Yep, we did it again. We ignored the 2-2-2 rule, we traveled on a weekend, had a one hour time change that was not in our favor which meant we arrived after the RV park office was closed, ready for a late dinner by the time we got here and yet we still feel like we made the right decision. We knew we had to travel on a 3 day weekend to get to the location for Dale's next art show, knew traffic would be horrible on the holiday and my work days this week are looking to be super busy, Saturday was wet and rainy so we didn't want to pack up and pull out then. So after discussing multiple options, we decided one long drive day in the middle of the 3 day weekend on a day without rain in the forecast made the most sense for us.
We left on a chilly, but non-rainy Sunday, drove 350 miles from North ID to Boise, none of it on Interstate, all very twisty, windy roads, drove several passes / steep grades moving very slowly so yeah, it was a really long driving day. Now we're sitting here watching all the weekenders pack up their stuff and thinking about when we want to hop on our bikes to get a ride in. Oh maybe, we'll hit our favorite little bistro in this town for lunch first then ride, then shop.
Proving once again, there's no "right way to RV", if we had to make the same decision again, I don't think we'd change anything given the weather, smoke from the fires, and having to travel on a 3 day weekend.
And oh yeah, this is the start to our moving south for the winter, I think fall is coming very early to the Pacific NW, we're in Boise for 2 weeks and then looking forward to continuing south as the weather turns to fall.
Barbaraok said
12:21 PM Sep 7, 2015
Don't come south to fast. We're in Sonoma Valley right now (Cloverdale at the TT park) and the forecast is for 100+ weather for several days this week. They are predicting high 80s for San Francisco!. Big high formed off the coast. But, no smoke, so we have clear skies at night and with the weekenders leaving today, it will be quite in the park.
Barb
NWescapee said
05:50 PM Sep 7, 2015
Thanks Barb, we're in Boise for at least 2 weeks, then the plan was to head towards Sacramento but if it looks too hot we might just have to take a break in the Tahoe area, what a sacrifice that would be
Lucky Mike said
06:35 AM Sep 8, 2015
its no better in the North east.....high 90's for the next couple days.......but at least all the weekend warrior's are headed home from there long weekend and the campground is empty.......time to pull the hammock back out!!!
ChefMom said
08:10 AM Sep 8, 2015
Lucky Mike wrote:
its no better in the North east.....high 90's for the next couple days.......but at least all the weekend warrior's are headed home from there long weekend and the campground is empty.......time to pull the hammock back out!!!
Mike is so right. It's another New England case of "it's not the heat, it's the humidity". You feel like you've been slapped in the face with a hot, wet towel upon walking out the door. AND, weekend warriors indeed--- we made the brilliant move of going back to a campground that was a good location for daytrips and shopping several years ago and not really doing any recent homework to check if it was still our kind of place. Well, the answer is no, it is not. Apparently the campground is now mostly seasonal sites with only very few "transient" sites (I hate that word-transient makes me feel like we are travel trailer bums living off the kindness of others). We called ahead and asked if they had a spacious, private site that would accomadate our tt and were told they had such a site. When we arrived we were almost literally in the middle of a main travel road in the park. Our site was long enough but so narrow that it was hard to find a place to tie out the dog so he could safely be with us outside. All seasonals knew each other of course and weren't very friendly. I couldn't believe that literally every seasonal site had a golf cart. The campground was not large and totally walkable and while I understand the need of those who cannot walk due to a disability, I also understand just plain lazy. Bingo was the first night with a very loud microphone to inform the entire campground of every move. The second evening was The Price is Right and "Come on Down" was heard blisteringly loud throughout every nook and cranny. Night three topped everything as every single seasonal camper got up on stage to the most mind blowingly loud karaoke to murder some songs. It was like forcing everyone in the campground to listen to the sound of an animal being tortured or of someone getting a very painful rectal exam. My entire family was horrified and there was not one evening that we could enjoy any peace. Before and after each and every event and throughput the evening the golf carts that were supposed to travel at the posted 5 mph were whizzing by in groups so fast and close to our feet (remember, we are camping in the middlel of the road) that they almost took down my daughter and our dog. My fault for not checking current campground status, but as we sat in the hour long wait at one of the Maine tolls on the way home, I found myself mentally blaming golf carts, country music sung very badly and Bob Barker. What a weekend!
