10 Lessons From 2018

Sometimes the lemonade is really tasty!

• Those of you reading this final entry and following our blog know our story. Through circumstances beyond our control and circumstances in which we had influence, in 2017 I found myself without a job.  Rather than move for a job (not my career desire), we decided to take a severance and look for something new.  The last half of 2017 was great in that we enjoyed time together in South Dakota, I was able to fly a bunch and the boys were able to enjoy time at school with their buddies.  In addition, I was spending my time interviewing and looking for work.  When our house sold quickly and we didn’t have a job to go to, Maureen and I decided hitting the road was what we wanted to do with our time!  As I look back at 2018, I have to admit that there were times when I really had wonder, doubt and disappointment.  But, as I have the chance to really think about what happened during 2018, I exchange those feelings for those of happiness, wonderment and relaxation.  The elimination of my job was really some of the best lemonade I tasted!  Taking advantage of the opportunity in front of us & jumping in with both feet was a wonderful lesson.

Technology is great, but so is no technology.

• Our current advancements have been made possible by technology. It’s everywhere we look and it’s part of nearly everything we do.  During the last year, we used technology to get where we were going, to figure out what to do next and even to educate Andy and Woody while we traveled around.  It was great and I am so glad we had it.  You know what else was great?  The times we spent hiking a trail with no cell phones or video games.  Some of our best memories were made without technology.  We explored, experienced and enjoyed by becoming part of wherever we were at.  Whether it was crabbing from a pier, digging for diamonds or just talking with family and friends, my favorite memories included ditching the digital leash!  The lesson here is that getting rid of technology (or at least taking a break) can be a very good thing!

Closeness can, well, bring a family closer.

• I grew up in a big house. Sometimes it felt so big that I could be “all alone” with others in the house.  Our house in Sioux Falls was pretty big too.  All in, it was close to 6,000 square feet.  When we decided to hit the road, we weren’t sure how to do it, but we downsized to about 400 square feet (another 45 square feet if you count the cab of the truck)!  We became efficient in our use of space and reuse of possessions.  Just take a look at many of our pictures-we all had favorite clothes!  We also became very good at being with each other all the time.  While we certainly had occasion to get mad at each other, it rarely happened.  Our boys shared a space at the back of the camper that included 3 small beds, some storage and their video games.  The space between their beds was about 2 feet wide.  Guess what?  They managed to be kind to each other, they learned to work out any issues and they were genuinely fun to travel with.  I am so glad we got to travel with each other now instead of it being just me and Maureen at retirement!  Traveling as a family made this such a great experience!  When we were searching for our next house without wheels, our search criteria was more heavily weighted for what we could do there!  Lesson-Go RV’ing!

Sometimes the best money spent is no money at all.

• When looking back at our pictures, we had so many great experiences for little or no money. We were trying to be frugal so that we could spread our dollar as far as we could.  Remember, I had no job and we were not headed to a job.  One of our favorite places to enjoy a hot bath was a natural hot spring right on the Rio Grande inside Big Bend National Park.  Even though we were down south during the winter, we did find a couple beaches to visit and swim at – Gunner loved running on the beaches!  While in NM, we were able to watch an amazing sunrise and watch some great basketball (I’m on top, unh/hey-Alix Hailey)!  In California, Mike and Kitty treated us to some backstage tours of the entertainment industry and we even got to spin the Wheel of Fortune!  Clamming in Oregon was a flop, but getting muddy sure was fun!  Crabbing kept us busy for a few days and fed us too.  Talking with family and just hanging out with friends filled in several of our stops.  There are so many great stories of all of our experiences and I am very glad we took the time to do each and every one of them!  What I can share with you about the experience is that sometimes ditching things for experiences helps bond loved ones closer.

Taxes can be frustrating, but they fund some great things!

• Death and taxes—two things we can’t escape. So many parts of our Great Tischer Escape included tax funded experiences.  We made visits to museums, libraries, presidential museums and National Park properties part of our destinations.  We did buy an annual pass to National Park Service properties.  The pass paid for itself time and again.  Every single mile we put on was traveled over public roads-some were great and some were so horrible!  We got really good at finding BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land to stay on for free!!  From our site looking out at the arches of Arches National Park to our private deep woods site right by a stream outside of Crater Lake National Park.  From the site on the bluff overlooking Grand Teton National Park to the stay just outside of Zion National Park.  Without a doubt, our favorite campsites were all on free land.  BLM land also made me feel a little better about the tax bill at the end of 2017!  Lesson-if I want to enjoy public parks, I have to pay my fair share.

Car sandwiches can become boring.

