Reflections (7/5/2014)

Well, here I am, sitting in my “work” room back in Etowah, NC. It’s so hard to believe that the last time I was sitting at this desk was back on April 25^th! Since returning, I’ve shredded a stack of mail, waxed the top of the trailer and stowed it until the next trip, loaded up 7 bags of weeks from our butterfly garden, etc. Back when we planned out this trip, I felt that this was going to be our education on how to travel with a trailer. Boy did we learn a lot! So, how did we do?

·         Create the itinerary as we went – worked out well. Eliminated some places, and added many others.

·         Stay in State & National Campgrounds – only stayed in 1 commercial campground.

·         Keep average towed distance to 100 miles per day – 6798 miles in 62 days = 110/day

·         Expected fuel cost per day towing $25 – actual = $24.88

·         Expected fuel economy towing 11 mpg - actual = 15.5 mpg

·         Budgeted for campground fees $25/night – actual = $19

·         Enjoy each other’s company during the 10 week trip – we did great, sharing responsibilities, relaxing, taking up card games at night, deciding where to go next

·         Big bonus – spending 2 weeks in Texas with Kelly, Chuck & the 2 grandsons!

Trip surprises

·         Don’t believe “campground full” signs

·         Big difference between campers & “vacationers with tents” (This especially applied to holiday weekends)

·         Other than state & federal campgrounds there are city, county, Parish (LA for county), utility

·         Finding Laundromats & taking care of laundry was a challenge

·         Use all forms of technology available when planning on the road – Garmin Satellite GPS, iPhone Apps, DeLorme Mapping on Laptop, atlas, word of mouth, etc.

·         More campgrounds had cell service than expected

·         1 National Campground had Wi-Fi @ all sites (but no cell service)

·         How healthy a diet we could maintain with the trailer kitchen and smart shopping

·         How well we could do “off grid” (no electric hookups) as we camped ½ our nights without hookups

·         How scenic Utah & Colorado were (We could have spent a couple months at each)

So for now, the trailer is in storage. We have already made reservations for 2 weeks from now as well as for ringing in the New Year. I’ll shortly be uploading pictures and sending a link. The speed of Wi-Fi on the road was so slow, it wasn’t practical to upload onto this blog.

Last Day (7/1/2014)

This morning we discussed heading back home tomorrow. After having been on the road for 9-1/2 weeks and towing the trailer for 2 months we’ve decided that it makes sense. We’ll park the trailer in our driveway for a couple of nights and then bring it to the storage facility on July 4^th as planned. This will make it easier to unload, clean and reorganize for the next trip. The trip has been an adventure and has surpassed our expectations. After breakfast this morning, we decided to head over to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. It was fun walking around a national park visitor center that we have visited many times in the past. We are very thankful that we can live so closely to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The campgrounds are immaculate with cool evening temperatures, the trails are spectacular and the places to visit are innumerable! We had an enjoyable day reminiscing about all the great places that we have visited on this trip. But, before we knew it, we started discussing the next places we will visit! We are so fortunate to have had the time to pick up and drag this new camper back home. Many of the buyers on the East Coast, are stuck paying the Escape driver to deliver the trailer to them. When we look back, we really haven’t spent any more than if we had had the trailer delivered, but we were able to create so many memories. This was also a fabulous way to transition between full time work and retirement. There was no time to feel “the loss” of work due to the energy spent figuring out where we would stay for the night and where we would go next! Barbara and I both feel that this time together was a great way to celebrate our 39 years of marriage – a second honeymoon with best friends!

Back to Deep Creek (6/30/14)

This morning (actually in the middle of the night) we woke to rain again. It has rained every day since we left the Keller’s days ago! When we were in the desert and mountains of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, rain wasn’t even a consideration. Since we were going to our friends for breakfast, we got up, I took a shower in the camper, dumped tanks and we were out of the campground by 7:30. We had a great time with Ron & Betty Lyman catching up and finally were back on the road (in the rain) by 9:30. Luckily we were heading north first, so did not have to deal with Chattanooga traffic. We picked up route 64 and continued heading east. We passed the Ocoee River and then we were back in North Carolina. This is the first time since we left on April 26^th. We decided to head over to Deep Creek in the Smoky Mountains as we hadn’t been there since the girls were in girl scouts! We found a site, set up and then headed into Bryson City to walk around. And while walking around – yes the rains came again! We spent some time walking around with our rain gear on, but eventually headed back to the campground and out of the rain. As we got close to the campground we realized that this is getting to be like Gatlinburg, but instead of all the “S” shops, the road is full of tube rentals. (and really gaudy!) Our campsite is in a very quiet loop – we are the only campers right now. After a good dinner, we decided to walk the rest of the campground. The loop above us and below us were quiet. Then we went down to the tent area. This was more like Coney Island than a NP campground. The place was packed and the tents were right on top of each other. We were glad to be set up where we were. So for now, we will sit back, relax and enjoy the quiet.

