Year Twelve Summary

THE LIST........................ TOTAL.........AVERAGE.........YEAR 12

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 20^th 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 50^th 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 16^th 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 1^st 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 38^th 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 15^th 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 50^th 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!!!!