Kentucky Kamping...The Good, The Bad and The Relaxing...

Kentucky is one of my favorite states to visit.  Whenever we are here, the weather has been delightful, clear, sunny (not to hot, not to cold, not humid, not "always" raining), no bugs to annoy us, lots and lots of green grass with long beautiful fencing holding in sleek horses looking back at us as we drive by...ahhh

What could be better?  To be able to stay in one place, actually.  You see, "camping" this year has changed a bit...it has gotten more crowded, and thus, reservations are harder and more frustrating to deal with - especially over the weekends.  In our prior years of traveling, we used to be able to make reservations days to hours ahead of time.  Now, it's months to weeks ahead, and even then it takes several calls to get one location.  What I've found in "prime locations" like Kentucky, we've had to move several times - sometimes even in the same campground, just to have a whole week in one spot!  

To add to this equation, we needed to have some work done on our truck and a part had to be ordered...it was supposed to be here two days ago...it's still not here.  Oops, there goes our "schedule" full of reservations!  That was one of the reasons I always hated traveling that way, it locks you in, then what?  

When I'm not on the computer or the phone working through this maze...I'm enjoying the beauty around me.  Jack and I took a lovely drive out into the countryside of Georgetown to look at some barns that had hung "barn quilts" on them.  We found about a dozen along our drive.  Georgetown is outside of Lexington by about 45 minutes, and is a much smaller town.  As with most of Kentucky, many of the homes are large, rock or brick stately mansions with beautiful gardens all around them, each one deserving an "Oh my! Look at that!  Wow!  Oh, how beautiful!"  If I took pictures of all of them, I would have hundreds and hundreds, so, I just admire them and drive on.

 Additionally, we discovered the Lexington Cemetery, established in 1849.  What a beautiful old cemetery!  While driving through it, we found that it not only had "local" Civil War hero's but a Vice President (John C Breckinridge (1821-1875) as well as a former Speaker of the House (Sen. Henry Clay (1777-1864),  but the biggest surprise was Mary Todd Lincoln's family plot - everyone but her - she's with her husband (of course) in Springfield IL.  All in all, some incredible and unusual headstones along with beautiful gardens and ponds.

Because we have been to Kentucky before and enjoyed several areas of the state, we don't have the need to rush to "go and see" this and that, and that is another reason I wanted to come here for a few weeks - to just relax...sit back, read a book or two...take a walk, or not...call a friend or two...

So, here we are, under the sunny skies of Kentucky, awaiting the "next turn of events", not quite sure which direction we will be heading - plan A or plan B yet...so, I guess I will just go grab my book and wait and see!

kicking back in Kentucky,  Marie

If you would like to see the rest of my photos, you can on my Flickr at https://flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

That's a Wrap!

Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018!  When you camp in an area that doesn't have any WiFi service (or cable) the two pretty much merge together!  ;-)  So this "end of year blog" is a little late getting out...

Looking over our "goals" for 2017, which was pretty much to "complete our US map" and to take things a bit slower, spending more time during our travels, exploring...I think we were successful.  We checked off our last state, which was Ohio! by thoroughly enjoying that state.  We visited 6 cities/towns in Ohio, sampling their food (chili!), their attractions, and their beauty.  We never guessed Ohio could be so much fun!  We ended up spending 19 days there.

After 5 years on the road, and always visiting Texas (because it's there, and because it's where one of my son's lives) it's always a fun challenge to find a new place and/or a new route to take.  This year we managed to do both.  We also checked off another National Park to boot!  Visiting Big Bend in Texas was quite an experience, and like all of Texas, you can only get a taste of it because it's so very large!  Then later, after visiting my son, going through the Piney Woods area of Texas was such a lovely surprise.