Almost Home (6/29/2014)

After an early breakfast and taking care of “RV business,” it was time to hit the road. In addition to a drive of 175 or so miles, we also had to add another hour for the time zone difference as we wanted to get to the campground by noon. Barbara drove and we arrived to check on campsites. When the attendant asked what we would be sleeping in and I told her a 19’ trailer, she said that should be easy. There were about 6 sites still available plus what they called the “overflow sites” which are just grass without tables or fire pits. The campground didn’t have any signs telling what sites were where, but we came across one that was listed as available and would work out fine for us. We went back, paid for the site and slipped the Escape into position. A quick lunch and then we drove over to Publix to resupply for the rest of the trip. Right before dinner time we were able to get in touch with our good friends Ron and Betty. They came over to check out the camper and then we hopped into Ron’s car to head over to a favorite Italian restaurant of theirs. Good food and good conversation with lots of laughs! Afterwards we stopped over their house and then back to the camper. Tomorrow, we will head over to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for our last 4 nights of this trip!

Exploring Lawrenceburg (6/28/2014)

This morning, we had another leisurely breakfast and then headed out to do some more exploring. We started off by stopping at a farmers market where we picked up some corn and tomatoes. Then we went over to the library to enjoy some free Wi-Fi. Finally, we drove into the historic part of Lawrenceburg and Barbara got to walk around some antique shops. (And I got to wait while Barbara walked around some antique shops!) While sitting outside one of the shops, I was able to listen to some live music and read some of the plaques. One of them described how this town was the location of the start of Southern Gospel Music. (At least that’s what the plaque said) After spending some time there, we decided to try to find the one Amish farm that had pecan pie for sale. Well, we drove down the road where it was supposed to be, but we never did find it. We did find a house that had some baked goods and bought a friendship bread. After squeezing past another truck on a road meant for just one car, we decided that it was time to head back to the campground. We got back to the campground and relaxed and read for a while. Tomorrow we will head over to Hixson which is a small town above Chattanooga where some friends of ours have settled. The campground ranger said we’d have a hard time getting a site, but usually we have had success on Sundays if we get there early as the weekend people will be heading home by then.

Quiet Day @ David Crockett SP (6/27/14)

This morning was a time of reflection for Barbara and I. We had a leisurely breakfast, a couple pots of coffee and thought about all we have done on this trip. After a year of planning, 9 weeks of travel 9200 miles driven, we are now about 400 miles and 1 week from returning to Etowah. We have had a fantastic time and loved all that we have gotten to see and do. The trip and the Escape trailer have exceeded our expectations. We have gone from total novices with the trailer to pretty skilled travelers. Getting set up and torn down is routine, towing is easy and we have gotten good at figuring out where to go next. After breakfast, Barbara went over to talk to the campground host to find out what there was to do in the area. It turns out that just one town over (Ethridge) is a large Amish Community. It’s called an old order Amish Community. We visited some shops, saw an Amish farmers market where they auction off their produce, and had lunch in a local (non-Amish) restaurant. When we got out of the restaurant, the skies opened up with a downpour, so we headed back to the campground. Barbara and I put together a meal in the slow cooker. After that, since the temperature was mild, I decided it was time to wax the trailer. That was a good workout, but the trailer doesn’t look like it has seen 6200 miles of road grime! After dinner, we sat out for a while (until we felt we had fed the local insects enough) and then headed inside. We’ll probably play some more Cribbage and then call it a night. As we are getting closer to home, it’s nice to be able to sleep with the AC off and the windows open.

Mississippi Rain (6/26/2014)

This morning we woke up to a torrential rainstorm! It was nice being “warm and dry” when it was very wet outside the camper. (And also in the car where I had left the windows open a crack) Fortunately, I had reconnected the towing mirrors and set the hitch up on the car before going to bed. When we were in the various states of the desert, rain was not in our vocabulary! After a leisurely breakfast, it was time to break camp. We dug out our Bean boot,s which hadn’t been used since we left Washington State, took out our rain jackets and hats and Kevin’s rain pants. You would think that we had been doing this for a long time with our preparations! Before leaving the campground, we drained our tanks and headed out in the rain. It was nice driving on the Natchez Trace with hardly any traffic rather than being on an interstate. We arrived at David Crockett State Park around noon and set up quickly before the rain caught up to us. There is another SP called Davey Crockett Birthplace near Johnson City, TN. We took advantage of being close to a town (Lawrenceburg) to take care of laundry and grocery shopping for the next few days. When you look around the campground and see the very short sights, you will understand that this campground was set up in 1959, long before campers were often 40+ feet long. Our 19’ camper fit very nicely into our sight. We even took advantage of the senior discount! (We’ll take ever discount offered!) We will spend the next couple days just chillin in place before we head east for the final leg.