We left Sarasota,
Florida on August 3, 2014. Can you believe it has been an entire year that we
have been living our dream! Needless to say we have had our ups and downs
during this past year long learning curve, but we survived! We have become much
closer in our relationship (can’t get much closer in a 40’ RV with less than
500 square feet) and this RV adventure has enriched our lives more than we
imagined. We are so glad we can enjoy our retirement together and we look
forward to the coming years on the road.
We sold our villa in Village Walk in a week...
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| Sandhill Cranes with Chicks on Pond outside our back porch |
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| Rented Park Model until taking possession of RV |
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| Sun N Fun RV Resort in Sarasota, FL |
And we traded all of that for this...our new home on wheels!
Celebrated our One Year RV Anniversary in Coeur d'Alene, ID
We celebrated our
one year anniversary in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on August 3, 2015. We decided to
have dinner downtown at the Scratch Bistro.
We toasted with Mike’s beer in hand and Sharon’s Huckleberry Riesling. The
hors d’oeuvres were figs wrapped in bacon and served with goat cheese,
Huckleberries and balsamic reduction! They were to die for and Sharon hopes to
replicate the recipe. For dinner, Mike enjoyed a 12 oz. Choice NY strip steak
with a red wine demi-glaze, and Sharon had a grilled pork chop with balsamic
glaze and goat cheese, both served with grilled asparagus and of course an
Idaho Baked Potato! And the evening wouldn’t have been complete without
dessert. The Huckleberry cobbler with ice cream was enough for two of us!
We stayed within our Budget!
we have put 10,595 miles on the RV with a cost
of $3,161.69 for diesel fuel.
We have put 24,850 miles on the Jeep. We obviously travelled much more than we expected in the Jeep!
Guess we better slow down. After all this is supposed to be a lifestyle, not a vacation! And we averaged $31.57 per night at RV parks with full hook-ups!
We Made New RV Friends along the Way
Thanks to our RV friends for spending time with us and making our adventure more memorable! RVers are a friendly bunch of people and we have met so many friends throughout this past year. There are too many to mention here, but we have to mention a few: Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, TX: Roz & Doug (FL); Santa Fe KOA, NM: Mike & Marilyn (TX); American RV Park, Albuquerque, NM: Connie & Donnie (TX), Bob & Pat (NC); Robert & Sharon (TX); Oasis RV Park, Amarillo, TX: Nancy & Terry (CO & FL); Bastrop State Park, TX: Roger & Pat (TX); Escapees Rally in Tucson, AZ: Linda & Dale (AZ), Pat & Ronnie (SD), Judy, the author (CA), Joann & Steve (TX), Jeanne & John (WI); Texas Hatters, Lockhart, TX: Tim (AR); Lake Falling Star RV Park, Dale (Lockhart), TX: Gerald & Donna (KS); Lake Corpus Christi State Park, Mathis, TX: Larry & Marion (IL); Grand Teton Park RV Park, Moran, WY: Michelle & Bob (TX); and Miller House Tour, Jackson Hole, WY: Nancy & Dave (SD).
Highlights of Our Journey Out West...
You can view all of our blog posts, if you haven't already. Here are a few memorable moments during our first year RVing.
Our First RV Park in Top Sail State Park in Panhandle of Florida
A Visit to Fort Worth, Texas to see the Cattle Drive
Amarillo, Texas
Our First "Destination" in Santa Fe, New Mexico where we spent Six Weeks!
You can view all of our blog posts, if you haven't already. Here are a few memorable moments during our first year RVing.
Our First RV Park in Top Sail State Park in Panhandle of Florida
A Visit to Fort Worth, Texas to see the Cattle Drive
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| Mike's First Cowboy Hat |
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| Dinner at Reata Restaurant with a personalized dessert plate |
Amarillo, Texas
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| Our First Long Hike - Palo Duro Canyon |
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| The Famous Cadillac Ranch Art Installation & Sculpture |
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| Took Limo to The Big Texan with new RV Friends, Nancy & Terry |
Our First "Destination" in Santa Fe, New Mexico where we spent Six Weeks!
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| Mike & Marilyn & Sharon - Neighbors at Santa Fe KOA |
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| Laura & Don - Friends from Sarasota |
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| Cooking Class in Santa Fe with Chefs & our friend, Laura |
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| Dinner with Kerry (daughter of our friend, Jenny) |
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| Enjoying the Farmer's Market in Santa Fe |
Our 39th Wedding Anniversary Dinner at The Compound on Canyon Road in Santa Fe
We took a ski lift to Aspen Peak at 11,250 feet to see the fall leaves.
