2017 Year in Review

Happy New Year 2018!  The Christmas holiday has now passed and we are into the new year so it is time for a quick year in review blog update.  The year was one of a huge transition for us as it was year one as new full-time RVers.  We were very excited but knew there was a huge learning curve ahead of us as well.

Selling Home and Closing 44-Year Career

The first part of the year was all about downsizing our home contents, autos, motorcycle, and all the other things we accumulated over 44 years of marriage.  This was an incredibly massive undertaking.  We did not think that it would ever be done!  Our retirement list of action items was huge.  It seemed overwhelming at the time.  But here we are 9 months later and well into our nomadic travel plans.

Our work to prepare the house was to paint most of our home on the inside, have new flooring installed, and then place it on the market.  After selling it quickly, we scrambled to give away much of what was left and move the remaining items into a storage unit.

All the while I was preparing at work to retire in May and was wrapping up projects, interviewing replacements, and training others to take my place.  I did go back into the office after I retired for a week to help with training and have fielded other questions over the phone.  I had worked at Federal-Mogul for 44 years, mostly in the finance side of things.  I take away many good memories and have been able to work with some great people.

The New Truck and Camper

We also decided early in 2017 on the type of RV for us would be a truck and 5th wheel camping trailer.  Purchased the new Ford F-350 dually in February (on my birthday!), and ordered the new camper in March.  It arrived just a few days before we had to turn over our home to the new buyers.  No stress there!

And then in early May 2017 we were free!  Free from the workplace, free from home ownership obligations (bills, mowing grass, etc.), and free to explore the country.

It was most definitely a learning year as we mapped out our routes to the major destinations, investigated campgrounds, and sought out whatever there was to see and do in the location.  I learned how to drive the big rig, negotiating the interstates, highways, small towns and truckstops.

We have almost mastered all of the systems within the RV.  Operating as well as maintenance of each item.

2017 Travels

We have stayed at 31 different campgrounds.  Most have been private RV parks, but we also mixed in three state parks, three Corps of Engineers parks, and a county park.

The shortest stay was one overnighter in Arkansas.  Our normal mode is to stay one week in each location, but this was just to split up one long drive.  The longest stays were one month at Miramar Beach, Florida in November and then another month in Cocoa, Florida.

The map above was done with Google’s My Maps.  In our 2017 loop, we missed many states in the middle that will need to pick up another year.  We stayed in 13 different states and made a walking venture into Canada to see the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.

The 2017 truck now has 9,500 miles on it.  It had right at 1,000 miles when we picked up the camper, so we have driven 8,500 miles since we started our journey.  The miles while pulling the camper were 4,400, so we drove 4,100 miles with the truck alone.

We also now have our Ford Explorer to use while exploring each area.   This will help to keep miles off the truck and it does get better fuel mileage.  After we went back through Virginia in June we decided to have Pat bring this vehicle along with us for some more flexibility.

Spring and Summer

After a couple of stops we started our year in Savannah, GA, Charleston SC, and Myrtle Beach SC.  We just loved these two old, very walkable towns, and then all of the activities in Myrtle Beach.

After a week stopover back in Virginia it was off to James River State Park for a week of back to nature then to Washington DC for another week to see family and take in many museums and the July 4th fireworks.

After D.C., we headed north through rural Pennsylvania and to Four Mile State Park in New York.  This park is located right on Lake Ontario and has some great sunsets.  The main attraction to this area is the Niagara Falls, although small towns in the area are some real gems, such as Lewiston and Youngstown NY.

By late summer we stayed two weeks visiting family in Medina Ohio, then another couple of weeks in Indiana to see family, then it was central Illinois and southeast Missouri to finish out the summer.

Fall and Winter

From Missouri we headed due south into Arkansas for a 10-day stay at the Maumelle COE park on the banks of the Arkansas River.  This was a very scenic location and relaxing few days.  We also took side trips into Little Rock for some good cuisine, breweries, and museums.

From Little Rock it was again due south to Vicksburg, MS for another week long stay at the casino’s campground.  This trip was on all single lane highways where we could really see the countryside.  We again toured all the museums in town and a couple of antebellum mansions really topped off this week stay.

From Mississippi it was almost straight south again to the Louisiana coast to the small town of Abbeville, LA.  We had some great cajun seafood, visited the home and factory of the famous Tabasco sauce, took a swamp boat ride tour, and made many friends at Betty’s RV Park.

Since we were as far south as we could go, it was eastbound to Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  The Davis Bayou COE campground was quite nice, but had some smaller RV sites.  While were here we explored the Ocean Springs town and loved the busy historic downtown area.  We also drove over to the casino town of Biloxi for sightseeing.

Winter 2017

Then we were straight east again to the Destin Florida area for a great month long visit to the Geronimo RV Resort located in Miramar Beach and a short walk to the beach.  We absolutely loved the daily walks either on the beach or along the beach boardwalk.  And a nightly nightcap at the local beachfront bar.

After Destin, we drove south and east again across the state of Florida with a couple of stops in Tallahassee and Ocala.  We attended a church while in Ocala and drove through the huge horse farms.  There were still many downed trees from the hurricane damage.

Then it was another drive to the east coast to stay a week at Jetty Park, a county park directly at the beach and the cruise ship port.  A cool place to walk the beach and watch cruise ships debark for some Caribbean vacation.

The primary reason here on the space coast was to help mom downsize her possessions and sell her home.  It has been a lot of work but also rewarding to be able to make this transition happen for mom in an organized fashion into an independent living facility.

Civil War Tour

It seemed that most of the towns we visited had some major event from the Civil War.  From Fort Sumter and the first shot fired to Appomattox and the end of the war and many places in between including West Plains MO, Vicksburg MS and Little Rock AR.  These places all had some significance in the war.

Wrap Up

I still feel very blessed to have this opportunity to experience a retirement from the work life and to be able to travel the country seeking out new adventures.  This first year has been incredible and as soon as we complete my mom’s home sale we will begin planning out our entire 2018 travel schedule with route plans and campground reservations.

We had originally planned to travel in the RV for about three years seeing the country and then settle down in one of the best locations that we found.  But since we prefer to travel in a slow motion style, this may actually take 4-5 years to see most of the USA.  Will we continue that long?  We will see…

Take care and God Bless.