Pat & Cindy (a.k.a. The "emam"'s) …

**PTHutch** · 06-11-2007, 05:57 PM

Ok Pat and Cindy, you’ve been on the road for almost 6 months now.
It’s time for your Bi-annual Sunline Owners Club review and sanity check.

1. What is the one thing you miss the most?
Pat?
Cindy?

2. What is the one thing you like the most?
Pat?
Cindy?

3. What is the one thing you miss the least?
Pat?
Cindy?

4. What is the one thing you did before leaving that you are glade you did?
Pat?
Cindy?

5. What is the one thing you wish you would have done before leaving?
Pat?
Cindy?

6. What is the one thing you did after leaving that you are glade you did?
Pat?
Cindy?

7. What is the one thing you wish you would have done after leaving?
Pat?
Cindy?

8. What is the hardest thing you have found with living on the road?
Pat?
Cindy?

9. What is the easiest thing you have found with living on the road?
Pat?
Cindy?

10. What is the one most important thing you want to do / accomplish in the next 6 months?
Pat?
Cindy?

Enquiring Sunline Owners Club members want to know

Note, NOYB (None of your business) IS an acceptable answer

**Sunline Fan** · 06-11-2007, 06:14 PM

I can't wait to see the answers! I'll bet the one thing they're glad they did before they left was sell their house. They wouldn't start the trip for at least another two years if they had to sell it now. There's some great deals on houses around here, but the problem is, we don't have any buyers!!!!

Jon

rich2500 · 06-12-2007, 05:16 AM

nice post PT I'm looking forward to the answers also

**Tweety** · 06-12-2007, 06:17 AM

Me too! I was just thinking they should write a book. The "how to" books on full timing aren't very plentiful, and mostly written by much older folks.

**Sunline Fan** · 06-12-2007, 08:50 AM

I just read one of those books earlier this year. It was called "Steele's on Wheels". I really enjoyed it and there were plenty of funny parts. The book had an even balance of destination articles and RVing issues, but I felt the RVing issues could have been expanded to include more detail. It's a very good book for people wondering if they should full time or not.

Jon

nasa42a · 06-12-2007, 10:32 AM

Quetse.....

I really shouldn't do this.....but I can't resist (re: "mostly written by older folks" post)!

Just how do you....(CAREFUL NOW!) define "older"?

Frank

**Tweety** · 06-12-2007, 11:12 AM

I KNEW as soon as I hit the post button that someone would catch that term "older folks." It's more of a lifestyle term than an age term. I am 49 and older folks get numerically older every day. I would like to see a book written by someone who is very current on such things as internet service, satellite TV, cell phones, solar systems, and HEALTH INSURANCE for the under 65 nonmedicare eligible set. Someone who is into hiking, biking, running, kayaking. They could be 75 years young...if they'd be able to write a book that is up to date on all of that

**PTHutch** · 06-12-2007, 11:24 AM

Pam,

If you haven't checked out Howard & Linda Payne's RV-Dreams web site, you should. A lot of interesting information about full-timing appropriate for the younger crowd

.

Anyway, the way I view it, age has 3 categories, reality, mentally, and physically.
Mentally I think younger than I really am, but most days physically I feel much older than I am.

Hutch

emam · 06-14-2007, 08:56 AM

Ok folks, here is our 6 month Q&A answers

1. What is the one thing you miss the most?
Pat - The only thing I really miss, is the close contact we had with our friends & family. Owning a bar, we really had hundreds of close friends that we saw on a everday basis. We lived in a small town, so we were with our family almost every day.

Cindy - I miss having multiple pairs of shoes, dressing up in nice clothes and showering twice a day....and I dont miss them that much, so it's not such a bad thing

I really miss having a yard and garden to work in and digging in the dirt.

2. What is the one thing you like the most?
Pat - I love the fact that we get to meet so many new people daily, and see somewhere new almost every day. I really like to learn new things and see new things, so I'm living a dream right now.

Cindy - I like the fact that I can clean my kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom in twenty minutes....thirty minutes if I vaccumn and mop.