PIEERE said
09:11 AM Sep 8, 2015
First rule of camping! Don't do it on HOLIDAY weekends! Now if you live in a campground like I do; then there are a few things we have to put up with. Not that I wouldn't like a nice 1/4 Million $$$ Estate! LOL. unfortunately that is not how life treats everyone! Think you had it rough; go stay in smaller Federal; State campgrounds where their is no security patrolling on any weekend that the kiddies are out of school. The weekend warriors come out in droves, mud boggers; four wheelers; loud trucks and motorcycles. Oh; have you seen the modified diesel P/UPS now with the 10 inch stack coming out the bed and the EGR valves removed so they blow black smelly stomach sickening unburned fuel into everyones campsite and vehicle coming down the highway. It only will get worse as the generational change of having no respect for themselves; leads to more disrespect for others the truth is sometimes I think it is great getting older and knowing I have a shorter period of time to live with this disrespectful generation. I will apologize ahead of time if my comments seem rather harsh; but what is the truth is just that! Truth!
-- Edited by PIEERE on Tuesday 8th of September 2015 09:14:50 AM
Jo And Craig said
05:13 PM Sep 11, 2015
WARNING! Not everyone should attempt this...
Ruth, we are back in Shipshewana, IN again! We traveled here from south of Atlantic City, NJ (two weeks ago tomorrow) and broke all the rules! I know people will cringe, and some may even try and chop my head off, but we drove straight through. Yep, we left New Jersey at 8:00A, and arrived here at the hotel (rig in for more warranty work) around 12:20A Sunday morning. Sixteen and a half (16.5) hours total and over 700 miles on the road. Now, if we were going to a campground, no way! We're not finding our site and parking this rig in the dark! Instead, we pulled into a very familiar and very large hotel parking lot. We traded off driving and it was one of our best travel days yet. This is not.... I repeat, NOT something that anyone should attempt on a regular basis, but the trip was very "easy" and pleasurable for both of us. AND, being able to drive, myself, certainly did not hurt. Just another reason why wives need to learn how to drive, IMHO!
P.S. TODAY IS OUR 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY as full-time RVers!!!
NWescapee said
09:56 AM Sep 14, 2015
Jo - not sure I'd want that long of driving day, but at least we know if we ever had to do that again, we could now that I've gotten more comfortable with the driving. I think we could do that if we had to and it was primarily Interstate, I don't think I'd attempt that on some of the mountain Hwys like Hwy 95 in Idaho, it took us 8 hours to cover the 350 miles and that was only with restroom breaks and a break to make lunch, which we then ate while driving down the road.
Congrats on your 1 year anniversary, just sorry you're back in Indiana again.
Camper Chronicles said
03:53 PM Sep 15, 2015
First congrats Jo on your one-year anniversary.
Second every time I hear the word rules when associated with this lifestyle I get a little cranky. I spent a lot of time listening to these so called rules prior to becoming a full timer and guess what? Not one of those people was with me when I made and then lived with the consequences of those decisions. Their were plenty of times when I was pretty hot over the fact that some piece of conventional wisdom turned out to not be true at all. So for all you folks out their researching please take some advice from someone 9 months in...there absolutely positively is not one way to do anything in this lifestyle. That's pretty much the whole point. Yes you should research, and yes you should pay attention to the experiences of those who have gone before, but if someone starts saying this is the way it absolutely must be...I would definitely view that advice with suspicion.
Ok so sorry for the mini rant...but I would have saved myself a lot of heartache in the early months if I had believed in what I just said :) Of course please feel free to completely disregard as that was the point of my little rant after all lol.
Yep, we did it again. We ignored the 2-2-2 rule, we traveled on a weekend, had a one hour time change that was not in our favor which meant we arrived after the RV park office was closed, ready for a late dinner by the time we got here and yet we still feel like we made the right decision. We knew we had to travel on a 3 day weekend to get to the location for Dale's next art show, knew traffic would be horrible on the holiday and my work days this week are looking to be super busy, Saturday was wet and rainy so we didn't want to pack up and pull out then. So after discussing multiple options, we decided one long drive day in the middle of the 3 day weekend on a day without rain in the forecast made the most sense for us.
We left on a chilly, but non-rainy Sunday, drove 350 miles from North ID to Boise, none of it on Interstate, all very twisty, windy roads, drove several passes / steep grades moving very slowly so yeah, it was a really long driving day. Now we're sitting here watching all the weekenders pack up their stuff and thinking about when we want to hop on our bikes to get a ride in. Oh maybe, we'll hit our favorite little bistro in this town for lunch first
then ride, then shop.
Proving once again, there's no "right way to RV", if we had to make the same decision again, I don't think we'd change anything given the weather, smoke from the fires, and having to travel on a 3 day weekend.
And oh yeah, this is the start to our moving south for the winter, I think fall is coming very early to the Pacific NW, we're in Boise for 2 weeks and then looking forward to continuing south as the weather turns to fall.
