FTJ, Entry 120: Summing Up Our Fantastic RV Journey

Here we are, one year and one hundred and twenty blog entries later. And so the time has come to create a retrospective entry of reflections and conclusions about our big trip. 

Herein, all the statistics and conclusions from our Fantastic RV Journey of 2010-2011. 

But first, the big picture, as shown roughly by the map below (thanks, Barbara):

Summing up the key details:

• We started this RV adventure September 15, 2010. We returned to Stamford on September 27th, 2011. 
• We were RV-ing a total of... 377 days (Was this a leap year? Eh, close enough).
• We traveled through 33 states.
• Beau drove Har-V the Mar-V RV 15,728 miles and towed the Malibu (the "Bu") the same amount.
• We also drove the Bu an additional 15,000 miles.
• We stayed at (unbelievable) a total of 86 RV Parks. 
• We estimate we ate at more than 200 restaurants around the country.
• We visited 15 National Parks, as follows:

1. Everglades NP
2. Carlsbad Caverns NP
3. Arches NP 
4. Bryce Canyon NP 
5. Canyonlands NP 
6. Zion NP 
7. Grand Canyon NP 
8. Yosemite NP 
9. Redwood NP 
10. Crater Lake NP
11. Olympic NP
12. Glacier NP 
13. Yellowstone NP
14. Grand Teton NP 
15. Badlands NP

(Now that we are in Philadelphia, we can add a 16th to the list: Valley Forge National Park.)

We also visited numerous National Historic Landmarks. The following is not an all-inclusive list, mainly because we probably forgot some:

• Arizona: Tombstone Historic District
• California: Balboa Park; San Simeon Estate; Hotel del Coronado; Mendocino Woodlands
• Colorado: Silverton Historic District
• Florida: Fort Zachary Park; Ernest Hemingway House; Hotel Ponce de Leon; Pelican Inland Refuge; Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Home; St. Augustine Historic District
• Louisiana: New Orleans Garden District; Jackson Square; Oak Alley Plantation; Shadows on the Teche (New Iberia)
• Michigan: Fort Mackinaw; the Grand Hotel; Mackinac Island; Soo Locks
• Montana: Going to the Sun Road
• New Mexico: Santa Fe Historic District; Santa Fe Palace of Governors
• North Carolina: Fort Fisher; Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitors Center
• Oregon: Columbia River Highway
• South Carolina: Charleston Historic District (which includes many, many historic landmarks)
• South Dakota: Deadwood Historic District
• Texas: The Alamo; Historic IJN Ko-hyoteki class Midget Submarine (part of the Pearl Harbor attack); Mission Concepcion, San Antonio
• Washington: Chinook Point

No point listing the state parks, because we would be here forever. There were tons -- and all of them beautiful.

The Budget Review (AAAARGH)

Can two impulsive spendthrifts change their ways and stick to a strict budget for a year? Hell no. During our amazing trip we spent...well, we spent a correspondingly amazing amount of money, going over our original budget by somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Yikes. 

I think that's enough said about money matters, actually. Hope someone out there can take us in when we are broke...in a few years.

Picking Our Favorites

Reviewing the past year, we thought it might be fun -- and perhaps helpful for others -- to pick out our favorite places and RV parks. But boy, this was tough, in that there have been SO many.

Favorite Places, Laura:

Myrtle Beach, SC

St, George Island, FL

Carrabelle, FL
Carlsbad Caverns, NM 
Arches National Park, UT

Big Sur, CA
Basically most of the southern California coast

Napa, CA

Montana -- nearly every place we went

Wapiti Valley, Wyoming
Badlands, SD

Favorite RV Parks, Laura:

Carrabelle RV Resort, Carrabelle, FL
Fort Wilderness RV Park, Disneyworld

Heritage RV Resort, Orange Beach, AL

The Palms RV Resort, Yuma, AZ

Outdoor Resorts Pacific Shores, Newport, OR

Polson Motorcoach Resort, Polson, MT

Favorite Experiences, Laura:

Seeing Myrtle Beach for the first time

Hanging out at Schooner Wharf Bar (again) in Key West, and hearing Michael McCloud sing (again)
Having to stop on the highway to let a cattle drive move through -- so special, so fun

Seeing a coyote in Yellowstone National Park

Whitewater rafting
Visiting Francis Ford Coppola's Rubicon winery in Napa -- bliss -- and seeing his Tucker automobiles
Spending the day in charming Mendocino and getting to hear the rehearsals for the town's opera festival
Seeing Mount Rushmore
Our jaw-dropping drives through amazing, astounding scenery, particularly in the West

Favorite Places, Beau:

All of Laura's, plus:
Gettysburg, PA
Arlington National Cemetery, VA
The National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL.

All the National Parks we visited (they are a credit to the foresight of Teddy Roosevelt et. al., and to the National Park Service that runs them. Imagine me giving credit to a gummint agency!!)

Seattle, WA

Polson, MT

South Dakota: Badlands, Black Hills, Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore--virtually everything we saw in this state

Favorite RV Parks, Beau:

All of Laura's, plus:

Melbourne Beach RV Resort, Melbourne Beach, FL

Beverly Beach RV Resort, Flagler Beach, FL (directly, and I mean DIRECTLY on the Atlantic Ocean)

Blue Water Key RV Resort, Key West, FL

Holiday Park Campground, Traverse City, MI

Favorite Experiences, Beau:

Personal guided tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield

The Forest Festival parade in Elkins, West VA
Going to the Florida-SC SEC game in "the swamp" -- even though the Gators lost 
Eating BBQ at the Salt Lick outside Austin, TX

And "what she said": Our jaw-dropping drives through amazing, astounding scenery, particularly in the West.

Beau Waxes Philispohical

A few thoughts from our incredible trip:

I am stunned at the VASTNESS of this country of ours. I was gratified to have met so many wonderful, friendly, helpful people along the way. I am equally amazed at the indescribable beauty of these United States.

I could go on, but instead I'll list the key things that stick in my mind that we were privileged to witness: 

• Waking up in the morning looking right out the front window of our RV at the open Atlantic Ocean in Beverly Beach, FL.
• The "we should bottle this" turquoise color of the water of the Florida Keys on a sunny day.
• The surprisingly undeveloped panhandle of Florida, particularly Carrabelle, where the oysters are so fresh and succulent, the shrimp all wild and fresh-caught, and where a little neighborhood BBQ joint serves up the best ribs I've ever had, including my own home-smoked. Oh -- and where in February we had a beach nearly to ourselves.
• The most indescribable sunset I ever saw in my life, on the beach in Destin, FL.
• The Salt Lick Barbeque experience, outdoors under the trees with a kickin' Austin blues band playing, out in Driftwood, TX.
• The horizon-to-horizon "nothingness" of parts of New Mexico.
• Crossing the Continental Divide, which we wound up doing probably 10 times.
• The nail-biting edge-of-the-mountainside rides up to the old mining town of Silverton, CO, and Glacier National Park, MT, both very light on guardrails. In fact, there were hardly any. 
• The spectacular Columbia River Gorge and learning about the massive natural forces that created it. 
• Cape Disappointment and Cape Foul Weather (talk about appropriately named places) in Oregon.
• Standing on the very tip of Cape Flattery, WA, the most northwestern point in the lower 48 states, realizing that we had also stood at the southernmost point in the country in Key West, all in one trip.
• The fabulous view from the #1 deluxe RV site in Polson, MT, which overlooked the glacier-streaked Mission Mountains and the lovely blue expanse of Flathead Lake.  
• The Badlands of South Dakota, which seemed comparable to being on the moon. 
• The miles and miles of gorgeous rolling green farmland of southern Minnesota.
• Seeing all the Great Lakes -- except Ontario -- in the space of one week.

