We start in El Centro and head up to San Jose, CA area via Bakersfield, CA overnight for Scott to work in the main office for a couple of days while I stamp a few sites off our National Parks books.
From there we're heading up to Eugene, Oregon to get our RV fiberglass repaired from when we tore a corner of it it last August dropping off Hunter and Cierra at their house in North Carolina. We met a repair guy at the Quartzsite RV Show and booked an appointment with him. He's letting us stay at his RV repair shop without having to book any outside hotels, so that's great. In the meantime, Alyse and Lilly and SJ will be there visiting her dad so we'll do a little hanging out with them and also tour Crater Lake National Park since we'll be there 4 days.
From there we go to stop #3 - Becky & Jeff's place in Olympia, Washington for a few days and then over to Emmett, Idaho to visit with Kyle, Alyse, Lilly & SJ for a few more days before we spend a few weeks in Logan, Utah visiting Scott's parents. At the end of April, we fly to Amsterdam, Holland for a week visit to see all things Dutch and also stop over in Brussels, Belgium for a day.
Once we get back home, we pack up the rig and head to Rapid City, South Dakota, via tourist destinations in Nebraska, where we will spend a month checking out 6 national parks and memorials and getting relaxed before a whirlwind trip to 33 overnight destinations through the entire country including a week at Lisa's in North Carolina and 5 days at Ryan's where we will spend the 4th of July at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland where the Star-Spangled Banner was written and see fireworks in the Inner Harbor. I'd like to go to DC, but it would be a nightmare trying to get there for the day...we may try for DC another time. Also, when we're at Ryan's we'll be going to with him to Gettysburg on July 5th for the day.
From there, we will be going through Pennsylvania and Ohio and stopping at Nappanee, Indiana for a little repair on my desk that needs to be done by the Amish cabinet maker and go into my favorite little town, Shipshewana for some shopping.
From there, we start our main trip for Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota for the duration of the trip visiting far away and less heard of national parks such as Grand Isle and Voyageurs National Parks. I'm excited to get to Holland, Michigan where my great-grandmother was born and do some family research! And, once we get to Wisconsin, I will achieve a bucket list item and would have visited ALL 50 STATES in my lifetime and visit for two weeks in Door County (aka Sturgeon Bay & Bailey's Harbor where my great-grandfather and family lived while being the longest running Bailey's Harbor Lighthouse keeper).
In mid-August will be starting our return trip back to Logan via North Dakota and go to Teddy Roosevelt National Park and finally stop for the night in West Yellowstone before cruising into Logan right at Scott's birthday, where we will spend a couple more weeks before heading out again for the southern states for our winter trip beginning in October.
Once this trip is over, we will have nearly been to every state in the entire United States of America! Next winter, we will be in Florida and the following summer will spend the entire time in New England. I've been across the country at least 10 times but never went to Wisconsin so, this summer will be awesome for me! And, by next summer, I'll have done all 50 states TWICE in a 2-year period (except for Alaska and Hawaii - although we lived in Hawaii for 3 years and been back a few times)! That's pretty awesome. Living the RV life sure does have it's advantages!
Phew! This made me dizzy. Sounds amazing. Good luck and stay safe!
ReplyDeleteHey, you're almost retired...get an RV and tag along!! ;-)
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