“If you don’t know where you are going, you might not get there.” – Yogi Berra
Driving north out of Pinellas County, Florida, I had no idea of where I would end up going or how long I would be gone. People asked me where I am going this year on the RV trip. I tell them I don’t know. Then they ask me, well, how will you know when you get there? I tell them that I don’t know, that is a very good question. That is a very good question. I will figure it out when I figure it out.
The plan for the 2023 RV trip is, well, no plan.
I am heading north 800 miles to visit my friends Erica and Chris in southwest Virginia and stay with them for a while. We traveled together by RV for the last three years. They sold their RV and bought a beautiful farm in the mountains of western Virginia. The video below is the RV site Chris and Erica prepared for me.
One of the wonderful benefits of the RV lifestyle is being able to visit friends scattered across the country. Some of my most beloved friends have moved out of Florida recently. I understand, Pinellas County has become extremely crowded and noisy. Below are some of my favorite photos from the three years we toured around America.
After visiting with Erica and Chris, I will head either farther north, or west, or maybe stay in the Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee areas.
Over the last eight years, I’ve been just about everywhere I want to go. The places I want to go still are best not suited for a RV, like Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. I just want to find a quiet places with cooler temperatures than Florida, with a town nearby for groceries and restaurants, and stay for a few weeks and relax. I want to use my RV as a summer home. I am done driving all over the country. All the driving is just too hard and too much work now.
My first long trip multi-month trip out west in 2017 was similar to this. I had no idea where I was going, or even which states I was going through. I totally winged it. During this trip was when I learned to live in the moment. I’d always been such a planner. On that trip, I would wake up, see where the weather was good, then go to Google Maps, find a campground within 200 miles, make a reservation, and set off on the day’s journey. If I liked the place, I would try to stay longer, if not I would just leave and cut the stay short.
That trip ended up being a 90-day, 9000-mile trip. Along the way I saw Texas for the first time, Roswell and Alberuque in New Mexico, Sedona, Payson, Prescott, Grand Canyon in Arizona, Moab, Arches, Salt Lake City, and Park City in Utah. The farthest north and west I made it was Coeur d’Alene. There I suddenly became homesick and decided to start driving home. The only problem was home was over 4,000 miles away.
On the way back I decided to return home through Missoula, Montana, and then to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. I stayed in Jackson, Wyoming, for four days waiting for Teton and Yellowstone to open.
From Teton National Park I drove through the howling winds of Wind River, then down to Boulder, Colorado. From there I caught a 30 mph tailwind and got blown across the country to Salina, Kansas. I had a terrible feeling there would be a price to pay for the wind pushing me across the prairies. I was trying to outrun a strong frontal boundary sweeping west to east across the country. I learned from my many years of long-distance cycling, that what the wind Gods give, the wind Gods taketh away. Trapped for three days in Salina by a long line of storms, I barely survived tornadoes that roared through. I will never forget the fear of hearing the tornado sirens blaring and huddling together in the campground bathrooms with the rest of the campers. We peered out the bathroom door and saw 7o mph straight-line horizontal winds. Ironically the campground I encountered the tornadoes had a Wizard of OZ theme.
From Kansas, I made my way back to Florida through Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. The point of recalling all of that trip is that I am glad I did the long trip when I was a bit younger. Erica, Chris, and I did a similar trip back in 2020, driving all the way to California, up to Seattle, back through Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and back across the country to Michigan. I just don’t have the stamina and fortitude to travel like that anymore.
I’m going to miss traveling with Erica and Chris. The last three years of caravaning together were so much better traveling than traveling alone. We had a good run. They are in a good and better place now, on a farm building a wonderful self-sufficient life together. I am so happy for them. I think at times I will find this trip empty and lonely without Erica and Chris. What I learned from traveling with them is that it is not where you go, but who you go with. The link below will take you to the post I wrote back in 2020 when I learned this life lesson.
But before we traveled together, I toured across America in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 by myself with my dearly loved travel companions Paso Robles and Mountain Lioness. Those cats went through 45 states. I will figure it all out again.
My trusted companions Mountain Lioness and Rascal are with me again. Rascal is on his second trip, and Mountain Lioness has been with me since the beginning. They make great travel buddies.
So here we go again.
“All these years I’ve been a-wandering. Just when I think I’m near the end, I always see the road a-bending. I wonder what’s around the bend.” – Charles Kuralt
I always love to read your well written posts. I am glad you will be visiting Chris and Erica. I am thankful to Chris and Eric for introducing you to our family. I know you will have more adventures with them as you visit. Enjoy your travels.
Thank you for the kind words. I am really looking forward to seeing Erica and Chris. I am also glad that Chris introduce me to your family, wonderful times and people during those 4th of July renunions. Hope you are doing well Christyne.