Monday, July 31, 2017

Ready to Hit the Road Again

Our first trip across country lived up to its name "Destination Unknown." We loved the trip, but it lacked structure. Sometimes this was a good thing and sometimes it was not. We left with a general direction, no particular time to get there and planned on visiting friends and family along the way. Some people knew we were coming, but not when and some saw we were close and asked if we could stop for a visit. Having the freedom to change our direction was good, allowing us to stay true to our "Destination Unknown." But the stress came from not being able to see someone because they were sick and we had to move on, or not being able to see someone because it would take us too far from our course. I had to finally realize that I could not do everything in one trip. Having the choice to go anywhere is both a curse and a blessing. We loved it because everything was new, but the lack of long-term planning was a bit unsettling.

Because I did not do any long-term planning, I did not research places to visit. Therefore, we did not do a lot of sightseeing. That was okay because we were visiting family and friends as well as making new friends. The few places we did visit makes me want to visit more places on the next trip.


When we were crossing the country, both ways, we moved every day or every other day. Being on the road is stressful, even when you go about 200 miles, arrive by 2 and stay 2 days. When we could stay a week or two in one place, we loved it. There were a lot of places that I wish we had more time to visit.


Our next trip across country will start just after Labor Day. I have just started to plan our route. Right now the plan is to go along the Northern states and sight-see along the way. I have a National Parks Passport and I want to fill it up with the stamps of the parks we visit. I am hoping that we are leaving soon enough to get to Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons, and the National Parks in Utah before they get snow. I will post on Facebook when I get to the planning stage so that our friends and families along that route can give us a shout if they want us to stop and visit.


Even though the thought of the ultimate freedom of "Destination Unknown" sounds good, I actually feel more comfortable with more structure than that. Our next trip will have more structure, because we are planning to go to Mexico for five weeks with at least one other couple. When the time comes, we will set a date which has to be kept. 


To sum it all up, I liked the freedom, but I didn't like the freedom. I liked traveling because it took us to new places. I didn't like traveling, because there is a lot of work to packing up and unpacking. I liked visiting friends, family and making new friends. I loved  visiting new places. I loved eating out at new places. I liked boondocking in the desert. This has been the most amazing trip and I am looking forward to doing it all over again.


Here is our itinerary for September. If you are close to our path, give us a shout and we will be glad to get together.



Our Trip September 2017

September 6 & 7
Diamond Point, NY 12824

September 8
Geneva, NY 14456

September 9
North East, PA 16428

September 10 & 11
Wapakoneta, OH 45895

September 12
Leesburg, IN 46538

September 13 & 14
Sublette, IL 61367

September 15 & 16
Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

September 17
Round Lake, MN 56167

September 18 & 19
Rapid City, SD 57702

September 20
MT 59301

September 21 - 23
Lovell, WY

September 24 & 25
Boulder, WY 82923

September 26 & 27
Duchesne, UT 84021

September 28 – October 2
Salina, UT 84654

From Utah we will be headed into Colorado and will stay there until cold weather and the threat of snow forces us South. The rest of the winter will be spent in Arizona, California and Mexico.

5 comments:

Von said...

How exciting to see the itinerary! I look forward to vicariously traveling with you both again!

While I would love a quick visit with you on your way thru IL to the WI Dells, my time is not my own and I can't commit others to help me connect with you along that highway or byway (wheelchair transport thingies) - know I will be watching and waving, blowing kisses from afar!

My prayers will be with you. ������

Beth Bishop said...

It was fun watching your progress through the year. Angie and Todd sure loved having you as the first Thanksgiving guests in their new home in AZ. Angie's dad and I live in Highlands Ranch CO, on the south side of Denver. She keeps telling me how much I would enjoy knowing Kay since we both do many kinds of crafts. So, of course, if you are in the Denver area at the same time we are home (Randy retired this year so we are traveling more too), let's share a meal and get acquainted!

Anonymous said...

Love to hear you're coming through Colorado again, hope we get a chance to see you both.

klnikitin2001 said...

We are planning a road trip too! Not as extended as yours, though. You've inspired us. We will be in The Dells one week after you. I think we might miss your fall leg but would love to catch up again.

Mark from Missouri said...

Sounds like a good plan. We have met now with I think 6 or 7 full timers. Seems like most of them plan their destinations and most stops in between. I suppose some of that might have to do with the time of year and demand for camping spots. Recently we met with a couple from upper state New York (I've not posted that on my blog yet - but will). He plans every stop they make for months in advance. He says they never plan to see everything they want to at each stop, knowing once they get there they will find a ton more places they wish they could visit. They just plan to go through the area again at some point.

I'm with you on the planning stuff. Personally I will feel more comfortable planning for each major "destination" and only leave open a travel day or two in between, stopping wherever we want at the time. I'm leaning heavy towards spending at least one week in each "destination" and other than that overnighters. For areas we want to spend a lot of time in, I'm thinking a monthly visit. Then when back home, like you guys, planning to stay for however many months. That's an idea of the plan so far.

I'm sure it will be disappointing, but necessary, to pull up stakes when the plan calls for us to leave in the event we would have wanted to stay longer. I suppose one has to decide how far out in advance to book camping spots in order to ease the pain should one have to change plans for unforeseen reasons.

When full timers come to town Karen and I try and determine if they are hear for as a destination or just traveling through and then decide if we are going to hit them up for a visit. Although it is easy to spend a week in Kansas City seeing the sites.

Looking forward to following your journey.

Mark