Xscapers is an offshoot of the Escapees RV Club. Xscapers was created to cater towards the working-aged RVers. It’s not age-related but more a state-of-mind, plus since many Xscapers work during the day, most activities occur in the late afternoon and throughout the evenings. There’s a lot of drinking, 4×4 adventures, hiking, parties, dancing, bonfires, and camaraderie. Xscapers started about 4 years ago and we attended their first convergence when it was only about 20 of us boondocking in Quartzsite. In the ensuing years, the group has exploded in popularity and the convergences often number in the hundreds.

We did have some friends give us the side-eye when we mentioned we were attending the bash. “Aren’t you guys introverts? You’re going to a convergence with 500 other people? Have you hit your head?” While true that over 300 rigs/500 people registered for the Annual Bash (AB) and we would all be corralled closely in the Lake Havasu Fairgrounds, Mike and I could always escape into our RV and turn out the lights if we went into people overload. We really wanted to experience an Xscapers Annual Bash since many people raved about how much fun Xscaper convergences had become.

After our week stay in Yuma where we did our regular dental visit across the border in Los Algodones and recharged mentally for a week of socializing, we made it to the Lake Havasu Rodeo Grounds to meet up with 500 other RVers. There’s a great blog entry on the Xscapers page about the annual bash, so I don’t need to go into the nitty-gritty. There were planned and unplanned activities for the whole week and the nice thing is we could do whatever appealed to us.

Many Xscapers have dogs and there was a daily morning dog walk from the fairgrounds to the nearby dog park and lots of nearby trails for the dogs. Opie isn’t a “walk in a group with other dogs” kind of dog, so we only did the morning dog walk the first day, realizing that Opie prefers to meander at his own pace and causes all sorts of traffic jams behind him. We (and probably all the other dogs and owners) were much happier walking our own path along the multitude of trails around the fairgrounds.

The three of us also enjoyed a nice morning hike on Lizard Peak Trail to the top of the nearby butte. The trail is a bit of a huffer as it ascends 600 ft in about 0.5 miles. Halfway up this switchback, there’s a dead-end side spur that gave us a great view of the giant stone lizard someone created on the floor of the canyon.

After most of the ascent, we reached the worst part of our hike. There is a set of three ledges that have to be climbed up and over. The first one was high enough that I needed a boost from Mike which meant they were way too high for Opie. Between Mike lifting Opie from the bottom and me grabbing Opie from the top (and a lot of patience from Opie) we were able to get him onto the ledge without breaking any bones. We’ve had to lift Opie over boulders before but 4-5 feet into the air is a new record for us!

We made it to the top (where someone had actually hauled up a picnic table) and enjoyed the panoramic views. We then continued on the trail and discovered the other side of the trail is less steep with no ledges so it’s a much better route if you have dogs; however there is no view of the stone gecko from this side of the trail.

One of our favorite meetups involved finding new tabletop gamers! There was an evening meetup for gamers where we met new people. From then on, we met regularly every evening in various RVs to learn (and covet) new games and introduce some of our games to others. We made it out of our comfort zone to attend a few seminars, potluck dinner, and even the dance rave on the last night (briefly)!

Xscapers Rallys are what you make of them. The people are incredibly friendly and will welcome you into the group but it does take effort to join in. It’s also easy to find a small group of people and just spend time with them. In the case of the Annual Bash, I found it was hard to join some of the bigger activities simply due to the huge number of people in attendance (many who already know each other) but if you can find others who share the same interest as you, it becomes easier to mingle. We knew only a few people before we came to the bash but we left with several new friends and that is a huge success in my (very introverted) world.

Overall we enjoyed the AB and everything it had to offer. We will probably try to attend more Xscapers convergences in the future if our plans and locations mesh up, and especially if we have friends who we know we’ll cross paths with there.

We also ended up using this time to add solar panels to R2. When we originally bought R2, we waffled about adding solar. R2 is an all-electric coach (no propane) and quite an electricity hog. We also found that we don’t boondock (camp without hookups) often; however we did have some “off-grid” plans for the winter in Lake Havasu and Sedona for multiple weeks and we wanted some sort of renewable energy without having to run our generator for hours everyday. Even if we conserve by not watching TV or running any appliances, our big residential refrigerator is slowly draining our battery reserves all day and night.

On Rover we added 600 watts of panels (six 100-watt panels). For R2 we doubled that to 1200 watts (six larger 200-watt panels). We’ll still need to run the generator once in a while during the winter when the sun is low on the horizon and the days are short, but it’ll definitely be an improvement over multiple hours every day without the panels. Thanks to our previous experience installing panels on Rover, and the solar wire pre-installed during R2’s build, our solar panel install went smoothly and easily.

Usually after the holidays we head south to Florida, then west to the warmth of Arizona. This year we made other arrangements: after Thanksgiving we headed north to Shipshewana, Indiana. Yeah, not really a smart choice for December, but we had a good reason, really! Ever since we moved into R2, we’ve been disappointed with the main sofa in our living room across from the TV. It’s a sleeper sofa which makes it uncomfortable to start, and in addition, the back is nearly vertical and the seat cushion length is so short neither of us could get comfortable on it long enough to watch a movie.

Tiffin did have an upgrade option for reclining “theater seats” but those were two separate chairs with a table in between, which just doesn’t work for us. I prefer a full length sofa for a number of reasons: 1) I can nap stretched out on the sofa, 2) if we have company over, 3-4 people can sit, and 3) most important, Opie can hog share the couch with us.

This year, we discovered Lambright Comfort Chairs in Indiana builds a full-length sofa that fits into our small space, the two end seats recline, and the middle can fold down into a table. The only disadvantage is losing the fold-out bed option which means our friends will have to be comfortable on the airbed on the floor (sorry friends, apparently our comfort is more important than yours!).

Unfortunately we hit some freezing cold weather on our drive to Indiana and ran out of boiler fluid in our diesel Aqua-Hot furnace while driving. Since the boiler fluid is essential to heating R2 when it’s below 40 degrees (our heat pump won’t work when it’s that cold), it was imperative to find more before moving on, especially to keep our water pipes from freezing. Fortunately Shipshewana is right next to Elkhart, the RV capital of the US. After several calls we found an RV service shop who could refill our boiler fluid before we all turned into ice cubes!

After a cold, long two-day drive to Shipshewana, we spent a night nearby and arrived at Lambright just before dawn for our install.

