Follow our journey by clicking on the map below which opens a map browser that highlights our exact route and each stop we made during that year. But before you get started, here are a few general notes about the maps:
- Our travel years are not based on the calendar year. Since we started full timing in September 2013, we decided our travel years would run from September 1st to August 31st.
- Hovering the mouse over the route line, or clicking on it, displays the start and end points of that route segment which is generally a full travel day.
- Hovering the mouse over the pushpins displays the name of the campground and date of our stay, clicking on the pins additionally displays links to the campground website (if there is one), our review (if there is one) and any blog posts we’ve written detailing what we did during our stay there. Note: we are a bit behind in our campground reviews so some locations may not have links yet.
- The bright red push pins designate our favorite campgrounds/rv parks for that particular year. They are definitely ones we would visit again.
- In some cases, we had to travel the same route more than once. Unfortunately the route only shows as one line on the map – there is no way to differentiate between the overlapping routes, but by clicking on the push pins you can deduce our next stop.
How to use the map browser:
- Click on the map below to launch the map browser.
- To zoom, use the zoom tool (+/-) in the upper left hand corner, or the mouse wheel.
- To move around the map, click the mouse button and drag.
- If you want to filter by any available map layers click the layer tool on the left (icon that looks like a stack of coins).
Our Journey 2015 – 2016
2015-2016 Highlights
2015-16 was our 3rd year as full time RV’ers. After a visit to Entegra Motorcoach in Middlebury, IN for our last warranty service appointment on our 2013 Aspire and a visit to Spartan Chassis for our annual maintenance, we headed south towards our ultimate destination of Florida. Along the way we imbibed a bit as we visited a number of Kentucky’s numerous distilleries and a barrel maker along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Similar to a regular passport, at each distillery we would have our Kentucky Bourbon Passport stamped – visiting 9+ distilleries earned both of us a free Bourbon Trail T-shirt. Even if you don’t drink you can still take a tour – well worth it because each distillery has a fascinating history!
We continued south making a number of quick overnight stops along the way finally landing at Riverbend Motorcoach Resort in Labelle, FL where we enjoyed a relaxing, yet somewhat busy seven week stay on our site.
Ready to leave Riverbend, we made our way to Myakka River State Park. Now normally this park is booked solid but somehow luck was with us and we managed to reserve a site there for a return visit (we had stayed here in 2015) of six nights, giving us plenty of time to walk along the Canopy Walkway and hike to the Deep Hole.
Although we had attended the Tampa RV Supershow in the past, we had always stayed at a nearby campground but this year was different – we would be participating in an Entegra rally and staying at the fairgrounds in the coach. The show is huge so it was a busy and exhausting week!
But not to worry, there was lots of time to rest and relax during the next few weeks, first an 11 day stint at another favorite, Rainbow Springs State Park, followed by a quick stop at Stephen Foster Culture Center State Park. Two nights was plenty of time for us to explore Craft Square, listen to the Carillon bells playing many of Stephen Foster’s songs and visiting the museum again. We never seem to tire of all that this park has to offer! That was followed by a stay at Ho Hum RV Park where we had a site right on the water!
Then we were off to another one of our favorite State Parks – Topsail Hill State Park in Santa Rosa Beach in FL. During our stay we spent a lot of time walking along their beautiful white sand beach listening to the “barking” sand and taking advantage of a myriad of delicious dining places in the surrounding area as well. At Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL, we biked (and walked) the miles and miles on the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail that can be accessed at the far end of the campground. Lots to do and lots of places to eat in the Orange Beach area.
As we continued our way south, we visited a number of our favorite campgrounds. In Bainbridge, GA, we had a relaxing time on a waterfront site on Lake Seminole at East Bank COE Campground.
After several quick stops along the way, we arrived at Riverbend again for another brief stay to make some improvements after our renters left. Then it was time to head north for a service appointment at Entegra in Middlebury, IN and to attend Springfest, another Entegra rally taking place at the Elkhart Campground. What fun!
From there, we decided to caravan with our friends, Betsy and Nancy (RV-A-GoGo) since they were heading east and planned to follow the same route.That turned out to be a lot of fun! While staying at the Terraport Campground at the Airstream Service Center, we were able to see how the “silver bullets” are made during a 2 hour factory tour. In Wapakoneta, the hometown of Neil Armstrong who was the first man to walk on the moon, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum chronicles Ohio’s contributions to the history of space flight. That was followed by more fascinating stops at the Zippo Case Museum and the totally awesome Corning Glass Museum. Read all the details in this post.
From here we split with RV-A-GoGo and went our separate ways – we continued on to Albany where we stopped to visit with Rob’s Dad and then to RI, our summer “home” where we spent a somewhat busy summer.