Happy Anniversary to Us

Today marks exactly one year (527040 minutes) that we have been on the road. Just a few stats on the year:
Motorhome Miles..........................10,666
Average Miles Per Day.........................29.14
Average Trip........................................142.21
Gallons of Diesel Fuel......................1375.21
Average Cost Per Gallon........................3.80
CRV Miles.......................................11,792
Bicycle Miles.......................................405
Camp Sites.............................................75
Average Nights in Each..........................4.9
Number of Frosty Nights.......................5
Number of States..................................23
National Parks & Monuments.............30+
Blog Posts............................................105
Days of Exercise (Jim).......................200
Days of Exercise (Nanc).....................243
Number of haircuts (Jim)......................0
Number of Old and New Friends.....Priceless



The numbers don't come close to telling the real story of this fantastic lifestyle. The new people we have met and the new places we have seen are beyond our wildest expectations. On several occasions we have run into people we have met previously in our travels. We have visited with old friends and family and have had friends stay with us. We have spent at least 85 days with our old friends and family members. We hope this continues because we enjoy sharing our experiences with others and keeping up with what is going on in their lives. In most of these cases we have gotten to spend much more time together than we did when we were living in our sticks and bricks house. We already have so many memories that we have to go back and read our blog entries and personal journals and look at the over 6000 pictures (love that digital photography) we have taken as a reminder of places and people we have seen and met. We still cannot pick one place or one thing that has been the best because if we are disappointed in a location we just move on and, really, each place has been a new and exciting experience that we would not change except maybe to stay a little longer.


While it has been great overall not everything has been a bed of roses. We have had motorhome repairs and expenses we did not count on, we still have not been able to sell our house and as everyone knows the price of fuel which was $2.84 last August increased to $4.77 for the last fill up. It is a real shock when you pay over $500 for one tank of fuel. One compensation we have made is eating more meals in and dining out less. This has been great because Nanc has always loved to cook and has been waiting for years to have the time to try new recipes. Many of the things that haven't gone as planned are really no different than the problems everyone faces so we plan on continuing to travel for as long as we can. We are very comfortable living in our beautiful Dutch Star and there is something to be said about getting up in the morning and having to look outside to see where we are.


As we begin our second year we are planning to spend the next couple of weeks in Colorado before starting a slow trek back toward Wash Pa. We will visit Nebraska and Iowa, two states neither of us have ever visited. In September we are going to the Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina, Ohio where we will be meeting some other members of the full timing class of 2007 and Nanc will take a hands on driving class. We will then be in Washington for three weeks before heading south. We plan to spend some time at Betty's RV Park in Cajun country before wintering in south Texas. In the spring we will attend a get-together of the class of 2007 near San Antonio and then head west. We are going to the Four Corners region and the Grand Canyon. We are then going to the Northwest to spend more time in an area we passed through to quickly this year. For the winter of 09/10 we plan to stay in Arizona. We will then have spent winters in each of the most popular snowbird locales so we can decide where we will spend our future winters. One change we will be making is to increase the average number of nights we stay in a campground. Other than our month on the Outer Banks we rarely stayed longer than two weeks in one place. This should reduce the amount of fuel we need.

One thing we have not done is put a counter on the blog. While it is a personal log of our travels that we often look at we have no idea who reads it or how often someone looks at it. We know some people have had trouble putting in comments but it would be great if everyone who reads this would make a comment or send an email to let us know who is out there looking in on us. We would really love to hear from all of you and we are glad you are interested in our travels.