After our quick sofa install, we drove cross-country in record time (for us) and arrived in Albuquerque to visit our friends Lanni and Ben. Originally full-time RV’ers, they’d just found a house in ABQ to use as a home base. They plan to still travel part-time but for now they are spending some time working on their home. They are fabulous hosts and we extended our stay an extra week because we were having such a great time!

They are our gaming soulmates which meant ridiculous amounts of gaming (and drinking… and eating…) but we also put together our first lego set, an x-wing fighter, which was great fun! Lanni is a fantastic baker and Ben a great cook which meant we ate a lot more than our pants permitted but it was totally worth it! As a bonus, Andrea and Shawn were in ABQ so we were able to meet up with them for food and socializing too.

There was gaming…

There was eating…

And there was our first Lego project!

Even with all the gaming, eating, and socializing, we had time to enjoy touristy fun activities. We took a nice stroll through old town ABQ, the historical and cultural heart of ABQ. We spent some time perusing the art and of course had to take a detour into the gourmet chocolate store.

We also visited Petroglyph National Monument, one of the largest petroglyph sites in the US, containing approximately 24,000 images carved by ancestral Pueblo people and early Spanish settlers. There are four hiking trails in the area. Boca Negra Canyon, the most popular hike, does not allow dogs but Rinconada Canyon allows dogs and contains 300 petroglyphs. Rinconada Canyon trail is relatively flat and less than 2.5 miles so it’s a good easy walk for most everyone. Bring some binocular as the trail skirts along the right side of the canyon wall and some petroglyphs are difficult to see due to distance and height.

We also took a day trip to visit Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. Meow Wolf is an art installation created and maintained by employees and artists. It’s an immersive experience where people are encouraged to touch, read, and investigate everything. There is an overall storyline or you can also enjoy each area individually. We spent about 4 hours visiting Meow Wolf and perusing all the various rooms, clues, storylines and I still felt like there was a lot I missed. It’s reminiscent of an escape room but mixed with art (visual, tactile, and auditory). It’s imaginative, different, and worth a visit if you’re near the area. Basically it’s weird and fun!

After our fun and food-filled 2 weeks in ABQ, it was time to finally move on to warmth at one of our favorite spots in Tucson, AZ.

The last few weeks, we’ve been back in Red Bay, AL finishing the rest of our warranty work on R2. While it does keep us busy, there isn’t much else to do in Red Bay which meant no more excuses and time to catch up on blogging.

So back to our regularly scheduled program, last we left Mike and Kat, they had just left Canada (minus some mini peppers and tomatoes)…

Our next couple of stops in Bangor, Maine and the White Mountains of New Hampshire were supposed to be to resupply and re-energize after a frantic (for us) 3 weeks of activity in Canada. It didn’t turn out quite as quiet as we planned but we did have a great time with friends. In Bangor, we met up with Andrea and Shawn of 40 Foot House for the first time. They were working in Bangor for a few months and coincidentally happened to be at the same campground, Pumpkin Patch, as us.

Andrea, Shawn, and their very cute dog Elvis have been full-timing for a few years and they are super-friendly and approachable. Mike and I are introverts (as mentioned ad nauseum) but they made it so easy to hang out and relax. They even let us introduce them to tabletop gaming and in all good humor, played Forbidden Island with us. I do hope we cross paths with them again, I even promise not to make them game with us next time!

Since they were familiar with Bangor, they were able to recommend a couple places for food. After being in Canada for a while, we were craving something with a little spice, so we all headed to Happy China for a rather huge buffet menu. With all the various choices, we got a little bit of everything which should hold me over until we get back to N.Va and my mom’s spicy Korean food. Then since this was probably one of my last chances to get lobster (*SOB*) before leaving the area, we ate at Anglers which has a nice selection of seafood (yep, Mike got the burger).

Andrea also suggested the Kenduskeag Stream Trail, a nearby riverwalk, since we were looking for a nice stroll for Opie. The trail is well-maintained and meanders around the stream until the Kenduskeag reaches the Penobscot River, passing through downtown Bangor. It’s an easy stroll with some nice small waterfalls, open areas, and forests. As usual, Opie found all the entries into the river and enjoyed some nice soaking. I believe Opie’s goal is to add his dog hair to every major stream, lake, and river in the US and he’s working hard to reach that goal!

After a few days in Bangor, we drove to Shelburne NH near the White Mountains and stayed at the Timberland Campground for a week. It’s a private campground but has a nice rustic feel and a trail right along a river. Indoor Nomads met us here in their RV so we could hang out for the week. Ben and Lanni are probably our closest RV friends and we love spending time with them, especially since they enjoy tabletop gaming and have so many similar interests.

We spent the week playing new games, trying new recipes (we took turns cooking, so that was great!), drinking, and even broke them gently into the hiking scene. There’s a small section of the Appalachian Trail close to the campground and since doing the AT was on their bucket list, it was easy to convince them to give it a try. It was a bit tricky with roots and mud but they seemed to enjoy the 3.5 mile hike (they never once gave us the stink-eye) and got some nice photos of the stream that meandered next to the trail.

As always, we had a fantastic time with Lanni & Ben and can’t wait to cross paths again but it was time to pull up the jacks and head to Vermont, land of maple syrup and cheese!

A beautiful owl along our Shenandoah hike.

Unfortunately that means when I DO want to blog about some cool stuff we did, I can’t because I would have to catch up with the previous spots first. Since I was just digging myself into a bigger hole, I decided enough is enough! So this is going to be a lame blog post about some of the things that happened in the last few months, mostly in picture form so I can finally catch up and blog real-time after this post (fingers crossed that I keep that promise).

Hurts Donut, Houston TX

I met up with friends in Katy TX for our second annual Ladies’ Get Together where we ate a lot and compared two different nitrogen ice cream places (Subzero and Creamistry. Creamistry wins hands down), visited the Houston Space Center/Johnson Space Center (it was crowded due to Spring Break), introduced friends to fun tabletop games (Spot It, Pandemic, Fluxx, Hanabi) and had a total blast!

We took a drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway in March which is a little early in the season. Good news? Not crowded. Bad news? Trees not yet in bloom, not quite as scenic as in the spring or fall. We stopped at a few of the sights and saw parts of the old Trace. Only did half the Trace because then we went to Tiffin in Red Bay AL for some 6-month warranty work which took longer than expected. Lots of people, long waits, and impatience meant we “only” stayed for 3 weeks and left before all the issues on our list were fixed. Due to the longer than expected stay, we scrapped the rest of our Trace plans and went straight to Shenandoah, VA to get back on schedule.

