We’ve been settled at our semi-permanent location in Florida now since mid-August. Fall has arrived (according to the calendar), but daytime highs are still in the low 90s. Darlene is still recovering from her leg cellulitis wound and we’re grappling with medical bills now. While we stay put until at least mid-December, I thought I’d reflect back on our first road trip since leaving Denver.

• Miles Traveled (in the RV) – 4,251
• Additional miles traveled (in VW Beetle) – ~3,000
• Number of days/nights on the trip – 109
  • 25 nights with electric only
  • 23 nights with electric and water
  • 61 nights with electric/water/sewer
• Number of different campgrounds stayed in – 31
• Average cost of campgrounds per night – $40.48
• Lowest cost campsite – $21 at Mark Twain State Park (electric only) in Missouri
• Highest cost campsite – $81.37 at KOA campground in Coatesville, PA (near Philadelphia)

We left Denver on May 3, 2018. Our first initial primary destination was Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where we have relatives that we had scheduled to visit. We arrived there on May 14, having passed through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on the way. We got to spend time with several friends along the way and experienced our first “mishap” with the RV, in which the power room slides wouldn’t extend. We discovered that there was a hydraulic fluid leak and were able to fix that. The highlight of this leg of the journey was our visit to Mammoth Cave National Park.

The next segment of our journey took us northward to eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. We visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park, spent time along Lakes Erie and Ontario, visited Niagara Falls and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

We turned southward to spend almost 3 weeks in Pennsylvania, visiting Scranton and Gettysburg, while also making a quick trip (flight) to Florida to complete the purchase of a house there.

Upon returning to Pennsylvania, we trekked over to Maryland and Delaware, intending to make our way back northward to Canada. However, Darlene’s bout with leg cellulitis put a detour in our plans and forced us to spend almost five weeks in Delaware for a hospital stay and recovery period.

We headed south after that to complete recovery and treatment in Florida near where our youngest son is living as caretaker for our house. We enjoyed having our other son come to spend a few weeks with us for vacation, though.

We have committed to staying in Florida now at least until mid-December. We’ve fully established residency here, acquiring driver’s and vehicle licenses, a new church, and a complete set of medical practitioners.