Friday, September 7, 2012

Avoiding Hurricane Isaac & Heading Home

8/29/2012: Here we sit in Ludington, MI and our summer trip is all but over as we start the drive home tomorrow.  The only trouble is... we don't know where Hurricane Isaac is going to be when it gets done with New Orleans.    Hopefully we can avoid the rain.  We shall see!

Most of our friends know that we were full-timers in 2008-2010 when we in our Phaeton.  We had discussed the possibility of getting into a RV ( but at least 42' long) full time again, but this trip completely changed our minds!  We had forgotten how much work it is when you travel in a RV ( keeping things running and clean), how much strain it can be if or when things break ( how much will it cost to get it fixed?), and the fact that maybe we're just too freaking old for this kind of travel for extended periods of time now?  HA!

After all the small towns we have been to on both coasts, and now along the shores of western Michigan, they just seem to all run together and everything becomes "the same." 

Anyway - we love our Foretravel but because we actually do have a house to come back to, we will only be using "Moose" for shorter trips to see our kids or as an escape device to just get away for a week or two.  No more 3 or 4 month trips!   Besides, it's hard to work from a RV too.  Internet access can be spotty and even Verizon can't have a signal everywhere! 

                                          Here's a summary of our 2012 trip:

Overall, the trip went smoothly as far as our RV is concerned.  We had no break downs!  The canvas cover on the slide ripped a little, but that will be easily fixed when we get back.  It was fun to drive this 450HP rig through the mountains too!   SO much faster up hills than our 2008 Phaeton!
I think Kathy & I have decided that this was our last "summer" trip.  It was so hot over most of the country it became a nuisance to our travels because it was simply too hot to sit outside or even walk around some of the local towns.  Since we also work from our RV, it became a PIA to answer phone calls or get internet access when we were off the beaten path.   We're going to use our RV for shorter trips here on out.  To visit our kids, ( and upcoming grand kids) and to just get away from it all for a week or two.  When we go, it'll be in the spring or fall when the tempatures are below 80F though!  No more 90+ temps for us.  Too old for that stuff :)  Changing to a plane ride to Maine, rent a car for a week and eat lobster until it makes us sick - then just fly home.  Simple.