Year Nine Summary

I have changed how I present the summary of our year of travel and have added the cost of fuel and campgrounds. The first column is now the total for our whole time on the road, the second is the nine year average of the total and the third is the info for the past year.

THE LIST.............................. TOTAL.........AVERAGE.........YEAR 9

Motorhome Miles.....................80138................8904.................6481
Average Miles Per Day...................24.4................24.4...................17.7
Average Trip...............................172..................172...................175
Gallons of Diesel Fuel..............10286................1143...................848

Cost of Diesel Fuel..................35713................3968.................1885
Average Cost Per Gallon.................3.47.................3.47..................2.22
CRV Miles..............................97291..............10810...............10203
Camp Sites..................................465...................52....................37
Average Nights in Each....................7.0...................7.0..................9.9
Cost of Campgrounds per Day...65078....................19.79..............23.04
Number of States(Provinces)...........50(11).............17(2)...............12(1)
National Parks & Monuments........160...................18.....................6
Blog Posts...................................675...................75...................55
Days of Exercise (Jim)...............1698..................189.................195
Days of Exercise (Nanc).............2208..................245.................251
Number of haircuts (Jim).................0......................0....................0
Old & New Friends & Family..Priceless...........Priceless..............Priceless

Once again writing a yearly travel summary makes us realize how fortunate we have been. We have now been retired and living in Opus, our house on wheels, for nine years. In that time we have put 80,138 miles on the RV and another 97,291 on the CRV while visiting all 50 states and 11 Canadian provinces. We also visited five countries; Jamaica, Mexico, Honduras, Belize and the Bahamas for vacations. It has been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience that has exceeded all our expectations. While the opportunity to visit great and beautiful places all over North America is fantastic, it has been making and seeing so many friends on the road that has become the best thing about our lifestyle.

This year we put 6,481 miles on Opus and 10,203 on the CRV. We stayed in 37 places at an average cost of $23.04 per night. This is the most we have paid in our nine years on the road and is really a reflection of staying in the East where free boondocking sites are hard to find and wintering in Florida where it is more expensive. Of course this increase in campground costs was off set by the cost of fuel at $2.22 per gallon, by far the least we have paid in our nine years on the road.

We started year nine in Eastern Pennsylvania where we toured Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine Museum, Valley Forge NHP, Amish country and the New Jersey state capitol. We then headed back to WashPA for our annual visit with friends, family and doctors. We took in a Pirate game, played euchre with the old card club, had John's wonderful wood-fired pizza, ate at several of our local favorite restaurants, and enjoyed hearing the local musicians. We got to see way too many friends to list here. Nanc ran the Great Race in Pittsburgh and finished very well in her age group. The day we left WashPA we had new rear tires put on Opus because it was near the time they were due and we had a leak in one of the tires. It turned out the leak was a bad air pressure monitor causing us to change our plans and missing Washington, DC and a visit with Nanc's sister Michelle and her husband Keith.

We then headed to the Outer Banks for four weeks of sun, fishing and friends. Mike and Sherri stayed with us for a few days and Jean Paul, Celine, Tom, Georgie, Richard and Valerie all stayed nearby so we had a great time visiting with them. When we left Hatteras Island it was on to Raleigh to add another state capitol to our list and then on to Florida for four months. We had Opus serviced in Ocala and then spent a week at the Escapees park in Bushnell where we got to see Wanda and Wallace. Our next stop was a month in Tampa where we saw Jean Paul, Celine, Mark and Renita. We visited the Dali Museum in St. Pete and flew to Mexico for ten days of sun and fun at Secrets Akamul where I got to swim with the sea turtles, a very neat experience. In what is now a Florida tradition we spent the last two weeks of 2015 with Mary Lou in Jupiter where our time was filled with music, food and two plays, all while celebrating the holidays.

We started 2016 staying a month at the Florida Keys Elks where we enjoyed the weather and spent time with many people who we had met there on previous visits, Tim, Pat, George, Linda, Joe, Kathy, Gary, Jean, Dick, Beth, Dave, Linda and several others. We did a day trip to Marathon and had lunch with Scooter, who we met at Betty's a couple of years ago. In February we had another month long stay in Christmas where Joe and Kathy were also staying so we had more fun with them. While there we took our first ever cruise, a four day trip to the Bahamas. Mike and Sherri flew down to escape the winter weather and we toured the Kennedy Space Center and checked out a couple of local beaches. The last week we were there we had lunch with Cal and Marie, other friends from Betty's, and with John who drove south for some winter golf. The first of March we went to Cedar Key, a very neat old Florida fishing village turned tourist destination. In Cedar Key we had one of those strange chance meetings when we ran into Mouse McKee, who we knew from WashPA and had no idea he was living there. Because of incoming weather we then did two 300+ mile days (very rare for us) to Breaux Bridge where we were surprised to find Joe and Kathy who where waiting out the bad weather.

