Can we re-install 2020? This one has a virus...

2020 started fairly normal for us in Hobe Sound, Florida, at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. It is one of our favorite camping spots and we enjoy warm winter weather with some friends and relatives nearby. In mid-January we drove Max over to Tampa for the big Tampa RV Super Show. We always have a good time representing the Escapees RV Club, having unlimited access to the RV show for 6 days, and meeting many fellow RVers.

Back in December we had taken the big step of deciding it was time to buy a new tow car to replace our 2009 white Ford Escape Hybrid. Fewer and fewer cars these days are capable of being towed with all four wheels on the ground behind a motorhome, so after a lot of thought and research, we decided to get the new 2020 (also white) Ford Escape Hybrid. Just to be clear… "Escapees" is the RV Club. "Escape" is the car. Both words seem to fit our lifestyle pretty well!

Ford hasn't made a towable Escape since 2012, so the timing seemed perfect for us. However, the company that makes the "base plate" (attached to the frame of a towed car behind the front facia) didn't yet have a base plate for the new model. That said, if we loaned them our car, they would use it as a template to build and install the base plate for free! Sounds perfect -- but we had to get the car to Nebraska.

After searching our schedule and contemplating our travel options -- one of which was buying the car in Florida, driving to Nebraska in winter, waiting the estimated 5 days for the fabrication work and then driving back to Florida (in the winter!). We decided instead to purchase the car remotely in Nebraska and have the car delivered directly to the base plate manufacturer there. After several weeks of not being sure they could even successfully complete the task, and then some fabrication equipment failure/repair, they completed the work and we had the new car delivered to us in Florida.

We came *this* close to having a car, in Nebraska, that we couldn't tow behind the motorhome. Ugh! We were very glad we didn't opt to drive it to Nebraska ourselves as the job ended up taking 3 weeks. We sold the old car to "Escapee" RV friends we met at the Tampa RV Show, and they were thankfully willing to wait until February when we could confirm we had a new tow car available.

Old and new Ford Escapes

So luckily it all worked out!… and then the COVID-19 hit.

Before they shut down the Florida state parks where we spend much of the winter, we had moved to a private RV park near my dad in Gainesville. We had even embarked on a week-long car trip to meet up with Maren's mom Sheila in New Orleans. We were only there 3 days before the seriousness of COVID-19 became known and everything started to close up, so we cut the visit short. Then our private RV park stopped taking reservations, so we were lucky to have gotten in. We started social distancing, but we saw my dad almost daily and only risked grocery stores and an occasional take-out dinner. His dining room was already closed to visitors, but he could pick up takeout from his dining room for all 3 of us. His facility now has meals delivered to everyone's door.

Dinner with dad at Leonardo's Pizza in early March

Dinner at Antoines in New Orleans (our last meal sitting inside a restaurant in 2+ months)

When my dad's facility shut down completely to visitors and they (briefly) started stopping people at the Florida state border, we decided to go north early. Our backup RV park plan for our Raleigh stay (the county fairgrounds campground) was then closed, but luckily our preferred park (which can never commit to us until a few weeks ahead) finally called to say they had room for us because temp workers left the RV spaces when their jobs when away.

Normally we go thru Gaffney, SC, in mid April to get the major motorhome chassis/engine/generator maintenance done on our way to Raleigh, but we skipped it to get to Raleigh for a guaranteed spot. Gaffney called us a week after we arrived to say they would be closing down for awhile, so we did a mad dash over and got their last appointment. If we hadn't already arrived in Raleigh we would have been too far away to do this. One more thing checked off!

We are still in Raleigh and, other than our dental cleanings being cancelled, Maren was able to get her important MRIs/doctor appointments done and I have been able to my allergy shots. We have risked visits with my brothers and wives while here in Raleigh and consider them our "safe bubble". Everyone is healthy and being very careful. Both brothers already worked from home. Our 45-day, Missouri-to-Oregon RV caravan with 20 other coaches, due to start Memorial Day, was canceled. We have pushed that plan to next year and will try again.

So, hunkered down in Raleigh, we wait for the country to reopen and work on motorhome projects (currently enjoying our new 43" smart TV). We hope to salvage some of the summer and have been working on a travel plan that will still get us to the NW, but who knows what we will be able to see or do along the way. Maren has hopes that the zoos along our path will start to open up so at least we can see a few of those (we feel fairly safe in outdoor areas). Maren has already sourced some giraffe print cotton to make us zoo-themed masks.

