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 (note: it might be hard to distinguish between the rose colored ones and 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 2017 – 2018

We left East Greenwich, RI on September 15, 2017, not returning until May 13, 2018 for a total of 240 days for this “RV Season”. But we also need to include an 18 day trip to Maine from June 3, 2018 to June 21, 2018. Our total travel time was 258 days.

2017-2018 Highlights

Our first stop after we left East Greenwich, RI in September, 2017 was Middlebury, IN, this time not for service at the Entegra factory but to pick up the recliner couch that we ordered from Lambright Comfort Chairs in May, 2017. So happy with this purchase – it is so much more comfortable than the original couch. Our only complaint – now we both tend to fall asleep while watching TV!

After that, we were off, once again heading west. The month of October was spent in Colorado, a state that quickly moved to the top of our list of favorite states. Here’s why. With five different state parks and one private park as our base during our stay, the highlights included an interesting tour of Celestial Seasonings, a white knuckle drive along the Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, a trip to the chilly summit on the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway, exploring the gorgeous red rocks of Garden of the Gods, avoiding rattlesnakes while hiking at Devil’s Backbone, exploring the Capitol Building and other sites in Denver, visiting the U.S. Air Force Academy and marveling at the majestic Red Rock Amphitheater. So much to see and do in this beautiful state but alas, a few inches of early snow reminded us that it was time to head further south.

While staying at Homolovi State Park in AZ, we visited the historic La Posada Hotel in Winslow where we learned the fascinating story of one of the first female architects, Mary Coulter, who was responsible for not only La Posada Hotel but also a number of the structures built at the Grand Canyon. And speaking of the Grand Canyon we spent a week at the Grand Canyon Trailer Village right in the park. How totally awesome it was to see this natural wonder at different times of the day!

While at Willow Beach Campground in the Lake Mead Recreation Area in AZ, we visited two awesome man made wonders – Hoover Dam, taking both the Powerplant Tour and the Dam Tour, both of which were excellent and the Pat Tillman-Pat O’Callaghan bridge. To see more of the natural wonders in the area, we rented a small boat and cruised the Colorado River getting within a mile of the base of Hoover Dam! It was so cool seeing Big Horn Sheep perched on the cliffs of the canyon walls bordering the river!

A beautiful scenic drive along historic Route 66 brought us to the small historic, touristy town of Oatman where the resident braying burros provided some comic relief as they begged for food from the tourists.

In southern California, we spent the months of December, January and February having fun with friends at Rancho California Resort in Aguanga. A highlight of our stay there was a fascinating tour of the nearby Temecula Olive Oil company where we were surprised to learn that except in CA, olive oil in the USA is not regulated from either a harvest, pressing or labeling perspective. Many of the imported olive oils that we buy in stores are often not truly extra virgin at all and are considered rancid by the rest of the world. At the end of the tour we sampled both their olive oils and their vinegars. My pantry is now stocked with numerous bottles of their oils and vinegars. Mid-January we made our way once again to Quartzite where we boondocked at a rally with over 50 other Entegra coaches. What fun! During our stay, a bunch of us drove an hour to have lunch at the famous Desert Bar in Parker, AZ.

After CA, we headed east along I-8 stopping for a quick stay in Yuma where we sampled a yummy “date shake” served at a local date farm and toured the Yuma Territorial Prison. We were entertained by all sorts of animals at the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm near beautiful Picacho Peak State Park, another campground that is now on our favorites list. The next attraction on our agenda was Chiricahua National Monument, the wonderland of rocks!

From there, we were on the fast track through New Mexico, Texas and the southern states to Florida where we wanted to check out our Riverbend site – we hadn’t been there since Hurricane Irma hit. Along the way we stopped in the Gulf Shores area and at our usual favorite Florida state parks. Everything looked great at Riverbend although Rob spent a few days replacing some rotted wood (not caused by Hurricane Irma) on our shed.

Heading north, we discovered a new favorite State Park – Shenandoah River in Virginia where we spent a day driving a portion of the beautiful Skyline Drive. While hiking on some of the trails within the park, we were a little spooked when we saw a fresh bear track in the mud!

Although we arrived back in East Greenwich, RI at the end of May, we were barely settled in when we hit the road again. This time heading north to Maine where we had plans to meet up with Entegra friends at Schoodic Woods Campground, on the quiet side of Acadia National Park. During our week long stay here, we toured the area, stopped at several of the local businesses, did some hiking, dined at the local establishments, enjoyed a scenic ferry ride on Frenchman’s Bay to Bar Harbor and stuffed ourselves with lobster! I don’t know exactly how many lobsters we consumed while we were in Maine but it was a lot. On our way home, we stopped at Red’s Eats in Wicasset, ME. Oh, my, my mouth is starting to water just writing about their awesome lobster roll.

Back in RI, we settled in for the summer. Normally we spend the entire summer living on board our boat but this summer, the weather was oppressively hot and humid, breaking all sorts of records. Because of that and the list of projects that Rob wanted to complete on the coach, we didn’t move on board the boat until August.