Another state we were able to enjoy and spend some time exploring this year was Colorado.  In the past, it has only been for a few days, and only to visit our friends around the Denver area.  This time they met us in Colorado Springs for a week, but we camped several weeks before and after throughout the state as well and really got a great sense of what a beautiful state it is.  Having the opportunity to visit it in August was ideal for us, since their mountains are so high, most of the time one takes a chance of getting hit with snow or ice or road closures...but not so in August!  Yea!

I was also able to knock off a long time item off my "bucket list" this year, and that was to walk into and photograph a slot canyon in Utah.  What a wonderful experience that was!  Oftentimes something you've wished for, for years, doesn't always live up to your expectations, but this time, it exceeded it.  We ended up with a private tour because no one else had signed up for it that day, and the guide knowing my feelings, stayed longer, and took extra time showing me photo shots to take.  It was the highlight of our summer and one I will never forget!

With all that, we still managed to be at the birth of my last grandson, to get in (very) quick trips back east with family, and then the fast trip back to the west for a friend's wedding (phew!).  So no "vacation" out of the RV this year.  A longer than usual family visit in Washington...then to Arizona to "dry out".

Looking over our stats, they aren't to much different than last year actually...

We stayed at 62 campgrounds, for a total of 295 nights
Total campground fees: $10,758.63
(That averages about $36.47 a night, which is a little less than last year...maybe because we didn't stay in California very long this time)

Mileage for the RV: 12,945
Mileage for the toad: 11,823
Gasoline for the RV: $4,800
Gasoline for the toad: $1,130
Propane: $143
Maintenance & Repairs RV: 5,800(4 tires on toad, 6 tires on RV, generator exhaust, etc)

When you have a 10 year old RV, she needs a little TLC once a decade, then she's "good to go" again for awhile.  Now that that is done, we can relax a bit and see what 2018 brings us!

...kicking back in sunny Arizona,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Reflections on a year well spent!

As always at this time of the year, I like to look back and see what we have done, where we've traveled and "tally up the year".  Each year is different (yea!) adding it's own adventures and it's own challenges into the mix.  This was "year 4" for us, so a bit more experienced, and a bit more wear & tear on the coach, (and us) as we found out.

I love flipping the calendar backward, looking at all the places we've gone, revisiting them, so to speak.  It's an extra little reminder of what a wonderful life we have...this vagabond adventure of ours.  Seeing this incredible country, visiting great landmarks, National Parks, fabulous beauty, meeting interesting people and seeing old friends... all of it. 

When I do my "tallies" at the end of the year, I'm always amazed at the numbers...they are never as low, or as high as I imagined them to be.  Keeping track of our campground receipts is done by "stuffing" them into a small plastic bag that I keep up at the front 'Co-Pilot's' seat with me.  I don't pay to much attention to it all year, just making sure to carefully add each receipt to the bag so that at the end of the year I have them all in one safe place for my year-end calculation and blog.  Additionally, I mark our calendar with each campground we stay at, so I know how many campgrounds/nights we've paid vs nights we've stayed with family or friends, or at our time share.

Jack keeps track of mileage, gasoline, propane and maintenance costs.  Having a 2007 RV, she has started "showing her age" a bit, so this year's maintenance and repair bills were higher than ever - but, I kept reminding myself, if we had a sticks and bricks house, it wouldn't be much different!

This year's travels took us from 'coast to coast' as we wanted to see our eastern grandchildren and spend some time with them.  We also had a nephew getting married in Baltimore MD, so what better time to check off one of my bucket list items: Washington DC, while we were so close!  That was something I had wanted to do for most my life, and was not disappointed one bit!  I had high expectations, and they were even exceeded!  Such a thrill to go up into the Washington Monument!  I love our country, and to spend days visiting so many of the Smithsonian Museums was truly a dream come true.  I even had one of my pictures published in the Humanities Magazine and got to meet their Art Director while I was there.  So cool.

