Year Three Review

June 29, 2016 is a special day for us. It's the day we sold our home in the Rochester New York area and started our new adventure of traveling the country in our motorhome. It's hard to believe it has been three years already. In thinking back on the past year, I find it difficult to remember it all. I believe that is the main reason I decided to write a blog – so that I'll remember what we did. Maybe nobody else will get any real useful info from it, but when I'm in my rocking chair at 90 years old, I'll be able to look back at the adventures and question who these folks were that traveled all over and saw these wonderful places.

The following picture is a map of our journeys for the past 12 months. If you click on the link below the map, it will open up a Google Map that I use to keep track of it all. The tracks between stops are what Google draws, not necessarily the route we drove but it is good enough to get the general idea of our route. Clicking on any of the pins that denotes a stop will pop up a window that has a link to any blog post that I wrote for that stop. There will be some stops that may have more than one blog post while in other cases, one blog post covers multiple stops. Some of the recent stops may not have a blog post written yet but will eventually!

CLICK HERE to bring up interactive map

The next two maps show each state shaded proportional to how many nights we stayed in it. The first one shows just our third year. We stayed in 22 states this year although six of those were just for two nights or less as we passed through the area. The second map shows the culmination of our three years on the road. We covered 39 states although a handful of those were also for just one or two nights.

Our Third Year

Our First 3 Years

What were some of the costs and how did they compared to prior years? Well our camping average jumped up to $30.72 per day (it was about $27 year one and $23 year two). A good portion of that came from that fact that our highest per day price was $51.48 near Acadia National Park – and we stayed there for a full month! This past year we have only driven the motorhome 6500 miles (it was 9140 year one and almost 7000 year two). I suppose that is a sign of improvement since our goal isn't to put on lots of miles but to spend quality time along the way. While our total diesel cost of $2402 was less than each of the first two years, our fuel cost per mile is $0.37 which is a bit higher than the prior years. We put another 13,000 miles on the Jeep which is nearly identical to year two. Not sure what, if any, conclusions can be made from that fact other than we seem to be consistent.

The real improvement in year three was our travel pace. We only had 46 travel days versus 66 and 61 for years one and two. Once I account for the 10 overnight stops we had this past year, we are close to an average of 10 nights per stop. That same stat comes in at just under one week for the first two years. Obviously, our 3 month stay at one spot in Florida over the winter had a big influence on that but this is more in line with what we want the pace to be.

When we first started this journey, we were thinking month long stops would be ideal. And we do like it when we get to an area we enjoy (e.g. Acadia National Park) and spend a month. But the fact is, there are long distances to travel to get to some of these destinations and while we try to make the most of our travel stops along the way, not all of them are worthy of month long stops. It is a balancing act and we will likely never come to a perfect solution, even though these two former engineers will keep trying to find the proper pace. We have come across other fulltime travelers that spend 6 months up north in the summer and 6 months down south in the winter. Maybe as we age, we will move towards that pattern?

What were some of the highlights of the past year? In no particular order and with a picture from each:

• Well Maine would be at the top of the list, specifically Acadia National Park. It is our type of place with lots of hiking and biking possibilities.

The Bubbles at Jordan Pond

• We had an unexpected, prolonged stay in Burlington Vermont while some work was done on the Jeep. This stop ended up being a really good one. We found lots to see and do during the 24 nights we were there and came to enjoy the 'vibe' of the place.

Vermont's Finest

• We found excellent mountain biking in of all places – Florida! Alafia River State Park and Santos Trailhead Campground both have some very good biking trails that could cater to any level of rider.

He's Ready to Ride

• Our week long Habitat for Humanity build in North Fort Myers was a great time. We helped get a home closer to being ready for a family in need and met a good number of like minded people.

Our H4H Home

• Jekyll Island Georgia was a pleasant surprise as well. Even without the use of a car for the 8 nights we were there, we found it to be a relaxing place.

Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island

• Oak Mountain State Park in Alabama was a good stop. Great hiking and biking trails and tons of geocaches. We have stayed there before and will stay there again.

Flower at Birmingham Botanical Gardens

• Badlands National Park was a good stop. Interesting rock formations, a couple good hikes and our first experience with bison close up.

You Looking at Me?

• Custer State Park had so much to offer. Excellent hiking and biking plus even more bison.

Original Visitor Center at Custer State Park

We are still really enjoying our journeys and don't have any end date in sight. This year started out only a couple dozen miles from our first home in Rochester. We had a good time reuniting with friends from the area. It was interesting “visiting” an area we lived in for over 30 years. While in Florida, we had mini-family reunions and did some remodeling in the motorhome. And we finish up the year in Montana. All in all, year 3 was a good one – bring on year 4!