I write this blog post from south Florida in the final days of 2022 -- realizing once again that I let the last few months slip by without comment and now must play catch up! After our big national park caravan was over in September we started our trek east and found a few interesting stops on the way -- starting with the Petrified Forest in Holbrook, Arizona. It was such a variety of history and geology, from the desert landscapes to the evidence of residents to the preserved ancient trees.
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| The Painted Desert |
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| Petroglyphs |
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| Some of the many petrified trees dotting the landscape |
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| Huge "Old Faithful" petrified tree |
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| Blue Mesa in heart of Petrified Forest badlands |
After a quick stop in Albequerque, NM, we moved on to Roswell so we could say we've "been there". We spent a day checking out the local touristy alien sights -- the most interesting being the International UFO Museum which focused on the 1947 UFO crash.
Not being able to pass up a chance to see two baby giraffe together, we also stopped at the Abilene Zoo in Texas. I got to feed one of the adults and we watched the babies nap and frolic.
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| Maren getting some feeding tips |
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| Babies! |
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| Grumpy Burrowing Owl |
Our time in Austin was busy as we rotated quickly through our annual doctor visits and crammed in as many visits with friends as possible, spending a weekend in New Braunfels, TX, to help my former college roommate, Lisa, celebrate a big birthday -- then in nearby historic Gruene with stepmom, Sheila. We barely managed to finish Max's annual hand wash/wax before the weather started to cool off and it was time to head east to Florida.
We've got this 4-day drive across the gulf perfectly scripted now, taking a multi-day break in Pensacola, FL, to visit Jeffrey's brother John and his wife, Susan, along with fellow full-time RV friends who call this city their "home base" (defined by RVers as where the main doctors and storage unit is located). We truly missed not stopping near Gainesville as it was always our first chance to spend time with Jeffrey's dear dad who we lost earlier this year.
At this point we mixed things up and, instead of going to Lazydays in Tampa for the 10th year, we tried a new Lazydays service center near Bushnell to replace a small generator button panel that was getting "sticky". We liked this location much better and they even let us hang out a few extra nights with electrical/water hookups during tropical storm, Nicole. We finished November by flying up to Raleigh, NC, for Thanksgiving to enjoy lots of pie and family time with Jeffrey's brother, David, wife (my maid of honor) Mary, and nephew, Isaac. Brother Scott and wife Caroline are just across town and helped with the pie consumption too (hey, gotta spread those delicious calories around!). As we'd normally have been with dad, Jack, for this special holiday week, it was nice to still be with family.
We picked our routine back up by going to Lion Country Safari KOA in Loxahatchee, FL for the month of December, letting Max bask in the sun while we flew off to spend a week on Maui, Hawaii with Sheila and her niece, Sarah. Not a huge weather change for us, but a very welcome warm-up for them as they live in Washington state. In fact, it was snowing when we flew back through Seattle on our way home.
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| Sarah & Sheila enjoying the whales and the sun |
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| Us on the whale watch trip |
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| On the lookout for whales! |
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| Sunset from our room |
Though we really enjoyed the Hawaii sun, we did NOT enjoy the bad chest colds that caught us on the way home, ruining our Florida family plans for Christmas. Sadly this is the risk everyone takes seeing the world today. Even being careful and wearing masks, viruses managed to hunt us down. Thankfully it wasn't Covid. We hope your 2022 ended healthier than ours!
Below is our official 2022 Holiday letter which provides a fast review of our year, though followers of this blog will probably already know the scoop on everything!
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2022!
We hope our holiday greetings find you happy and healthy. As Maren and I contemplate the last 10 years in the RV, we have seen many changes in the world and our lives and we are very grateful for our chance to continue this experience. Neither of us thought it would last this long, but now we can't imagine a life NOT in our home-on-the-road.
While this was another exciting year of travel, exploring and adventure, we unfortunately lost my dad, Jack. We were visiting him when he fell ill and were shocked when he didn't bounce back like he always does. We are comforted by the fact that he lived to 93, a full, good life that touched so many people in positive ways. His final gift to me was his meticulous organization. Almost every detail to concluding his amazing life was well prepared and documented. Make his final lesson to me a lesson for all of us -- be prepared and make life easy for your executor!
After our usual visits to Florida and Raleigh, we pointed Max, the motorhome, toward the mid-west. On the way we stopped in Louisville where brother David and wife Mary joined us for some exploring and bourbon. In June, we flew to Las Vegas to meet up with Sheila for a week and we all brought back Covid. Luckily none of us felt very bad for very long and that was the only week in our busy schedule where we could possibly have fit it in! :-) After some minor RV repairs, we visited with my mom's sisters Margaret and Louise, in Rochester, MN, and then returned back to Iowa for Winnebago's annual national rally.
Continuing west, we worked our way to Medora, ND, for the famous pitch-fork fondue and cowboy/variety show/musical we enjoyed so much last year. In August we met up with Sheila in Yellowstone for more exploring and family time.
Now heading south, we FINALLY, after 10 years on the road, made it to many of the iconic national parks of the “grand circle” in Utah, Colorado and Arizona. This trip was with a caravan of RVers and organized by a company that makes the reservations, hires the guides and buses, get the tickets and makes sure you don't miss the “must sees”. The only downside is the pace, which can be a bit faster than we would do alone. We saw incredible sights, took thousands of pictures and Maren invested time every day to document the wonderful things that we saw. You can find all the details at: marenandjeffrey.blogspot.com
We then turned east towards Austin for annual visits with doctors, friends and our small storage unit. Sheila even came for a visit to nearby New Braunfels before we continued east to Florida in early November.
This update certainly oversimplifies the hectic life we sometimes lead, but it is mostly self-inflicted and one we love with no intention of stopping any time soon. You can be sure we always fit in a few zoos along the way. 🦒
Next year's plan includes winter in Florida, a spring visit to Raleigh, up to the Calgary/Banff area in Canada and an RV caravan that follows the Mississippi River from the headwaters in Minnesota to New Orleans.
Regardless of what the world throws at all of us, we hope your new year will be the best ever. Stay safe, stay healthy and God bless.
Jeffrey & Maren 🚍
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