At Shenandoah, we finally got to pull out our hiking legs again and boy they weren’t happy to be left alone for this long! The Rose River Loop was great for Opie since it followed a river for most of the trail and he got to go in whenever he wanted. We also did Mary’s Rock but the longer version where it starts from Pinnacles Picnic Area and follows the Appalachian Trail for a couple of miles. It’s a much better way to do Mary’s Rock (in my opinion) because the views are a lot more stunning, the path is less crowded, and the elevation is less severe. Unfortunately no watering holes so we had to wet Opie down multiple times with our water supply. While at Shenandoah, we also visited Luray Caverns and saw some pretty awesome stone formations.

Next stop was “home” to visit family for a few weeks and get lots (and lots and lots and lots) of home-cooked meals. From home, it was a quick trip to visit a friend in Philly and check out the Chinese Lantern Festival and hit Six Flags Great Adventure (NJ) for our first amusement park of the year.

There, done! And I think I was able to do that all in one big breath too!

Hiking with Opie at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Jupiter FL

We escaped chilly DC in mid-December and settled in at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in south-eastern Florida. This is the winter Florida we think of: full of palm trees, warm sun, beaches. Unfortunately dogs are not permitted on the beaches and all the freshwater sources contain alligators, so Opie did not get many chances to get his swim on. The park has a lot of great areas for walking and miles of biking trails. There’s a newer section for RVs close to the entrance of the park with large paved sites and full hookups. Four miles further inside the park, there’s an older section right next to the Loxahatchee River where the views are nicer but the sites are older and smaller. Some of the walking trails were also located in this area so we had to drive here when Opie got bored of the trails around our campsite. You can also rent canoes, kayaks, and bikes at the camp store by the visitor’s center. It’s a nice campground and since Jupiter is a big tourist town, it’s easy to find places to eat or things to do nearby.

While at JD Park, we did hang out with a couple we met at Red Bay while our coaches were being built, and compared notes on modifications, hacks, and complaints. It was fun talking to another Phaeton 40 IH owner and seeing the experiences they were having. We also met Melinda and Erik (Pookie and the Bear) and spent a day relaxing with them. After our brief flirt with winter in Virginia, it was great to get back into our preferred “follow the sun” RV weather!

Oops!

Next we headed to Mom’s for our traditional winter visit. In Rover, we’ve been able to (just barely) fit into her driveway but R2 is four feet longer, so we knew that wouldn’t be possible. We decided to try parking on her large, empty lot alongside her house during our visit. Unfortunately, while we made it into the lot ok, we miscalculated just how R2’s impressive weight would react with Florida’s soft, sandy soil. When we turned R2’s wheels, they dug right into that soft Florida sand and got stuck good! The more we tried to get out, the more our tires dug into the sand. After some hours of digging and trying to use R2’s jacks to lift us out, we gave up and went for professional help.

Time for extraction…

Prompt Towing did a fantastic job of pulling R2 onto more solid ground. We were heavy enough that while his truck pulled us out, we pulled his big truck sideways along the yard! Thankfully, he was able to get us free and back onto solid ground.

Staying with Mom is always wonderful since Kathie can take over the dining room for her sewing, Opie can swim in her pool every day, and we are all fed non-stop! When it was time to leave, Opie flopped belly-up onto the front lawn and wouldn’t budge. We actually had to half drag, half carry him into R2!

Time to trim the trees at Hillsborough State Park

From Mom’s house, we headed to Hillsborough State Park in Thonotosassa, just north of Tampa. It’s a much older state park with some very narrow roads, cramped sites, and low hanging tree branches. It’s always a little traumatic hearing tree branches scraping our roof, especially since R2 was still so new! Here, the palm trees are edged out by willows and pine trees, giving a more rainforest feel to the campgrounds. We enjoyed the hiking trails through the park although we did see some massive alligators sunning themselves along the shores. Since we walked right by the river, Opie would regularly yank us towards the water but we steadfastly refused to let him in. I’m sure he was very confused! While at the park we met up with our friends Jeff and Sue to do some fun biking near the park and catch up. The last time we crossed paths was in Heber City, UT, and we’re still amazed and delighted how often we cross paths with friends all across the country!

After Hillsborough we headed east to Orlando. We’ve stayed at Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake (a city-run park) twice before and loved it. This time we found that while Rover’s 37′ length was manageable, R2’s 41′ made enough of a difference that it was very tricky navigating the campground’s twisty narrow road. When we made it to the site we’d reserved months before, there was another rig already in it! After an hour or two of discussions with the office about their error (the other rig just arrived that weekend and “the computer” put them in our site by mistake), they put us into a spare site for the night and we moved to our reserved site the next day. [Photo, top of page]

Spending the day at Epcot Center

While in Orlando we spent a day visiting Epcot Center which we hadn’t been to in a long time. It was more crowded than we expected (we try to visit off-peak) but was a fun day nonetheless. We spent most of our time walking around the World Showcase, and missed most of Future World. We did try to sample as many different cuisines (if you can call country-themed amusement park food “cuisine”) as possible, until we were stuffed. While Epcot doesn’t have a lot of rides, there are some great displays and showcases and we’ll have to set aside two full days to see it all the next time we visit Epcot.

Time for R2’s first weigh-in since we loaded him up

Next up was a short drive to Silver Springs State Park in Ocala FL. We took a slight detour to visit the Escapees Smart Weigh station in Florida to get R2 weighed for the first time with all our “stuff” in him. It looks like we’re carrying around 3,000 lbs. of cargo, including the water we had in our tanks at the time. With R2’s impressive carrying capacity, that means we still have another almost 3,000 lbs. of capacity left if needed (we’re still arguing over who gets to fill that extra space).

Silver Springs State Park, Ocala FL

We immediately loved Silver Springs State Park… it had a wonderful feel, and being in a mature pine forest meant it smelled fantastic as well. The campground was quite large, with big private sites and lots of space for dog walks, while being close to town for some stores and restaurants, with the “city” of Ocala a little further away. We only reserved a week, but wished we had booked two! We took one afternoon to rent a 2-person kayak and explore the river, spotting alligators, lots and lots of turtles, anhinga (long-necked birds), and other wildlife along the way. It was a fun and relaxing time and we highly recommend it.

