Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
The new year has brought great news.... I am officially in remission from Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. I found out on Christmas Eve that my final bone marrow biopsy showed that I was cancer free. GREAT NEWS!!!
In the last few weeks I have started to get my strength and stamina back. We decided to do our first trail run by going to Quartzsite for a short week. All went well.
After 6 great years of travel 2019 turned out to be a bust of a year for us. I can count on one hand the travel days in our RV. Good Bye 2019, be gone, don't bother coming back.
Now to look to our future. We have replaced Mazatlan, Mexico as our home base. We've had a new home built in Buckeye, Arizona and this will be our new base to return to as needed.
Our Spring/Summer plans are to cross Canada from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. We will be moving slowly and are planning a 5 month journey. We are going to travel under 200 miles every third day. Our plans are loose enough that we can stay longer in any place that we love. I hope to return to Buckeye, AZ refreshed and not worn out. We will adjust our travel speed to make that happen!
Between now and Spring we are going to enjoy camping around Arizona to experience the desert blooming. We were out ATV'ing in the White Tank Mountains this morning, the bloom is starting. (we've added a Yamaha ATV and trailer to our RV) Until my full strength returns we will be 4 wheeling instead of hiking.
It's great to be alive. It's great to be back RV'ing. Life is good.
__________________
Russ & Terri Ranger
Travel since July 2013
Home base: Buckeye,AZ
Wandering the USA & Canada in our Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40' PDT Motorhome
Travel so far: 49 States - International Travel -19 countries
Winnebago TT 2101DS & 2020 Silverado LTZ Z71. 300 watts WindyNation solar w/MPPT, 2 Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, USF&WS, NPS, TVA, state/county camps. 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - old MOS 1542 & 1560.
Congratulations!!! That weight is heavier than most think. Time is your best friend when recovering from a serious illness. Happy for you that it is in your rear view mirror ... keep your "I love you's" up to date as we all are on the same bus ride.
__________________
Ron and Janice
2016 Ford F350, King Ranch, DRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 PS Diesel, remote control air lift system
2017 Durango Gold 381REF, Lambright furniture, MCD shades, morRYDE IS, 8K Disc brakes, GY G114 LR H Tires, 27,320 lbs CGVW
Great news. I lost my best friend 18 years ago now to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, glad to see you beat it! Enough of the downer stuff. Enjoy your trip through Canada, I've been to most of the provinces and don't really have a favorite but the trek along the St. Lawrence Seaway is filled with history. There's also some really, really good fishing along the way it you're into that sort of thing. Happy travels.
I want to thank everyone for their well wishes. I’m feeling better each day as my strength returns. We are in the RV attending the Copperstate Fly-In at the Buckeye Airport in Arizona. It’s a nice way to spend a warm winters weekend watching air shows and hot air balloons.
Life is good.
__________________
Russ & Terri Ranger
Travel since July 2013
Home base: Buckeye,AZ
Wandering the USA & Canada in our Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40' PDT Motorhome
Travel so far: 49 States - International Travel -19 countries
Well here we go again. Last time I wrote I had just gone into remission. We were planning a trip across Canada for the Spring and Summer. Then the whole Covid 19 thing closed up Canada and we saw our plans go down the drain. It was time for plan B. We would camp around the west coast this Summer. Wrong. My oncologist, radiologist and a bunch of scans tell me I will be spending my Summer dealing with a “reaccurance of Lymphoma”. It looks like we will be staying around Arizona this Summer. That’s OK with me because we can still RV between chemo sessions. We’ve purchased a UTV and trailer to tow behind the motorhom, so we are set to get to know our new state. Life is good....even with changing plans.
Thought: Start RV‘ing as soon as you can and as often as you can and for as long as you can.
-- Edited by Russ Ranger on Friday 15th of May 2020 02:06:26 PM
__________________
Russ & Terri Ranger
Travel since July 2013
Home base: Buckeye,AZ
Wandering the USA & Canada in our Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40' PDT Motorhome
Travel so far: 49 States - International Travel -19 countries
Huge virtual hugs from Canada here Russ for you and Terri, followed and thoroughly enjoyed (Alaska/Europe etc) your travel logs from the beginning. You will be so much in our positive sending thoughts this summer so do keep us updated.
__________________
Breathtaking Alberta. Her Mountains Draw You But Her People Bring You Back
A little update on my fight with cancer. My Non Hopkins Lymphoma remission only lasted for 4 months. The new cancer was diagnosed as stage 4 Relapsed Mantel Cell Lymphoma which is an incurable form of Lymphoma. My plan is to get through the new chemo and to go into remission. I always have been a complete optimist so that’s my plan. I am 4 weeks into the new chemo and all is going great.
We went out today looking for a place to RV next week. Found Lake Pleasant north of Phoenix. We’ll need air conditioning because temperatures we be over 110* all week. (High will be 116*).
Life is good.... looking forward to getting out again.
-- Edited by Russ Ranger on Wednesday 12th of August 2020 06:36:36 PM
__________________
Russ & Terri Ranger
Travel since July 2013
Home base: Buckeye,AZ
Wandering the USA & Canada in our Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40' PDT Motorhome
Travel so far: 49 States - International Travel -19 countries
I've always loved your upbeat strong character and personality Russ. Happiness I've always believed is a state of mind. Love your optimistic outlook on everything life throws at you. Looking forward to reading about your travels around your new home state.
Helen.
__________________
Breathtaking Alberta. Her Mountains Draw You But Her People Bring You Back
Hello fellow NHL survivor! Great to hear your news. I had NHL in 1999, took the CHOP chemo protocol followed by radiation treatments and have been cancer free ever since... been 21 years now. I remember when I was diagnosed I went through the 5 stages of grief in about 2 hours and then got mad. I decided to fight tooth and nail, eat right even if I wasn't hungry to keep my strength up, and I never missed a day of work. My coworkers were very kind and supportive, but I demanded that they not cut me any slack and treat me as they always had. I wanted everything to be as normal as possible so that I wouldn't fall into the trap of feeling sorry for myself. At any rate life is good. I appreciate all the little things I used to take for granted. God bless and stay well!