We also hiked in Big Tesuque in the Santa Fe National Forest to see more fall leaves!
One reason why New Mexico was our first destination was to attend the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque where we spend three days!
See our Santa Fe blog post for the many things we did during our six week stay.
Medina Lake RV Park in Lake Hills, Texas
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| Mike made a "deer" friend |
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| Due to a five year drought, Medina Lake was empty |
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| Our first road runner Mike spotted behind the RV |
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| Dinner before the Rodeo |
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| Our First Rodeo! |
Guadalupe River RV Resort in Kerrville, Texas
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| Our First Campfire |
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| Made Cherry Pies with Pie Iron |
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| Our First Kayaking Trip on the Guadalupe River |
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| RV Friends, Mike & Marilyn |
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| Mike & Marilyn live in Kerrville and took us everywhere! |
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| Our First Thanksgiving made in our convection oven! |
Canyon of the Eagles Nature Park, Burnet, Texas
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| We made Christmas Cookies at the Clubhouse |
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| Eagle Eye Observatory at Canyon of the Eagles |
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| Mike took the ride of his life on this plane for his 60th Birthday! |
Bastrop State Park, Texas
We spent Christmas here. The park had experienced a devastating fire several years ago, and when we arrived they had just done a controlled burn in the RV park area. It smelled like smoke most of our stay.
We spent Christmas here. The park had experienced a devastating fire several years ago, and when we arrived they had just done a controlled burn in the RV park area. It smelled like smoke most of our stay.
For Christmas Dinner we drove a few hours to a B&B in Wimberley, Texas where we enjoyed a six course meal with other guests of the B&B. The food was delicious and our hosts were very nice people.
We also met Larry, our friend and retired firefighter/paramedic from Sarasota, with his family for lunch at Lake Travis, Texas.
Lake Livingston State Park, Texas
Lockhart, Texas
We stayed in Dale, Texas just outside of Lockhart. It is the official Barbecue Capital of Texas so we made sure we hit three of four restaurants!
We met Tim, an Rver from Arkansas at The Texas Hatters where he was picking up a hat custom made for him!
Lake Corpus Christi State Park, Mathis, Texas
We met Larry, Marion and their dog, Rooster. Larry fished everyday and he fryed up some of his catch for us one evening. He is a retired firefighter from Illinois.
We visited the well known King Ranch for a bird tour, but also saw horses, turkeys, cattle. It was an amazing ranch, well worth a visit.
We also drove down to Port Aransas and spent the day with Connie and Donnie, RV friends we met in Albuquerque.
Davis Mountain State Park, Ft. Davis, Texas
We stayed at Davis Mountain State Park, took a jeep tour in Big Bend National Park, had lunch in the ghost town of Terlingua and visited Alpine and Marfa among other things!
The next group of photos are places that we have not yet posted on the blog!
Carlsbad, New Mexico
When we arrived in Carlsbad, giant snowflakes starting falling! Thank goodness we didn't have to drive in the snow. Our first tour was cancelled the next day because of the snow and road conditions. We drove to Carlsbad that morning to find it was closed. We passed salt trucks on the road and overturned trucks! We went the next day to take our self-guided tour and the last day we took a guided tour into the darkest section of the cave and had to use ropes to get down and back up again and helmets with lights! We had always wanted to see Carlsbad and so glad we did!
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| Sharon lowering herself down into the cave |
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| It was really dark and at one point we turned all the lights off |
Las Cruces, New Mexico
We were only here a short time and what we really wanted to see while here were the White Sands National Monument.
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| Stayed at Las Cruces KOA |
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| Felt our privacy was invaded by drone flown by RVer |
When we arrived at White Sands, we stopped alongside the road and took some beautiful photos while the lighting was perfect, until a ranger stopped and said we couldn't stop along the road! Thank goodness Sharon got some of her best shots before getting caught. We also took a sunset tour with the ranger which was fabulous! The sand reminded us of the cool powdery sand at Siesta Key beach at home in Sarasota.
Tucson, Arizona
We stayed in Tucson for the month of April, and stored our RV and Jeep here while we flew home for two weeks. We did so much here that you will have to wait for the blog post! We went to an Escapees Rally and Bootcamp while here and met our RV friends, Steve and JoAnn from Ft. Worth area. We will be meeting them in Gig Harbor, Washington next week!