Just a couple miles from the park is a public disc golf course, where we finally got to break in our new (cheap) golf discs for the first time. The course was in a bit of flux, possibly due to recent hurricane activity, which meant that some of the holes and tees were poorly marked and we got lost a couple of times looking for the next tee! We laughed off our mistakes and kept playing, getting better and better as the day went on, which was a nice experience. We also found a nice dog park nearby where Opie got to interact with other dogs for a change, and splash around in their kiddie pool to relieve some of his disappointment at not being allowed in the alligator-rich lakes and rivers.

After a short drive to west side of Ocala we settled into Rainbow Springs State Park. After being so impressed by Silver Springs (a definite “10” in our book), we found Rainbow Springs to be a bit of a letdown. The campground was very small, there wasn’t much to do, and town was much further away. The campground didn’t have much character, and we rarely saw other campers out enjoying themselves. There were a couple short trails around the campground that were nice for dog walks. During the summer, tubing down the river is a big draw at the park, despite the signs warning of alligators!

Rainbow Springs State Park

We continued slowly making our way north up I-75, this time stopping at the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park (now that’s a mouthful) north of Lake City FL. The park is named for the 1800s American songwriter and hosts the world’s largest tubular bell carillon which traditionally sounds throughout the day. Unfortunately, the carillon is currently not functioning and is in need of expensive repairs. We explored the free Stephen Foster museum at the park and learned quite a bit about Foster’s history and impact. There are many trails through the park, but during our visit most of them were closed, perhaps due to hurricane cleanup efforts.

The (inoperative) tubular bell tower at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center

While at the park we made a new friend… Buddy! Buddy’s a stray dog who had been living in the campground all winter after being abandoned there in November. By the time we arrived, he was just starting to become trusting of people, and followed us (and other campers walking dogs) around pretty often. Most of the campers were friendly toward Buddy, though a few were clearly uncomfortable and shooed him away. By the time we were ready to leave, he was as friendly and approachable as any house pet… which unfortunately meant the park rangers decided it was time to catch and remove him! While we gave some thought to adding another dog to our home, we knew the time wasn’t right, but fortunately another RVing couple at the campground took Buddy in literally minutes before the rangers were to take him. A happy ending!

Buddy.

After a long haul across Florida’s panhandle, we arrived at Topsail Hill State Park near Destin. Last year we camped for a few days at a different state park in the area, but the two couldn’t be any more different! While Henderson Beach was secluded and quiet, Topsail Hill is a former RV resort that was absorbed by the state park. It’s a giant campground with a pool and other amenities, including full hookups. While sites aren’t as private as other state parks (and the quality of sites varies greatly), our site was excellent and we’re glad we booked two weeks at Topsail Hill. There were plenty of trails through the park for long dog walks, and the large size of the campground meant plenty of room for quick easy walks.

Destin seems to be a magnet for RVers in winter. We ran into some old friends there last year, and made a few new ones. This year there were so many RVers we knew (or met) that we were busy socializing almost every day! If you know us, that’s a strange statement to make, but it was great fun spending time with Indoor Nomads, Nealys on Wheels, RV-A-GoGo, D20 Nomads, Itinerant Life, RollingwithKC, Debbie/Pat, Dawn, and Jenny/Chris. We played lots of table top games, learned a whole bunch of new ones, ate and drank too much, and got to see D20’s hand painted geek/nerd sci-fi/gaming trailer Floki just before they upgraded to a new rig.

Even Opie had a great time here in Destin. Destin received about 36 hours of straight rain while we were there, making for some impressive size puddles on the trails. Since we didn’t let Opie into the alligator waters, he was happy to swim in the puddles instead. Plus Opie had a chance to do morning hikes with other dogs and loved the camraderie.

When our max two-week stay was up, we departed Florida and made our way to Meaher State Park in Alabama for a week of much needed introvert quiet time, as well as time to catch up on chores and hobbies. We found Meaher State Park’s campground to be nice, but very small. Strangely, there wasn’t any more to the state park beyond the campground and a boat launch. That was a problem for our dog walks… when we think state park, we think large spaces with trails to explore, but we walked Opie from one end to the other in about five minutes and then started wondering where else we could walk him. We did find another public park across the street which was somewhat larger, but that park closed at 5pm every day and required crossing four lanes of busy 60 MPH highway on foot. As a place to stop at while traveling I-10, Meaher works out great, but in the future we wouldn’t stay more than a night or two here.

Sunset at Meaher State Park

Our last state park for a little while was Bayou Segnette State Park just south of New Orleans, Louisiana. We visited New Orleans during our first year of RV life, and we stayed at a KOA west of the city (we didn’t know much about state parks yet back then). Bayou Segnette had a very large campground and we found plenty of places to walk Opie, though all were more paved walkways than trails. It was about a 20-minute drive to the French Quarter which wasn’t bad, all things considered. As an alternative, you can drive to a nearby ferry which will cross the Mississippi and drop you close to the French Quarter, but we didn’t try that method. Ben and Lanni (Indoor Nomads) joined us again and we finally got our fill of tabletop gaming, something we haven’t been able to do nearly enough of while on the road.

One of the many spontaneous music groups along the New Orleans streets at night

Since we’d done quite a bit of exploration during our first visit (WWII museum, garden district, bus tour, etc.) this time we wandered the streets, catching the sounds of music from bars, eating pralines and beignets, and enjoying the sights and sounds. It was surprisingly empty and quiet in early March… I guess everyone was still recovering from Mardi Gras!

While in New Orleans we also attempted our first Escape Room. We’ve seen many friends post about them on Facebook and weren’t quite sure what to expect… would it be lame? awesome? somewhere in the middle? We’re thrilled to report it was a lot of fun and the room we did (Escape My Room’s Jazz Parlor) was very well made. The rooms are designed for 4-6 people, and it’s best to go with friends like we did, rather than get matched up with strangers. We examined the clues in our room, put pieces of the puzzle together, and eventually discovered a secret door to an adjoining room where more of the story unfolded and more clues awaited. I won’t go into more detail here as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else… but we do highly recommend this escape room!

We escaped!

At this point our state park tour was over… for a little while. Next up, a side-trip to Katy TX to catch up with old friends!

Wonder Piggy!

D*C completely takes over the downtown Atlanta area since it’s spread across 5 host hotels and two AmericasMart buildings over a few city blocks. It’s normal to see lots of cosplay while walking around downtown during the four days. After a while you forget that seeing SG-1, minions, Deadpool, Harley Quinn, or Wolverine (and his daughter) isn’t a normal everyday occurrence.

