Motorhome
Miles.................101975................8498...............5458
Average
Miles Per
Day..............23.3.................23.3..................18.6
Average
Trip...............................175..................175.................182
Gallons
of Diesel
Fuel............13219................1101................733
Cost
of Diesel
Fuel.................43816................3651...............2164
Average
Cost Per
Gallon...........3.31.................3.31................2.95
CRV
Miles............................127926..............10660...............9839
Camp
Sites..................................584....................49..................30
Average
Nights in
Each...............7.5...................7.5..................9.7
Cost
of Parks per
Day.............86796.................19.80.............24.68
Number
of States(Provinces)......50(11).............17(2).............13(0)
National
Parks Monuments.........180.................15.....................4
Blog
Posts....................................822.................69...................42
Days
of Exercise
(Jim)...............2025...............168..................76
Days
of Exercise
(Nanc)............2750...............229.................271
Number
of haircuts
(Jim)...............0....................0....................0
Friends
&
Family...........Priceless...........Priceless..............Priceless
Year 12 of our retirement and being
full time travelers saw a big change. Many events with family and
friends made us realize that this lifestyle was not going to last
forever so we made a BIG decision and purchased a condo in Stuart,
Florida. This does not mean that we are going to stop traveling, as
we plan to get out of Florida during the warmer months. In 12 years
we have traveled 101,975 miles in Opus and put 127,926 miles on the
CRV. We have continue to add new sites to our list of new places
visited. We know that we will never see it all, but it sure is fun
trying.
This year we put 5458 miles on Opus and
9839 on the CRV while visiting 13 states. Since we spent several
weeks in our new stix and brix we only stayed in Opus 292 days at 30
campgrounds at an average cost of $24.68. This is much more than we
usually pay for a number of reasons; we stay in the Keys (very
expensive) for six weeks, eight nights we only stayed night (more
costly), we spent almost the entire year in the East (higher prices),
generally speaking camp sites are getting more expensive (many more
RVers) and lastly we only had nine nights of “free” stays. Our
average fuel costs at $2,95 a gallon were about the same as last year
but that is still well below our average 12 year cost of $3.31.
We started year 12 where we are ending
it, in WashPA. We had so much to do this year that for the first time
we stayed for three months. We had all of our doctor and dentist
appointments and are happy to report all is fine. We had our usual
fun time with the retired teachers weekly lunch bunch gatherings at
many different local restaurants. We got to spend time with many
friends and family and went to many music venues including seeing
Million Dollar Quartet at the Mountain Playhouse. We had a fun time
on a Caribbean cruise out of New Orleans with a group from Betty's RV
Park to celebrate her 20th anniversary in style. We did a
trip to Pymatuning to fish and I was very happy with all the fish I
caught even if they were all catfish. Nanc ran the Great Race in
Pittsburgh and finished in the top 10 in her age group. I went to a
small gathering of Union High School class of 1964 to see a few old
classmates and we went to Nanc's Class of 1968 50th
reunion to catch up with many of hers. As always, we enjoyed our time
with so may friends during our stay in WashPA.
We headed out on October 16th
with our first stop in Delaware from where we added two more state
capitols, Delaware and Maryland, to our list. We also toured the
First State NHS in Dover. From there we headed to Cape Hatteras
National Seashore, our favorite go to beach for many years. We stayed
for two weeks and had a wonderful time even though the fishing was
the worst I have ever experienced. From there it was a three day
drive to Brunswick, Georgia where we toured Jekyll and St. Simon
Islands, two beautiful resort isles on the Atlantic coast. Next stop
was Jacksonville where we enjoyed the beach and a very exciting
Steelers last second win over the Jags.
From Jacksonville we headed to South
Florida and the beginning of big changes in our lifestyle. We stayed
in Hobe Sound for a month. While we were there we went to Miami to
see the Pitt Panthers play Miami and were not happy with the results.
We enjoyed the music at the Jupiter Jazz Society and did the
Christmas display at Heathcote Botanical Gardens with friends Richard
and Valerie, who were staying nearby. John and Sharon stopped for a
couple days and we accidentally ran into George and Nan. The big
change was and is that we bought a condo in Stuart. We have been in
this area several times during our years on the road and really like
it. Last year we made the decision that this was were we wanted to
settle. We checked online and made a list of several possible places.
