We’ve turned the corner - a recap

We’ve gone as far north and west as we can and stay in the lower 48, so we’ve turned the corner and we’re heading back toward the southeast. Seems like a good time to recap our adventures and statistics so far. Actually I had intended to do it after 6 months but we were too busy, and while I’m still feeling too busy, its now or not at all!

We’ve been on the road for 11 months and it has been amazing.

We left Nanticoke, Maryland in September 2010 and proceeded SLOWLY through 14 states: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon, and finally Washington. We will now begin east and travel through Montana, Wyoming, a little in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, and back to Maryland. A circle taking 15 months. We are going back in November for mom’s 80th and Christian’s 2nd. We will stay through the Christmas holidays and hit the road again in January. The plan is to be gone for the cold months and then go back to the Bay for the summer before taking off again on another big circle.

A few summary facts:

We have stayed 340 nights in 39 campgrounds. The longest being 41 nights in Goodyear, Arizona; 34 nights in Sequim, Washington; and 33 nights in Benson, Arizona. There were plenty of one night stays as well as a week to ten days. My preference is for a week to ten days. It gives us time to just chill as well as see all the sights in the area. If we stay much longer then we worry about remembering the hitching and driving processes and if we stay less than a week, we either don’t chill or don’t see much.

Campground costs have ranged from $39 a night at Del Pueblo in Yuma, Arizona where we stayed for a week. The weekly cost is less than a nightly at most campgrounds and therefore another reason to stay a week. The lowest cost was $14 dollars at Diamond Lake in Kentucky which was a Passport America cost and $14 for the Escapee’s Ranch in Carlsbad, New Mexico. We have found Escapee’s to be a wonderful organization as they have terrific campgrounds, great members, awesome rally’s, and they manage our mail for us. If you are not an Escapee and you are on the road, you really should check it out. Passport America is a 50% off campground club which pays for itself after only a few nights. Some of the campgrounds have restrictions on dates and number of nights, but we still find it very useful in helping to keep our overall cost down. We have averaged around $23 dollars a night which is good since my budget was for $25 a night. However, we know that we are now heading into more expensive areas.

Diesel prices were $2.79 when we left Nanticoke, Maryland in September 2010. The highest was in California at $4.49 at Susanville, Cal. Now we are happy when we find anything under $4.(3.99) But those are few and far between. Hoping as we go east and that with the cost of oil going down, the cost of diesel will begin to drop. Of course Labor Day weekend is coming and the prices go up for the end of summer celebrations. And then the refineries increase prices due to winter heating costs. So who knows? But our average fuel cost was $400 a month and our budget was $425. We averaged 10 miles per gallon towing and 18 miles per gallon running around and we’ve traveled a total of 15,000 miles. We try to go less than 200 miles in any one day. The goal is to leave about 10:00 am, stop 1 or 2 times and set up by 3:30. When sight seeing we still get out about 10 and like to be back home by 4. Easy living!

Eating is a high point of this life style as it is a way to spend time with all the friends you meet on the road. Our grocery bill has averaged $425 a month and eating out has been $300 a month. Seems really high, but we had a few special eating out occasions which increased that average. Most months are closer to $200 a month for eating out. Of course that includes our afternoon stops for cobbler and coffee! We’ve had some terrific meals, but two of the best would have to be the steak we had at The Homestead Restaurant in Huntsville, Texas with Troy and the dinner we had at the Dockside Restaurant in Sequim, Washington with Michelle, Paul, and Christian. Both restaurants were incredible! Of course there has been lots of great little local spots as well.

We left Nanticoke with two goals: to reunite with family and friends from the past, and to see as much as possible of this great country.

As such we have spent time with four former bosses, uncles and numerous cousins, my 93 year old grandmother, my sister Sandra, people we had met in previous rallys, former colleagues and even previous students of mine. Now we can add many more  new friends that we have met on the road and thru blogging. The next circle around will include lots of people stops!

And the sights we have seen…oh my!

Low Country of South Carolina:

Full moon over Big Bend National Park:

White Sands National Park in New Mexico:

Eastern side of the Sierras in California:

Redwoods National Park, California:

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon:

Columbia River Gorge in Oregon:

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington:

And finally, Neah Bay, Washington, the farthest northwest US corner!

Its been quite a journey and we’ve loved every minute of it. We hope your journeys are just as wonderful.