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