'17 Review / '18 Outlook

This is our eleventh year of retirement and living on the road. Many friends ask when we are going to settle down as we have been in every state and province so we have seen it all. This year sure proved that wrong as we visited over 35 places we have never been that included adding nine state capitols to our been there list. Of course seeing friends and family in various places of the country is still the greatest thing about our lifestyle. To accomplish all this we put 8,309 miles on Opus and 10,417 on the CRV. We traveled from the shore of the Pacific across the Southwest, north through the Rockies, across the Great Plains and the Midwest to WashPA and then south along the Atlantic coast ending in South Florida. Our average trip was 173 miles, as we stayed in 48 places at an average cost of $21.08 per day. While the cost of RV parks has risen the last couple years, we had 25 nights where we stayed at no cost. The average cost of fuel was $2.62 a gallon, the highest in the last three years, but still lower than the days when it was near $4.00. Opus is now a teenager so we continue to do updates and replace things that have worn out over the eleven years of fulltiming.

We started the year in Yuma where we had the first of a few RV projects done, peeling clear coat on Opus repainted. We are happy we got to see our old friends Dick and Joan as Joan passed away soon after our visit. 2017 was the first year in a while that we did not make it to Betty's RV Park, but we did get to see many of the friends we have met there along the way. In Yuma we had a Betty's West happy hour with Rick, Barb, Dan, Merlene, Dan, Peggy, Tom, Ann, Clay and Christy. A grand time was had by all. Our next stop was San Diego where Bernie and Dodo were in the same RV park and Paul and Trudy were in the one next door. We got together with them several times. Mike and Sherri flew out for a week so it was a fun month with old and new friends exploring SoCal. We went to the Coronado, Balboa Park, a whale watching cruise, the zoo, a trip to LA. Bernie and Dodo joined us when we marched in the January 20^th woman's protest against you know who.

In the middle of February we moved to Tucson for six weeks. This was the first time we have stayed there, so we had plenty of new things to do and see. During the first month we went to the Desert Museum, Biosphere 2, Tubac, Titan Missile Museum, Mt. Lemmon, a pastel art show, Mission San Xavier and a one man play about Fredrick Douglass. We also got to spend time with Alan, Sharon, Carl, Vickie, John and Sharon. We had a great evening when Don and Sharon invited us to their place in Benson. We had dinner and got caught up with all our travels. We later learned they bought a house in Benson and will be traveling less after 20 plus years on the road. The last two weeks in Tucson we moved to the fairgrounds for the Escapade. We were on staff so it was a very busy, but fun week. It was great seeing many of our Class of 07 mates; Howie, Norah, Sal, Bobbie, Bob, Molly, Jim, Bobbie, John, Lora, Rick, Terri, Sandy, Mike, Mike, Trish, Ron, Linda, Dave and Kathy, who all started fulltiming the same year we did. We later learned that Ron, Linda, Dave and Kathy are settling down. Gary, Anita, Bill, Jan, George and Nan, who we met at Betty's, where also there. At every Escapade we look forward to seeing Mark, Daune, Jean, Lanny, Lois, Dave, Brenda and many other SKP friends. Betty's and the Escapees are the two greatest sources of new friends we have made on the road.

From Tucson we headed to Deming, NM for a few days to recover from the Escapade. While there we discovered a great off the beaten path restaurant Adobe Deli, visited the Luna Mimbres Museum and did a day trip to Mexico to have lunch at the Pink Store. We moved on to Socorro to check two very different things off our list. We visited the Trinity Site in White Sands Missile Range where the first atomic bomb was exploded in July 1945. Trinity is only open the first Saturday of April and September. The next day we toured the Very Large Array National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the huge radio telescope on the high plains of New Mexico. Our next stop was Albuquerque for two weeks. We left Opus there and flew to DC to visit Nanc's sister Michelle and her husband Keith. We were celebrating Michelle's birthday so her sister Judy came in from Marietta, Ohio and her brother Dave and his grandson Braedon flew in from Lacey, Washington. We had a great time with family and exploring a bit of the DC area. Back in Albuquerque we had our friends Larry and Amy for dinner.

