Bus Update & Upgrade

Don’t Ever Give Up On Your Dreams

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends 💖🌻💖

Today I woke up filled with energy and decided to do some upgrades to the inside of the bus. 😁

I removed the wheelchair ramp from the back which gave me two more feet of space, so I unscrewed my bed, pushed it back against the back wall, which allows me to sit on it when the back door is open and look outside 😁 secured it and with the extra 2 feet I decided to build another bench that goes along the whole length of my bed. I put hinges on the tops so I could store stuff inside, covered it with foam and material and woo hoo I’m loving it. 💖.. see pics ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

The bench that my furbaby is on slides out to be a twin bed for guests which I love too. Tomorrow my oldest is going to install the second solar panel and my mechanic is going to fix my exhaust leak Sunday or Monday… So very excited and the inside is done 😁 that is until I decide to change something else hahahaha but basically it is done. Once it’s mechanically sound I’ll be on my way… 💖

Just wanted to give everyone an update on my progress since my upsetting setback a couple weeks ago… Shit happens yet there is nothing that’s going to stop me from living my dream… Perseverance, faith and belief is what makes dreams come true!!

Don’t ever quit my friends 😁💖😁

Have a beautiful day world 💖

Ricci 💕

Today Is Independence Day

Don’t Take It For Granted

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends 💖🙏💖

The month of July is a very hard month for me…

Although the beginning of the month should bring me happy memories, knowing what happened at the end of the month makes it very hard for me to smile today 😢

July 4th, 2015 my son and I decided to get out of town and we went camping at one of our favorite places, Roosevelt Lake in the Tonto National Forest…

We explored Indian ruins, went swimming in the lake and saw 5 different fireworks shows from different cities because we hiked to a mountain top..

We had a wonderful 5 days, days that should make me happy, yet then I remember that on July 30th my son went on a different journey up in heaven.. 😢

I’m trying to learn how to carry this pain in a different way, where I can smile at the beautiful time we had on the 4th, yet it’s still very hard for me 😢

Yet even though my pain, today always reminds me of how many people don’t have the freedom that we do and I get so so grateful for what I do have..

2 other incredible children, friends that are amazing and a life where I can do whatever I please and that fills my heart with gratitude and love 💖🤗..

My point in all this is:

So many in our world don’t have the freedom that we do.. they cannot live a life where they can do whatever they want too…

Today is Independence Day and every day should be..a day that you are grateful to be alive and to be free! 🙏🙏

Happy 4th of July 💖

Ricci 💕

Mistakes Are Just Lessons

To Slow Down And Take Your Time

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends 😁💖😁

We always tend to be so hard on ourselves whenever we make a mistake, yet since I started converting the bus 10 months ago, I’ve definitely learned that mistakes are truly lessons!!! They tell us to slow down, step back and take our time…

Yet rarely do we listen! 🤔🤔🤔

Before I was supposed to hit the road last week, I had decided I wanted to take the wheelchair ramp out of the bus! For a couple reasons…

1. it’s was in my way to sit on my bed with the back door open and look out

2. It was really really heavy and taking it out (according to my mechanic) would give me better gas mileage cause it was a 1000 pounds in steel that I didn’t want anyway 😁

SO we took it out…

Which also gave me 2 feet more room inside 😁😁😁😁….

After I took it out of course my designing brain went into effect and I decided to push my bed all the way back against the back wall and extend the bench and make it an L shape 😁 (pics to follow after it’s done) 😉 😁😉

Needless to say I took measurements, headed to Lowe’s, got the wood I needed, had them do the long cuts so they were straight lol

Of course I measured a tad off so I had to recut the pieces myself and yep messed up lol

So back to Lowe’s I went (laughing the whole time) to get the piece I messed up (this time I made them cut it lol).😂

My point in all this is:

Making mistakes are a part of life and we all make them…

We can either let it get us all worked up, pissed off and let it ruin our day

Or

We can look at it as a lesson to slow down, take our time and get back on track!

I personally laugh them off cause it’s my own fault for rushing in the first place lol..

So my friends don’t let a mistake ruin your whole day.. it’s just a mistake not the end of the world!!! 😉😉😉

Have a beYOUtiful day world 🌻

Ricci 💕

Always Smile and Say Hello

To Those You Do And Do Not Know

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends 😁🤗😁

Ok so the coolest thing happened to me today…

I was making my coffee as usual and something told me to look out my window…🤔 The window panels on the driver’s side stay up cause the site next to mine is for overnighters and it keeps the bus cooler during the day.. but something told me to look so I did! 😁

And to my surprise there was a school bus parked a few sites away that I recognized 😮😮😮.