Next we enjoyed a two month stay at Betty's where we have made more new friends than anywhere else we have stayed. On my list of those who were there during our visit this year I have more than 150 names and over a third of them are friends we had made on earlier visits. Tom and Georgie drove down with a personal mail delivery and spent a week enjoying Betty's famous happy hours and the Cajun culture. Rick and Denise flew down for a long weekend and had the full Cajun immersion experience. Just a few of the things we did there include the Boudin Festival, Touchet's and Museum Cafe jam sessions, Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, Fred's Lounge radio broadcast, Cafe des Amis Zydeco breakfast, Martin Accordion tour, Tabasco, Jungle Gardens, Rip Van Winkle Gardens, Sounds on the Square and, of course, Betty's famous happy hours. We also enjoyed the great local restaurants. While Opus was parked at Betty's we took our second cruise of the year, seven days to Cozumel, Honduras, Belize and Costa Maya. It turns out that Joe, Kathy, Paul and Trudy were on the same cruise so we had a fun time hanging out and exploring with them. Just before we left Betty's to head north we had a couple of bumps in the road. I had a terrible allergic reaction to something that covered me with hives and required two visits to the doctors before it went away. Then on the day we left the check engine light came on and it turned out we needed a new battery and alternator. With this issue, my hives, and the fact it was the weekend, we ended up in Breaux Bridge for six extra days.

Because of our unintended extended stay in Louisiana, we had to pass on a planned stop in Arkansas and headed to Memphis for some music on Beale Street and a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. Next stop was at Charles and Sandy's place in Tennessee for a whirlwind three days. We managed to squeeze in dinner with Grover and McKenzie, our first Uber experience, a STYX concert, a picnic lunch at Arrington Winery, and tours of George Dickel and Prichard distilleries. This in addition to a couple of wonderful evenings on the patio and a chance to meet their neighbor Spud. Then off to Kentucky where we toured the capitol and Buffalo Trace Distillery. Over Memorial Day weekend in Ohio we toured the capitol and just relaxed. Our next three stops were all about seeing friends. We spent three days in Senecaville, OH with Jim and Darlene where we got to see Steve, Christin, Wiley, Tom, Georgie, Frank and Jan. Then we did a short four day visit in WashPA where we saw Tom, Georgie, Jim, Darlene, Bill, Kim, Mike, Sherri, John, Patrice, Rick, Denise and a few others. Next was four days at the lake fishing in Pymatuning with Mike and Sherri.

We then headed to the Catskills in Eastern New York where we toured Bethel Woods, the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, the Roosevelt Home National Historic Site, the Roosevelt Museum and Library and West Point where I found the grave of Civil War veteran and distant relative, John Caldwell Tidball. We then moved to Schenectady from where we toured the New York state capitol and the Saratoga National Historic Park. Our last stop in New York was near Plattsburgh for 10 days where we explored a bit of the Lake Champlain area and did a one day trip to visit Old Montreal.

On July fourth we crossed into Quebec for a couple of weeks. Our first stop was Quebec City where we toured Old Quebec and the Citadel. We then moved to Lac Ha Ha for a week to celebrate the birthday of our friend Mado. It was a fantastic party for her 80^th birthday. Many of our Canadian friends who we met at Betty's were also there; Rick, Alain, Mirna, Remi, Lucie, Michelle, Michele, Lionel, Flo, Yvon and Denise. We did a tour of the Saguenay Fjord and a couple villages with Mado and Rick. We enjoyed evenings around the campfire, pontoon boat rides and a couple of hikes. It was great seeing all our friends and getting to explore the area with  local residents. From Quebec we went to Vermont. On our first stop we added the state capitol to our list, toured Ben and Jerry's and the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry.  It was then on to Essex Junction for the Escapade where we got to spend time with many Class of 07 mates and other Escapees friends; Bob, Molly, Howie, Nora, Ron, Linda, John, Lora, Mike, Sandy, Rick, Terry, Steve, Sandy, Mike, Sandy, Mark, Lanny, Lois, Bill, Jan, Rich, Mary Dennis, Carol, Brenda and Dave.  All these people arrived early and are working at the Escapade which starts on July 24, the first day of year ten of our RV adventure.

As we look forward to year ten after the Escapade we will be going to WashPA for our annual two month visit. In October we will be heading to Michigan to have Opus serviced and to see friends. We then plan to take a month or so going cross country and touring state capitols on our way to the Mesa area where we will stay until 2017. We have a reservation in San Diego for a month. In the spring when the weather warms we will work our way north to Washington to see Nanc's brother Dave and his family. Then we will take a couple months heading back to WashPA. While this is the big picture we will be deciding specific stops depending on time, weather and friends we want to see along the way. That is the great thing about the way we live, it's wherever a whim takes us.