A Year in Review....

November 5, 2016

It's been a year since we started this Great American Adventure!  What a wild ride it's been so far!

I unexpectedly quit my job of 22 years with a 30 minute notice.  Our plan to RV full time got moved up about 3 years.

George put his business up for sale.

We bought our 40' 5th wheel toy hauler.  Sold everything we owned.  Sold our home of 20+ years & moved into our 5th wheel. 

 







We found a beautiful park to move the 5th wheel to, Timberlane RV Park & Resort http://timberlanervpark.com. 

We moved here November 1, 2015 and stayed until July 1, 2016.  George's business sold & closed in June 2016.



Daisy

While we were here the motor on our bedroom slide had to be replaced, the living room air conditioner had to be replaced,  we made some changes inside the rig


Before

...and one of our Golden Retrievers, Daisy, passed away.  This happened in February.   We thought, maybe it would be easier to travel with just 1 golden retriever, Tori, and our cat, Alley.


After

That lasted about a week!  Tori was depressed.  We were depressed.  We were a 2 dog family!  We started our search for another Golden.  Daisy was a rescue & was such a good girl we knew we only wanted another rescue.

We ended up with Annie...a goldendoodle!  She was not a rescue but an 8 week old puppy!  We were NOT prepared for a puppy!


We prepared to take our first road trip...July, August & September.  We wanted to be back in Florida October, November & December.

We spent the next 2 weeks getting the rig ready.  George made an appointment to have the brakes checked on the rig as well as getting 6 new tires.  We took it to A & A Trailer in Bradenton, http://www.aandatrailerhitch.com. 

They had the tires off & were checking the brakes.  The brakes were shot!
We not only had 6 new tires put on but we had to replace all 6 brakes!

While we were waiting for the brakes to come in our refrigerator stopped working.  We need a new refrigerator!

Finally...off to some of the western states!  Our 1st stop was St. Cloud, FL.  Our 2 boys & their families live here...5 minutes from each other.

Brent & Ashley (& Lyla) live on 5 acres east of St. Cloud. 

He put in 50 amp service so we could park at his place.  It's a 3 hour drive.  We going to stay 3 days...best laid plans!

While there our little Annie was playing outside with Tori, Zoe & Emma (Brent & Ashley's 2 Goldens).  She ran, full speed, into the L pin on our front leveling jack!



This is one expensive dog!  1 surgery & $1200 later...

 

Now...off to Colorado!

 

Ran out of fuel in Texas! 

 

July 15...made it to Cortez, CO! 

Had to take Annie to a vet in Durango.  She had an infection where she had been stitched up. 

Another surgery, 2-3 visits for the next couple of weeks & $2000 later...  Plus an extra week's stay...in Durango.

 

Found out our "gas tank" was leaking!  It supplies gas to the generator & also serves to fill the bikes if needed.  Patched it.

Made the best of this unexpected stay...rode the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton & Ouray, CO!

August 8...off to Cripple Creek, CO

August 16...off to Cheyenne, WY. 
WAIT!  Only made it to Colorado Springs.  The brakes on the truck were smoking!  BAD!  Had to get new brakes on the truck so we spent 3 days in Colorado Springs. 
Made the best of it.  Got to ride up Pike's Peak!

August 19...finally off to Cheyenne, WY.

August 26...on to Keystone, SD (Mt. Rushmore)  Took some fantastic rides...Sturgis & Deadwood, Custer State Park, Needles Highway & Iron Mountain Road!

September 5...headed to Morton, IL to see my best friend...Julie Cleveland!
(More on this & rest of our trip in separate blogs...soon I hope)  We had reservations at Carl Spindler State Park outside of Morton September 8-11. 

We decided to really take our time getting there.  Decided to stop in Waterloo, IA for a couple days.  Ready to head out on the 7th but...the bar that runs across the leveling jacks broke so we couldn't hook up!  Ended up there until September 9th waiting on the part then installing it!

September 9...another delay but finally got to Morton, IL around 7pm. 

Julie & Anthony

September 12...on to Pennsylvania to see our daughter & her family for a couple weeks.

She, Fid & the girls had just moved into their new log home a couple days before we got there...oh yeah!  Poor kids. 

They also had a 50 amp service so we hooked up there a few steps from their place.

September 26...off to Luray, VA...to see the Caverns!  Spent 2 days!  This is a must see!

 







September 30...made it back to Timberlane RV Park in Bradenton, FL.  Here until January 1, 2017 but will probably leave December 17 & head over to St. Cloud for an early Christmas with the boys & their families then on to....somewhere between there & Las Vegas, NV!  Meeting our friends, Ray & Jackie, January 22-26 for a well deserved "Vegas Fix"!

Thinking we may not come back to Florida until November for a couple of months.  October this year was SO hot!