We arrived home four weeks ago (it's been a month already!). Fortunately when we arrived in our court, there were no cars parked on the street. We hold our breath every time we arrive home after these trips. Our court has a narrow entrance with a round about circle at the end (where our home is). So we have to back the trailer into the court and into our driveway. The roundabout circle is in the way and we have to actually drive onto it to straighten up the trailer to fit into the driveway. It is quiet a procedure. But we always manage it (Dave does that is).
The first weekend upon our arrival we unpacked the trailer, cleaned the inside, laundered all the linens and towels, and washed and cleaned the outside. We drove it back to the storage place on Saturday.
When we unpacked the trailer we put everything in our spare bedroom and closed the door and forgot about it for a few days (except for the laptops). After that first weekend we attacked it. We sorted through our clothes, washed them and put them away. Sorted through all the stuff and put them back in their places (if we could remember where it all was supposed to be.) Then we went through all the new ‘stuff’ we bought. This was fun because as we purchased the stuff we packed it away somewhere in the trailer and forgot about it. Now it is like Christmas as we open it all up and remember the places we visited and the adventures we had. Some of the stuff we purchased were Christmas gifts (thinking ahead). That stuff we put away. The rest of the stuff we found places for. Most of it was garden décor.
Now to the gardens and yard. In order to find places for the garden décor we had to, of course, clean up the yards to make room for it. It was a jungle out there! Our house sitter did some weeding in front, but we told him not to bother with the back. The back was overgrown and full of weeds. We slowly worked on both the front and back over the last four weeks. And today, we are still working on the yards. We have been busy enjoying the summer!
We also revisited friends and family and got reacquainted with our home town. I (Jo) also joined the Cotati Farmer's Market selling my jewelry and bead fashions one day a week. In the last four months there have been changes in the area; like there is major highway construction going on (adding an additional lane, both ways). The California hills were lush green when we left. Now they are golden and the vineyards are all full of leaves. It’s all so beautiful. THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!
TRIP SUMMARY
As we look back on the last four months (we have to check our notes, pictures and BLOG to remember it all) we are so grateful to have the opportunity to explore our country and visit all these wonderful sights and meet so many nice people.
We experienced 30 degree weather and 98 degree with 100% humidity. We had rain storms with one tornado warning and a surprise snow blizzard that kept us in Oklahoma City for an extra day. We had windy days where we could not put our awning out; but one day started out calm and we put our awning out only to come home after a sudden, strong wind came up and found our awning broken and draped over the top of our trailer. We learned to observe all the other trailers around you when you arrive at an RV park. If they do not have their awnings out, do not put yours out.
We traveled along Historic Route 66 (Highway 40) and saw lots of sights and oddities like Marsh’s Cadillac Ranch in Texas and the leaning water tower outside Britten, Texas. We spent time at both “Happiest Places in the World”; Disneyland (CA) and Walt Disney World (FL).
We also traveled across the desert in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the plains and open fields in Oklahoma, the rolling hills in Arkansas and Virginia where we saw signs of Spring; trees everywhere full of pink and white blossoms. We went back into history in Virginia and Washington DC and finally saw the cherry blossoms in DC. We saw the Atlantic Ocean, experienced summer along the East Coast with high temps and high humidity and saw the wild horses on Assateague Island off the coast of Virginia and also discovered SMITH ISLAND CAKE on this Island. We crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, the largest bridge-tunnel complex in the world!
We spent 15 days traveling the 469 miles of the BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY starting in Virginia, through North Carolina to Tennessee. We camped and visited nine towns and villages along the Parkway and visited many attractions around these areas.
We saw massive Oak trees in Georgia and South Carolina, Civil War battlegrounds in Tennessee, toured caverns in Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. We drove through wheat country where the open landscape in Missouri and Kansas was dotted with farms and wheat silos. As we headed west to home, we entered the high country and viewed snow capped mountains in Colorado and Wyoming and drove through the prairies of Wyoming. This is cowboy country with lots of open space with horse and cattle ranches between the towns. We visited the Charleston family history sites in Wyoming and Nevada.
We visited with my (Jo) family in Florida and Dave’s family in Nevada.
We saw some great life size fiberglass street art throughout the country; "Hoof Prints of the American Quarter Horse" in Armarillo, Texas; "Spirit of the Buffalo" in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Bears in Cherokee, North Carolina;
We had three crisis; our trailer awning was destroyed by the wind in New Mexico and we had two flat tires on the trailer in Tennessee and Nevada. A surprise solution to the awning disaster happened at a dumpster in the RV park we stayed at in Oklahoma City. Dave was dumping some trash and he found a damaged awning. But it had the parts we needed to fix our damaged awning. It was comforting to know that the Travel Gods are watching over us.
OTHER FACTS
The average price we paid for gas was $2.54 a gallon. The highest price was in Austin, Nevada at $3.34 per gallon. The lowest price was in Columbia, Missouri at $2.40 per gallon.
1. Traveled for 114 days
2. We traveled a total of 14,256 miles; 9,458 miles towing the trailer
3. Visited 21 states; California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. And Washington D C (don’t know if that is counted as a State or a City).
