THE LIST..............................Year 5.......YEAR
6.........Year 7
Motorhome
Miles...................11,209.........5,300...........9012
Average
Miles Per
Day..................30.6..........14.1.............24.6
Average
Trip................................180............160............180
Gallons
of Diesel
Fuel.................1467............747..........1223
Average Cost
Per Gallon.................3.86...........3.84...........4.15
CRV
Miles...............................8776.........11344.........9138
Bicycle
Miles..............................180............107...............0
Camp
Sites...................................62.............33..............50
Average
Nights in
Each..................5.9..........11.1...............7.3
Number of
Frosty Nights............very few.....none..........a few
Number of
Windy, Stormy Days. very few....few........too many
Number of
States(Provinces).........17(4).........11(0).......14(3)
National
Parks & Monuments........25.............10............12
Blog
Posts.....................................79.............61.............71
Days
of Exercise (Jim).................161...........193...........185
Days of Exercise
(Nanc)..............223...........238...........259
Number of haircuts
(Jim).................0...............0.............0
Old &
New Friends & Family..Priceless...Priceless....Priceless
This marks seven years that we have been retired and living on the
road. The lifestyle continues to exceed all expectations of travel
and spending time with friends and family all over North America. We
are in Alaska to celebrate this anniversary so we have been to all 50
states and 11 of the 13 Canadian provinces since 2007. While we have
seen so many beautiful places and have had many great experiences, meeting
old and making new friends is the real highlight of what we do. We
started the year in the East and traveled across the country to the
Southwest and then north to Alaska while putting 9,012 miles on Opus
and 9,138 miles on the CRV. We stayed in 50 places and paid an average of
$20.29 a night. This was a bit over the $600 a month we try to keep
under but not bad at all considering how expensive it is to stay in
Canada and Alaska. The biggest expense increase this year was the
cost of fuel at $4.15 a gallon. It was very expensive in Canada and
some of the smaller towns in Alaska. It is what it is!!
We started year seven in WashPA where we spent two months taking
care of doctors and dentists and getting together with family and
friends. While we travel all over North America we will always
consider Western Pennsylvania our home, it's a Burgh thing. Our
first stop was at Duncan RV Repair in Elkhart where we had a few
minor and a couple of major issues fixed. One was replacing the
fridge cooling unit that died while in WashPA and the other was
replacing the house batteries with AGMs that do not require
maintenance. While there we explored the Lake Michigan coast and the
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. We then did a week of everything
Mark Twain in Hannibal, a neat little Mississippi River town. It was
then on to Branson where we did a show and visited nearby Eureka,
Arkansas. We drove a bit of Route 66 with stops in Oklahoma City,
Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch, and then to Las Vegas, NM. This
was followed by a stay at Ojo Caliente to soak our bones in the
refreshing waters. Anytime we are anywhere near Ojo we will make it
a priority to visit.
Our WashPA friends Mike and Sherri visited us and we went to Santa
Fe, Taos and Albuquerque. They loved the balloon fiesta and we once
again worked with Mike and T Liberti and got to soar. We saw Class
of 07 mates Jim & Bobby, Ron & Linda, Leland & Cathy and
Marty while in New Mexico. This was followed by two plus months in
Mesa. We got to spend time with Sun Life friends Rene & Susanne,
Earl & Kathleen, Lance & Carol and Dick & Lynn who were
staying there for the winter. We got to balloon a couple more times,
did a couple of art shows with Allan and Sharon and spent time with
WashPA native Linda Rocks who now lives in Arizona. We had a great
visit with John and Patrice who spent a couple of nights with us on
their Western trip. While we did not get to Betty's RV Park this
year we got our fix of Betty's friends when Dave & Sara, Dan &
Merlene, Jim & Cookie and Tony & Marybeth stopped while in
Mesa. We did a lot of exploring around the Phoenix area and took a
vacation to Secrets Capri in Mexico for our anniversary. We really
are not having any problems finding ways to spend the money we have
since Nanc went on Social Security.
To start 2014 we met many RV friends, Omer & Sylvia, Trish,
Marty and Ron & Linda in Quartzite. We then had extended stays
in Lake Havasu, Yuma and Desert Hot Springs. This was our first time
in Havasu and Hot Springs and we enjoyed both areas. While in Havasu
there was a balloon festival and the winter blast pyrotechnics
events. While there we saw Boomer friends Luke & Judy who we
also saw in Albuquerque, Gilbert and Desert Hot Springs. We did day
trips to the Desert Bar, Oatman to see the donkeys and Laughlin, NV
to the casinos. In Yuma we got to see Dick and Joan Morgan, PA
friends who we had not seen in years until we went on the road. We took
a couple day trips to Mexico and explored the Center of the World in
Felicity, CA. Allan and Sharon came to Yuma and Desert Hot Springs
with their rig and we did some exploring together. While in Desert
Hot Springs we had the full SoCal experience with wind, smog and an
earthquake. We went to Joshua Tree National Park and Sunnylands
estate. We really loved the hot springs at Sam's Family Spa, the RV
park where we stayed. Tom and Georgie did a personal mail delivery
and stayed with us for a week. We had great time exploring the area
and local restaurants. We next went to Tehachapi to see the famous
railroad loop over the mountains and then on to Las Vegas where we
had Opus serviced, filled our larder with supplies for the trip to
Alaska and contributed a few dollars to the local casinos.