• Ever since we’ve been married, Maureen and I have been frugal with certain things. During car trips, especially with boys, we’ve had the tradition of making “car sandwiches”.  These sandwiches typically include sliced french bread from Wal-Mart, salami and sometimes cheese.  They are accompanied by crackers and carrots.  Honestly, when you have them once a month or something like that they’re pretty good.  When you have them every other day…not so much but we kept at it!!  During the trip, we had some great local treats wherever we went.  Woody liked to help find places featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  We also found some great local ingredients and had great camper food too.  So many favorites along so many of our stops.  Oh and way too many car sandwiches!  Lesson-exploring a region through your taste buds can be a great thing, just be prepared to wear your stretchy pants!

Education can happen in all kinds of places.

• Our great adventure would not have been possible if it weren’t for how hard our boys work at school. They are both bright boys and have really applied themselves when learning.  Because of this hard work, their teachers and school administrators recognized their drive and hardy work ethic.  When we approached the teachers and administrators about our opportunity, they vowed to do all they could to help us.  Not only did they help us, they provided us with a curriculum, teacher support and transcripts for the boys at the end of the year.  During the trip (it’s not a trip, it’s a lifestyle!), we made great use of public libraries wherever we were.  Several times, we stayed longer in a location so that the boys could get extra work done.  Book work was just one kind of learning.  By exploring wherever we were, not only did the boys learn, but so did Maureen and I.  From Little Rock Central High School to the hangars at Pima Air Museum, we learned so much about so many different things.  Learning can happen anywhere so long as you seek it out.

Family and friends are fun to stay in contact with via Facebook, but being face to face with them is better.

• Facebook and other forms of social media are great ways to know what your friends are up to. It’s easy to just take a quick little look and then go about your day.  During our time on the road, we made it a point to stop in and see family and friends.  Some of our stops were to see people we stay in regular contact with.  Some were to stop and see people we hadn’t seen in years!  In all, I think we must have seen over 80 different family members and about half a dozen friends.  The opportunity for the boys to meet so many of our family and friends was priceless.  Lesson from this is that everyone was so welcoming and genuinely happy to have us visit-take the time to go say hi to people!

Busyness can get in the way.

• I know it’s easy to say, I mean I had no job, but being busy prevents us from enjoying lots of different things. I had the luxury of having a great severance and that took a ton of pressure off of our family as we enjoyed our time together while searching for work.  I know I can work crazy hours and get cranky.  I know that my boys are growing up right under my eye, yet I miss the small stuff.  I had let busyness get in the way of enjoying what was around me.  While on our adventure, we were all not busy or busy together.  We took the time to explore, to read books, and build snow forts in a national park!  Busyness sometimes makes a person feel needed or wanted, but I often wonder if I had used it in the right ways.  By enjoying the gift of not being busy, I think (hope) I was practicing the things that I want to keep me busy.  For instance, today I went both skating on our lake with Woody and downhill skiing with the whole family.  Lesson-Don’t let bad busyness get in the way of all the great things happening around you.

Home can be where you make it.

• One year ago, today, we had no idea where we were headed. Our possessions were in storage containers and our house was the Coachmen and the truck.  We didn’t feel as if we were without a home, we had plenty to do.  We had plenty to eat.  We didn’t have the worries of everyday life with us.  Instead, we enjoyed most everything we were doing.  Did we get mad at each other?  I am sure we did, but we had to get over it real quick because we only had each other.  While we moved our trailer to well over 40 different locations, we still felt at home because of who we were with.  As the interviews continued to happen, we would become excited about the potential to live here or there.  We knew we could make nearly any of them work.  What helped us settle on Wausau (other than a great job offer) was the fact that we felt at home.  There are so many things to do in the area.  We know the boys will be able to get a great education and will have many great friends.  The area is close to home for us and it feels like a natural fit for us.

We look forward to spending the next chapter in our blog back in Wisconsin and hope you will come and visit.  We have room for your trailer!  This entire experience taught me that lots of not so great things can happen in a person’s life.  The support and love of your family can get you through a ton.  I learned to pick my chin up and enjoy home on the road!  Thanks for being part of our great 2018! (JT)

Those of you who have been following our adventures know already some of the main themes of our last 5 months educating the boys on the road. National Parks (and NPS properties), presidential libraries, air museums and lots of visits with family! Our path has led us to spend some great times with family members we haven’t seen in a long time, to spend quality and extended times with those who live a long way from us.

As Maureen mentioned in a previous post, we made a decision while in Utah. We had to decide, head NW or turn the rig east and head to MN. We chose NW! Oregon and Washington were states we wanted the boys to experience and they were rich with family!