We then went to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, a place that was the home of native Americans who farmed along the fertile river valley. This is one of the most beautiful places we have seen. It was then on to Monument Valley, oh wait, this is one of the most beautiful places we have seen. We have seen Monument Valley in so many old Westerns we felt like we had been there before. We also drove to Moki Dugway, a great twisting turning gravel road that leads to the Bears Ears National Monument. Little did we know that the president would soon be reducing the size of this beautiful, natural and cultural wonder. Next was a week in Cortez with a stop at Four Corners along the way. While in Cortez we toured Mesa Verde National Park with its beautifully preserved and restored Puebloan cliff dwellings. We also visited the Anasazi Heritage Center, did a day trip to Durango and I won at the local casino. Our luck changed the day we were leaving Cortez when Opus would not start after we fueled up. After a long delay we were towed 75 miles to Farmington, NM where our luck changed again as the repair was only a new fuel filter.

We moved on to Salt Lake City to add the state capitol to our visited list and toured Temple Square. From SLC we drove across the salt flats to Lamole, NV where we spent a few days parked in the yard at Joe and Kathy's beautiful log home. They live in ranch country and we had another first when we watched calves being rounded up and branded. They were great hosts showing us around there neck of the woods. Next stop was Boise to tour the Idaho capitol and then almost 600 miles to Helena where we toured the capitol and state history museum. From Helena we had a short travel day to White Sulpher Springs where we checked out the 2 Bassets Brewery and soaked our bones in the hot springs. We drove two lane Highway 12 across Montana staying one night on the banks of the Yellowstone River before a stop in Medora, ND to pick-up mail and visit the Teddy Roosevelt National Park – North Unit that we did not visited on our previous stay.

Next stop was Bismarck where we toured the capitol, one of three that is a skyscraper. It was then south to Pierre to add the South Dakota capitol to our list. We had a great RV site on the banks of the Missouri River near where a plaque proclaiming the land was French territory was buried in 1743. It was this land that was part of the Louisiana Purchase and explored by Lewis and Clark. The plaque was unearthed by local teens in 1913. Of course all this land was the homeland of Native Americans. In Mitchell we toured the Corn Palace and the McGovern Center. Our last stop in the Dakotas was Sioux Falls where we visited my cousin Grace and her friend Marlene. It's always great seeing friends and family on the road.

An issue with the slide rollers in Opus changed our plans and we headed to Omaha for a week. We failed to get the repair done there but found Omaha to be a great city. We took a day trip to Lincoln and added the last of the three skyscraper capitols to our list. We visited the Durham Museum in the old Union Station, took in a College World Series game, visited a park service Lewis and Clark site but failed to meet Warren Buffet. We did have our closest encounter with bad weather since being on the road with a tornado that missed the RV park by only a couple miles. We had heavy rain and wind but escaped any damage.

Our next stop was Des Moines where we added the Iowa state capitol to our list and went to a nice arts festival in the city. We met up with JC and Gloria, RV friend we met at Betty's, and they took us to a couple great local restaurants. Down the road we toured the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and National Historical Site in West Branch. It was then a two day drive to Indianapolis with a quick stop at Lasso E RV where they replaced the bad slide roller in less than an hour and had us back on the road. In Indiana we toured the capitol, state library and Indy Raceway Museum.

Next was a short stop in Louisville where we checked out the Louisville Slugger factory and the Mohammad Ali Center. In Nashville we added the last of nine capitols we toured this year to our list. We toured the Parthenon and did some honky tonkin on Broadway. We got to have lunch with Charles and Sandy and Ray and Wendy, four more people we met at Betty's. We then spent a week at the Escapees RV Park in Heiskell where we gave Opus a good inside and outside cleaning. We also toured the Oak Ridge Manhattan Project National Historic Site. We moved to Concord, NC and spent two weeks with my brother Rick and sister-in-law Denise. We had a fun time playing with all Rick's toys on Lake Norman. Nanc's sister Michelle and brother-in-law Keith joined us for a weekend getaway. Our friends Dylan, Samantha, Tim, Mary, Pedro and Samantha all spent time with us while we were there.