There are so many others I could list, but you get the idea. This was indeed the trip of a lifetime; in short, a Fantastic Journey. I am so glad we did it. And I couldn't think of a better person to have experienced all this with than my wife Laura. Spending 24/7 together for 377 days in a 36-foot-long fiberglass box? Not many couples could have survived this kind of a test. And we thrived on it. 

The proof is in the pudding -- I want to keep on truckin'.

And so the journey continues...and we will try to blog from time to time, to stay in touch and share more of our unique experiences.

Till then...

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 119: Yankees Go Home

First things first. An oddity we saw on the way from Bath, NY, to Stamford, CT:

Now these are PUMPKINS.

Anyway...we had a wonderful reunion in Stamford, CT, with a great bunch of our old friends. Everyone looked fabulous, although once again the camera disappointed when taking photos indoors. I need another new one. 

But take my word for it, everyone looked great. 

The return to the old stomping grounds was a bit surreal at first. Took a bit of time -- well, in reality, just a few minutes -- to get back into the old familiar patterns. Some of those patterns are best not spoken of, however....

Our gracious hosts and dear friends, Robert and Barbara Karp. You threw a great party, guys!

From bottom left: Robert Karp, Doug Karp, Jack Condlin, Mark D'Ariano, Beau. (Who the guy is over Jack's shoulder in the reflection, I have no idea.)

From left, front row: Allison Gagliardi, Jennifer D'Ariano; Donna Devaul; back row: Kathy Karp; Barbara Karp, me, Alyssa Gagliardi.

A bad photo of us holding the map of our trip, which Barbara made for us.

Who are these attractive people? Oh yeah! Our old pals, the Condlins. (And of course, the king of beers as the preferred libation for Jack.)

Long-time sweetie pal Donna Devaul

The gang's all here...

...and here.

We were very touched people took time out of their week to join us for dinner, and we consider ourselves truly blessed to have such wonderful friends. We missed all of them during the past year.

We are currently up in Clinton, CT, visiting Beau's son Chris, his wife Bailey, and our grandchild Kyle. Cannot believe how Kyle, who is 3 1/2, has grown. And how sophisticated his (nonstop) verbal skills are. What a cutie patootie. Loved seeing them all.

Kyle loves his tractor.

Dad and boy, chilling. Love the Yankees hat. Beau adds: How 'bout those Yankees, Jack and Barbara?!

According to Chris, the best entertainment for Kyle is this $6 shovel.

Kyle walks Buddy on the beach.

All I can say is I am glad I did not have to participate in this.

We know who wins this race...

Three generations of Beaudrys. Odd how the spark from the fire was captured in the shot.

Kyle, finishing up one of his drives. He had to get "the bus" under control, he said.

So Kyle said to me: "Lala, have you ever seen a basement like THIS before?"

Now, If Only We Knew Where We Are Going...and Going to End Up

Part of the purpose of our grand adventure around the United States was to figure out where we wanted to live going forward. Ha. You guessed it. No clue.

We're not sure where we will be for the next few weeks, but we do have a plan to be in Myrtle Beach, SC, in late October. Then we are hopefully spending the winter (a month at a time) in various Florida locales till May.


THEN what the heck are we going to do??

Stay tuned.


Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 119: Traverse-ing Michigan -- and a Disappointment in Bath

As we approach the end of the last leg of our 'round the country journey (Beau calls it the Fantastic Journey), we are becoming increasingly depressed. The trip of a lifetime is over.

 

We are currently in Bath, NY, where we had a disappointing day. We came here solely because there is a Camping World that could install a satellite dish and enable us to get Direct TV -- or so we thought. After four conversations with their service department, which assured us we would be "happy campers," we dropped off the rig, forcing us to spend the day homeless. Four hours later, we got a call telling us that during the installation of the new satellite dish, the service department discovered we could not watch Direct TV in high def unless all the TVs were watching the same channel. Kind of defeated the purpose of getting satellite TV functionality. Beau wanted it for football, I wanted it for the movie channels. Dag nab it.