We haven't canceled the late summer and fall plans, yet. Austin in late September through October is still on, hopefully with a dental cleaning. Next winter's reservations are a big concern as big parts of November, January and February are again in state parks and they were pretty quickly closed when the virus troubles began.

We hope you and your families are all safe and sound.

Jeffrey & Maren 

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Tie a bow on 2019!

Our final few months of 2019 were our typical pattern of wrapping up annual doc/dentist visits in Austin, TX, and then aiming the RV toward Florida for the winter months -- with a few exceptions. We enjoyed a lovely long weekend with my college roommate and her husband at their home on Padre Island. Our last visit 4 years ago had been all rain, but this one was great sunny weather and even a Gator football win :-)

We also snuck in a quick visit to Raleigh in early December for one final 2019 visit with my neurologist (all stable and good) with the added bonus of getting in a pre-holiday visit with Jeffrey's brother David and his family. Though we don't do much holiday decorating in the RV, I got my fill helping his wife and my good friend Mary put the final touches on their full-sized tree.

For Christmas itself, we flew out to spend a week in Portland, Oregon with mom, Sheila and her niece, Sarah. This is the first year without my Dad and thus a little bittersweet, but the four of us had a fun time staying at a waterfront resort and exploring the city -- generally eating our way around town, watching holiday-inspired movies, and visiting with my aunt Pat (dad's sister) and my cousin Sean. No surprise, we even managed to get over to the nearby Portland Zoo for their "night lights" event. Sad to say, but the giraffe were already tucked away due to the chilly temperatures.

Buddled up at the Zoo Lights event

All smiles after a great Christmas Eve dinner at Benihana

Below is our official 2019 Holiday Letter which provides the cliff notes of our year, though faithful followers of this blog will probably already know the scoop on everything!

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2019!

Maren and I enjoyed another big RV adventure year with the added bonus of it turning into a giraffe tour. Maren's love for giraffe has started causing minor adjustments to our routes to fit in any zoo she finds. 12 zoos this year and 2020 looks to be about the same. 🦒🦒🦒

Maren's father's health was declining last year and in January he took a turn for the worse, but Maren and I were with him and Sheila at the end. They have included us in many of their travels over three decades and we have had many great adventures together. Rick will be missed.

A few years back, a Norway cruise we had planned with them got canceled when he had a health emergency. After he passed, we were lamenting that we were never able to reschedule it with them before he got too ill. Turns out that the same cruise was being offered this year, so Sheila, Maren and I made some revisions to our respective plans and finally did that cruise with a 3 day stop in Iceland along the way. Both countries are beautiful and breathtaking. We saw stunning waterfalls, geysers, rifts in the earth crust, fjords, glaciers and days that never ended due to the high latitudes. Sheila got to ride an Icelandic horse and experience their unique tölt gait. We even got to Spitzbergen at 78° north, only 800 miles from the north pole. Basically another experience that cameras just can't capture.

Us in colorful Trondheim, Norway

This year's RV plan was to explore a little of Colorado and New Mexico (via Iowa Winnebago service and their national rally). Due to some medical issues and wild weather, our plans shifted a little here and there, but we still got everywhere. Each state was very different and both were beautiful. I got a little practice driving in some mountain passes where often the lowest, levelest route still got steep, both up and down.

The elevation of Denver (5280) and Colorado Springs (6000+) left us occasionally winded. Both are also much drier than the Texas and Florida humidity with which we are familiar. Sheila and brother David with wife Mary (both avid hikers) met up with us in Santa Fe which is even higher (7000+) and drier! I joined David on a hike up Deception Peak climbing to 12,300 ft. Sheila was much smarter and rode a horse. Many interesting and historical things to see in the area.

When we returned to the Austin area, we discovered that our storage unit's monthly rate was increasing again, so we moved to a location cheaper and closer to where we usually stay. It was good practice for when/if we ever move the contents to another state, when/if we know where that might be. Currently we don't know where we would land if we were so inclined. Stop asking... we just don't know. 

