Year Eight Summary

THE LIST..............................YEAR 6.........Year 7.........Year 8
Motorhome Miles....................5,300...........9,012............10,311
Average Miles Per Day.................14.1.............24.6...............28.3
Average Trip..............................160..............180...............202
Gallons of Diesel Fuel................747............1,223............1,277
Average Cost Per Gallon................3.84..............4.15.............3.49
CRV Miles...........................11,344............9,138...........9,738
Bicycle Miles............................107..................0................97
Camp Sites.................................33.................50...............51
Average Nights in Each...............,11.1...............7.3..............7.2
Number of Frosty Nights...........none............none.......too many
Number of Windy, Stormy Days. few........too many.......very few
Number of States(Provinces)........11(0)............14(3)...........17(4)
National Parks & Monuments.......10................12................9
Blog Posts..................................61................71..............77
Days of Exercise (Jim)...............193..............185............175
Days of Exercise (Nanc).............238..............259............259
Number of haircuts (Jim)...............0..................0...............0
Old & New Friends & Family..,,Priceless...,Priceless....Priceless

It is really hard to believe that we have been retired and living in our house on wheels for eight years. We love the freedom of traveling all over North America seeing so many wonderful places and meeting so many great people. We started year eight in Skagway, AK and are ending it in Eastern PA. This year we put 10,318 miles on Opus, but 4100 of those mile were put on in the first 24 days on our sprint from Alaska to WashPA. We also added 9,653 miles to the CRV odometer. We stayed in 51 places at an average cost of $19.71 a night, which is right at the $600 a month we like to stay under. We stayed in 18 places for just one night and 12 of those were free which helps reduce costs. Another place where we saved money this year was with lower fuel costs. We paid an average of $3.49 a gallon even with our all time most expensive, $5.95 per gallon, fill up in British Columbia. The average is the least we have paid since year four on the road.

We had a real shaky start to year eight in Skagway when we experienced an earthquake that was bad enough to break the undersea phone cables. In Skagway we did a train excursion on the White Pass & Yukon Route and took a boat trip to Juneau to tour the capitol. On the return from Juneau we had one of our greatest nature experiences when we saw humpback whales bubble feeding. Next it was on to Hyder for another great wildlife viewing, watching bears feed on the salmon. We then sprinted across Canada and the upper Midwest on our way back to WashPA. Along the way we met up with new friends we met while in Alaska, Bjorn & Britta, Don & Pat and Marcel & Sonya and spent a couple days in Winnipeg visiting with RV friends Gary & Anita. A down side of the trip was having to stop in Shipshewana, IN to have the cooling unit of the fridge replaced. The up side is it has been working very well. Before hitting WashPA we got to spend three days at the lake fishing with old friends Mike and Sherri.

We spent the next two months getting caught up with more WashPA friends than I can mention and doing our best to make sure our favorite restaurants stay open. We took in a Pirate and Pitt game, attended the Brown-Jamieson wedding, went to Ohiopyle and Kentuck Knob. I took a short flight over Washington and Nanc ran the Labor Day Classic and the Great Race. We took in a lot of music including a Blues Brunch and the weekly jazz sessions at Al' n Rubens. We played euchre a couple of times with the old gang, celebrated my brother Rick's birthday and had John's fabulous wood fired pizza. RVing friends Richard & Valerie and Bill & Gisela stopped by for visits. We also got to see family; Rick & Denise, Bill & Judy and Scott & Doris. Of course we took care of all that doctor and dentist stuff and are happy to report all was well.

We left WashPA in the middle of October heading to Cleveland for the last of six Yanni family weddings. It was a fun time with many friends and Yanni family members, some of whom we had not seen since the Yanni - Tenenbaum wedding in 2010. There were a few more grandchildren this time around. After the wedding we went to Spartan Chassis in Michigan to have a thorough check up for Opus after the trip to Alaska. We are happy to report that all was well. From Michigan it was a four day 1,200 mile sprint to Betty's RV Park in Abbeville. There we got to do the Omelette Festival first the first time.  We had a great month and a half getting caught up with our many friends and generally just having a great time with Betty. From Betty's we headed to Florida with stops in Biloxi to see Ron and Linda, in Panama City to check out the beach and in Apopka to see Nanc's sister Judy and her husband Bill.

