Anticipation to Memories: What We Have Learned

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Looking back on our first snowbird trip, I would like to take some time to reflect on what we did right, what we could have done better and what we hope to do next time. I come from a family of quasi gypsies...we moved around quite a bit when I was a child and, since my dad was in education, we had summers to travel and travel we did. By the time I was in high school, I had been to most of the lower 48 states, quite a few provinces in Canada and across the Texas border into Mexico. My mother can't stand to stay in one place for too long and we joke that she gets "itchy feet" and needs to get on the road again. I guess I'm like that also and, lucky for me, Jim is willing and eager to go, too. Twice when the boys were little, we purchased elderly motorhomes and drove across the country in search of adventure. The first trip, in 1991, we went as far west as Las Vegas and experienced several National Parks along the way. By the time of our second trip in 1994, we had two serious baseball fans and we drove as far west as Kansas City and saw 15 minor league games and 4 major league games along the way. We have talked about getting a newer motorhome and touring the country that way, but we haven't yet found anything we both like and can afford so we packed up the Honda Odyssey and headed to points west and south.

Thank you: I would like to take this time to thank our family and friends who opened up their hearts and homes to us during our trip. It was wonderful spending time with Andrew in his new home in Nashville and many thanks to my folks. It was wonderful being able to spend so much time with you and all you asked was that I get a flu shot and that we strip the wallpaper off the bathroom walls. I stayed healthy the whole time we were away and we had a lot of fun stripping that wallpaper together. 😊 We have many friends in Florida. It was so nice spending time with Jim's cousin Lou at Weeky Wachee and we certainly enjoyed our time with Dave, Dylan and Natasha in Tampa. Hugs and kisses to Pat and Joan in Cape Coral for giving us the opportunity to stay in one place for a few days and even suggesting we stay another day just to make things a little easier for us. Thanks also for those wonderful homecooked meals! Cary gave us another opportunity to stay put for awhile in Boynton Beach. Thanks for making us feel so comfortable and sharing "The Dude" with us. Thanks to Dick and Adrienne for opening up their new home and showing us around Jupiter. Thanks also to Adrienne for those great homecooked meals. We certainly ate well on this trip. It was wonderful seeing Harvey and Danielle and their three girls in St. Augustine. It's always a joy to get together with them and we love getting to know those young ladies as well. Many thanks, also, to John E. who gave me such great recommendations for Charleston. We are certainly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Itinerary: We didn't make many hotel reservations along the way, only in San Antonio and New Orleans, as we hadn't made an exact itinerary and had only a vague idea where we would be and when. I did have a plan for the basic route which we followed pretty closely. We checked the weather a lot, especially before we got to southern Florida, and that helped make a lot of decisions. A lot of the time, we were a couple steps ahead of bad weather. We had beautiful weather in San Antonio, but soon after we left they had a big ice storm and the same thing happened in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. As far as finding motels along the way, we rely a lot on the coupon books you find at Welcome Centers and at highway rest areas. We've also found that many Denny's restaurants have them inside the front door.

Technology: I have an iPad which I used most of the time for emails and surfing the web for information on places we wanted to stay and attractions. Jim got a Chromebook specifically for this trip and it worked very well for him. I also brought my laptop which I used mainly for downloading pictures and writing this blog. All three were easy to connect with internet providers at hotels and friends' houses. Our GPS was also a godsend, even when we worried that "she" might be steering us wrong, we always ended up in the right place (except when we were trying to find the museum at Pensacola, FL, and the directions for getting around Washington, D.C. and Baltimore during rush hour were a little suspect). The GPS was also good for finding restaurants and hotels from the car when we didn't have access to the internet. I did wish several times that I had an iPhone, just to make it easier to get information while on the road. I've been holding out for a long time, but I do see the advantages of having one.

Maps and Brochures: I had gotten several maps and information books from AAA before we left home. I always carry a big accordion envelope where I keep my maps and also informational brochures from places we've been. The envelope was way too small for this trip; I had to buy another one at Staples along the way just to try to keep things neater in the car. I keep a travel library at home in case anyone wants to know about places we've been. The AAA maps were very helpful, but I really didn't use the books too much. I found that it was easier to get info off of the internet with places like TripAdvisor and the Travelblog. Welcome Centers, usually the first rest area after the state border, are also a wealth of information, especially if you find a friendly and knowledgeable person behind the desk. Very rarely did we walk out of a Welcome Center without a smile on our faces and lots of good information. We would not have seen the sunset at Fairhope, AL, over Mobile Bay if it hadn't been for a very friendly and helpful young lady at the Alabama border. We also got a very good deal on our hotel in Savannah because the young lady at the Georgia Welcome Center gave us a coupon for the hotel and told us about the ice cream store in town. Receptionists at hotel front desks are also a good source of information, especially for local restaurants. I asked the young lady at the front desk of the hotel we stayed in at Lafayette, LA, about a restaurant I had seen in the AAA book and she recommended an even closer restaurant, Prejeans, and gave us a coupon for a free bowl of gumbo. It was the best gumbo I have ever had.

Packing: Personally, I think we did a very good job of packing for this trip into unknown and unexpected weather. We both packed small bags that we carried in every night and another large suitcase that had the opposite weather clothes. When the weather got warmer, we simply had to bring the large bag in and change the clothes over. As usual, I did end up bringing some things I never wore, but not much. Most of the time, we were in jeans or shorts. We each brought nicer clothes which we did wear, but not very often. I bought a couple tops and another swim suit at Bealls in Boynton Beach and I did appreciate having them.

Final Thoughts: We were certainly blessed this entire trip. The only time we had bad weather, we were staying with Andrew and my parents in their warm, safe homes. God was with us on the highways and byways; we safely put almost 7,000 miles on the Odyssey. Yes, there were a few little hitches along the way and we did argue a few times, but for the most part, we had a wonderful time. It was my idea to do this trip on a kind of "seat of the pants" kind of schedule and I think it worked out very well and we had wonderful experiences, but Jim likes things a little more organized and scheduled so next year we will probably rent a place in Jupiter and/or the Keys for a couple months to get a better idea if we want to buy a place in Florida. It will be interesting to see if the gypsy in me will be content to stay in one place or not. Our next adventure will be this summer in August when we are going on a cruise to Alaska with my brothers and my parents for our parents' 60th wedding anniversary. I enjoyed keeping this blog. Thanks to everyone who commented on the blog or who told me by email or personally how much you enjoyed the blog. Many people said it felt like they were right there travelling with us. I felt good knowing that so many people were reading the blog and keeping us in their thoughts and prayers. I will most certainly keep a blog on the Alaska cruise in August. I would love to get some ideas or suggestions from anyone who has been there and please feel free to suggest things we should see or do and/or things I should blog about in the future.

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