Another change this year was meeting up with special friends.  Usually we travel pretty solo.  Not that this is our preference, it's just that this is the way it just seems to be.  In February, we were able to snag a large two-bedroom suite in Orlando in our time share, so we invited some friends to join us.  It turned out one couple could make it the first week, and another the second week!  Yea!  Then, later in March, we joined some friends in Arizona for a couple of days, then were able to meet up with others in Vegas in April, and visit with Colorado friends in May & then they joined us in NM in Oct for a few days!  We made a quick stop at our friends in Utah before heading to family in WA for the holiday.  That's more "company" than we've ever had, but not nearly enough!  Here's hoping 2016 brings even more!

The ups & downs of the year...I have to say that the ups have mostly been the people and the places we visited (I guess no surprise there) and the downs have been the amount of repairs to the RV (& to me).  We've also not had the best weather this year as well as we've run into some really nasty spots along the way, from freezing slush to flooding!

Besides what I've already shared, I'd say some of the highlights this year have been the Great Smoky Mountains and Tennessee in general.  I loved Chattanooga and visiting Ruby Falls and Rock City and even seeing Dollywood!  We love train trips, and taking the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR through NM was an absolute delight.  We stayed a month in Albuquerque NM, traveling all over the area, really enjoying our stay there.  Of course, starting the year off taking a Caribbean cruise is pretty wonderful, then coming back and discovering the two great towns of Ft Pierce and St Augustine FL was fun lead-in to meeting up with our friends.

Here's our stats for the year:

We stayed at 58 campgrounds, for a total of 302 nights
Total campground fees: $11,293.36
(That averages about $37.39 a night, which is about right...some places were really low,  but overall, most places averaged around $40 a night with discounts)
Mileage for the RV: 13,984
Mileage for the toad: 12,268
Gasoline for the RV: $5,427
Gasoline for the toad: $1,210
Propane: $338
Maintenance & Repairs RV: (oil change, roof sealing, skylight replacement, waste connector replacement, wind shield wipers & motors(twice), slideout fix,  2 tires, hot water heater, water pump) $6,822
Maintenance on the toad: (4 tires, wheel bearings, brakes, 60,000 mile check-up) $4,055

Well, here's to next year!  This will be year number 5 for us, and another exciting one, I'm sure!  I know we are looking forward to it, so hopefully we will see you...down the road!

...on the road in California,  Marie

Looking back...

It's already mid-January and I'm just now "finishing up" with 2014!  Where did it go?  December always seems to just fly by so fast, I just can't seem to keep up with it, and before I have a chance to blog about it, January is here!  This year, it's even worse...so, sorry for the delay...I have a lot of catching up to do!  ;-)

It never ceases to amaze me that we are "still doing this"...traveling, but we are, and still enjoying it!  I love looking back over the year, seeing where we've been, what we've seen & done. 

We camped at 78 campgrounds this year, staying longer than we have in the past...but not as long as I want to do this year.  Slowing down and staying longer is my goal this year.  We spent $8941.70 in campground fees this year, up a little from previous years, as the economy has gotten better, we've seen a change in the increase in people camping.  Two years ago it was common to see campgrounds half empty, now, not so much.  This was also the very first time I nearly found myself without a place to stay over one of the holidays because I forgot about it until the week before!  We traveled 19,172 miles, (and just turned 60,000 miles on our coach!)

The highlight of our trip this year was the Great Lakes area of Michigan.  It had been our "goal", as we had never been to that region of the US before, and we weren't disappointed.  What a lovely area!  We pretty much stayed in their state parks for most the trip which was delightful as well as economical. 

We also did something "unusual" this year, in that we flew to Hawaii and visited with friends on both the Big Island and Oahu.  What a treat that was!  Nice to have friends in far away places to invite you to come and play with them!  ;-)  We also were able to catch up with some of our RV'ing friends this year as well.  We've made some wonderful friendships along the way, and we've managed to maintain them, seeing them from time to time.  All of them have "sticks 'n bricks" homes besides their RVs so we can often find them there, if not on the road!  Several of them have made plans to travel with us this year, so we are really looking forward to that!