Next year's travel plan is a Lewis and Clark adventure with an organized caravan of RVers. We will start in Missouri, go over the Rockies and end up in Oregon! After that we will head to Washington state where Sheila lives, returning to Florida via Austin by November. Lots of miles (and giraffe).

Maren's favorite zoo TShirt booty

As usual, we are ending the year in Florida enjoying the weather and visiting family and friends across the state. Wherever your travels take you in the new year, we wish you the very best and hope you are spending the holidays making memories with family and friends.

Jeffrey & Maren 

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Central US Giraffe Trail

This summer's "new territory" RV season was a tour through Nebraska, a tiny corner of Wyoming, and then following the east edge of the Rockies through Colorado and New Mexico before returning back to central Texas. Though unintended, it also became a giraffe trail of sorts as we aimed to visit every zoo along our route that we could find.

Our first stop was the famous Henry Dorly Zoo in Omaha. It was really spectacular an we picked a perfect day weather-wise. I even found my first giraffe collection of the summer.

Feeding giraffe at the Henry Dorly Zoo

After a quick stop at the Blue Ox factory for a tour and where our car's tow bar was made (also free camping) we then trekked west across Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Though it doesn't have a zoo, it was an interesting western town with a big railroad history. As you can imagine, a flatter rail route over the Rocky Mountains built cities where there was nothing before. Union Pacific still has a huge hub there. Cheyenne also hosts one of the largest rodeos in the world at the Frontiers Days grounds with several museums about all the history there.

Turning south, we stopped for two weeks in Denver. One of those weeks was spent flying to Raleigh (more on that later), leaving us a couple days before and after to see the local Denver Zoo and see some other sights. We caught up with an Florida Gator and IBM friend who had moved to Denver many years ago. We also met up with some Austin/volleyball friends who are in the process of moving to the Denver area. We didn't get to explore enough, so add Denver to the list of places to go back to, but we did enjoy the view from Lookout Mountain where Buffalo Bill is buried and eating ice cream, (us, not Bill).

Feeding giraffe at the Denver Zoo

Next up was Colorado Springs just a few hours south. This area turned into one of the highlights of our trip -- not only visiting the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, but also Garden of the Gods, the Air Force Academy, Manitou Springs and Will Roger's Shrine of the Sun. We didn't get up Pikes Peak as the weather at the peak was not good on the days we were free. The road to the top is currently closed to private cars, but there are shuttle buses available. The cog railroad up Pikes Peak is also under repair, so back on the "future" list for this area too. We knew we were crossing paths with some RV friends from last summer's Canadian maritime adventure, so visiting with them was an extra bonus.

It is unusual for a giraffe to like being petted!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo giraffe keepers doing a training session

Maren getting a special 4-giraffe feeding session 

Jeffrey posing with the rocks in Garden of the Gods

Us at Garden of the Gods

Tasting one of the mineral springs in Manitou Springs

The last "new state" of the summer was New Mexico, giving Jeffrey a new RV height driving record (8000 feet) as we made our way over the Raton Pass to Santa Fe. Of course it is the steepness of the roads that matter. Going up is easy for the diesel as long as it can get rid of the heat it builds up. Going down can be exciting as the speed will build up quickly with all of our weight rolling downhill. Using the diesel's exhaust brake and transmission downshifting helps control the speed, but it can be nerve-wracking trying to manage the speed and the twists and turns of a new road at the same time. That said, LOVE getting great fuel mileage when going downhill!

Santa Fe itself is a very cool town that has really embraced the adobe theme (even the local banks and Walmart). Our first few days were spent on a day trip south to the Albuquerque Zoo, as well as attempting a hike at Tent Rocks. I say "attempting" because one of Jeffrey's old hiking boots blew out its sole and we had to turn around before reaching the top of the trail, but it was still a pretty climb.

Feeding a giraffe at the Albuquerque Zoo

Maren on the trail at Tent Rocks

Us at Pecos National Historic Park

Mom Sheila and Jeffrey's brother David and wife/Maren's-college-friend Mary flew out to enjoy a week in a condo near us and the 5 of us took advantage of the many "flavors" of Santa Fe's dining options, as well as walking the lovely downtown and perusing the many local artist's crafts. The next day Mary and David peeled off to so some serious hiking while we road tripped with Sheila to Bandelier National Park to see ancient petroglyphs and cliff dwellings. We also swung through Los Alamos, one of the US locations where the atomic bombs were developed during WWII.

