Sunday morning fishing.....

Kathy and Tim in the distance

Tim fishing

Chewie and Zeus going for a run

Jackie and Zeus

Kathy, Tim and Jackie all went fishing Sunday morning. The fish must have slept in late!
Chewie and Zeus went for a morning unleashed jog.

We left Lawtey around 11ish and arrived at the Gulf Shores KOA in Lillian, AL around 4:30 p.m. central. A little more on that tomorrow but BEWARE of the steep hill entrance that causes the rear of your trailer to drag. Thought I'd add a few pictures of the entrance and the campground tomorrow.

It was a great weekend.

A nice way to finish off the evening....

If you are near Lawtey you have to go to Starke, FL off of 301 to Powell's Dairy Freeze. Great shakes and ice cream at great prices!

Morning in Lawtey, FL

We are staying at a private site Jackie's friends own. The property has 6-7 RV sites near a small lake and resort (The Sugar Shack) seen in the bottom picture :) . It is a beautiful country morning.




Sunrise in Lawtey, FL

Our own private campground

In Jacksonville....

The 5th wheel is at Camping World getting the bearings repacked and the brakes checked before we leave. It is supposed to be ready sometime today. We are leaving later for a private campground that belongs to some friends of Jackie. We'll stay there the weekend with Jackie and Tim. We'll leave from there on Sunday for Pensacola.

And we're off!

We left Wilmington around 5:30 p.m. today and are now near Charleston, SC. We are spending the night in a rest area and will go the rest of the way to Jacksonville, Fl in the morning. We are dropping off the 5th wheel at Camping World in Jacksonville to get the bearings repacked as well as get the trailer brakes checked for safety. We'll be in Jacksonville until Sunday morning and then off to Pensacola, Fl.  

While in Jacksonville we'll be staying at Kathy's sister (Jackie) so no campground photo's or reviews :)

More to come.....

Approximately one week to go....

Wednesday, March 13th we start our trek around the U.S.  By the time we are done we will travel through at least twenty one states and log 8,000 miles.

We only changed one destination so far. After reading about the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula, La. We'll be going there after Pensacola, FL. instead of Mississippi.  From there we'll go to Shreveport then on to Abilene, TX and back on track unless something else looks cool.

As we go we'll be taking pictures and doing a little review of each campground and area we visit. I can hardly wait!

Boring, but cool budget stuff......

I've gone through and created a budget and spreadsheet that reads the latest diesel fuel prices from a web interface in every state and updates my budget by adjusting my estimated fuel costs each day. Based on each start and end point I've automated the look up of miles and I put the type of terrain, either normal towing, mountain towing and no tow. Based on that, I use the miles, estimated MPG (based on terrain) and then calculate cost based on what state the fuel will be bought in.

I'd like to optimize it so that it will recommend what state to buy in based on proximity, need and price.
I also want to add the ability to put in campground recommendations based on some proximity to the desired travel distances.

I don't want this to be a mapping program, just a live budget tool that can be used by anyone interested in planning long trips.

Who knows, maybe I can sell this thing for $1.99 and become a millionaire :)

Delays......

So the things that happened when you lived in a house impact full timing differently. Mostly doctor and health.

So after my little experience with Vertigo, Kathy goes in for a routine checkup. An abnormal mammogram and "unusual" thyroid prompts more tests. Waiting for test that were previously done in Michigan to compare a mammograms took a while.  And generally speaking, finding doctors that you are comfortable with in a new place is always difficult. Fortunately, everything is fine!!

In hind site...I would have gotten all of our medical records and scanned them for situations like this. Now I do. With my over night stay and Kathy's tests we've obtained copies of all medical records to keep with us.

As a result of the doctor stuff we decided while it was going to delay leaving until  March 15 instead of February. It really does not impact our overall schedule much other than compressing some of the earlier stops.

We leave March 15th from Wilmington. Nikki (our daughter) we will miss. It's been so nice being around her, which is one of the reasons we wanted to full time. Plus a few little things like the barter system! We pay for the gym while we are here and our wash gets picked up, washed, folded and returned. What a deal.  Definitely going to miss that when we get on the road again. One slight change is the church that we used to go to and be involved in (all that time!) asked Kathy if should would work the summer program for the pre-school, which she said yes to without hesitation. So we will be in Michigan from June 17th thru August 1st. I have not really firmed up the travel plans after that and probably will not for a few months.

Bill (our son) accepted a position as Athletic and Aquatics Coordinator for the City of Carbondale, CO. That is a slight change too, since we originally planned to be in Aurora, CO. Hopefully by mid April the mountains will not be an issue.

As time goes on, we see the importance of getting a real "All season" 5th wheel. While our Keystone Cougar 35' is fine, I can tell it will not hold up to the full time life style in years to come. Both of us have looked at a 37' Cedar Creek 36RD5S. We really like the rear den with french doors!  This is why we like it so much.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-yLRutIKSU

Our schedule as it stands now:

03/14 - /317
Jacksonville, FL (while the 5th wheel goes to Camping World for some maintenance) Makes things a little more challenging when your home goes to the shop :)
440 miles

03/18 - 03/20
Gulf Shores KOA (Pensacola,FL) Lillian, AL
Hmm, wonder if we'll see any "BP" employee's.....
810 miles

03/21 - 3/22
Meridan KOA, Toomsuba, MS
1,015 miles

03/23 - 3/24
Shreveport KOA, Shreveport, LA
1,348 miles

03/25 - 03/27
Abilene KOA, Abilene, TX
1,712 miles

03/28 - 03/29
Carlsbad KOA, Carlsbad, NM
2,003 miles

03/30 - 03/31
Truth or Consequences, NM
2,282 miles
A trip to the "Space Port" and other neat things in the area, maybe even "Area 51" for fun
http://www.spaceportamerica.com/

04/01 - 04/07
Lazy Days Campground, Tucson, AZ
Spend some time with my Parents
2,570 miles

04/08 - 04/14
Flagstaff KOA, Flagstaff, AZ
The Grand Canyon, Montezuma Castle and other cool stuff
2,857 miles

04/15 - 04/17
Moab KOA, Moab, UT
3,205 miles

04/18 - 05/18
Carbondale or Glenwood Springs, Co (Snowmass, Vail area)
3,420 miles
Visit with our son Bill

05/20 - 05/26
Cheyenne KOA, Cheyenne, WY
3,692 miles

05/27 - 05/29
Custer KOA, Custer, SD
4,049 miles
The black hills and Mount Rushmore

05/30 - 06/02
Sioux Falls KOA, Sioux Falls, SD
4,436 miles
06/03 - 06/05
Adel KOA, Adel, IA (Des Moines)
4,702 miles

06/06 - 06/09
Chicago Northwest KOA, Union, IL (Rockford, IL area)
Friends that we made in Wilmington will be there in the summer)
4,982 miles

06/10 - 06/12
Granger KOA, Granger, IN (South Bend/Elkhart)
What's a stop without seeing a few RV's and Amish country!
5,208 miles

06/12 - 08/04
Saline, Michigan
5,372 miles