3. What is the one thing you miss the least?
Pat - I know I dont miss the daily stress of owning a business, running a magazine and dealing with day to day things that we've now realized werent needed at all.

Cindy - COLD WEATHER and that Grey season in Michigan that we tend to have 6 months out of the year. That gloomy part of the year where all our roads are brown and all the vegetation looks dead. Since we've left, we've been in sunshine and comfortable temperatures almost everyday!!

4. What is the one thing you did before leaving that you are glade you did?
Pat - Enough research to know we had the right camper and most of the needed equipment. Since we've been on the road, if we would had just went and bought any-ol' camper I think we would have been updating and upgrading almost every week. Since on the road, we've only really added a few things, and those were minor things like Fans, air-bags to the truck...etc

Cindy - Spent lots of time with friends and family, so much so that they were probably sick of us. And selling all of our materialistic things, and feeling that freedom to know you dont have to have those things to live comfortably.

5. What is the one thing you wish you would have done before leaving?
Pat - Nothing really, my motto has always been 'If I needed something or wanted something, I went and got it and figured out a way to pay for it in cash before I got it' I've worked my butt off to make sure all the little luxuries we have we dont owe on, so they can never be taken away.

Cindy - Our 2006 tax returns, that's a stress that sits on my mind till we get home in July for a two week re-stock and re-adjust. We filed an extension and payed a guestimate on what our accountant thought we'd owe. But I worry about it a lot!

6. What is the one thing you did after leaving that you are glade you did?
Pat - Make that final decision to leave and find a few good web forums like this to get so many questions answered.

Cindy - It's too hard to pin point only one thing. There's not one thing in the past 6 months that I'm not glad we didnt do. Probably spending over a month in Arkansas, which is my favorite state so far!!

7. What is the one thing you wish you would have done after leaving?
Pat - Go slower - see more!! 100 miles a day is too fast

Cindy - Planned economically for more than a two year trip. Once on the road, we've realized our planned budget for only two years is going to have to be stretched to 3 to 5 years. I'm scurring to figure out how to stretch it.

8. What is the hardest thing you have found with living on the road?
Pat - For me it's the Dogs. They take up way too much time and we've had to cancel a few things, or change plans because of them. I know Cindy will kill me for saying that, but they're just too big for how much we move and do outdoors. Maybe if we had two toy terriers that weighed a pound a piece, it'd be different. But a 90lb. pit bull and an old ornery beagle are my thorn in the side right now.

Cindy - Cooking. It's not really all that hard, but I tend to dirty every dish I use and it's hard to get used to going from 32 kitchen cabinets to just two!! It's hard to work with the limited Counter Space, but if that's all I have to complain about, is it really complaining??

9. What is the easiest thing you have found with living on the road?
Pat - How little you really need. Even half the stuff we brought hasent come out of it's box yet. We packed a lot of stuff for out West, and now realize we could have left it at home, and picked it up for the second half of the year and saved a lot of space and weight. Put a tag with a date on everything in your house, every time you touch it, change the date. Tell me how often you actually use everything in your life right now. You'll be amazed at how much junk you think you need to live comfortably!!

Cindy - The fact that I dont have to get ready to go anywhere. I can wear my pajamas/boxers all day if I want to

Since I live in cut-off shorts, flip-flops and a t-shirt, my wardrobe is pretty simple.

10. What is the one most important thing you want to do / accomplish in the next 6 months?

Pat - Slow down and see more. Take better pictures and get deeper into the culture with each new place we see.

Cindy - Market ourselves better so we can pick-up a few sponsors for our journey. If it's going to be extended for 3 years, we need to market ourselves to a broader audience. We're trying to figure out an angle to approach various companies, if anyone has any suggestions. That and Slow Down!

So there are your answers. Really, we've both learned so much from this forum and especially all the tips and hints you've all given us. Thanks for the support, and if we could say one thing

Dont take life so seriously! Slow Down and spend more time with your loved ones. It's a short drive, so make sure you stop and get out often!!

Thanks again
Pat & Cindy Bonish
Every Miles A Memory

**PTHutch** · 06-14-2007, 09:07 AM

Pat and Cindy,

Thanks for taking the time to give such thoughtful and candid answers.