Jeffrey exploring the cliff dwellings at Bandelier Park

Jeffrey, Maren, and Sheila at the Rio Grande Gorge

Sadly, Mary had to cut her visit short and fly back early to help her parents, so we really missed her company on the trip to Taos (to our dismay the Taos Pueblo was closed for a funeral). Jeffrey filled in as David's hiking buddy to climb up Deception Peak (12300 feet), with new hiking boots of course, while Sheila and I explored the local shops and Georgia O'Keefe museum (neither of us was impressed). We wrapped up our Santa Fe visit by checking out the New Mexico History Museum, but one of the best parts of the week was just visiting around the common area firepit each evening at the condo. Though the days were warm, it cooled off nicely late in the afternoon.

Jeffrey & David at the top of Deception Peak

On our way to drop Sheila at the Albuquerque airport we stopped at the Sandia Peak Tramway for the great views and lunch. While we were standing in line outside for the tram ride down, it started to rain and hail on us but we didn't want to give up our spot as we needed to ride the next tram down to get Sheila to her flight. So we stood in the rain and hail, huddled under our thin coats and big brimmed hats, laughing, but we made it on the next tram down. As it turns out we think they closed the tram for a while after our ride down due to lightening at the mountain peak.  Later back in Santa Fe, the hail (thankfully small) caught us and Max at our RV park and the hail scrubbed both vehicles clean, but I wouldn't recommend it for every cleaning!

The route from Santa Fe to Austin was planned to be a few stops, with Zoos and museums, but the wind forecast started to look dangerous. We woke up one morning in Amarillo trying to decide if we could get to Lubbock the next day before the rain/wind hit and east coast Florida Gator game started on TV. After discussing some options, we decided to just get on the road immediately, skip Lubbock entirely, and get to Abilene late in the day. This helped us avoid two days of crappy weather driving plus be well positioned to watch the football game and fit in the zoo. Thankfully the RV parks we were skipping/visiting were all flexible.

Feeding a giraffe at the Abilene Zoo

Giraffe drinking water at the Abilene Zoo

Back in Austin we had a very full first week with scheduled annual dentist and doctor visits. Last year before we left Austin area for Florida we ended up moving our storage unit down the hall to save $25 dollars a month. I know, crazy pricing policy. Well the same place raised the price again, so before the end of the first week back, we moved our storage from Round Rock to Georgetown and to a smaller unit and will save a bunch as we locked in an internet rate for two years. Thank you very, very much to friend Mike Walker for helping us!

Being at higher altitudes most of the summer (6000 feet in Cheyenne, 5000 in Denver, 7000 in Santa Fe) meant we didn't have really bad hot summer temperatures to deal with. Once we started back to Austin; which also meant mostly downhill days, it started getting hotter and hotter. Austin had a very hot summer and September was no exception. Halfway through October it finally started cooling off nicely so we could tackle the list of Max to-do items, mainly washing/waxing/sealing and other general pampering we try to do several times a year. Murphy's Law, we got rained on driving to Houston yesterday and he got dirty again. Sigh.

To wrap up this blog post, I always like to share anything new we've learned to do in our RV full-time travels -- in this case, how to manage more complicated medical issues while on the road. I began having some nerve issues in January and things got a bit worse in May while we were in Raleigh. Thank goodness we have a good PPO insurance plan and can get care almost anywhere in the USA. For now I've been cleared to keep traveling, but we have had to learn how to get monthly lab-work done on the road and even arrange for special medications to get delivered wherever we are. Going forward, we'll also likely need to budget flying back to Raleigh several times a year for followup tests and doc visits, but we are very happy we can keep our travel lifestyle going.

