Let the Planning Begin

Mike and I talk A LOT about adventures we want to have in life. When we first got married we created a bucket list of places we wanted to see. Teaching internationally allowed us to knock out several of the countries and landmarks we wanted to see and oh so many more than what was on our list. The pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt, the wonders of Petra, Jordan, the Great Wall of China, the Taroko Eternal Spring Shrine, Taraoko Gorge, Taiwan, the Pantanal in Brazil, Macchu Pichu, Peru, the Amazon in Ecuador, ... 

 

 

   

  

I should stop as that is not what this post is about.

It is about heading West for a new adventure. I have always been jealous of Mike's family trip in the late '80s to the National Parks in the US, a 6 week summer adventure. We have since visited some of the places together but not many. This trip he gets to introduce me to many more.

The planning started months ago, 10 months or so ago when we sold the house. I decided we were going on a road trip and we were to buy an RV. Well we did buy one, LIBB, and lived out of it from April - October. No exciting trips but several beautiful campgrounds and learned what worked and did not work for us in LIBB. 

We had to buy a few things to make life easier: a voltage reader, 20V Cordless Drill and Impact Driver and socket set, a 1 and 1/16 socket with extender, battery charger, wheel stabilizers, levelers, chocks, portable tire inflator, awning mop, and twin size bed sheets.

We have updated/changed a few things: a new 230ah Lithium battery, swapped the side opening cabinet doors to bottom up, replaced glass on stove top with cutting board.

Added a few things: added 6 inch memory foam toppers to the twin beds, spices racks, wired shelves in fridge, added tension rods to the fridge, added adjustable tension rod shelf to bathroom cabinet, mounted paper towel holder, bug guards on outside vents, over door towel hangers, a collapsible trash holder, and a suspended tissue box by the bed.

As well as more updates planned. Adding another solar panel to the roof, a Victron Solar Panel Controller 100/30 MPPT and a Victron shunt.

Also updated our TV (tow vehicle) from the amazing, loved 2003 Toyota 4 Runner to a 2022 Ford 150. Unfortunately the 4 Runner was no longer road worthy, it was a sad goodbye.

So 10months ago I created a My Google Map and added all the US and Canadian National and Provincial Parks. Blue tags are US parks, reddish/orange are Canadian, green checks we have been to already and black is already a stop on our trip.

Then I added where my  family and friends live. Purple is Canadian friends, orange is American and pink is family.

Then creating the overlap of the two maps

Wow! A lot of places and people to visit.

Leg 1 of our trip starts before we will be towing LIBB. VA to Canada and back. We are going up to see the Solar Eclipse in Canada, April 8th, with some dear friends. Along the way we will stop in CT, ME and PEI to visit family and another set of dear friends. The black dots without the blue line, we have done this route a gazillion times so we don't need to map it.

 

After a few days of looking into places and locations of friends we have Leg 2 planned. The black dots with blue lines, many years since we did this route so "Map It !" we say!

The adventure begins on May 14 when we head to Douthat Whispering Pines, VA! Followed by Twin Knobs, KY, Mammoth Caves, KY, Brown County State Park, IN, Round Lake, IL, Osh Gosh, WI, and Chippewa Falls, WI. We have boondocked for 10 days in VA in the spring but have not done so yet RV roadtripping. We are going to give it a go in Part III.

Why this route? FRIENDS! We miss our friends from all over the world and we want to include them in our epic adventure. Plus they live in places we have never been to. Win! Win!

On to planning Leg 3.