4. Visited 69 cities, towns, villages
5. Visited 14 Zoos,
6. Visited 4 Botanical gardens
7. Visited 1 Aquarium
8. Visited 9 Museums
9. Visited 16 National Parks, Monuments, State Parks, etc
10. Visited 45 Other Attractions (such as amusement parks, shopping malls, wineries, caverns, sightseeing stuff, etc.)
11. Attended 2 events
12. Most favorite place: The state of Tennessee (we did and saw a lot in this state) and the Blue Ridge Parkway
13. Least favorite place: Gatlinburg, TN (Tacky Tourist Town outside of Smokey Mountain NP)
14. Best attraction: West Memphis Zoo, Tennessee Aquarium, and North Carolina Zoo.
15. Worst attraction: None really. The Williamsburg Pottery Factory was a bit of a disappointment. It was more like a discount junk store than a place where pottery was made. But we did buy some nice pottery there.
16. Best RV Parks: Country Waye RV Resort, Luray, Virginia
17. Worst RV Parks: Holly Bluff Family Campground, Asheboro, North Carolina;
Raccoon Holler Campground, Glendale Springs, North Carolina
RV PARKS AND CAMPGROUNDS
In researching for RV parks to stay at we look through two RV Park Directories that we have, and we search online. You have to read between the lines when reading the RV Park descriptions and checking out the pictures. The pictures are of the few best parts of the park and the descriptions are often exaggerated and sometimes out right lies.
There is a RV Review website where people can post their impressions and experiences www.rvparkreview.com . We carefully check this out too, but again you have to read between the lines. There is also ‘google earth’ and www.vpike.com . These websites take you right to the street at any address you enter. You can ‘walk’ up and down the street to see what is around any RV park you want to stay at. We look for railroad tracks, truck stops, bus stations, etc. Anything that would make ongoing noise and traffic.
Our rating system: 1 – Yuck, 2 – Poor, 3 – Fair, 4 – Good, 5 - Excellent
We make our own ratings of each RV parks we stay at based on the time of year we stay there, our impressions and experience. The same RV park may have one rating in the Summer, but a different rating in the Spring time. In the early spring you may have the park to yourself, your choice of sites and peace and quiet. In the summer time, weekends and holidays the park may be full with trailers close together and loud kids running around. The season may make a difference on how nice your stay will be.
The park will get a high rating if it has a nice layout, is clean with no junk or trash laying around, is nicely landscaped, no permanent residents (sometimes these residents are loud, have junky trailers and stuff piled around). The bathrooms must be clean and in good shape and the showers private and free (the RV parks in Canada all charge for shower use). There must be cable TV with lots of channels and free wireless for your laptops at your site with a good strong connection.
We listen to our instinct. If you get that nice fuzzy, cozy and comfortable feeling, we rate high. Sometimes you just get that uneasy feeling that this is not going to be a nice place; you feel uncomfortable and unsafe (and we are usually right when that happens). The place will get a low rating. We also rate low if the park is unorganized, the sites are not clearly marked, the trailers are too close together, if it is noisy (too close to the highway, trains are running close by), if the staff is rude and not helpful, the bathrooms are old and dirty, and the showers are out in the open with no privacy (if I have to sponge bathe from my trailer sink). We also rate low if there is no cable TV and the wireless connection is poor or there is none.
Visit our RV Park review blog at: http:// charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/
This is the most stressful part of trailer traveling. Even after all our research and thinking we made reservations at a nice place; many times we are disappointed. Staying at a bad RV Park is stressful and can ruin your whole visit to that area. By the end of our trip we are exhausted and never want to see an RV park again.
But we love Trailer Traveling and we will do it again and again.
OUR NEXT ADVENTURE
..is in the planning stages. We have 11 more states left to explore with our trailer; Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. We want to visit these states in the fall. So next year in 2011, during the months of July, August, September, and October; we will trailer travel through northern USA to visit Wisconsin and Michigan, then to the East Coast to visit Delaware and New Jersey, then north through the New England states to see the fall colors. We also hope to go into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada. Our return trip will be through the mid USA to visit Ohio and Nebraska, then head south to Arizona and come home through Southern California.
Be sure to check out our BLOG to follow our new adventure in 2011!
http://2011-charleston-trailer-tripping.blogspot.com/
‘TILL WE MEET AGAIN...
In 1978 I was attacked by the ‘travel bug’ when I took my first solo trip; 3 weeks in Europe. That ‘bug’ has never left me. I wrote this when I returned home from that trip.
“There is no place like home;
but even better there is no place like
the adventures of traveling,
the freedom to do it,
the independence and strength to cope with it,
the heart to love it,
the enthusiasm to learn all you can,
the memories to bring home and share, and
the desire to do it again and again.”
.... Joanna Tobin, 1978
Okay, okay...I did not quit my day job. I was still ‘high’ from my trip when I wrote it. But the feelings from that quote are still with me today.
This one is a better quote:
“Beauty, spiced with wonder, is the greatest lure to travel”
.....Confucius
See you next year!
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