The planned date for hitting the road – September 14 – is still nearly eight months away. But that hasn’t deterred me from thinking about it in considerable detail. Both Jett and I understand that the first 3 months will be like an extended vacation, with no work and a unique opportunity to see places that we have wanted to see for years. Plus it will be a “shakedown cruise” for living our new lifestyle. The trip will get us to Tillamook, OR, for Thanksgiving, 2012, as promised to my mother and sister, and will get us to San Diego, CA, before Christmas 2012 to spend the winter in the legendary San Diego sun. The end of 2012 will mark the end of our extended vacation as we plan to work for a few months in San Diego. It also marks the end of my firm plans; everything we do in 2013 is subject to our whims, our need to connect with family and the need to remain within our tightly constrained budget.
But those first three months – 101 days, to be precise – should be very exciting. We will see things that we have never seen and do things we have never done. Foremost among those “never done” things is hauling a huge fifth wheel around the country. In recognition of my total inexperience as an RV wrangler and with the understanding that the early days need to be relatively short hops, to gain confidence both in hauling the coach and setting up / tearing down at campsites, the first 17 days (about 17% of the time) cover only 755 miles (about 11% of the distance).
Here is the planned route:
Segment 1 - 17 Nights and 754 Miles
The starting point, of course, is the Saddleback Campground in Northwood, NH. The destination is a campground in Reston, VA, where we plan to spend a week with the Jett’s sons and the grandkids before heading west. The stops along the way are as follows:
B – One night at a campground in NH. This is a short hop (just 53 miles) along mostly major (for NH) roads. I picked a route that avoids the short-but-curvy Route 43 in favor of some bigger routes. This segment is designed to build my confidence hauling the rig, getting it into a campsite, setting it up and tearing it down the next morning. It is also fairly close to the seller’s home, so if we encounter any problems perhaps we can get his assistance.
C – Two nights at Pine Acres Resort in Oakham, MA. Jett and I haven’t done much camping, but this is one of the places that we did visit a couple of years ago. I think it is one of the nicest campgrounds in the state and it is fairly close to the summer retreat of Jett’s brother and sister-in-law – another place that we really enjoy. We will use our two nights at Pine Acres to give a fond farewell to this great couple and their lovely little cottage. This is also a very short driving segment: just 64 miles. But it will be a little more challenging than the first day because the roads are a bit smaller.
D – Two nights near Cooperstown, NY. We intend to spend a day at the Baseball Hall of Fame, of course. This is something that we have wanted to do for years. The problem with Cooperstown is that it is too far to travel for a day trip from Boston, but too small to have nice hotels. It just never got to the top of our “to do” list. But we are really looking forward to finally visiting the place. This is a segment of 206 miles, mostly on interstate. It may be the only day in which we have to pay tolls.
E – Two nights in Pennsylvania Dutch country. We have traveled through the area several times, but have never had the time to stop and enjoy it. If we enjoy it a lot we could spend an extra day by taking a day out of our Gettysburg stop. We may be exhausted by the time we arrive, so we may need the extra day just to recover: this is one of the longest travel days at 282 miles.
F – Three nights near the Gettysburg battlefield. I am a bit of a Civil War buff and Gettysburg and the nearby Antietam sites are two of the most interesting historic battlefields in the world, in my opinion. And they are vast. We can easily spend two days touring these sites. Getting here will be easy: just 75 miles. We have been here before, so we could cut this to two days if we decide to invest more time in the Pennsylvania Dutch are.
The last driving segment, to Reston, VA, will also be an easy 75 mile jaunt. We will spend a full week in Reston, building a store of quality time with family and resting up for the Segment 2 of the trip west where we will start putting some serious miles between us, the east coast and our previous lives.