Wolverine and X-23/Laura.

The first year we attended, Mike and I spent a lot of time in the big, popular panels with famous actors from Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, etc. That meant a lot of line waiting and attending only a few panels a day. The second year, we spent a lot more time in the much smaller Science, Skeptic, and Electronic Frontier panels. We were able to get more scheduled into each day since the lines are much shorter, and we found these panels to contain great information. This year, there were a lot of celebrities but we also wanted to also hit the Science and Skeptic tracks again (our favorites).

We invited a few of our friends to join us since they also enjoy Sci-Fi/Fiction, plus one of them has attended over 50 cons but he’s never been to DragonCon so we had to initiate him into the cult. One friend, a frequent traveler, was able to snag a host hotel room so we were able to stay right in the middle of D*C during the entire con!

The legendary Stan Lee hosting the DragonCon parade.

DragonCon has a parade on Saturday morning at 10am open to anyone who can snag a spot on the sidewalk. The parade route fills quickly with spectators so we usually try to get there a couple hours early to get a good spot. This year we got there around 8:30am and most of the curbs had already filled up! We were able to find a small spot in front of a tree and squeeze on in. The parade consists of various groups of cosplayers. Many of the costumes are stunning and show how much thought and effort people put into cosplay. With so many genres at DragonCon, there are a lot of costumes I don’t recognize, but it’s fun when I do recognize a particular show, comic, or character. This year we saw a lot of Game of Thrones, Harley Quinn, Marvel/DC heroes, Overwatch, and Rick & Morty characters (which we’d never heard of before).

Video games characters are also a big part of DragonCon, like this Big Daddy and Little Sister from Bioshock.

Mike and I talked about cosplay this year but we never did get our act together in time, so I made fun matching shirts for us instead (Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings themed). Since our friend Mark was able to snag the host hotel for us, I made us triplets for fun.

Up to no good? Or mischief managed?

This year, we attended a mix of celebrity and small informative panels. Since there were five of us, we also spent a lot of time just hanging out together, people watching, and playing geeky card games. Most of us are big Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) fans, so we had to go to the TNG panel with Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Gates McFadden (Crusher), Michael Dorn (Worf), and Brent Spiner (Data). Mike and I had been to a TNG panel in the past and found Marina to be completely irreverent, hilarious, and sassy and it still held true for this year. It was great to watch them talk about the show, Brent Spiner did a great Patrick Stewart impression and they all crashed the audience while we were still filling in the ballroom. Michael Dorn was the only one who seemed like he didn’t want to be there, but the others were a lot of fun. As a bonus, we splurged on the professional photo op with the TNG crew. Before DragonCon, I had made TNG amigurumis with the hope the cast would be willing to hold their mini-me’s. Lo and behold, they did (with the exception of Dorn) and Gates McFadden is even making hers do a little wave (photo, top of page)! Gates and Marina complimented me on the figures and I was walking on clouds for days! We still have to frame the photo but not until we move into our new coach.

We also attended a Buffy the Vampire Slayer panel with Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Julie Benz (Darla), and Clare Kramer (Glorificus). They were fun to watch and the three of them seem like good friends. Julie was the straight woman on the panel while Charisma and Clare were the goofy ones but they definitely had a good chemistry among them.

Charisma Carpenter, Julie Benz, and Clare Kramer

Alton Brown was also at D*C for the first time. He lives in the Atlanta area but he’s never had a panel here. He only had one panel scheduled, on Saturday, and it was packed completely full (the ballroom holds over 3,000 people). A few of the crew from Good Eats were also in the panel but Alton Brown stole the show. He’s a fantastic moderator and extremely entertaining, he was probably our favorite panel at D*C this year. Alton also used the panel to confirm that starting next year on Food Network and streaming online will be a new show called “Return of the Eats” although he did state that they are still working with the network to get a time slot. We’re really excited about that one since we were huge fans of Good Eats. ‘Course that means we now have to find all the old episodes and re-watch them.

This amazing outfit (dress, shoes, purse, etc.) is made entirely from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

Garrett Reisman, former astronaut and current director of crew ops at SpaceX also had a panel we attended. Another entertaining personality with some great anecdotes of being on the space station and videos of various SpaceX launches.

Those were the celebrity panels, but we also attended some smaller panels on cooperative board games (our new favorite kind), kitchen chemistry, a comedian, Trek Trivia, walked through the vendor building (so much stuff for sale), and did a lot of people watching. I had a great time this year and I think our friends enjoyed their experience too. Mike and I really love D*C and we hope to try to make it back within the next few years. It does keep getting bigger every year so hopefully they’ll be able to expand to another hotel for more space.

Star Trek day!

One of many giant barges navigating the Mississippi

We haven’t been on the East Coast during the summer in the past 3.5 years and now I remember why. The humidity in Alabama and Arkansas was atrocious, it felt like we were swimming through the air, plus the 90+ degree heat didn’t help at all. Any thoughts of hiking went straight out of the window while we huddled safely in the comfort of our air-conditioned Rover. I was also reminded that bugs love humidity which meant a whole re-introduction to gnats, mosquitoes, and the Asian Hackberry Woolly Aphids which have been migrating from FL slowly northward. We saw these tiny flying white bugs scattered around, but one morning they must have hatched by the tree next to us because Rover was COVERED in them with pyramid piles of them everywhere. UGH! I tried washing them off, but apparently they love the water so they just got worse. The good news is once the morning dew evaporated, they went about their business and left us alone. DEET and I became best friends after that.

The view out our windshield at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park

Since we were in Memphis, we toyed with the idea of visiting Graceland since it’s the thing to do. After some research though, we decided to pass on the visit. At $60/person, it’s hard to justify the tour unless you’re really into it. Many reviews online state the lines and wait time can be trying plus the week we were in town was the anniversary week of Elvis’ death so the crowds would have been even worse. Graceland sounds interesting but we’re not such Elvis fans that we were willing to tackle the crowds, heat, and short tempers involved. We did, however visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. The museum was created at the site of MLK’s assassination in 1968.

The Memphis National Civil Rights Museum

The museum has some very powerful exhibits and leaves you feeling exhausted but hopeful for the future. The museum walks you through the history of slavery, resistance, Jim Crow, Separate but (un)Equal, peaceful boycotts, voting rights, MLK assassination, and where we are today. It is truly amazing what civil right leaders were able to accomplish with boycotts and peaceful protests. It’s a magnificent museum that will leave a mark on everyone who walks through the doors. It also reminded me that through history, it’s always been two steps forward and one step back but we are always making progress forward.

