WHAT!? Another newb... just minutes ago...

[Art-n-Marge]

Hello everybody,

Yup, we're newbs to this club, we're younger than most retirees (under 55, ugh) and I like to leave long informative messages. If I wanted to leave short non-decipherable, cryptic, hard-to-understand messages I would use "texting" or "twittering" and chat with no punctuation or grammar like a 15 year old. But I'm an older, mature, semi-intelligent, responsible adult that has a pretty good command of the English language.

We are some-timers, not full-timers or no-timers! We have a 2006 Montana 3500RL (with a 2005 French Doors floorplan). I tow it with a 2006 Ford F-250 CrewCab SRW 4x4 Line-X spray on Longbed and BakFlip cover with a Valley 7054 16K hitch.

We still live in a house with a foundation because my wife wants a predictable location where the kids and grandkids can visit for the holidays but we wanted to Camp in Luxury (or close to it). But I reserve the right to cart us away for a sometime trip to parts everywhere.

We haven't gone any place longer than about 10-11 days in our rig but we do go out often enough to keep up the skills and knowledge and fix a problem or so. It's amazing how smart I'm getting by having to fix stupid things. I suppose over time I shall explain some pretty clever and inexpensive solutions I have been able to put together.

While we live in California, places we've been (trailering or driving or Amtrak) include Alaska several times, all the way to Florida, all the way to Maine and all parts in between. At last count we've been to 40 states and 2 Canadian Territories. We've been on Cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean and yes, occasional flights to include Puerto Rico and the UK. But our preference is driving or towing. I am also an avid backpacker but just in the California wilderness areas like the Eastern Sierras and the local Southern California mountains - just enough to remind me that RVing with the wife is a much calmer way to spend time away from home especially since we take hikes, too. But you just can't beat chasing wild animals away from your backpacking food. Hey, wait a minute, we chased wild animals away from our trailer too.

Okay then, I like long messages but must be reasonable, so we'll see you around and I look forward to starting new friendships.

Best Regards,
Art Martinez
Murrieta, CA (yup, another Californian, but I was born in Texas decades ago)