Williams, Arizona
It snowed here too. Watch for our blog post on Williams, Jerome and Sedona!
Gallup, New Mexico
We stayed here so we could go to Bisti Badlands and Chaco Canyon. More to come on our upcoming blog post.
Bisti was the most unusual place we have ever hiked. It was like a moonscape. No trails.
Chaco Canyon was an amazing place as well.
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| The dirt road to Chaco Canyon |
Mesa Verde, Pagosa Springs, Central City and Golden, Colorado
We spent the month of May making our way through Colorado. This too will be on a future blog post. Mesa Verde was beautiful. We had never seen so many birds at Pagosa Springs, and we were at 8,700 at the Central City KOA. Mike ended up in the hospital with a 102 temperature and stayed overnight for cardiac and pulmonary testing! We had to move to a lower elevation. There were so many fronts that moved through Colorado that we had alot of snow and rain, and there was a lot of flooding in many parts of Colorado. Stay tuned for more on this adventure!
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana
This was our second "destination" adventure. We did so much as we spent the month of June in Moran, WY at the south entrance to Yellowstone. We met RV friends, Bob and Michelle and cooked marshmellows over a colorful fire with a beautiful sunset. We did a lot in Jackson Hole too, including a great food with The Jackson Hole Food Tour co-owner, Clarke Todd of www.jhfoodtours.com! We even made the local newspaper with our photo, as a reporter and photographer were on the same tour!
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| We overlooked the Grand Tetons |
And for the month of July we moved to Livingston, Montana near the north entrance to Yellowstone and stayed at Yellowstone River's Edge RV Park along the Yellowstone River. Mike got in his flying fishing on the Yellowstone River with Max, a local guide. Our friends Kenny, Gail from Sarasota and her sister from Wisconsin were in the area, so we spent three days with them over the 4th of July and toured Yellowstone with them too.
You will have to wait until our blog for Yellowstone to see all of the animal and geyser photos! Sharon submitted some of her favorite photos to the Yellowstone Forever Photo Contest celebrating its centennial celebration in 2016. Hope she wins!!
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
We spent a week in Hayden, ID just outside of Coeur d'Alene. There is a great story behind this location. We were here during our one year RV anniversary and are leaving on Saturday, August 8 for a 6 hour drive to Gig Harbor, Washington to start the next leg of our adventure - the Pacific West Coast. Stay tuned for the blog on this adventure!
On a Sweet Note...
Sharon had given her ice cream and sorbet maker away before we left Sarasota. We missed it so much we got another one. So Sharon has been experimenting with her own gourmet recipes and turning out some delicious ice cream. Today she took some hand-picked, jarred cherries from a Farmer's Market, pitted them and cut them in halves. She took the juice and added some black cherry preservers and made a reduction and let it cool. She then broke up some 70% extra bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate into chunks. Using her vanilla bean ice cream recipe she added the ingredients and churned it for about a half hour. It's her version of e "Cherry Garcia" and it is delicious!
our new RV. Sharon was inside and felt the coach
shake and heard a load noise outside.
Mike had stood up while still under the slide and
gashed his head open. He came inside holding his
ball cap on his head with blood gushing down his arms!! Sharon insisted he go to the emergency room
for stitches! His first RV battle scar!
Mike has since ordered a hardhat ballcap to wear
when working under the slides!!
Our Bon Voyage Party & RV Tour at Sun N Fun RV Resort
We set up tables with the rest of our household items that we could not fit in the RV for our friends to take with them after the party. There was nothing left! Here are few photos. See our first blog post for more!
Thanks to our friends and family at home who have stayed connected with us since we left Sarasota, FL and who are living our dream through our blog.
Our Visit back home in April
Our friends and family also welcomed us home for our two week visit in April! We stored our RV and Jeep in Tucson while we flew home to Sarasota for an annual visit. We actually had to make a schedule with all of our doctor and dentist appointments, and breakfasts, lunches and dinners with as many people as we had time for! We also took time to spend a weekend at our favorite B&B - The Cedar House Inn in St. Augustine, the location of our first real date 40 years ago. Cyndi is the greatest Inn Keeper and chef. We purchased her first cookbook while we were there. We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary on September 13, 2015.
Looking good at 60!! The Adventure continues!! Happy Trails!
Mike & Sharon
“Each moment of the year has its own Beauty, a picture which
was never seen before, and
which shall never be seen again.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