After throughly enjoying Oregon, we made our final Oregon stop in rural Astoria to see my Grandpa Tischer’s younger brother Mark Tischer. We were able to spend a couple of hour chatting with him and my boys were able to meet one of the last from that generation!

From Mark’s, we made our way to Cathlamet/Skamokawa and stayed at an absolutely great RV Park/Port #2 Park right on the Columbia River. The reason for our stop here was to see my dad’s cousin Lee Tischer. Lee and Diane live on Puget Island and are very active in the community. Lee is a Port Commissioner and got us into a great spot where we could see huge ocean going ships only 100 yards from our camper. It was also neat to have people recognize the Tischer last name! While getting to know Lee and Diane, we had a great dinner and learned more about their family. Lee (also known as Woody Tischer) also took us on a tour of the area, including a ferry ride in our truck to go get breakfast on the other side of the Columbia! Once again, our visit reaffirmed the value of knowing family and checking in every once in awhile!

Our path to the Seattle area was a quick one. My mom, Marilee, had decided to make a trip out to the area to meet up with us again (and of course see her brother, sister and families)! During our adventure, I am pretty certain we have seen my folks with more regularity than when we lived in Harrisburg (it’s a good thing). The Seattle area is where my mom’s brother Rollie and sister Kristi live with their families. Base for us was going to be Kristi and Bruce’s in Poulsbo.

Just as we started backing the camper into Kristi’s driveway, my uncle Rollie, aunt Ginger and mom pull into the culdesac. Nothing like backing in and getting set up with an audience! We didn’t realize it at the time, but that spot would be our trailer’s home for the next three weeks! Our time with the Seattle area crew was filled with tons of fun and tons of just plain old “hanging out”!

Some of the highlights of our time in the PNW include (in no order):

• Time with Kristi and Bruce, Gabe and Josh, and Rollie and Ginger
• Time with Bruce and Liz (Ginger’s sister)-the boys loved Bruce’s bush pilot stories
• Maureen being able to see her great aunt Percy and multiple cousins (total of 6)
• Finally being able to go and get Bruce and Kristi’s boat, get it water ready and enjoy several rides with dolphins seen
• A great day downtown in Seattle
• The boys going to the Museum of Flight with Uncle Rollie and learning little about his aviation based career
• Whidbey Island and the PBY museum (Papa Mick’s uncle trained to fly the PBY here and flew them in the Aleutian Islands during WW2)
• Watching Gunner and Roscoe play and bark at anything that moved
• Being able to leave the camper at Bruce and Kristi’s so that we could take our “Alaskan Adventure”
• The Underwater Warfare Museum with Gabe and the boys
• A traditional Norwegian lunch at the Poulsbo Sons of Norway with Kristi
• The Olympic National Park with my mom and Kristi
• Some great conversations had with all
• 

We finally had to hook on and say goodbye to everyone. While it would have been great to stay even longer, we have a few more places to stop on our way to the lake cabin for the summer! We plan to go across the northern part of the US. Hopefully another family member or two and a stop in Rapid City to see my old boss (nearly family)!

I’ve said it several times-the circumstances of us being able to take this time together weren’t a highlight of my career. Having your job eliminated just plain old sucks. Having the adventure of a lifetime has been absolutely worth it though!!

Well, it’s been a little while since I’ve written. Long story made short is that I didn’t get the CEO job I was a finalist for. Longmont and Centura would have been great, but it wasn’t meant to be. The feedback I received was all positive and even had smatterings of “you could have done this job two positions ago.” Regardless, I had a case of the “crabbiness” going on. Oh well, onward with the search and discussions!

In the time since I learned that my job hunt, and thus our adventure, would continue, we’ve seen some great places and had some opportunities with family and friends. In Utah, Maureen’s family hosted us and even included us on family game night and family walk night. I even got to see my very first ultimate frisbee tourney (nice work Dallin–he just scored 34 on his ACT for anyone looking for a smarty)! One day we were able to make the trip into Salt Lake City to see the sites and also meet up with a grad school and fellowship buddy, Jeremy Price. Price happened to be traveling through the area and we were able to meet up. It’s been something like 5 years since I’ve seen him, so being able to say hi was great. A real plus is that Jeremy is Mormon, so we had our own personal tour guide around Temple Square! The sites and history were great! Another happenstance meeting happened with Jennifer Wagenaar. Jennifer was the CNO in Aberdeen when I started working with them. She is now a regional CNO out in the Mountain States. When I texted her, she happened to also be in Temple Square. It was great to be able to say hi to her as well.