So there was a whole day wasted. And a lot of sadness from Captain Beau about not being able to see every college football game in the universe. (But he was happy that the Giants whomped the Eagles in Philly on Sunday....)

Working backwards a few days, let me very briefly review (in photos) our stop after Mackinaw City, Michigan: a lovely town calledTraverse City. We stayed at a terrific lakefront campground -- Holiday Park -- a place we would certainly be tempted to visit again. Wooded sites surrounding peaceful Silver Lake, near a nice downtown with everything you would need.

If you want to be in Michigan, this is not a bad place.

There were lots of black squirrels at our campground. We wondered if they were indigenous to the area.

This baby snapping turtle was in the road and, worried for his safety, I put him on the muddy beach along the lake. Snappers are special to me, in that I had a baby snapping turtle when I was a child. We fed him minnows and raw hamburger. His name was Harvey. His short life was very dramatic, but that's another story.

One of the campers had a parrot -- left outside his cage. He was quiet but seemed a bit depressed.

Heading east, we traveled through the lovely city of Cleveland, Ohio.
I was there years ago -- a very impressive town.

After a one-night stay in Ohio, we traveled through the northwest corner of Pennsylvania and were soon in New York State. The scenery immediately looked familiar to me -- reminded me of where I grew up.

 

In Bath, NY, we stayed at a nice campground, Hickory Hill.

After our short and disappointing stay in Bath, we will point the rig toward Connecticut. Stamford, here we come! 

We'll post photos from our reunion with our good friends next time.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 118: Pure Michigan...Boredom?

We have not blogged in quite a while, mainly because there was not a whole lot to say. After the wondrous Badlands, we whipped through the rest of South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, landing in Michigan...in the middle of nowhere: the Upper Peninsula (that separate part of the state right above Wisconsin). Jesus Mary and Joseph, it is remote -- and sooooo BORING. I liked one comment I saw online that I will steal to describe the Upper Peninsula.: "Unless you are in the witness protection program, there is nothing here for you." Precisely how I felt about the "U.P." The Yoopers, as the locals are called, apparently live there solely to fish, hunt, and ride ATVs and snowmobiles. Blecch. Sounds like hell on earth to yours truly.

Beau adds: While we breezed right through southern Minnesota, it was through some of the most beautiful, picturesque rolling green farmland you can possibly imagine. Boring, but beautiful. I think Laura napped thru most of it because there are no pictures of it. DANG!

We stayed in the most remote part of Yooper land just long enough (one night -- we shortened our stay) for Beau to see the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and the locks in Sault Sainte Marie, known as Soo Locks. Whoopee.

Okay, the story of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior was interesting...along with all the other stories of wrecks and the courageous lifesavers out on Whitefish Point. (Hey, Beau enjoyed it.)

As the sign says, since navigation began on Lake Superior, there have been more than 550 wrecks. More vessels were lost in the Whitefish Point area than any other part of Lake Superior. Apparently, there is more congestion here and more visibility issues from fog, forest fires, and snow. Add that to the fact that the lake can build up some huge and dangerous waves -- can you spell disaster?

Whitefish Point on Lake Superior was the site of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, made famous by the singer Gordon Lightfoot. And if you have never heard of this song or of Lightfoot, you are culturally illiterate. (Just kidding, of course. You're just younger than us. And it pisses us off....)

The light at Whitefish Point.

Bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald.

A beautiful Fresnel lens from the lighthouse.

On the Whitefish Point beach, Lake Superior.

Giant rudder from the ship MM Drake.

Some photos from Soo Locks, in Sault Ste. Marie, right across the river from Canada. The locks allow ships to travel from Lake Superior to other Great Lakes -- Lake Michigan.and Huron. Amazing technology, first installed here in 1855.

Soo Locks.

In the Soo Locks visitor center. The photo is an aerial view of the locks.

