Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Home

July 11, 2012

We had intended to spend two nights on the road. But when we told the GPS to "go home" and it said that we would be home by 5:53, we thought we'd try to do it all in one swell foop. Our actual time of arrival on Monday July 9th was 5:17. Good work Rick!

It seems strange to be home. SiSi was confused at first, but quickly slipped back into her old routines. She really doesn't understand why she was allowed to jump into bed with us in the mornings in the RV, but is now banned from the bed at home.

It sure is great to sleep in my nice big king sized bed. My first non-navy shower was wonderful. Rick got the hot tub up and running yesterday. We enjoyed a soak under the stars last night while listening to the gators and the crickets.

We'll take a short trip (2-3 weeks) in the Fall. But we're already beginning to plan our "big trip" to begin in January 2013. We're heading west and expect to be gone for 9 to 10 months. Our rough itinerary has us heading out by the Southern route with stops in New Orleans and Alabama before spending a month in Texas. From there we'll hit New Mexico and Arizona and head up the coast of California to wine country and Yosemite. Next we'll visit Nevada and Utah before heading North, hoping to arrive in Yellowstone about July 1st. We'll explore Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota before heading east, arriving in Mystic, CT by early October. We're trying to visit all the national parks as well as all the presidential libraries and museums. We obvioulsly won't see them all in this trip, but we're going to try to make a dent in the list. If anyone has any suggestions for "must see" places along the way, please weigh in. You can send me an email or leave a comment on this blog post.

I appreciate all the positive feedback that I've received from everyone about my blog. Removing the privacy controls and posting the links on facebook has dramatically increased the number of page hits and readers who access the blog. The blogspot website allows me to see where my readers are coming from. Most hits come from the links I post on facebook. But, mysteriously, I seem to have acquired regular readers in Russia, Germany, and the UK. Someone from China logged on yesterday! Who are you guys and how did you find me????

Final Statistics:

Total Miles Travelled: 6113
Average MPG: 8
Highest Price Paid for Gas: $3.99 in Chicago
Lowest Price paid for Gas: $2.97 in South Carolina
Best Campground: Lakewood Camping Resort in Myrtle Beach
Worst Campground: Cracker Barrel in Fishkill NY where we "camped" next to the septic tank and woke to the sound (and smell) of it being pumped.
Highest Campground Price: $78.40 at Lakewood Camping Resort
Lowest Campground Price: $17.30 at Indiana Dunes State Park
Highest Temperature: 106
Lowest Temperature: 46
Best Beer: Matt's Home Brew
Best Wine: Lockwood at Blob's house
Best Meal: Trenton Lobster Pound
Worst Meal: McDonald's on the Road
Percentage of Campgrounds with trains nearby: OK, someone with better math skills than mine will have to help me, but, not counting Cracker Barrels and people's driveways, we stayed in 17 campgrounds. Nine had noise from nearby trains. Eight didn't. "A bit more than 50%" is the best my Bryn Mawr math can do.

3 comments:

  1. Enjoy the hot tub, I sure miss being in it and hearing the gators. Glad you had a nice trip. Loved the stats.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have enjoyed the blog. Im travelling vicariously through your blog. Maybe next trip we can catch up for crabs. Im on a cruise and we are in Port Canaveral today and spent the day at Cocoa beach. You just left my state and Im vacationing in yours. Lol

    ReplyDelete