It was then on the South Florida for two months to escape the cold. We celebrated the holidays and rang in the new year with Mary Lou in Jupiter, a tradition we have followed every year we have wintered in Florida. We started 2015 with a month long stay at the Florida Keys Elks where we got to spend time with RV friends we had met there before, Paul & Trudy, Joe & Kathy, George & Linda and several new people we met for the first time. We also had a personal mail delivery from Tom and Georgie who were very happy to be out of the cold. We then spent a couple of weeks in central Florida hoping the weather along the gulf coast would warm up before we headed to New Orleans for the Frayer - Jonsson Culture Bash wedding celebration. It was great seeing Richard and Valerie and meeting Karl's many Swedish friends and family. We then headed to the Escapees park in Livingston, TX for three weeks. While there we met up with Marvin, John and Joyce who we know from Betty's. Our real reason for going to Texas was to have a secure place to leave Opus while we jetted off to Mexico for a week of fun in the sun. The trip was wonderful, but we paid for it when we returned to some of the coldest weather of the year. Oh well, into every life a little rain or temperatures must fall.

From Livingston we moved to Betty's RV Park in Abbeville for a two month stay. We love going here and seeing so many of the great friends we have made there and making many new friends on every visit. Even though we have been there many times we still find new things to do. During this stay we did tastings at two local breweries, toured Acadian Village, did the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival and Festival Internationale in Lafayette, all for the first time. While at Betty's Tim and Diane came from WashPA for a visit so we had the chance to share all our favorite Acadiana experiences; Touchet's Cajun Jam Session, Tabasco factory tour, a swamp tours, Zydeco breakfast and music on the square. All that and of course they also got to experience Betty's wonderful happy hours.

From Betty's we started our slow, two month trip back to WashPA. The highlight of our summer travel and our entire eight years on the road was getting to meet  President Jimmy Carter and  his wife Rosalyn while visiting Plains. A big part of our travel was along the historic Civil Rights trail, including Selma's Bloody Sunday events, Montgomery's bus boycott started by Rosa Parks, Tuskegee Institute and Airmen sites, Atlanta's Martin Luther King sites and Columbia where we got to watch the debate about removing the confederate flag from the capitol grounds. We toured state capitols in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Each building is an interesting walk through the state's history. We saw many friends along the way, Chuck, Richard, Valerie, Mel, Alora and Marlene and her family. We had a great two week stay with my brother Rick and his wife Denise at Lake Norman, North Carolina. Having a house on wheels makes all this possible. As year eight ends we are in Pennsylvania where we toured Gettysburg National Military Park as well as the capitol.  We have been dealing with problems with the air conditioners and had to replace the fan motor in the rear one.  Then they both stopped working last weekend.  We had to replace to board in the front unit and are hoping that with be the final fix.  Just like a stix and brix thing breakdown and need repaired.

Year eight has been  fantastic with seeing so many friends and family and visiting so many familiar and new places. Our plan for year nine is to head back to WashPA for our annual two month stay. In October we will be going to the Outer Banks for an extended stay before heading to Florida for the winter. We will be staying near Tampa for a month and will take a vacation to Mexico from there. We will also be spending the holidays with Mary Lou in Jupiter before a month in the Keys. This will be the first time since going on the road that we will stay in the same warm weather spot two years in a row. In February we will be somewhere in Florida, but have no plan yet. Then it will be back to Betty's in the spring. Next summer we plan to go to the Escapade in Vermont so we will be spending some time in New England. Of course we will be back in WashPA at some point before heading to the Southwest for the winter. As always, these plans are written in sand and could easily be changed by the winds or tides.