We are transitioning from “Kick back” to “Ya better start thinking about the trip”. After the two aforementioned (in this blog site) short trips with the grandkidlets, we REALLY had to start thinking and planning about this summer. As a result, our dining room table is half filled with AAA maps, charts, travel books and camping information. “Valentino”, who also resides on the table in his fish-shaped glass bowl, is intrigued by all the goings-on. Primary on the agenda was to get the condo rented and to get the motorhome ready. After a few weeks, we did get a renter for the full four months. Yippee and Hot Damn! Now…on to the Motorhome.
It first went in to get the broken mirror replaced. One of the mirrors in the kitchen was accidentally broken on the kids trip so we had to have a new one made up and installed. I had noticed some slight uneven wear on the front tires so I took it in for a tire rotation and an alignment. Next was a trip to Freightliner for a 60K oil change and safety inspection. (It passed with flying colors!) We are now waiting for Tiffin to ship some “stuff” to La Mesa RV for the final jobs…replacing a fogged side window, a Corian countertop repair and a “falling down wallpaper” repair. This should occur sometime next week.
From preliminary research, talking to people, consulting travel guides and what we know about that area of the country (very little!), I dove in and set up a preliminary, very tentative and highly subject to change trip plan. We are going to leave home on or about May 19th. If we actually do make it on that date, we will meet friends in Ontario for lunch on our way to Las Vegas, the first night’s stop. We are then planning to hit Mt. Rushmore, Iowa (to see Larry & Linda Slycord), Niagara Falls, the Finger Lakes area of New York and then to the east coast somewhere above Boston. We will then take ten days to two weeks to go north along the Right Coast to Jackman, Maine, the starting point for the 56-day Gaspé and Canadian Maritimes caravan on June 25th.
The trip ends on August 23rd when we transition again from the caravan mode to the “haul ass fast” mode, heading for St. George, Utah. We need to do 2,742 miles in about six days. That’s six 457-mile days in a row! That is not going to be fun…but duty calls. If all goes well, we will pick up Larry & Linda in Iowa on the way west and the four of us should arrive in St. George on August 28th to begin the 29-day Grand Circle caravan. We should arrive home about the first week of October, just in time for the Texas kids to arrive for a short visit that includes a motorhome tailgate trip to Chula Vista and the Jimmy Buffett concert on October 16th.
That’s it in a very fragile nutshell. I’m sure there will many deviations along the way and I will keep y’all up on the happenings as we travel. Until the next musings, or until I really get bored again…See ya!
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