Happy Holidays 2013!

Jeffrey writes a Holiday letter each year.  Below is its debut on our blog, so enjoy!
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It has been quite a year. Some of it very fun and enjoyable traveling – visiting and exploring with the motor-home – and some of it very confounding because of the motor-home and the issues of the mobile life style. Nothing serious, but it helps that we have a background that includes basic electrical knowledge!

We left Austin, Texas last December as planned and traveled until mid-August. We spent most of the time in Florida and Raleigh but made it as far north as Connecticut before we turned around and headed back south for more Raleigh, more Florida and eventually back to the Austin area. I think the highlight for both of us was Washington, DC and the impromptu Civil War history sub-plot that we weren't expecting.

When we got back to Austin we flew to Burlington, WA to visit Maren's father Rick and Sheila and while there we explored the north west corner of Washington state with them. I joked to Maren that we were visiting 3 of the 4 corners of the US this year without even really planning it. Well, upon our return to Austin, Maren found a cruise for my 50^th birthday that included Key West, FL – and a few weeks later we planned a trip to meet up with Rick and Sheila in December in San Diego! Now I wish we had made it all the way to Maine in the motor-home before we turned around. Next year we will have to try harder ...

Now, just because we are full-time RVers, that doesn't mean we don't plan other side adventures when we are out on the road. We just have to carry luggage with us for when an airplane is the mode of transportation. In March we flew from Raleigh to Miami for a Caribbean cruise with David and Mary and kids. In June we flew from Raleigh to Cancun, Mexico just in time to experience Tropical Storm Andrea forming and a very wet week. 
 
The fall in Austin was a blur, and that is when we had some electrical issues with the motor-home. We had a few different problems and it took a bunch of investigation (by us) and several attempts by the experts to get it right, but we think that this problem is now behind us. Issues are a given for full-time RVers since every trip is a windstorm and an earthquake to the home. We expect this and so far it hasn't changed our minds, yet. In the middle of all this we ventured to west Texas and the Big Bend area. Is that the 5^th corner of the US? Driving there and around the area we saw the great expanse of Texas with the views to match. Did we mention that “the stars at night – are big and bright …. deep in the heart of Texas”?

We again plan to be back in Austin in 2014 in time for another season of Gator football (lets not talk about that!) and hosting game watching parties with the Lone Star Gator Club. That will also let us catch up with Austin friends and repeat the cycle of getting our regular doctor and dentist visits out of the way before hitting the road again for 2015. 
 
In summary, our travels let us visit all the parents, all the brothers and sisters-in-law(5+5) and all the east coast aunts(4), uncles(5) and cousins(8 + spouses); and even some 2nd cousins and extended family! Next year's plan is still in the works, but look out mid-west family - it might happen this year. (We will let you know as soon as we figure it out).

I try and make an effort to keep friends and family up to date via Facebook but we realize that not everyone uses that. The blog gets updated at least every month, so look for the real story of this year's adventures and future travels in this blog (http://marenandjeffrey.blogspot.com).  If you'd like us to email you when we add new posts to our blog, please click here -> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Nfel34nwmpCGfpXeJxCqZoy6_uJOCru7KTk01pDMicI/viewform

We wish you the very best for the New Year and hope you are spending the holidays making memories with family and friends.


Jeffrey & Maren
171 Rainbow Drive #7173 Livingston, TX 77399
512-689-4896

Lovely Florida Weather

 We are enjoying the fantastic Florida "winter" weather as we finish up our service trip in Tampa.  In fact, it looks like we hightailed it out of Texas just in time as the cold weather descended into the Lone Star state shortly after we left.  After a week enjoying Jeffrey's parents in Gainesville (and a Gator football game too), we dropped Max off in Tampa and flew to San Diego for a week to celebrate an early Christmas with my Dad and Sheila.  Our flight west was supposed to stop over in Dallas but, due to ice and snow, it was cancelled and we were rewarded with a direct flight instead (oh darn!).  We would have booked that direct flight originally if it hadn't been so much more expensive! ;-)

Once we got there, San Diego was a real treat.  We've been back in Flroida for 4 days and my feet are just now completely recovering from all the walking we did at the famous San Diego Zoo, the sister safari park, Seaworld, and the Midway carrier museum -- and we barely scratched the surface of things to do in that area.

 

Midway Carrier

Christmas trees at Seaworld

Swimming Hippo at Zoo

Turtles at Seaworld

While we were away, Max stayed at Lazydays Tampa and got some TLC -- new bedroom carpet and a nice smooth satin finish on the Corian kitchen counter.  I had no idea Corian was so sensitive to scratches.  Guess I better be more careful in the future! He also got a new engine air filter and some sealant on the roof, but those are really just general maintenance. We bring him back in mid-January to have Winnebago inspect his roof as we are seeing some odd ridges in the fiberglass.  There is no leaking and it has a 10 year warranty, so we aren't concerned.  Either they'll decide to watch it or replace it -- but neither should cost us any $.

Tomorrow we head over to Florida's lovely east coast -- first stop is Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound! We always think the "next stop" is going to offer us more "down time", but that never seems to happen.  There are just too many family and friends we want to see and fun things to do in the places we visit!