My 2019 Halloween costume, gifted to me by my college roomy Lisa :-)

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Raleigh to Iowa via Norway

We have been very busy since the last blog posting. [So busy that Jeffrey is the guest writer for this blog post]

We left Raleigh in May dodging the weather fronts. The weather was cooperating and we were generally a day before or a day after the storms until we got close to Iowa for an appointment at HWH to have the motorhome leveling jacks inspected. The winds were projected to be high and would be hitting us at a right angle, so we stayed an extra night in one campground and then drove 2 days distance the next day to keep our appointment. It was only a little less windy that day and 450 miles was alot to drive a motorhome fighting the wind -- our longest day EVER. We were glad that we stopped at HWH as the jack that was replaced in Florida had bent brackets and the valve was leaking. HWH has electric hookups in their parking lot so we can live without running the generator while staying overnight -- even ended up staying an extra night because of the continuing high winds.

Our next destination was an Iowa state park to visit with friends, Jeff and Dawn. We get to see them in Florida every winter and they often get stuck (volunteer) to watch our motorhome while we fly away from Max for a week, but they are very nice and we really enjoy time spent with them.

From there we went to visit my relatives in Rochester, Minnesota. and had a nice visit with my mom's siblings; my aunt Margaret and her husband Merlyn, my aunt Loiuse and cousin Michael. We then ventured on to Minneapolis where we had planned a flight to visit Sheila in Burlington, WA, and also to check out a indoor storage location where we would be leaving Max a month later for our trip to Iceland and Norway. Since the weather can be severe in this area, we hoped to store Max indoors. Over the internet we had found an indoor storage location with electricity so Max could be plugged in while we were gone. We are sure glad we checked the facility out in person as the electricity was not working on the steel post where we were to park. The other option was to put us next to an area with a lot of foot traffic, band saws (and their dust) and sharing an outlet with that equipment plus a big refigerator! Plan B involved leaving Max at a campground that was prone to flooding and had recently damaged our motorhome paint with their lawn mower!

Us with Uncle Merlyn and Aunt Margaret

Time for Plan C. I got on the web and found another indoor storage location but they only do in-once/out-once storage during the winter. When I explained the situtation, they made an exception could even do electricity. They just needed us to arrive after hours to drop Max off and pick him up very early on our return because they work during the summer months. It seemed too good to be true, but after a quick inspection we had our new plan and the price was much less too. Crisis averted.

With the new plan in place, back to our busy schedule.  We flew to the northwest to visit Sheila and her cat Tay. My allergy shots seem to be working well (and Tay isn't allowed in "our" bedroom or bathroom). Sheila had made plans to have close friends and family on a boat ride in Puget Sound to scatter Rick's ashes. The weather was a big concern but it turned out to be absolutely beautiful for the ceremony. Afterwards, Rick's cousins had everyone over to their house with good food and fond memories for all.

Our memorial service for Rick near Deception Pass, Washington (L to R: Rick's sister, Pat, Sheila, and Maren)

On our return to Minneapolis, we hustled down to Forest City, IA for a service appointment at Winnebago's factory service center. A short list of things were fixed under our new extended warranty (the last extended warranty paid for itself many times over) and then we offhandedly asked Winnebago to look at the back of our water heater.  We have had an ongoing issue of a slow, persistent leak which years ago had even shorted the water heater's electriral wiring. While it had seemed to be stable for many years, we were with the experts, so we asked them to double check things. It turned out our tank was actually cracked. Then the new extended warranty company got very quiet! Luckily after a day and a half they said, yes, they'll cover replacing the water heater. We are just glad our tiny leak hadn't turned into a basement flood. We then went down the street to have some paint work done at the company that does much of Winnebago's full body painting. We had used them a couple of years ago and they were great then. Several small touchups plus a medium-sized dent from some construction debris kicked up by a passing truck was repaired and one big noise nuisance with a awning topper was resolved. We are very happy and looking good too.

Back up to Minneapolis we went and into our new indoor storage facility for our big overseas trip. We dropped off Max, now all alone in a big empty horse barn with electrcity for his battery charger and we flew to Iceland. Iceland airlines will let you stop over in Iceland for up to a week for the same ticket price, so we planned a 3-day stop over to explore before heading to London for the Norway cruise. Sheila met us in Rejkavik, Iceland, and it is an interesting place. We explored around town on foot and also took the Golden Circle tour. We saw waterfalls, geysers, historical sites and beautifui landscapes. Sheila even fullfilled a dream of riding an Icelandic horse. Everything is very expensive in Iceland as much has to be imported. The sun doesn't go down for long during the summer and little darkness and some jetlag made sleep interesting. When we got up at 4am to go to the airport the streets were still crowded with young people. Turns out they were all just coming home from the bars, but in any other town all of this would just be covered by the darkness of the night.