After Memphis, we drove to Carbondale, IL to watch the solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the earth and sun and completely blocks the sun, leaving just the corona (sun’s atmosphere) and solar prominences visible to the eye. While the sun is 300 times larger than the moon, the moon is 300 times closer to the earth which makes this phenomena possible. Because of the timing of the orbits and the distance of the moon from the earth, total solar eclipses can happen no more than twice a year but in reality, they only occur every 18 months on average and the locations of visibility vary. The next one will occur July 2, 2019 and be visible only in parts of Argentina, Chile, and Pitcairn Islands. So having a total eclipse visible across a band through the entire US is quite rare which means huge numbers of people traveling into that narrow band of totality to watch the eclipse.

Camped at Lake Murphysboro State Park, in the path of totality

Thanks to science, we knew about the upcoming eclipse and started planning a year earlier. Since we knew we wanted to go back to DragonCon in Atlanta this year, Mike researched areas near the east coast with the least chance of cloud cover. Carbondale, IL is located in the solar eclipse path of totality with the longest duration, so many scientists were planning to flock there to watch the eclipse. Mike was able to find a small state park close to Carbondale and reserve a spot six months in advance (have I mentioned how much I love that Mike is a planner?!?)

Attending a free eclipse seminar at SIU

Carbondale went all out for the influx of eclipse viewers and had a lot of events before monday’s eclipse. Southern Illinois University had a tech and science expo free to all visitors with lots of great booths, activity for kids, and tech/science discussions. We listened to one speaker who chases total solar eclipses all over the world, and another scientist who studies the geology of Mars for possible life (or past life). I think as I get older, I really start appreciating information I learn from seminars, museums, and experts. As a kid, my eyes would glaze over but now I find myself eagerly seeking out these types of events.

Some clouds rolled through at 75% of totality, but cleared out soon after!

On the day of the eclipse, our area showed a partly cloudy forecast but since we weren’t sure how that would affect our viewing, we decided to stay put and picnic in a nice open area of the park. We grabbed some snacks, our eclipse glasses, binoculars and headed over a couple of hours before the start. Since it was in a small park and most visitors were in populated areas, it wasn’t crowded and there was plenty of space to spread out. We lazily watched the partial eclipse (through our eclipse glasses) as the sun slowly (very slowly) started to get eaten by the moon. As totality approached a little after noon, wispy clouds started appearing (much to our consternation) close to the sun.

Quick iPhone photos at 80% and 100% of totality

About 5 minutes before totality, the clouds cleared and we were able to see the full eclipse. It’s an incredible experience and something I will never forget. As the moon covered more of the sun, the air cooled significantly, and the sky got darker and darker. Right before the full eclipse, the birds stopped singing, the crickets started chirping and it looked and felt like 8pm. Once the last bit of sun was covered by the moon we removed our glasses! What we saw was unlike anything we’ve seen before… a big jet black hole where the sun should be, surrounded by the glowing white corona. With our binoculars we could see solar prominences in a violent magenta color. Since totality only lasts for two minutes or so, we decided in advance that we would just “enjoy the show” rather than try to fiddle with cameras attempting to get really good photos (which can be difficult). For some more professional photos that better capture what we saw, try http://earthsky.org/todays-image/photos-aug-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse

Waiting for the eclipse with our friend Cindy

In addition to looking up, we looked around at the horizon where it was brighter than the dusk we were in, and the light had a strange hue. As totality ended, we saw the “diamond ring effect” when the first burst of brilliance shines around one small edge of the moon. We put our eclipse glasses back on for viewing the sun, but also looked around at our surroundings and the others gathered for the event. While the light became brighter it was a very odd light effect, not quite like dawn, and oddly the crickets got louder as if they knew they only had a few more minutes. Two minutes sounds like a long time until you’re in the moment absorbing the sights and sounds, then two minutes goes by in a flash and you wish you could go back and see it again. We were so amazed by the solar eclipse that we’re determined to be in the path of totality for the next U.S. one in 2024!

Route of the upcoming April 2024’s total eclipse

Taking our final break at the Dragoon AZ I-10 Rest Area.

Ahhh, Tucson, the land of dry air, warm sun, and mostly no bugs. We were only able to snag three days at Catalina State Park (it sells out months in advance in the winter) so we used that time to take Opie on a nice hike through the park and prep for our next journey to Yuma for my (hopefully) final dental appointments in Mexico.

Hiking at Catalina State Park is always more fun when the washes are active after some rain.

Our original plan was to head to Yuma and boondock in the desert near American Girl Mine for a while like last year, then head to an RV resort for the rest of our stay. Well, boondocking is nice (and free), but there’s not a lot to do but watch the wind, sun, and mountains, plus the forecast called for rain in Yuma which makes for iffy boondocking. Then Mike had an epiphany: instead of boondocking at Yuma for a few days, why don’t we take a detour to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and spend a few days exploring? This is why Mike is the planner, he’s good at the job.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, center bottom of map.

Off to Organ Pipe we went! It’s right on the border with Mexico in a pretty remote part of the desert with only one small town within 60 miles. They have a very large and nice campground right inside the park. There are no hookups but they do have a dump station with fresh water, and part of the campground allows generators from 8am-10am and 4pm-6pm daily. Our solar panels were able to keep us mostly charged up except for our first day or two when it was cloudy and rainy all day, so it was good to be able to use our generator too. They only have solar showers (mmm, brisk) so we just took quick showers in Rover to conserve water. We were surprised at how crowded the campground was but apparently we got there during Presidents’ Day weekend. Yep, we often forget about holidays now (we’re lucky if we remember what day it is). The campground is first-come first-served but we got there relatively early in the day and were able to get a nice site.

Twin Peaks Campground at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was designated in 1937 by FDR but what we found fascinating is that Organ Pipe is also recognized as a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations. A Biosphere Reserve is used to protect a specific ecosystem, in this case the Sonoran Desert, but is also used understand, manage, and research changes that occur from human interactions within that ecosystem.