What will this year bring?  Another trip back east, that we know for sure.  We have a wedding in September to attend...and I really miss seeing my east coast grandchildren.  The route and the states in between are yet to be planned...and that's half the fun!  As I write this we are in Florida, just returning from a wonderful Caribbean Cruise (a great way to start the year, don't you think?), but that's another blog...

I just read a great little ditty from a fellow RV'er (J Dwag) that I thought really summed up "our life" perfectly, so wanted to share it here: 

It's titled:  "I'm not a camper, I'm an RVer"

• I don't sleep on the ground under the stars. I sleep in a bed under the AC.
• I don't cook on an open fire. I cook on a stove or in the microwave.
• I don't watch the stars.  I watch TV.
• I don't set up camp.  I park the RV and plug in.
• I don't bathe in a river or take a cold bucket show.  I wash in my shower.
• I don't look at the sky for the weather.  I check my smartphone.
• I don't swat flies.  I surf the web.
• I don't sit on a log. I sit on a leather couch or recliner.

I still get to see many of the same great natural views and see many beautiful places.  I still take hikes, sit by lakes, and enjoy the outside.  I just do it with an RV near by.  Is this all bad?  I don't think so.  I've been in both worlds.  I liked camping and I like RVing.  Its just a different way of doing the same thing.  I suppose you could be both.  But for me, things changed and now I'm an RVer.

...so the new year begins, thanks for follow along with us!  Marie

Last days of Yellowstone...

Weather here has been a mixture of sun, rain and even a little hail!  June, to me, seems like the beginning of summer, but here in this part of Wyoming, it’s still springtime.  The great thing about that is things are still happening...like wildflowers blooming, calves and cubs are up and following their mamas, baby birds are getting their feathers and are starting their flying lessons, and there are less tourist to see all this!  But...the weather is unpredictable too.  So, you flow with it, grabbing a jacket with a hood even though it might be sunny when you start out, or, spending a day “off” and writing while you watch the hail come thumping down all around. 

The campground at Yellowstone is quite different from the one at Grand Tetons.  Actually, Jack and I agree that the two parks are quite different from each other, both in looks as well as how they are run.  As for looks, apart from the obvious geology, Yellowstone suffered a huge fire back in 1988 and the scars are still noticeable today.  It’s sad to drive so many miles and see millions of trees laying dead all around you; looking so much like a child’s messy room with his Tinker Toys thrown about in big bunches.  It can’t help but take away some of the beauty.  The RV campground at Yellowstone is pretty much a large parking lot with RVs parked back to back with a pine tree between each of you.  Old Tarmac slabs with just enough room to park your toad beside your rig.  The Tarmac roads to each of the areas are full of pot holes and bumps, from the harsh winters I would suppose.  As I shared previously about the Grand Tetons campground, it was laid out more natural with lots of trees and a stronger feeling of camping in a forest.  Better kept roads, but since the “slabs” were “natural” they weren’t very level though either.  Yellowstone being so large, it has many more Lodges and therefore more Gift Shops, places to eat, etc.  It seems a little more “family oriented” here, more towards children’s activities, interests, items, etc than at the Grand Tetons, we did see less children there as well.  Here it’s been fun to see so many small children seeing the animals and geysers, excited, learning, having fun and making new friends to play with.

We finished up our last days with a few sights at Inspiration Point, getting a little more of the views from that gorgeous “painted” canyon and waterfalls.  Checking out the “Glacial Boulder”, a huge granite boulder that got scooped up from the Beartooth Mountains by a glacier and deposited here some 80,000 years ago that still sits among some trees by the side of the road.  I caught a glint of white on the side of the rocky North Rim and aimed my telephoto lens on it and saw that it was a mountain goat, so took a couple of shots of it as well. Earlier in the day, a fellow photographer had his large telephoto set up on a tripod, waiting.  I took a look in that direction and spotted what he had, a large Osprey nest with mom keeping her little ones warm beneath her.  My 300 lens could only get a fair shot of her, but I took it anyway.  A little something is better than nothing!