A very friendly Icelandic horse with great hair

The 3 of us at Faxafoss (Faxi Falls)

The three of us then flew to London and bus transferred to our cruise ship, the Pacific Princess. This is the smallest ship in their fleet and with only 600 or so passengers it is very much less crowded. We had planned to do this cruise back in 2016 with Dad and Sheila but it got cancelled when he got sick. We decided to go this year in his memory. After a lumpy night/day/night at sea we got our sea legs back and arrived in our first stop in Norway.

Our cruise itinerary

Sheila and Maren all dressy on a cruise formal night

 Norway is a very beautiful country and every stop going up and then back down the coast was amazing. The days kept getting longer and longer until the captain announced that sunset was cancelled. We had reached the arctic circle, also known as the place of the midnight sun and 24 hour daylight. The sun didn't set until 7 days later on our way back south. We traveled north all the way up the coast to the northern most point in Europe and then even further north to Svalbard, Norway. The town of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen is at 78 degrees north latitude. I don't know how much further north the ice cap was, but there isn't much earth north of where we were. We were expecting temps in the 30s, but it was 54F that day and I think everyone was overdressed except a few locals who took advantage of the day and were out in shorts.

Sheila adding even more color to the Trondheim waterfront

Me dipping my feet in very cold fjord water in Skjolden

Two Gators in Longyearben, Svalbard

The fjords of Norway are amazing. Tall cliffs, many waterfalls, scenic views of adjacent valleys and farms. The Creator really had fun with the norwegian coastline. At one point, we were over 100 miles inland from the ocean and still in a deep fjord.

Waterfall in the fjord on the way to Geiranger

Viewpoint overlooking Geiranger and the cruise ships

Jostedal Glacier near Skjolden

With the cruise finished we returned to London and flew back to Minneapolis. Sheila flew with us to Iceland where we all changed planes to our final destinations. After we picked up Max (all safe and secure) from storage, we headed back south to Forest City, IA for Winnebago's annual Grand National Rally. The rally grounds at the factory filled up over the next few days with over 900 RVs. There was great entertainment, education and social opportunities and many vendors were there to help people with issues. We saw some old friends and made some new friends too. We arrived early for a few pre-rally days and experienced several rainy days and some stormy and windy weather, again reenforcing why we opted for indoor storage while we were gone. For the actual rally week, the weather was perfect. Though it was a very hectic week, we had some time to relax and get back on our US timezone.

We are where the red arrow is pointing

We are now heading towards Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, but first a stop in Omaha, Nebraska, so Maren could see some giraffe...

Quite a winter

Yeah, I know it has been quite awhile since I've posted. I've been putting it off and putting it off because it will be difficult this time.

In prior years our fall and winter months have been a comfortable pattern of visits through Texas and Florida seeing family and friends and doing a checklist of annual visits to doctors and dentists that we know and like. We generally also squeeze in a few week-long "fly-away" trips to hang out with my Dad and his "bride" Sheila in some interesting neutral touristy destination.

While this year was a similar itinerary, it was also goodbye to my wonderful father. Our fun trips together to new places were replaced with frequent flights directly to him so we could squeeze as much time in with him as we could, knowing his time with us was getting shorter. With the hope that we could continue these visits well into the new year we were busy planning our 2019 travels when our time with him suddenly ran out. We will greatly miss our adventures with him -- but our lives will forever be enriched by the "wanderlust" lifestyle he shared and passed on to all of us. The four us had to cancel a "bucket list" trip to Norway a few years ago when he had a health emergency and he always hoped we would get another chance to do it together. That will finally happen this summer -- with only the three of us now -- but he will definitely be with us in spirit as we explore the beautiful Norway coastline.

One of my favorite pictures of my Dad taken by dear friends of his

Having time with Jeffrey's father in Gainesville felt extra special this year. The three of us always manage to cover lots of activities together, though a bit fewer as I was dealing with a nerve issue in my neck that sidelined me from the epic puzzle projects I usually manage to drag the boys into. It also kept us from catching as many Gator sports competitions as I just wasn't up to perching on bleacher seats. Hopefully we'll make up for it next year!