Barb
Thanks Barb, we're in Boise for at least 2 weeks, then the plan was to head towards Sacramento but if it looks too hot we might just have to take a break in the Tahoe area, what a sacrifice that would be
Mike is so right. It's another New England case of "it's not the heat, it's the humidity". You feel like you've been slapped in the face with a hot, wet towel upon walking out the door. AND, weekend warriors indeed--- we made the brilliant move of going back to a campground that was a good location for daytrips and shopping several years ago and not really doing any recent homework to check if it was still our kind of place. Well, the answer is no, it is not. Apparently the campground is now mostly seasonal sites with only very few "transient" sites (I hate that word-transient makes me feel like we are travel trailer bums living off the kindness of others). We called ahead and asked if they had a spacious, private site that would accomadate our tt and were told they had such a site. When we arrived we were almost literally in the middle of a main travel road in the park. Our site was long enough but so narrow that it was hard to find a place to tie out the dog so he could safely be with us outside. All seasonals knew each other of course and weren't very friendly. I couldn't believe that literally every seasonal site had a golf cart. The campground was not large and totally walkable and while I understand the need of those who cannot walk due to a disability, I also understand just plain lazy. Bingo was the first night with a very loud microphone to inform the entire campground of every move. The second evening was The Price is Right and "Come on Down" was heard blisteringly loud throughout every nook and cranny. Night three topped everything as every single seasonal camper got up on stage to the most mind blowingly loud karaoke to murder some songs. It was like forcing everyone in the campground to listen to the sound of an animal being tortured or of someone getting a very painful rectal exam. My entire family was horrified and there was not one evening that we could enjoy any peace. Before and after each and every event and throughput the evening the golf carts that were supposed to travel at the posted 5 mph were whizzing by in groups so fast and close to our feet (remember, we are camping in the middlel of the road) that they almost took down my daughter and our dog. My fault for not checking current campground status, but as we sat in the hour long wait at one of the Maine tolls on the way home, I found myself mentally blaming golf carts, country music sung very badly and Bob Barker. What a weekend!
First rule of camping! Don't do it on HOLIDAY weekends! Now if you live in a campground like I do; then there are a few things we have to put up with. Not that I wouldn't like a nice 1/4 Million $$$ Estate! LOL. unfortunately that is not how life treats everyone!
Think you had it rough; go stay in smaller Federal; State campgrounds where their is no security patrolling on any weekend that the kiddies are out of school. The weekend warriors come out in droves, mud boggers; four wheelers; loud trucks and motorcycles. Oh; have you seen the modified diesel P/UPS now with the 10 inch stack coming out the bed and the EGR valves removed so they blow black smelly stomach sickening unburned fuel into everyones campsite and vehicle coming down the highway.
It only will get worse as the generational change of having no respect for themselves; leads to more disrespect for others the truth is sometimes I think it is great getting older and knowing I have a shorter period of time to live with this disrespectful generation.
I will apologize ahead of time if my comments seem rather harsh; but what is the truth is just that! Truth!
-- Edited by PIEERE on Tuesday 8th of September 2015 09:14:50 AM
WARNING! Not everyone should attempt this...
Ruth, we are back in Shipshewana, IN again! We traveled here from south of Atlantic City, NJ (two weeks ago tomorrow) and broke all the rules! I know people will cringe, and some may even try and chop my head off, but we drove straight through. Yep, we left New Jersey at 8:00A, and arrived here at the hotel (rig in for more warranty work) around 12:20A Sunday morning. Sixteen and a half (16.5) hours total and over 700 miles on the road. Now, if we were going to a campground, no way! We're not finding our site and parking this rig in the dark! Instead, we pulled into a very familiar and very large hotel parking lot. We traded off driving and it was one of our best travel days yet. This is not.... I repeat, NOT something that anyone should attempt on a regular basis, but the trip was very "easy" and pleasurable for both of us. AND, being able to drive, myself, certainly did not hurt. Just another reason why wives need to learn how to drive, IMHO!
P.S. TODAY IS OUR 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY as full-time RVers!!!
Congrats on your 1 year anniversary, just sorry you're back in Indiana again.
Second every time I hear the word rules when associated with this lifestyle I get a little cranky. I spent a lot of time listening to these so called rules prior to becoming a full timer and guess what? Not one of those people was with me when I made and then lived with the consequences of those decisions. Their were plenty of times when I was pretty hot over the fact that some piece of conventional wisdom turned out to not be true at all. So for all you folks out their researching please take some advice from someone 9 months in...there absolutely positively is not one way to do anything in this lifestyle. That's pretty much the whole point. Yes you should research, and yes you should pay attention to the experiences of those who have gone before, but if someone starts saying this is the way it absolutely must be...I would definitely view that advice with suspicion.
Ok so sorry for the mini rant...but I would have saved myself a lot of heartache in the early months if I had believed in what I just said :) Of course please feel free to completely disregard as that was the point of my little rant after all lol.
Trace