In addition to getting grounded with some great folks while face to face, I’ve been able to connect on the phone and via email. Once again, folks I’ve known have stepped up with great advice or great connections. Friends I’ve made through Leadership SD were willing to make connections for me for a position I’m in the running for in SD. Some of my great work colleagues have been willing to be references for me multiple times.

The past week we’ve had some fun in Oregon. Maureen posted about our seclusion in the national forest at a great campsite. We’ve had some fun clamming in a mud bog and yesterday we went crabbing for the first time. We had some luck and enjoyed a feast last night. Crabs sure are tasty when you pull them from the bay yourself!!

All in all, I’ve really got no reason to be crabby!!!

Bingo spells bing, bong and boing!

Tonight, after a very productive day around the house with wheels, Maureen and I decided we needed a date night. Since we embarked on this adventure, we have not had a night to ourselves. As luck would have it, directly across the street from the handy dandy KOA in Alamogordo, lies the Eagles Airie #2019 with bingo on Tuesday nights!

For those of you who don’t know my habits and hobbies, bingo is not one of them. At least not “serious” bingo.

We walked across the street, hand in hand, ready for casual bingo without boys but maybe with an adult beverage or two. The sign said “doors open at 5:30-bingo calling starts at 7”. As we entered the lot, it looks fairly full, but there is no activity. We open the only door we see and….creek it opens with a slight breeze. We step into a room where bingo is already underway and we are new people. No bar, nothing but bingo daubers, bingo paper cards and cigarettes! Maureen and I are out of place from the start! We buy the minimum mega pack of nine cards each for each game. They are already three games into a ten game night. We missed the first three but paid for them anyway! Of course, we didn’t have the special daubers, so Maureen rushed up and bought some. She, of course, got the bright purple and I was blue!

For those of you who haven’t experienced competitive bingo, I will give you a little picture of what I saw:

-I was mildly challenged managing my 9 cards. Several people were playing with 60+ cards. One lady had at least 90 cards!

-If you are “of status”, you must arrive with special “bingo bags”. These bags have pockets for lots of daubers, pens, cigarettes, snacks, etc.

-If you intend to manage 99 cards, it’s best you have a plastic glove on one hand, a pillow on your seat and tape to hold all 99 cards together.

-There are “special” games that you buy in addition to bingo. If the caller says “this next game is Wonky Willy”, you best know what that means. Maureen and I started marking our cards, but we didn’t have the “special cards”. This meant that when we started “real bingo” again, we had to use different colors on the cards we had already marked…thankfully we didn’t win that round!

-“I26, I26. Mark it now because I26 doesn’t light up!”

-Proper bingo calling attire includes t-shirts. I really have nothing funny about wearing a t-shirt, unless of course the shirt says “Healthy Foods” with vegetables printed on the front…while she eats one of the largest ice cream bowls I’ve ever seen!

-Competitive bingo includes shapes and games which are unique. Small diamond with corner squares and wild numbers with nine blocks. Pay attention folks!

-During blackout bingo, when you only have nine cards to manage versus 99, boredom can set in. Maureen decided she would draw with her dauber. Finger painting while playing bingo is frowned upon! Our success at blackout was nil. Just look at all the space left on my card!

In the end, date night wasn’t a complete bust. We got out of the trailer, we had some fun and we saw all kinds of interesting! Here’s to many more nights of interesting!

Big Bend National Park is a remote and beautiful place to visit. The solitude becomes more and more apparent as you head down the highway from Alpine, TX and the vast and open highway leads to what appears to be no where! Our campsite is currently in the village of Terlingua. Terlingua appears to be home to drifters, raft guides and folks who don’t have much concern about the physical appearance of their homes or selves. Right next to our camper (in what appears to be a dirt parking lot) lies an old cemetery–shallow graves with rocks over the top and wood carved grave markers. A sign of respect, but also a sign of making due with what you’ve got.

If I were a betting guy, they are here because you can gaze out during the day and see some great views; mountains, desert and nature. At night, the stars as as clear as anything I’ve ever seen. The ghost town shanties allow for quick and easy access to something else!

Today we had a great adventure hiking the “Window Trail” and, after a little convincing, we also did part of the “Lost Mine Trail”. The views were well worth the work. Our MREs were sure tasty while looking out over the park! Those things sure taste a lot better when eaten while famished and with a view.

Our hike today was exactly why we were so excited to set off on this adventure with the boys. The abundant beauty our country has to offer along with the priceless time alone on the trail. Tomorrow brings travel to Mexico via a row boat and burro!