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 25th! 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.