We then spent two months in WashPA for our annual doctor and dentist appointments. We are happy to report that they all went well and we are good for another year. Of course while there, we helped keep many of our favorite local restaurants in business and had a great time with more local friends and family than we can list here. We especially like the weekly teacher's lunch bunch where we get to see so many friends. Always high on the list is John's wonderful homemade wood-fired pizza. Our RV friends Dan and Merlene stopped for a one day visit and we took them to hear the Dan Baker Group. We got to play euchre with the old card club three times and attended wedding celebrations of our niece Morgan and her husband Matt and my cousin Michael and his wife Amanda. We went to the lake with Mike and Sherri and I got to do some fishing, something I always look forward to when we are there. We also got a new recliner for Opus and did a couple small RV jobs. On a down note Nanc had a little hitch in her giddy up and could not run the Great Race. Even though we travel all over the country we always look forward to our time in WashPA.

On October 1^st we started south with the first stop in Maryland to see Michelle and Keith. While there we went into DC to see the new Martin Luther King Memorial and spent some time in Old Town Alexandria. We moved to Hatteras Island for a week of sun, fun and fishing. Tom, Georgie and Milo were there on vacation for most of our stay so we had a great time with them. We left Hatteras and did four days in a row of one night stops on our way to Ocala for our annual RV service appointment. We did get to have dinner with George and Nan in Jacksonville one of those evenings. When the service was done we headed south to Naples for a month. Our goal this year in Florida was to check out places to put down some roots and after checking out the West coast we decided we want to be on the Atlantic Coast. While in Naples we flew to Punta Cana for a two week vacation at Secrets Royal Palms. We were very disappointed that Rick and Denise were not able to join us as they had planned because of health issues with her father. We had to have a problem with the AC and a water leak repaired while in Naples and were very happy with the service tech Daniel of Land and Sea Cooling.

We then headed to Jensen Beach on the East coast for a month. We really like the area and did some looking at possible places to settle. The prices are more reasonable here and it offers many things we have on our checklist, including warm winter weather, access to the ocean and many great local restaurants. The day we arrived we had dinner with RVers John and Sharon who we last saw in Tucson. Jean Paul and Celine came down from Orange City for lunch another day and we had a great time getting caught up with them. We are looking forward to seeing the four of them again this spring at Betty's. We were only 30 miles from Jupiter so on three Sundays we went to the Jupiter Jazz Society jam session with Mary Lou. She and her friend Pat drove up to have lunch with us one afternoon. The biggest thing we did while here was having new carpet installed in Opus. We have been looking to have this done for over a year and we finally found someone who would install it in an RV at a reasonable price. Our last move of 2017 was only 25 miles to Jonathon Dickinson State Park where we spent the holidays with Mary Lou. We have stayed here every year since we went on the road and wintered in Florida. We went to a couple music venues and dined at several of our favorite local restaurants. Mary Lou had us for Christmas dinner along with her neighbors Jack and Mervat who live on the same street as my brother in Pittsburgh. We will ring in the new year with Mary Lou and Pat.

2017 was a great year exploring many new sights across the land and seeing many friends and family members. We got a few wear and tear issues taken care of on Opus, just like we had to do when we lived in a stix and brix. We have begun to think about planting roots and feel that the Atlantic Coast area around Stuart and Jensen Beach, Florida would be a good place.

For 2018 our plan is to spend January at the Elks Lodge in the Keys. We will then sprint to Louisiana for Mardi Gras and a two month stay at Betty's RV Park. In the spring we want to explore Texas Hill Country and then add the Arkansas and Missouri capitols to our list. At the end of May we will be working at the Escapade in Sedalia, Missouri. If we get an appointment we will head to Spartan Chassis in Michigan for service before going to New England to add more capitols to our list. In July we have reservations for the Escapees New York City Hudson Valley Hop. We will then go back to WashPA for a three month stay. We are staying longer because Nanc wants to go to her 50 year class reunion. We hope to have an extended stay on Hatteras before slowly heading south to Florida for the second year in a row. Of course, these plans are not written in stone and always subject to change.