While the National Monument is named after a specific cactus, all sorts of cactus, plants, and animals are located within the park. We saw some huge organ pipe cactus, but also the saguaro, barrel, and cholla cactus. With all the rain the park received in the first night we were there (one ranger estimated 3 inches), we also experienced the “desert rain smell” which actually originates from the creosote bush, one of the most common plants in the Sonoran desert. The scent really permeates the air after a rainstorm.

Hiking the Alamo Canyon Trail.

Organ Pipe hosts many ranger-led programs which we took advantage of. We learned about hot and dangerous in the desert, and took an informative desert view walk with a ranger who talked about the various plants and animals in the area. We learned that you can really only drink from the barrel cactus (if you ran out of water), the rest of the cactus are too alkaloid; however you lose so much water in the desert that the barrel cactus couldn’t sustain you, you’d just die slower. The ranger also showed us the difference between a baby saguaro and organ pipe (organ pipe have red needles on top, saguaro has blond needles and looks like a nerf bat – fatter on the top), the different type of chollas cactus (just stay away from all of them, it’s safer that way), and an active packrat midden right under a saguaro cactus. Ever since we discovered ranger programs at the parks, we’ve been a huge fan. They are free and they provide such great information that we would normally not discover on our own. All the park rangers we’ve hiked or toured with are so enthusiastic about nature and sharing their knowledge with us!

Taking a break to look back along the Ajo Mountain Loop Drive.

The park also has a number of scenic dirt road drives that take you through the heart of the desert. Some of the drives do require high clearance vehicles and/or 4×4 abilities. We decided that the easy Ajo Mountain Loop, a 21 mile drive would be a nice one to try. The park provides ranger-led van tours of the Ajo Mountain Loop, but it was sold out. However you can pick up a free drive guide from the visitor’s center with great descriptions about each stop, so that’s what we did.

Getting a look at Arch Canyon’s arch from our dirt road drive.

We can’t go to a national monument without taking some sort of hike. Most national parks will not allow dogs on hiking trails but Organ Pipe just opened Alamo Canyon trail to dogs recently which made our decision easy. The trail parallels the Alamo wash and follows and old road to an abandoned ranch and corral. It’s an easy 2-mile out-and-back trail with the option to continue further once you cross the wash.

A huge Organ Pipe Cactus along our hiking trail.

With the overnight rain deluge, the wash had turned into quite a creek, plus heavy rains started as we approached the wash crossing which clinched our decision to turn around after Opie got in a quick soak. There are some great organ pipe cactus, cholla, and rock formations on the trail here. I’m a bit amazed that Opie didn’t get stuck once by any cactus, he came awfully close to a few of them.

Teddy Bear Cholla have barbed spines that grab you and don’t let go. Watch your step!

Organ Pipe is a beautiful desert park with so many things to do. Lots of hikes, ranger programs, night sky programs, and drives available. It is in the middle of nowhere but if you are in southwest AZ, it’s definitely worth a visit!

By early January, Rover’s repainting was finally finished and he looked great! After crashing with Mike’s mom for three weeks it was time to move on. I sadly packed all my sewing stuff back into Rover—I had commandeered the entire dining room space of Mom’s house while we were there, it was awesome! We said our fond farewells, including Opie’s very sad farewell to the swimming pool, and headed to Orlando for 10 days. We had thought about hitting one of the amusement parks but didn’t really feel the pull so we skipped it this time around. We camped at Bill Frederick Park, a nice city park right inside Orlando with lots of shady trees, big spaces, and a nice feeling of quiet away from the city noise.

Our friend Mark was in Orlando that week so he came to visit and we all tried our hand at Frisbee/Disc Golf for the first time. We’ve seen disc golf courses in many public park campgrounds but we’ve never tried it. Similar to golf, there are different types of discs: driver, mid-range, and putter. The driver is the lightest and thinnest to get good distance and putter is the thickest and heaviest for the most stability. All of us really enjoyed playing, although apparently I lived up to the stereotype that girls can’t throw and got soundly beaten and unsurprisingly, I woke up with some achy arm muscles. Mike and I may have to invest in a couple cheap sets of discs so I can improve my game!

Mark and Mike with their golf discs ready.

After Orlando, we headed to Tampa for a brief stay to check out the Tampa RV Supershow. While Rover is only 3 years old, we have talked about upgrading to a diesel (or even finding a different gasser) in a couple of years. We love this lifestyle and we have no urge to stop anytime soon. We love Rover and he’s been very good to us, but we’re always a bit curious to see what is out there. Mike’s been doing research (of course) into various RV brands and he’s been eager to check out the Newmar motorhomes at the show. We also wanted to see Tiffin’s new Phaeton that features their custom-built chassis and provides more storage space and other amenities.

Checking out the Newmars at the RV Supershow.

This is our second time visiting the RV Supershow. The first was exactly three years ago when we placed our order for Rover! It is a massive show full of every type of RV and accessory you can imagine. You can walk through the million-dollar Prevost (pronounced “pray-voh”) motorhomes, but you had to take off your shoes before you enter! Since we didn’t have much time this visit, we skipped most of the show and just went to the Tiffin and Newmar areas. We’ve heard many great things about Newmars (especially their construction) but were surprisingly underwhelmed in person. The cabinets are much smaller in size (we’d never fit our cereal inside one of those cabinets) and often half-obstructed by pipes or structures. We found ourselves saying “Where would we put our pots? Where would the trash can fit?” The 40-foot diesel Newmar we looked at offered much less storage space than our 37-foot gas Tiffin. We’d find it difficult to full-time with such limited storage. We did like the simpler interior lines and finishes of the Newmar vs the Tiffin Phaetons though. The Phaeton seems to have a lot of fancy flourishes, designs, and woodwork that we find too busy, but it has great storage options, nicer control panels, and interior layouts that we prefer. The good news is that nothing “wowed” us, so we won’t be running out to buy a new motorhome any time soon!

Overnight parking at the Tampa Fairgrounds

We dry-camped on the Fairgrounds lawn (with hundreds of other big rigs) the night before the show and moved to the fairgrounds main parking lot the next morning. We’d have to leave the show by 2pm so we could hit the road that afternoon. That was NOT a well-thought out decision. The main parking lot allows RV parking but it’s mixed in with everyone else. While we got there when the lot opened, by the time we left at 2pm, the lot was packed completely full, making it nearly impossible for us to maneuver. At one point, we disconnected our car because we got caught at a dead end and had to back Rover all the way back to a tight intersection. Nevertheless, we did make it out of the lot, but let’s never do that again.