Cindy, I liked your answer to #2, that's exactly what my DW said when we took our 5 week trip out west.

You know all of us here on the forum are backing you. You can sort-of say you are our Sunline ambassadors on the road

Hutch

**JohnB** · 06-15-2007, 03:56 PM

Pat & Cindy

Thanks for sharing with us. Makes one think a lot more. We may never get to the full timer’s status but really hope to make it to the many month'er status.

And even being out a few months at a time, similar things come up.

We are all rooting for you. Keep the good times coming.

John

rich2500 · 06-15-2007, 08:04 PM

thanks for sharing,keep enjoying yourselves,and we wish both of you lots of luck with the rest of your journey

emam · 06-21-2007, 08:19 AM

I really hope everyone here knows how much a forum like this means to us. We have elarned so many things from all of you, and we both hope to be able to make it to one of the Meet & Greets.

I'd love to be able to put a face to the screen names. It seems like I know most of you and dont know what the heck anyone looks like.

We should all have pictures of ourselves by our screen name!!

Just an Idea

Pat

Steve Collins · 06-21-2007, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emam

I'd love to be able to put a face to the screen names. It seems like I know most of you and dont know what the heck anyone looks like.

We should all have pictures of ourselves by our screen name!!

Just an Idea

Pat,

That is totally possible with this software that Sarah is using for theses forums. All she has to do is enable "avatars" and we can all put little pics of ourselves over on the left side of the screen where our name and location appears.

For a sample of what that looks, like, check out the forums at: http://fishcreekpond.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=1 - it is the same software but looks a bit different because the owner over there picked a background picture and set it up a bit differently. My pic and several others appear throughout the forums.

You can also tuck a pic in your signature, just like I have my T-2453 in mine.

**JohnB** · 06-21-2007, 10:02 PM

Steve

OK How did you stuff your camper pic in your sig?

I just looked on my profile and can't figure out where to paste in the web address.

PS. I followed you link. Cool!! I'll bet you have heard your share of interesting phone calls in your line of work.

John

emam · 06-21-2007, 10:04 PM

Hey Steve, how do you shrink a picture down that small and not have it become blurry??

I've been trying to do it with a few different shots now for awhile, and no matter what picture I use, once I make it that small, the website still tells me that it's too large? Then once I make it so small the website will accept it, it's all distorted and blurry?

It's been driving me nuts for awhile now. I try and proclaim to be somwhat computer literate, but this is getting frustrating...LOL

Pat

For now, that's my face in the picture..LOL

Steve Collins · 06-22-2007, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnB

Steve

OK How did you stuff your camper pic in your sig?

I just looked on my profile and can't figure out where to paste in the web address.

PS. I followed you link. Cool!! I'll bet you have heard your share of interesting phone calls in your line of work.

John

John,

To place a pic in your signature, you are essentially doing the same thing as placing a pic in the body of your messages, but there's no little IMG button to do it for you. Just type: [img]web link to your pic[/img]

Make sure the pic you use is really tiny or it'll make your signature bigger than your post. That pic of my T-2453 is only 6 Kb, and could be even smaller. I use the "resize" function of MS Photo Editor to make it tiny.

Yeah, I had an interesting and mostly rewarding career. But it was very stressful and not always a happy job. Thanks for looking.

Steve Collins · 06-22-2007, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emam

Hey Steve, how do you shrink a picture down that small and not have it become blurry??

I've been trying to do it with a few different shots now for awhile, and no matter what picture I use, once I make it that small, the website still tells me that it's too large? Then once I make it so small the website will accept it, it's all distorted and blurry?

Pat,

Load the pic into MS Photo Editor. Click on <Image> and then on <Resize>. I am certain that there are other ways to do this, too, but that seems to work for me. I did some trial resizing in 20% steps and it worked just fine.

The pic of my wife and me over on fishcreekpond.com is cropped from a larger pic of us standing in front of a lake. I then resized it down to fit the Avatar requirements which are 125 pixels by 125 pixels and no larger than 20 Kb.