Boondocking in beast heaven, AZ
With Christmas over, bellies full and 2012 just around the corner it’s the perfect time to take a moment and reflect over the past year. I’ve been mapping our journey on Google Maps since we started RVing so it’s always fun to add it up at the end of each year and see where we’ve been. Kinda puts it’s all in picture so to speak. The math this year works out to a full cross-country ocean-to-ocean drive of just over 8,000 miles and 62 stops. Even with all that travel we’ve taken our time with an average of 4-6 days in each spot and drives of only ~150-200 miles. It’s the way we like it. Slow and smooth, baby!
Morning walk on deserted TX coastline
It’s also been an AMAZING ride from the sublime beaches of the Florida panhandle through the southern states to festive New Orleans. A month and a half in Texas with food to swoon for, our first boondocking of the year and the scare of a fire evacuation.The plan of a “quick trip” to New Mexico which ended up lasting 2 months ‘coz we simply fell in love with the place. Another month in summer-cool and gorgeous Colorado that draws us in every time we go. A stunning side-trip to Utah and a quick jaunt into Idaho followed by a speed-run to Oregon to get the rig slide fixed. That led to another month exploring the fabulous Oregon coast. We ended the year with probably the most beautiful drive ever down 395 to the splendors of the desert in winter. Oh, and of course we managed to do at least one totally idiotic thing…and a Nina special too (the year wouldn’t be complete without, would it?)
Phew! Did you manage to get all that in one breath?
A surreal red sunset in windy NM
We also managed to stick pretty closely to our flip-flop barometer. Early in the year with a longer-than-usual winter hanging in the North we hugged the Southern coast enjoying mostly sun and mid-warm weather. Once it started to heat up in Texas/New Mexico we escaped North to the mountains (8,000 feet and above is the key in summer!). We had a few really hot and dry days, a good couple of really windy ones, some crazy Oregon weather and a single really cold spell, but overall we avoided almost all the bugs (yeah!) and did really well.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words so rather than blabber on for another 600 words, I’ll just go ahead and show you the whole enchilada. Blog posts for each location are linked to the corresponding site on the maps, so in good ‘ol web fashion you can just point and click for all the details you’ll ever want. Enjoy!!
PART I – Florida to New Mexico (~3,200 miles Jan-Apr 2011)
PART II – New Mexico to Oregon (~2,600 miles May-Sept 2011)
PART III – Oregon to California (~2,300 miles Oct-Dec 2011)
