On The Road To Home

March 31 - April 5, 2009


On The Road to Home
Bristol, TN - Verona, VA - Gordonville, PA -
East Falmouth, MA

I don't believe it has taken me over a month to write this blog. Just goes to show you that once we got home, we were on a steady schedule of seeing everyone and "catching up".

Our first overnight stop after leaving Nashville was the KOA in Bristol, Tennessee. What a pretty campground; but way too much money for an overnight stay. KOA needs to have sites set aside available for "overnight" travelers...we weren't there to enjoy all their amenities; just for a safe spot to spend the night.

Next stop: Verona, Virginia where we met up with Susan and Bob on their way home from the Keys. I had seen them on my trip home in November, but it was the first time the four of us were together since we parted ways in Newport Beach, Oregon. We shared a meal and some news, but made it an early night. These travel days make you very tired at the end of the day!

We convinced Susan and Bob to join us at our next stop in Pennsylvania Dutch country where we were going to meet up with Greg and Marilyn for a couple of days. It was a big surprise to them to see Susan and Bob again and it was great to have the six of us together.


It seemed like the only time we had sun these couple of days was when we were at the campground...sightseeing was done in the pouring rain. Pennsylvania Dutch country is amazing. We passed many horse-led carriages that were actually equipped with turn signals powered by a battery in the carriage. The Amish lead a very simple life with God, their family, their friends and their land the center of their world. The farms are extremely pristine and we saw 15 or so Amish men replacing a neighbor's barn roof. A lot of the women create the most beautiful quilts...if I hadn't just bought a new bedspread, I would have had a hard time choosing that new quilt. Will look forward to returning to Amish Country some day.


We had quite a bit of rain on this leg of the trip and with a storm predicted for Monday, we decided to leave a day early on our journey to New Hampshire for maintenance on the coach. It was a beautiful, sunny day and because it was Sunday, we didn't have that weekday traffic in New York; so decided to keep on going and surprise everyone on Cape Cod by arriving a week early. One of the great things about this lifestyle is the ability to change your mind in midstream!

We have spent some nights in driveways, reconnected with all the kids and grandkids, met Peter, Lindsay and the girls at Normandy Farms in Foxboro for a weekend and, finally, "landed" at our home for the summer, Peter's Pond RV Resort in Sandwich. We have a large, clean site and think we'll be pretty comfortable here for the next six months (I know I'll enjoy driving my car)...we just hope we don't get too antsy and want to get on the road again.

Wanted to do a short summary of our trip "around" the country.

We left June 1, 2008 and returned April 5, 2009, a total of 309 days.

Gas was high on June 2, 2008 at $4.949/gallon in Massachusetts and the low was $1.989 on March 25, 2009 in Oklahoma.

We traveled a total of 8,407 miles.

We traveled through 27 states, calling 21 of them home. We took day trips to Canada and Mexico.

We visited 18 National/State Parks.

We visited and sampled the wares of many wineries.

We traveled through mountains, deserts, plains, oceansides, forests, farmlands; every turn offered a new vista with new vegetation and animal life.

We traveled from sea level to over 9,000 feet and experienced the difficulty breathing at such high altitudes.

We experienced long stretches of beautiful weather; felt the fog and drizzle of the northwest Pacific coast; dodged some major storms and yet had to seek shelter from the passing tornados.

We golfed in 21 states; Ken got a birdie on the Island Green at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and Linda played her best at the higher altitude; and visited Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Spanish Bay, Poppy Hills and Torrey Pines.

We kayaked in many lakes, rivers AND the Pacific Ocean.

We visited with family, met up with friends, made new friends.

We left having 6 grandchildren and returned having 7.

Ken left a young man of 59 and became a senior of 60.

We left with the stock market over 14,000 and returned when it hit 6,500; therefore, we left as comfortable retirees and returned as ???

We traveled with confidence in the Beave (the coach) and it never let us down.

We've been asked what was our favorite. We've tried very hard to narrow it down, but have found that almost impossible. We had a smile on our face everyday...what a way to live!! However, the very best part was coming home to our family and friends.

The blog will continue when we start our travels again in the fall. See you then.

P.S. I will again apologize for the formating of the blog. Maybe when I start up again in the fall, I will have figured it out!!