“Llano is the best kept secret in Texas,” Charles Mills remarked. He was explaining how he and wife B.J. came to be staying in Robinson Park. “We had met friends camping in Arizona. They retired here, and we came to visit them, on the way to Bandera, where we thought we would stay a while. We did go there, but on the next day we turned around and came back to Llano. Llano reminds me of my hometown in Kansas.”

The Mills are “winter Texans.” Charles retired at 63 after a career as a financial analyst. He and B.J. are officially residents of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but both grew up in Olathe, Kansas, which until the late 1950s was about the size of Llano.

They sold their house in 2008, took to the road in a 19 foot Road Trek, and put 10,000 miles on it. “That was just to see if we liked the lifestyle.” Soon they bought a 37 foot diesel RV. “When it’s all set up it’s bigger inside than our first apartment.” They’ve put 40,000 miles on it in 8 years. But they bring along a Jeep wagon. “We’ve put 100,000 miles on the Jeep. When we stop at a place we stay for a while; we really explore the area.”

For example, the Mills stayed 2 weeks at Arches National Park in Utah. They got a Golden Age Passport (http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm) that gives members discounts at Federal Parks. “But the stay at a particular place is limited to two weeks. We tried, but couldn’t see everything there is to see at Arches. It’s that way most everywhere.”

“Sometimes the local residents don’t know everything in their own territory. Like people who live in San Antonio who have never seen the Alamo, or Austinites who’ve never been in the Capitol.”

In Llano, they especially like the art museum, the Country Quilt shop, and Enchanted Rock. “I really like to see the deer and wild pigs. You don’t see wild pigs in South Dakota.”

B.J. struggles with fibromyalgia, but does as much quilting as she can, as well as the traveling and sightseeing.

“We don’t really work at it. We don’t make reservations. We don’t like having a schedule. On the other hand we had to buy an atomic clock that tells us the month, day and year, as well as the time. That came about because of the time we discovered we didn’t know what month it was.”

When they sold their house, a realtor told them they’d have to pare down their number of belongings. “What do we do with all our stuff? We got the kids and grandkids together and told them we’re giving them their inheritance. Well, the stuff but not the money. So they made piles and put labels on the things they wanted. Now, if we want to see our stuff, we go visit the kids and grands.”

So it’s winter in Texas and Nebraska and South Dakota in the warmer months.

“There are plenty of websites and support groups about RV-ing. We joined a group called ‘Escapees.’ (https://www.escapees.com) We went to a ‘boot camp’ and found we had no idea how much we were doing wrong.” A retired truck driver told us to drive the rig like a truck. You can drive slow down a hill many times, but you only drive down a hill fast once.” Mills says his rig doesn’t have a blind spot. It has TV cameras where the mirrors don’t see.

“We don’t know how long we’ll be able to do this, but this is the happiest we’ve ever been. We love the lifestyle and would do it again.”

The rig which houses the Mills, a 15 year old Papillion and a 3 year old Yorkie, also sports a bumper sticker. It reads, “Home is where we park it.” And for almost half the year, it’s parked in Robinson Park, Llano, Texas.