"Aw" Fudge!

Our next stops were Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. Back to civilization, huzzah huzzah! 

Here we found out that we would announce ourselves as tourists -- "Fudgies" -- if we pronounced the "c" at the end of the name of the island -- Mackinac is pronounced MackiNAW. Another educational lesson. Begs the question: Why not just name the damned island Mackinaw? Jeesh.

Oh yes, why "Fudgies"? BECAUSE THERE HAVE TO BE 40 FUDGE SHOPS IN MACKINAW CITY/MACKINAC ISLAND. It's ridiculous.

Fudge to the left of me, fudge to the right of me. For god's sake, enough already. There were big butts and big guts (ours included) up and down every street. Stop eating the fudge, people!

The tourists must buy fudge by the ton, apparently. But why they need so many shops, and how they support all of them, is beyond me. You would think some retail diversification would be good for the area -- and the tourists' waistlines.

You can tell I am a bit cranky. Been that way since we crossed the Mississippi River and headed east. I miss the West.  

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam....

But I digress.

Going over "Big Mac" -- what they call the bridge over the Straits of Mackinaw.

Our site at the Mackinaw City KOA -- nice park.

We spent a day at one of Mackinaw City's bigger tourist attractions, Colonial Michilimackinac, the site of a French fort dating from 1715 that became the major fur trading center of the Northwest until it was relocated to Mackinac Island by the British in 1781. It is now the site of the longest, ongoing historical archaeology program in the United States. Every summer since 1959, archaeologists have been excavating and analyzing discoveries from Michilimackinac.

At historic Colonial Michilimackinac. Again with the different spelling. Annoying.

Where is Beau's hand and why is this lady smiling?

It was very cold and windy the day we visited.

Beau and I think a sedan chair like this should be offered to us upon our arrival back in Stamford. You know, parade us around the neighborhood like visiting dignitaries. Then call 911 for the porters.

The ferry to Mackinac Island.

 

Big Mac from the water. It is an amazing structure -- the third longest suspension bridge in the world. It is the longest one between anchorages in the Western hemisphere. Beau seems to remember that the ferry boat pilot said the piling supports for the main towers are in 300 feet of water.

Nice view of the Mackinac Island shoreline.

 

The magnificent Grand Hotel on the island, where they filmed Somewhere in Time with Chris Reeves and Jane Seymour. A romantic place and a romantic movie. But they charge touristos like us 10 bucks apiece just to go inside and gawk. We passed...

 

The Grand, which at dinner requires ties and coats for gentlemen and dresses, no slacks, for ladies, is aptly named.

Some other photos from our trip to the island, and the carriage ride we took. No vehicles are allowed on Mackinac Island, adding to its quaint beauty. I think they said there were 300 working horses on the island. There are people whose job it is to run around with wheelbarrows and shovels to clean up after the creatures. The air on the island is quite fragrant, as you can imagine.

 

The typical look of an inn on the island. They are just drop-dead gorgeous, like the entire town.

 

Seabiscuit Cafe, where we lunched on the island. (How funny that I captured a Weight Watchers commercial on the TV by accident. A quest to stop the fudge?) The photo of Seabiscuit in the corner is significant, in that the original owner of the place-- a vet -- was there for that race and is behind Seabiscuit in the photo.

Love this shot of Beau and Buddy sleeping. This happens every morning.

We are now in Traverse City, Michigan. Kind of a nice place. And the park we are in, on Silver Lake, is one of the nicest we have been to yet. But the weather on the way here was depressing. First rainy day we have had in months.

On the Old Mission peninsula above Traverse City, alongside Lake Michigan.

Mission Point Lighthouse.

Lake Michigan was pretty low. Not sure why.

In one week, we will come full circle in our grand adventure -- back to the Karp's driveway in Stamford, Connecticut. We are SO excited to see all our friends and family. But we did not miss this cold damp weather. Yuck.

See all of you soon.

Tanks, Panky