't ready to leave. Hmm, now that I think about it, I believe the rain saved you from a couple of guests overstaying their welcome. We LOVED hanging out on your beautiful property with you guys and look forward to returning (if we're still welcome 😆). Have fun with the new camper!

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    1. When you first left we thought that maybe you left too early but later that day the rain came and soaked everything, it was a muddy mess!

      Great meeting you and Al, hope to meet up again someday!

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  12. You two have certainly earned a break! Enjoy your side trip and hope the camper works as good as it looks. Cheers.

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  13. Looks like you had fun with your "new blogger friends" even though you were busy. Have fun taking the camper out.

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  14. It is always so much fun to meet fellow bloggers. I can totally relate the the spouse quiz issue. I feel like I know people, but have never met. The good news is she normally just jumps right in and makes new friends.

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    1. Barb too gets along with pretty much anyone, we have yet to meet anyone on the road that we did not click with in some way.

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  15. Yeah, time for a break! Let Barb's bruises heal up or she will tell :)
    Al and Ingrid were the first blogger we met way back in Dec 2012 and we are still friends!
    I can also relate to the questions "who are we meeting today?" We the writer and photographer are more in tune to the happenings in the blog world.
    Enjoy your mini break!

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    1. It was finally great to meet them and your names may have come on once (or maybe twice or more times!)

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