Whew, here we are 365 days / 1 year from our maiden voyage out of Anchorage. Our driving skills have greatly increased. We drive pretty much equally. We even were able to back into our spaces at the last 2 camp grounds (NY and MA). We had planned this lifestyle for 5 years and our very please with our decision.
Having been in Alaska for so long (37 years for Ruthi, 26 years for Boots and all of her life (2 ½ years) for Karma), this year has in some ways felt like we were in a foreign country. The scenery was ever changing and the weather just got better and better (hotter and hotter) until it began to rain. We met locals of every stripe and travelers from across America. Most of the other full-time RVers are more mature individuals either totally retired or like Ruthi still doing some business on the side. A lot of the campgrounds we have been to have permanent setups (park model, mobile home, or regular RV (A, C, B, Trailer and 5th Wheel)). We have noticed a number of families who are working in the neighborhood, living in the RV with kids, pets, et all.
The freedom of travelling here to there with only ourselves to satisfy was very exciting and liberating. Ruthi’s small contract was binding in some ways but nothing like a full-time job that needed careful attendance and attention each and every day. We tried to move on Tuesdays. We have determined that we are more “city” girls than ”country” and prefer campgrounds nearer malls, dog day care, movies, and Chinese, Thai, Mexican eateries.
Alaska and our stick-built house had fewer bugs to contend with – mainly we had spiders (Ruthi’s most favorite) and mosquitoes. While ants, cockroaches, beetles, etc. were in Alaska, we personally did not have problems with infestations. But we have discovered that ants come in all sizes, colors and create a number of different problems. FYI, there is a product out there (not GREEN though – we tried all of those to no avail) called “ant stakes” that has seemed to work on red crazies in California that just swarm with no focused direction, red fire ants that bite every flesh surface and are all over the ground in Alabama. The big black ones seem to send out scouts and killing the scouts (with medium sized books) stops further visitors along the East coast.
We still get an occasional bee or spider (which Boots sadly kills or captures for release outside). There is some type of large bee that looks like a bumble bee but has no stinger and seems to live in mud type homes like wasps. They are bothersome but don’t bite or sting. Then there are the mosquitoes – we had always thought Alaska’s+ were the biggest and worst. But alas, Maine has Alaska beat by a mile; which is about the size of the Maine mosquito wing span. Just kidding! But these mosquitoes are vicious and looking for any skin. As was said in an earlier, we have gotten bitten everywhere and anywhere.
Karma has never been a fan of bugs hovering around her body. She tries to catch them (bees being a really scary thing for us). One time she leaped directly up and spun around trying to outwit a bug. One good result of her bug focus is that she hunts them in the rig. If she can, she will catch and devour any bug in the house. Sometimes they are out of her reach and she will go into “point” so that Boots can capture and deal with the bug.
Overall, breaking down camp and setting up has gotten quicker but it still takes more effort than we expected. We are continually improving our processes to be as efficient as possible. We still need a permanent solution for the desk and table arrangement. We are looking for a cabinet to convert the table into a chopping block/breakfast bar that we can permanently connect to the floor of the main room slid-out. We want to build in the desk but still haven’t come up with the plans that will work.
We have learned that with a little conservation, our fresh water and associates waste tanks can last us about 7 days. Likewise as long as we don’t need the air conditioner and its’ sunny all day, our solar panels supply all of the power we need.
Once we have seen my family in Illinois at the end of summer, we are going to slow the pace of our travelling down. We plan to stay in places longer. Take a more leisurely approach to seeing the sights. We need to plan our winter locale and begin thinking about where to go for the Spring of 2010. Ruthi would like to do more dry camping and Boots would generally like to stay at least a month in the various places we want to truly check out. We are going back to San Diego and Austin for sure. Family stops in Quincy CA, Alabama, and Illinois will be repeated. And, we know we want to eventually do the coast of the East coast to include Delaware and Washington, DC.
Boots, as our trip and camping planner, spends a lot of time trying to get the best RV parks and price for our focused location. Sometimes that doesn’t always work out for the best. Check out our RV Park reviews.
One of the challenges of travelling anywhere is finding local restaurants, dog parks, used book stores, etc. So, we use the internet and our GPS to eventually find places but that doesn’t mean we don’t drive round and round trying to translate directions. Once in New York, we had an address for a dog park that had great reviews. We found the street that was 1 block long in the middle of a light industrial district – no dog park that we could discern. We finally got directions from a local dog day care office. The parks was down the 1 block road, left through the light industrial area and then right. At the end of that road was a nice small park. We went there only once.
Then there’s trying to decide if the restaurant will live up to the reviews. Generally speaking very few do. Taco Mio in Quartzsite, AZ is great! Mellow Mushroom for Pizza and Bruschetta is fantastic in Foley, AL. Pangaea provides real tasty vegetarian fare in Quincy, CA. All of the Shrimp Baskets and Mikey’s in LA (Lower Alabama) provide great grilled shrimp and good fried shrimp. So, we are left with the standard franchises – Red Lobster, Olive Garden, McDonalds (for Ruthi), etc. Or, Boots’ great home cooking!!!
Though 11 by 31 (with both slides out = 341sq. ft.) may sound too small for you, we are fine and really love the minimalist style to which we have become accustomed. Originally our closet, basement and under bed storage was pretty full leaving Alaska. We have over the past year managed to par down and better organize the closet and basement. We still need to do a full “empty and re-pack” of the stuff under the bed. And, with a truck bed cover we are able to better accommodate the outdoor things (broom, tripod, chairs, etc.).
One on-going challenge has been connectivity limitations on our phones and air cards (internet access). Boots’ laptop is much larger than Ruthi’s, as a result, has a larger antennae with better reception. Boots has had connectivity for 90-95% of the locations we have camped; Ruthi not so much. But we can always drive out to the closest village/town/city and do mass up/downloads. Our phones on the other hand, have occasionally (<5%) been so out of network range to be essentially unusable. So, Verizon still has some work to be done on there “Call you hear me now network.”
So in closing, we have travelled through or camped in 26 states in the last year: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. That doesn’t count the 2 Canadian providences – Yukon Territory and British Columbia. So, only 23 more states (we have seen Hawaii every January for the last 20+ years and RVing there is going to be difficult) and the District of Columbia before we can start over.