Our encounters with animals also continued to lift our spirits. Once we got back to Florida in the fall, we tried a new campground for the month of December -- Lion Country Safari KOA. Good RV friends, Dawn and Jeff Marlin, had tried it out the year before and liked it quite a bit, so we decided to join them there. It was of course a HUGE bonus that there was a zoo right next door. You could even hear the lions roaring from the campground every day. Sounds a bit odd maybe, but we got used to listening to them and really missed it when we left at the end of the month.

Tower of giraffe at Lion Country Safari

Though not a BIG cat, a feline was also added as a permanent addition to our family by stepmom, Sheila. Tay (pronounced "tie") is a very sweet boy who is being a wonderful companion to her as well as providing the daily entertainment that only cats can. In addition to romping around her apartment with great abandon, he loves laying on Dad's chair, Sheila's lap, and unfortunately Sheila's open laptop computer whenever he can sneak on. We worry a little about the future tech phone calls he makes to us!

"Glamour Shot" of Tay

As we started to make our way out of Florida, we also got to tour the zoo in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a real treat, beautifully landscaped and staffed with volunteers at all of the big exhibits who did a wonderful job talking about each of the animals.

Alligator hiding in the leaf covered pond at the Jacksonville Zoo

Me feeding a giraffe a the Jacksonville Zoo

Of course, all of the wonderful family and friends we get to visit during these months in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina are big highlights too -- and we can't imagine changing our annual fall-winter plan to be a different itinerary. We feel blessed to have the time to see them and so far they haven't punted us away so they are stuck with us!

Me with nephew Isaac -- plus a giraffe statue at a local Raleigh eatery

Me with doggee cousin, Toby

Us wearing shirts I ordered from Animal Adventure -- the park where giraffe "April" lives in NY.
We got to visit her in person last summer. Jeffrey is a good sport to wear it with me!

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Happy Holidays 2018!

At the bottom of this blog post is our annual holiday letter, written by Jeffrey. It covers a basic review of our year, but not the nitty-gritty specifics of our last few months on the road. This fall has been much like the last few -- swinging through Texas for doctor visits and catching up with local friends before our trek across the gulf states to Florida for the winter months.

Given there isn't much new that isn't already covered by Jeffrey's letter, I'll instead share a bit more about the good and bad "living in an RV" side of things. Happily, 99% of this lifestyle is AWESOME. We have categorized the other 1% as mostly annoyance and sometimes "Oh CRAP, what just happened!".

As I write this, we are enjoying the 99% part -- living for the month in a KOA near Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee where we hear the gibbons and lions every day from our campsite (very cool). We scored a Groupon to visit the park (which is right next door to the RV park) and spent a day doing the safari drive and the walking part too. Very well done, lots of animals in big spaces, and of course I got to feed the giraffe and some neat birds too :-) The KOA is a new RV park for us, but we have some great RV friends staying here too that we have known for years and always meet new people as we travel around too, so we never feel alone or lacking in social opportunities.

Our trip from Texas over to Florida this year fell into some of the 1%. First we had our motorized entry steps stick "out" as we were leaving the Texas RV park. They had stuck "in" a few months earlier but then started magically working so we really weren't too surprised they acted up again. This incident was especially poor timing --  you can drive with them stuck "in", but certainly not "out". An hour and a bunch of tools and cursing later, Jeffrey had removed them entirely, so we stopped at a Camping World near Houston to pick up a folding step we could deploy at campgrounds until we could figure out the problem (the height from Max's door to the ground is about 2 feet). On the bright side, I took the opportunity to give the entire step assembly a good cleaning to get rid of some minor surface rust and then applied a fresh coat of paint -- much easier to do while they were off of Max!

Our next "Crap" moment happened on i10 as we were driving in Louisiana. A semi-truck passed by in the left lane and kicked some construction debris in front of us -- most notably a 6x6" block of concrete. We heard a loud bang and lamented what damage the thing had done under Max and then possibly to the car we tow. The RV gauges were all reading normal conditions, so we waited until we got to a rest area to assess the damage. Lucky for us, the block went under the front fiberglass cap (so no damage on it), bounced off a steel support beam (also undamaged), and flew out the gap to the side where the motorized steps would have been installed (if we hadn't removed them). Hooray for us! Well, until we noticed that it then apparently bounced on the road once more and hit an exterior basement door, leaving a small dent and bad mark in the paint. Darn it. But not even worth claiming on our insurance -- we'll instead get it fixed up where Winnebago is located in Iowa the next time we visit. Unfortunately the dash-cam was "confused" and didn't capture the incident so we could go after the trucking company.