From Vegas we headed north with the goal of being in Alaska, 3200
miles away, by June 1
st. We added some national parks
stamps to our book in Nevada at Great Basin, in Idaho at Craters of
the Moon, in Montana at Glacier and in Alberta at Waterton. We spent
9 days in Twin Falls where we got a new clutch and tires for the CRV
while waiting for the weather to improve. We next stopped in
Butte where Dan and Merlene caught up with us and we had a fun time
checking out the town and a couple of drinking establishments. In
Coram, Montana we explored the area, washed Opus and took care of a
few last minute details before crossing the border into Canada.
Then it was on to the start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek,
the official starting point for our Alaska Highway adventure. Because
we were in the Western mountains so early, we did experience several
nights of frosty weather, but are happy to report that we have not
had any freezing weather since the middle of May when we crossed into
Canada.
The trip up the Alaska Highway was wonderful with a few exceptions
that all involved the road conditions. There were several stretches
in the Yukon with miles of frost heaves when we were heading north
and most of these were miles of gravel where they were rebuilding the
road as we headed south. In northern British Columbia we saw a lot
of different wildlife along the road and soaked our bones in Liard
Hot Springs. In the Yukon we stopped at the sign forest in Watson
Lake and spent a couple of days exploring Whitehorse. In Whitehorse we
chose to stay on the Alaska Highway rather than going to Dawson City.
A good decision that was reinforced every time we talked to anyone
who had driven the Top of the World Highway this summer. Missing
Dawson City was really my only disappointment of the trip.
Our first destination in Alaska was Fairbanks where the highlight
was going to the Arctic Circle. We also did a riverboat cruise,
visited local museums and drove to Chena Hot Springs. In Denali
National Park we took a bus into the interior and saw a lot of
animals including the big five, wolf, moose, caribou, Dall sheep and
grizzles. We became 30%ers when we got a peak at Mount McKinley
several times and then finally were able to see the whole mountain with a beautiful
blue sky background. From Talkeetna we went flight seeing and got to
see the top of the mountain above the clouds and another real
highlight, landed on a glacier. WOW!!! Our next stop was Wasilla, our
base to explore Anchorage, and meet up with Class of 07 mates John and
Lora who served as our tour guides. We went to Hatcher Pass,
Independence Mine and Iditarod headquarters. In Anchorage we went
birding at Potter Marsh, visited the Native Alaska Heritage Museum
and enjoyed some of the summer solstice activities. Other then the
highway conditions we had our biggest bump in the road in Anchorage
where we had to have the head gasket replaced on Opus. An unexpected
expense, but something that could have happen anywhere and
fortunately happen were there was a Cummins repair facility.
From Anchorage we headed to Seward were we had a beautiful site
right on the water with a view of the bay and mountains. We hiked in
Kenai Fjords National Park and on Marathon Mountain, took a wildlife boat cruise and visited the Alaska Sealife Center for an up
close look at some of the animals we had seen at a distance in the
wild. Next we moved to Ninilchik where we ended up staying for two
weeks because we found Country Boy RV Park and its owners Chuck and
Jerrie who made us feel right at home. We had a couple of potlucks
at the park and made many new friends, Larry and Molly, Don and
Pat, Roger and Merv. From our base in Ninilchik we explored Homer,
Kenai and Soldotna. Homer is a neat little town with many shops and
a big fishing fleet. My highlight here was catching a 71 pound
halibut on the fishing charter. My disappointment was not catching
any salmon, but I made up for that at our next stop in Valdez. In
Valdez we took a boat tour to the Columbia Glacier and saw a lot of
sea life. Also while there we ran into SKP friends Wallace, Wanda, Bennett and Bea for the third time during our travels in Alaska, how neat. We are ending year seven in Haines where we once again
have a beautiful site on the Lynn Canal with a great view of the
surrounding mountains. We enjoyed exploring the area and spent a
couple of evenings with Marcel and Sonya who we have crossed paths
with several times the last few weeks. We did a day hike to the top of Mount Riley to one of the most beautiful views we have experienced during our travels. We always like to check out
micro breweries, so we visited nearly half of Alaska's and found most
to be very good with a big variety of beers to choose from. Only one in
Anchorage seemed to be an overpriced tourist trap.
Overall year seven has been fantastic and we already have big
plans for year eight. When we leave Alaska we will be heading cross
country to WashPA for two months of family, friends, doctors and
dentists. When we leave there in October we will be going to
Cleveland for our third Yanni wedding since we have been on the road.
We will be spending a few weeks at Betty's over Thanksgiving before
heading to South Florida for the holidays and the Keys for the
winter. In the spring we want to return to Louisiana for another
stop at Betty's and possibly a return to the New Orleans Jazz
Festival. Next summer we plan to explore the Southeast, an area we have
not spent much time in while fulltiming. That said, our plans are
always written in sand and are subject to change depending on what we
encounter along the way. No matter what, we will continue running
down our dream.