We ended out stay with a special dinner treat at the luxurious Lake Yellowstone Hotel (c1895). “A buttercup behemoth that sets romantics aflutter; that harks back to a bygone era.” is how it is described in the tour book...and that’s pretty true.  A historic way to end our stay...

...one the road again in Wyoming,   Marie


If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

It takes all kinds!

One of the pleasures of our travels have been staying as such a variety of places.  We've stayed at RV Parks that have been small family-run enterprises that were filled with activities for both the young and the not so young. Some tree-lined with gravel sites and some commercial ones that were very large with paved sites and little shade.  We've parked along rivers, parks, beaches, at a farm, at a service dealer's parking lot, next to a friend's home and in cities.  We've been able to listen to a jam session, a DJ, a bingo game, the rain and thunder and a great frog concert.  We've sat around wonderful log fires, watched tug boats along the shoreline, watched a light show, seen beautiful sunrises and sunsets, watched fireflies darting about, and had great conversations with fellow travelers.  Each special and unique.  However, all that said, I have to say that the park we selected in Ashland OR was the most unique one yet.

For those of you from my era, do you remember the 60's "hippie communes"?  "Love, Peace & Brotherhood".  Well, the Jackson Wellsprings RV Park is the closest thing to one that I have come across since then!  Now, I'm not saying that's bad, I'm just sharing that it's unique (in this day & age especially).  When I was researching places to stay for the few days we were planing to stay in the area, I had come across their website and it appeared like a nice modern park that had a great hot springs pool.  Soaking in a natural pool sounded good to me, so I gave them a call!  When I told her the type and size of our motorhome & toad, I asked her if that would be any problem, she said it wouldn't and to come in at any time before 11pm.

When we drove in on Monday, we were greeted by the camp hostess and told that the office wasn't open until 6pm, but that we could go ahead and park at our site until then.  She showed us our site and also explained that it was "ladies night" at the pool so I would have to be the one checking us in.

The site was a bit of a challenge, but Jack managed to pull it off ok.  The grounds were pretty rugged, to say the least.  Hard to describe.  More like a very large dirt area that had been leveled (at one time, a long time ago) and turned into a parking lot of sorts for the various modes of living accommodations.  Cable, power and water was strung up at each site, but even that was pretty hap-hazardly done, but nonetheless, it was available.  Our neighbors were friendly, at least the ones we saw.  "Sun Eagle" came by a couple of times to briefly chat.  Around us were trailers, some very old, some a bit newer, there were a few converted buses, old motorhomes, a yurt as well as some small cabins.  They were in the process of building or remodeling (I couldn't tell) the main lodge.

At 6:30pm I ventured over to the office to meet up with the personnel and see what was going on.  "Wisdom" was very nice and after taking payment shared about the hot spring.  She said it was "bathing suit optional" with lockers available in the adjacent room, and to "enjoy!"  I decided to join the other ladies and give my body a much needed relaxing soak.  At any given time, there were about 25 females from about 12 to 70 years old chatting, sitting, or just relaxing underneath the winter's sky.  While the building had sides and nice shower rooms, it didn't have a ceiling, so traversing from one area to another proved to be quite brisk!  Some hardy ones even went into the non-heated swimming pool!  "Not I" said this So Cal Chick!  After my soak and star gazing I did my best at finding my way back to our site.  There were no lights once you got beyond the lodge and with my tiny flashlight, all the various pathways looked pretty much the same.  After a few wrong turns, I finally spotted our rig!  How could I miss it, it was the biggest and brightest in the area!

This unique park brought us lots of giggles and fun stories to share with our families and one more experience to add to our adventure...you just never know what the next stop will bring, and that's the joy of this, after all, isn't it?

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can on my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/sets/

...on the road in Oregon,   Marie