What a year we have had. The year 2016 wasn’t all great but we sure enjoyed living life on the road in our beautiful country. We started the year off in Florida at Imperial Bonita Estates where we wintered a few months including the whole month of January. By the time we left Florida we logged 44 days of 2016 in this beautiful state.
Best Florida Memories – The white sandy beaches at Bonita Beach, the people at Imperial Bonita Estates and the Nokomis Drum Circle!
Worst Florida Memory – Our first major boo-boo happened to our RV.
From Florida we only spent two nights in Alabama and did not need to stay longer since we didn’t require a visit to Red Bay for any RV maintenance. We thought about going there to have our RV repairs done but we had no idea what the insurance would cover at that time so we moved on to Louisiana where we spent 35 days with most of it at our favorite RV park and location for fun at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville Louisiana.
Best Louisiana Memories – All the different Festivals in Louisiana and having fun with friends at Betty’s RV Park!
Worst Louisiana Memory – Leaving Betty’s RV Park!
We moved on into Texas and it would be 62 days before we left the state of Texas and our former home. It was while we were there we decided our summer goal would be to check off the middle states in the USA, or as they are often called “the fly over states.”
Best Texas Memories – Reconnecting with friends and family. Having fun with our grandkids once again and enjoying the Texas wildflowers!
Worst Texas Memory – Figuring what was wrong with our slide out and repairing it.
After leaving Texas we headed north and first up was five nights in Oklahoma. This would be our first new state to visit this year. We might have stayed longer but this is tornado alley and we were in prime season.
Best Oklahoma Memories – Walking around the University of Oklahoma campus, a school I strongly considered going to for my college degree.
Worst Oklahoma Memory – Watching the weather closely for tornado watches… Yikes!!!
Scooting further north we entered our second new state of the year, Kansas. We also hastily drove through Kansas because of the weather but lingered long enough to stay 10 nights.
Best Kansas Memories – The grand tour of Kansas City with future full-timers Karen and Mark, hiking in the tall grass prairie, Kansas City BBQ at Oklahoma Joe’s and our visit to the state capitol.
Worst Kansas Memory – Like Oklahoma our worst memory was our constant monitoring of severe weather in the state.
After leaving Kansas we entered yet another new state, Nebraska (our third new one this year). We only spent five nights in Nebraska as we were still running away from the spring storms or we would have stayed longer.
Best Nebraska Memories – Our urban hike in Omaha was a great surprise and one we really enjoyed. We also loved our visit to the state capitol and visiting the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
Worst Nebraska Memory – No real bad memories since we didn’t stay very long and the weather was improving.
(To be Continued…)
It is always fun to reflect on the past year's activities and it looks like you had some good ones. Sorry that the weather didn't co-operate as you passed through Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, surprisingly enough there is quite a bit to see in these states. Hopefully you will be able to go back and visit them again at a better time of year.
ReplyDeletewww.travelwithkevinandruth.com
Every year on the road living this lifestyle is wonderful hope we all have many more.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious you had a great year of travel. The format of your wrap-up makes for a nice read, with the highs and lows of what sticks in your mind. Continued safe travels!
ReplyDeletePlease John tell me where you got the map app at the top. Is it difficult?
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for your blog. Fun to summarize. Sometimes we forget.
I use Microsoft Streets and Trips, a now defunct piece of software but I still love it
DeleteI like your recap of 2016. It makes a really good timeline format. I read about your boo boo in Florida and cringed!! That might be one advantage for us, this time, not having the big rig.
ReplyDeleteEverything is a tradeoff in this lifestyle. Looking forward to the next part of your recap!!
I still use Microsoft Streets and Trips too. It's still a great tool. Love the reflection of your trips. You sure visited lots of places in 2016. It'll be interesting to see where 2017 takes you.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful year from here! We still talk about our meeting with you guys.
ReplyDeleteJust got back from a trip for work out to Hays Kansas. Took some photos along the way. The folks in Hays were great to be around and there were a couple stops I would have like to make along the way. For example I saw the New Horizons fifth wheel plant on a hill along Interstate 70. Can't afford one but would have like to have stopped in.
Thanks for taking the time to do a recap of 2016 so us futuretimers can make sure we don't miss a stop on the list.