It was really early so I went outside to peek at the front to see if it had a name on it and yeppers.. it was “Alice The Wonder Bus” @alicethewonderbus a couple that I follow on IG 😁

Talk about a big big smile…

So of course it being early I didn’t want to wake them up so I waited for a couple hours and went to knock on the door…

It was actually funny cause I guess they came in the middle of the night and thought I was the park manager looking for payment lol and we all laughed when I said “nope I follow you on IG”

We had a wonderful talk and tossed different ideas around about our buses.. they truly made my day and I got even more excited for my upcoming journey 🤗😁🤗..

My point in all this is:

Many people will come through your life and some will also go..don’t be afraid to say hi to someone that you don’t know.. cause you never know who you may meet at home or when you’re away.. a little smile and a warm hello can brighten up everyone’s day! 😁🤗😁

Have a beautiful day world 💖

Ricci 💕

Don’t Wait For The Right Time

Don’t Let Time Get In Your Way

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends
This morning I was responding to a comment on my blog and it was on a post I had written about following your dreams and time 🤔 the comment was very nice and at the end the guy said:

“I love that your chasing sunrises during your sunset years! I wish I didn’t wait for the “right time” to live my dreams cause some of them I’m to old to chase now!”🌞🤔

It threw me off at first cause of course my ego said :

“Is this man calling you old?”

Which made me laugh and when I thought about it for a sec it made me smile cause it was actually a beautiful way to put it

“Chasing sunrises, Durning my sunset years!”

I’m not a spring chicken in numbers and being an empty nester and retired so to speak, I am living my golden years.. and getting ready to travel all over in a bus… The comment actually fits 😉🤗😉..

My point in all this is:

We do watch the clock constantly..

We can’t wait till we’re a teenager, we can’t wait till we’re “legal age” we can’t wait to get outta school, have a baby, get married… Blah blah blah..

We are constantly putting timeframes on ourselves!

So my friends.. do not wait to do the things that you love to do… Cause if you keep on waiting, time may get the best of you!! 😉😁

Have a beautiful day world 💖

Ricci 💕

Don’t Get Discouraged

When Things Don’t Go YOUR Way

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends

After posting about my latest setback with the bus and about my belief about timing…I got a lot of comments about how people admired my tenacity, strength and perserverence as well as my staying positive through it all 🤔

It made me look back on everything that has happened since I brought the bus home and I actually looked back on my whole life 🤔

All my life people have said that I was tenacious and I never really thought about it until today…

I’ve always been a go getter when it comes to something I want and I’ve never ever been a quitter… It’s just not in my nature to do so…

So I guess I am tenacious 😂

Yet for me there is no other way…

I never understood why people give up so easily on their dreams and it’s never ever crossed my mind to do so, especially with this bus project.

My point in all this is:

We all have the drive and the power to achieve whatever we want to achieve…

Perserverence is in our blood…

It’s truly part of our makeup and who we are..

Sometimes we just need to reach deep to find it.. 😉💪😉..

So do not get discouraged when things don’t go your way… Keep on doing what you need to do and go about your day..

Cause life is like an obstacle course with lots of ups and downs.. So don’t let setbacks stop you.. Stay strong and stand your ground!! 💪💖💪

Have a beautiful day world 💖

Ricci 💕

Persevere

Everyone Can

Hello World 🌻 Happy Day My Friends

I know this is a different type of post for me yet for the past two days I haven’t been able to get the word “Persevere” out of my head… 🤔

Then this morning when I woke up I kept hearing it over and over 🤔

So I got up, started my morning routine and while my coffee was brewing, I decided to write down what the word “Persevere” means to me 😉 and this is what popped into my head:

P- Persist … Don’t stop…
E- Endurance … Keep going…
R- Resilient … You are…
S – Strength … You’ve got this…
E – Engagement … Do it…
V – Victory … You did it…
E – Emerge … Gloriously
R – Results … Before and after…
E – Empowered …You’ve reached your goal..

My point in all this is:

We all go through different struggles, we all have different dreams and goals yet we ALL can persevere through anything and every thing that life throws our way!!

Don’t ever give up on your dreams cause no matter what life throws your way, the bumps, the setbacks, the struggles, the disappointments etc…

Do not give in, do not give up…

Cause you can and will persevere as long as you have faith and you keep believing!!! 💖🙏💖

Have a beautiful day my friends and never ever stop believing in YOU!! 😉

Ricci 💕