RV travels around the USA
It continues to amaze me at the quality of museums in our nation’s capital. The Smithsonian Museums have some new displays each time that we visit. There are also many other private museums in the city and we were able to work in a new one. In this post, I’ve included a few highlights from our DC museum visits and a few photos. Enjoy.
Taking a Washington DC night tour on a sightseeing bus is something that Pat has wanted to do for some time now. We were never able to work it into our busy schedule until this trip. The RV Resort arranges the whole thing and they pick us up and drop off right at the front office! The tour was from 6pm to 11pm and stopped at all the major monuments. Most were well lit and awesome to see after dark.
It was good to be back home in Virginia! Back to see family, friends and all the annual doctor and dental appointments. Our two weeks at Claytor Lake State Park went by in the blink of an eye. I feel we accomplished much and got to hang out with our kids after a long absence due to our travels. Here is a recap:
Washington DC & Family: This was our third venture, since retirement, to this giant metropolis of people, autos, and many monuments. And the beltway drive with the big rig is still just as bad. Too many vehicles driving too fast. Just a bad recipe when you mix in the slower to stop vehicles like me. But, after a long driving day we arrived safely and had a great week with our son’s family. Our Eastbound journey is now over! From Alpine Wyoming (our westernmost spot this summer) it is 2,100 miles!
We had a great visit with family and friends in Indiana, but after a week it was time to move Eastward on our journey. Next up, was the very small town of Alton, Ohio, just west of Columbus, Ohio. We had the great fortune to visit with Pat’s good friend Becky and her family on their sprawling farm in the heartland of Ohio.
Now that we have been on the full time RV travel journey for two and a half years, I decided to get back into the accountant mode and do a little financial analysis. No, not going back to work again. Just getting off the bench for a brief few minutes to do a checkup on our spending rate. Maybe by sharing we can help others planning an RV life, just as many others helped us. So, here’s a quick update on our RV travel expenses for almost two years.
Being full-time RVers, we need to schedule visits to see our moms in Indiana and our kids in Virginia and DC. We actually try to get back here 2-3 times a years, either in the RV or by flying. This time our plans have us traveling east across the heartland to the Hoosier State in late September. It has been a lot of miles since we left Alpine Wyoming back on July 26th! More than 2,300 miles in fact!
Continue reading “Back Home Again in Indiana – Family Visits”
The travel day was right at 150 miles and three hours to this small town of Hannibal Missouri. It is located along the mighty Mississippi River and right on the state line with Illinois. The drive was on US-36 that is in decent shape and more non-interstate driving, that I’ve found that I quite enjoy seeing all the small town life. Our eastbound journey is really moving along!
Our commute was a reasonable 185 miles south on I-29 to St Joseph Mo, and then east on US-36 to the small hamlet of Hamilton, Missouri – the quilting capital of the world! The interstate had some rough patches and construction, but US-36 was not bad to travel. Years ago, Pat’s parents (Ray & Pat), actually took US-36 from Indiana to Colorado in their truck and 5th wheel camper. It was cool to think that we were retracing a portion of their journey.
Continue reading “Hamilton Missouri – The Quilting Capital of the World!”
Our stay near Omaha was four days. Not long enough to see a whole lot, but it certainly counts as having stayed in a new state for us! Although, we did get into town to see a few sights, plus got in some relaxing time at the RV park.