We contacted a realtor and quickly narrowed it down to two places
that we revisited. One was near the water but lacked storage space
and was much older. On Saturday we made an offer on the condo at
Lexington Lakes expecting we would not hear anything until at least
Monday. That evening we went to a movie and during the show we got a
text that the owner had accepted. WOW!!!! This started a whirlwind
month of inspections, credit checks, securing financing and finally
closing and becoming homeowners again after 12 years.
We already had reservations in the Keys
until February 1st so we headed there and did much of the
paperwork online except for the closing in early January. We left
Opus and drove to Stuart for the closing. Fortunately, the condo was
fully furnished so we could move right in and we stayed in the condo
for four days. We enjoyed all our time in the Keys with many old
friends we have made there a few people who were there for the first
time during our stay. We do love our time at the Elks in the Keys and
still plan to go there next January even though we have a stix and
brix just up the road. In February we went back to Stuart, put Opus
in storage and stayed in the condo for a month. We did a thorough
cleaning and had a couple issues taken care of while meeting our new
neighbors and learning more about our new hometown. We spent more
time with George and Nan who bought a place a couple miles from us.
My cousin Missy and her husband Marty stopped by for a evening and
Georgie flew down for a few days.
In March we headed to Louisiana for a
few weeks stay at Betty's. As always, many old friends passed through
while we were there and there was always many new people to meet.
There is a long list of things that kept us busy while we are there
including many great restaurants, fantastic music, festivals, and, of
course, Betty's world famous happy hours. Betty's is one of the main
reasons we intend to keep traveling, even though we now have the
condo. In the middle of April we returned to Stuart with a stop along
the way in Tallahassee to add Florida's capitol to our list and see
Jane who I taught with for many years. In Stuart we did a few more
things in the condo to make it feel more like our home than a
vacation stop. Nanc's sister, Michelle, came down from DC for a visit
and we enjoyed the pool, beach and music, all very close to home.
At the end of May we left Stuart
heading north. Our first stop was St. Augustine, a place we have been
before and really like. It was super hot, nearly 100, so we did not
spend much time outside. We did tour Flagler College where the main
building was once one of Flagler's hotels for rich Northerners who
wanted to escape winter. Next stop was another hot one, in Georgia,
to visit Cumberland Island National Seashore. To escape the heat we
did a two day run to Asheville in the North Carolina mountains where
we checked out a couple of their famous breweries. Crossing the
Smokys we spent a week at the Escapee's park near Knoxville. While
there we gave Opus a good cleaning and drove to Gatlinburg to try out
the new Skybridge. Next stop was just up the road in Berea for a week
of fun and the Hoard-Santek wedding. We had a great time with many
friends and family.
From there we stopped in Charleston to
add the West Virginia capitol, our fourth this year and 38th
overall, to our list. We then moved to Marietta where we spent time
with Nanc'c sister Judy and her family. Another short drive and we
stopped at Seneca Lake to visit Jimmy and Darlene Brown. While there
Georgie drove out from WashPA for a couple days. For the week of the
Fourth of July we stayed in Amish country in Berlin, Ohio. We were
very busy there going to the Football Hall of Fame and President
McKinley sites in Canton. We toured the Warther Museum in Dover and
the Age of Steam exhibit in Sugarcreek, all while taking in the Amish
attractions. Our last stop before returning to WashPA was a whole
week of fishing on Pymatuning Lake with Mike and Sherri. We returned
to WashPA on July 15th just in time for some super hot
weather. Unfortunately, the hot humid weather got to me and I ended
up in Washington Hospital overnight with dehydration. I was
thoroughly poked, jabbed and scoped and they found no other issues.
While we were only on the road for 292 days traveling 5458 miles, we
still had a wonderful year of exploring the USA and seeing many
friends and family all over the East.
We are starting year 13 with another
three month stay in WashPA. We will be doing all the usual stuff we
do here every time we return. The difference is, we are planning to
set in motion what we need to do to move our medical records to
Florida. One big exception to the usual, in September we are going to
Europe for eleven days to do a Rhine River Cruise. When we leave in
October we will be going to Hatteras Island where we will be
celebrating our 50th anniversary with a few friends and
family. When we leave there we are heading to Stuart where we will
stay until late spring. As I said, we are not giving up our spot in
the Keys so we will be going there in January. In the spring we plan
to head to New England to explore and check a few more state capitols
off our list. At some point we will be back in WashPA but for a
shorter stay because by then we hope to have all our medical
appointments moved to Florida. So while we now own a piece of
property, we do plan on continuing our RV adventure for a while
longer.
Life is Good!!!!