After seeing RV friends in Pensacola and catching a Gator football game with them at the local Gator Club (we lost to the husband's alma mater), we proceeded to Lazydays in Tampa for our annual "needs fixing" list of RV items. No surprise this included the motorized steps! It also included replacing a leaking valve behind the water heater, re-gluing a slide seal, replacing one of our 7-yr old roof A/Cs, replacing a misbehaving water pump, and replacing one of our leveling jacks. Our extended warranty picked up all of these items at a cost (to them) of over $4000. Our out of pocket cost was only the $100 deductible. That warranty expired shortly after our service appointment and Jeffrey convinced me to let him buy another one. The first one paid for itself 3 times over, so it seems like a wise investment. That said, these warranties are never cheap so purchasing one is a big decision but, like any insurance product, if it helps you sleep better at night it can be worth it!

Lastly, here is an idea of the U.S. states and Canadian provinces we have visited since we started RVing over 6 years ago. If we don't at least explore a little, we don't count it. Clearly we need to consider going west!

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HOLIDAY LETTER FROM JEFFREY

Maren and I had our biggest year yet in the RV we call home. 10,000 miles! This fall we are starting year 7 on the road and are convinced that we might be on to something here.

Our big RV destination this year was the Canadian Atlantic maritime provinces. Because this trip would involve remote and distant roads and RV parks, we joined up with a professional RV tour group so that they, with their years of expertise, would organize a trip with the questions already answered for questions we haven't even come up with. Because this trip was so involved, we can't begin to describe the adventure here. The entire tale of our Canadian adventure can be found in our previous blog posts, along with pictures. Hints: fabulous trip with new friends and looking for puffins/moose, Vikings, seeing icebergs, whales, ferries, getting “screeched-in”!

This year we celebrated my dad's 90th birthday. All of my brothers and families gathered a little early, taking advantage of the fact that he goes to Ormond Beach every year to watch a handball tournament over the Memorial Day weekend. That gave us a long weekend in Daytona Beach to  celebrate with him and enjoy the beach. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate as it was pretty rainy.

Along our RV travels we found a few more presidential sites including Adams (x2), Kennedy, Coolidge and G.H.W. Bush. By plane, we got close to some California presidential properties, but decided that family time was better than hours of driving in California traffic. Next time...

Maren's love of giraffes was satisfied by visiting the famous April (and Oliver and Tajiri) at Animal Adventure near Harpursville, New York where we also saw Tim Tebow play some baseball for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies minor league baseball team. We then met the near-famous 'Alf ' in Tennessee, and other un-famous towers of giraffe in Santa Barbara and Lion Country Safari near West Palm Beach.  We also toured the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge, TN and found a 'top ten' rated aquarium in Gatlinburg. Who knew, so far from the coast, in the mountains!

We got several visits in with Maren's parents, Rick and Sheila. We met up in Feb, Aug, and Dec in Burlington, WA and in Mexico in March. They joined us in Daytona Beach in May for my dad's 90th. In October we met them in the cute Danish-themed town of Solvang, California for fudge, food, wine (and Micheal the giraffe). Thankfully our experience was a little different than the same places (roads, restaurants, vineyards, ostriches) that you'll see in the movie Sideways. Maren even joined her father in Washington, DC for his veteran's 'Honor Flight'. Because our “house” keeps moving we flew out of 6 (7 for Maren) different airports this year. Maybe we should have gotten a plane instead of an RV! Surprisingly there were also 4 visits in 3 different states with Maren's cousin Sarah. Her travels and ours kept happily intersecting!

Sarah, Dad, Sheila, me and Jeffrey -- enjoying a winery near Solvang

As usual, we are ending the year in Florida enjoying the weather and visiting family and friends across the state. Wherever your travels take you in the new year, we wish you the very best and hope you are spending the holidays making memories with family and friends.

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