Henderson Beach State Park in Destin FL

After getting out of that mess, we booked it over to Henderson Beach State Park in Destin, FL for a few days just so we could meet up with some more RV friends. We first met Ben and Lanni in Colorado last summer and they mentioned they would be in Destin for the winter. Since it’s on the way to TX for us, we figured it was a good stopping point for a few days. Later we found out that Laura and Kevin of Chapter 3 Travels were in the area at the same time. We met up with them last year when they were just starting out (they are from the DC area like us) and I like to think we hit it off. While we tried to meet up with them in November, the timing (and a pesky broken leg on Laura’s part) didn’t quite work out so meeting up in Destin was our backup plan.

Fluxx

Ben and Lanni are avid table-top gamers like us. While in Colorado, we introduced them to Gloom and Munchkin Fu. In return, they introduced us to Fluxx (Firefly version) while in Destin. Looks like we’ll be buying a new game to add to our growing stack.

Our dinner plans with Laura and Kevin ended up expanding into a fantastic RVer group dinner! We invited Ben and Lanni while Laura and Kevin invited Nealys on Wheels (Jen and Deas) and Nealys invited RV-A-Gogo (Nancy and Betsy). It was awesome!! I’m pretty sure there must have been at least 3 different conversations going on, lots of laughing, and a fair bit of drinking. We’ve found that meeting people on the road is tough (for us) so this was a wonderful opportunity to meet some fabulous folks. I really hope we end up crossing paths in the future.

The gang

After our Florida ambling, it was time to leave the Sunshine state and head to the Lone Star State.

January, February, and March: We spent these winter months mostly in southwestern Arizona. We had several dentist visits in Los Algodones Mexico, we upgraded our inverter, and did quite a bit of free boondocking with our solar panels. We made our second trip to the big Quartzsite boondocking convergence (this time with the Xscapers group), and visited some new areas in the southwest (Borrego Springs, Palm Springs, San Bernardino, Joshua Tree National Park, and Lake Havasu City) to round out our winter.

Lots of solar powered desert boondocking in 2016!

April and May: In spring we started heading to northern Arizona, spending a lot of time in Cottonwood and Sedona and getting back into hiking mode. We visited both the south and north rims of the Grand Canyon, and toured the famous and amazing Antelope Canyon. We ended the month at what turned out to be our favorite national park of the year: Bryce Canyon.

June and July: Next up was the long-dreaded part of our year… returning to Mexico for a dental implant follow-up visit in the middle of summer. We turned our compass 180º and headed south through Zion National Park, Valley of Fire State Park, Las Vegas, and Lake Mead. With two dental visits a month apart, we spent as little time as possible in Yuma (where it was 115º during the day and 80º at night), and waited out the time between appointments in wonderful San Diego.

Coronado Dog Beach

August and September: As soon as we finished with the dentist we headed north to Colorado as quickly as possible, where we stayed and explored for two full months. We found more to see and do near Cortez than we expected, but then headed into the mountains to visit beautiful Ouray with its amazing hikes. Finally, we crossed the rockies (no problem!) and spent a month in Denver and Estes Park, and hiked our first 14er!

Taking a break above the Upper Cascade Falls

October, November, December: We put the pedal to the metal and headed east back to our old stomping grounds in the Washington DC area to visit family and friends. After Thanksgiving dinner was cooked and consumed we headed south to spend Christmas with more family, visiting friends along the way. Pursued by a severe cold front the whole way, we finally made it to warm and sunny Florida.

We hit the road almost three years ago, and until now we’d never spent more than a night or two away from Rover. In Florida we had to spend three weeks without our home while he was in for some repairs! It’s great to finally be back in our home and on the road again.

Autumn in Virginia.

Our 2016 Route

We’ve continued mapping our travels this year, and the “Our Route” page on our blog is starting to get a little crowded! Looking at just our 2016 travels, you can see that we spent half the year leisurely wandering around the southwest. After our two months in Colorado, we made the big journey east and then south all within the last three months of the year.

2016 Travel Map

By the Numbers

We covered a relaxing 7,658 miles in Rover this year, quite a decrease from our “grand tour” last year. Given than we average 6.5 miles per gallon, that also means a big savings on fuel costs and emissions.

Our average cost per night for campgrounds came to $34.68, but that includes 33 nights of free boondocking in the winter and 16 nights staying with Mom while Rover was in for repairs in December. As usual, we tried to stay in state and county parks as much as possible since we enjoy the larger sites and lower costs. We did splurge a few times for some expensive RV Parks in order to be in a particular location.

Because of our need to stay close to Mexico for our extended dental work, we didn’t cover nearly as many states this year as in the past. Here’s where we spent each night in 2016:

And here’s how that relates to our “grand total” since we hit the road in April of 2014:

We’ve filled in seven more states on our map of visited states. As before, we use green when we’ve camped in at least three different spots in a state, and blue if we’ve only been to one or two locations. We paint a state gray if we’ve driven through it but haven’t spent the night. We use the excellent map generator from https://www.gasfoodnolodging.com/visitedstates/generate/ to make our map. You should give it a try!

States Visited

2017 Plans

Along with finally completing our dental work, 2017 has a number of events that are driving our schedule and route a bit more than usual. For one, we’ve tried to visit Yellowstone National Park in both 2015 and 2016 but were thwarted in various ways, so this year we’re going to make it happen!

We also purchased tickets for Dragon Con, the huge geek convention that takes over Atlanta every Labor Day weekend. We attended in 2013 (pre-RV) and 2014 (our first year in the RV) but missed 2015 and 2016, so we’re feeling the urge to return. That means being in Atlanta by the end of August which does throw a wrench into our usual weather-based route planning.

The path of the 2017 total eclipse.

2017 is also the year of the highly anticipated total solar eclipse that will be visible on August 21st from Oregon to South Carolina—if you’re along the path! And even if you’re along the path, weather plays a major role. If it’s an overcast or cloudy day, the experience could be ruined. Looking at average cloud cover for August along the eclipse path, Wyoming is a pretty good spot to be in. But since we need to be in Atlanta for Dragon Con just a week later, we picked southern Illinois for our spot.

The rest of our journey just involves filling in the blanks between these “anchor” locations. We’ll visit the Moab region on our way from Arizona to Yellowstone, and we want to return to Sedona since we enjoyed it so much last year. After Yellowstone we’ll probably spend more time in Colorado again. And after Dragon Con? Well, we’ll just have to see!

Our travels so far…