2010 travel summary

I have written 50 posts since I started this blog in February. I'd say I met my goal of attempting to document our travels. Although, I'm sure you all have read each and every post, this is a summary of our last five months.......without any pictures.


When we left Meridian in April, we headed out to PIR for our first NASCAR race of 2010. (You'll note a NASCAR theme.) Jim stopped off for a few days at the Freightliner place to get some warranty work done and an oil change. We are ready to hit the road!


April 15- left Phoenix

April 19- Met up with Stan and Barb Peterson from Hutchinson, MN (1600 miles to get here.)

April 21- Talladega Blvd (infield) for several days of NASCAR racing and renewing friendships.
Brent, Jos and Greg flew in for the festivities. There were 88 lead changes and Harvick won by .011 of a second. It was a great race to watch and remember (right guys?)

April 28- Met up with Bob and Muriel Parker at their home in Dublin, GA (friends from Phoenix and had not seen them for several years.)

April 29- Savannah and Tybee Island,GA. Got to see Paula Deen's store and eat in her restaurant.

May 3- Myrtle Beach, SC. Had oceanfront property here and loved the area. Will go back some day.

May 6-Florence, SC so we could attend the Darlington NASCAR race. Great race but not as good as Talladega.

May 10-Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Looks like driving in northeast Iowa. Stopped to peek at the Martinsville NASCAR race track. A pretty small one.

May 12- Mt Airy, NC, home of Andy Griffith. Stayed at the Mayberry RV Park, which was one of our favorite parks.

May 15-Charlotte, NC. Went to several NASCAR garages, the newly opened NASCAR Hall of fame and camped in the infield of the NASCAR All-Star race . Had a perfect location.

May 23-Bristol, TN, home of the Bristol NASCAR race track (of which is the location for this weekend's race) Very small half mile track. We just visited but would be great to see a race in this stadium-like setting some day.

May 24- Pigeon Forge, TN and the Great Smokey Mountains.

May 26- Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Jim Beam factory (need I say more) and Abe Lincoln's points of interest.

May 28-Petersburg, MI for the holiday weekend.

June 1- Met up with Mike and Mary Jo Carpenter at their home in Holt, MI (near Lansing). Also saw Bill and Jeanette Erickson. Spent 9 days with Carpenters, mostly at their property in the northern part of the state. Met many of their friends, sampled many of the areas finest wines and did alot of sightseeing. They were great hosts. Stopped to check out the Michigan International Speedway.

June 10- Mackinac or Mackinaw City, MI

June 11- Fayette State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Very historic settlement.

June 13- Pardeeville, WI, near the Wisconsin Dells. Boy, has that place changed.

June 15- Met up with Barry and Wendy (JB's sister) Shea in their hometown of Guttenburg, IA, which happens to be on the Mississippi River.

June 18- Landed at Jim and Marilyn (EB's sister) in rural Waukon, IA for a month. They were very gracious landlords. You'll have to read the separate posts to hear about the months worth of activities. Lots of news but I quilted my first project so that was a big deal.

July 19- Newton, IA, home of the Iowa Motor Speedway. Didn't really get to see it, as this is where I had to make a u-turn and head back to Waukon. Thanks to Brother-in-law Jim for meeting us half way.

July 20-Mom's emergency triple by-pass surgery and dad's 82nd birthday.

Rest of the gang continued on to points west, which included Oak Grove, MO to meet up with relatives and then onto Colorado to meet on July 25th with Carol, Greg and Danica Smith for a week in the Rockies.

August 3- JB got home.

August 11- EB got home. Mom's recovery went very well, as she as able to go back to work on August 9th(20 days post op). Way to go, mom. No sense of sitting around and thinking about the word "retirement".


Almost 4 months on the road is the longest we have been out in one trip. It was also the most miles we ever traveled- 6,862 miles. The cheapest fuel was $2.72 in Oak Grove, MO and the most costly was at a Chevron station in Globe, AZ at $3.26 a gallon, which left us averaging $2.95 a gallon. This was similar pricing when we went to Daytona in early 2008. I can't give you a real average m.p.g. statistic, as I suspect there is one or two missing fuel stops in my log. Even with my incomplete data, the lowest we got was 5.6 m.p.g. with generator use and the highest was 9.8 m.p.g. so the average is somewhere in between. How's that for preciseness?


You probably all heard that it rained everywhere we went. It got to be a big joke but it was real sickening to be in all those mud puddles.


AND I'm sure you've heard about our calamities but they all could have been much worse:

- a cracked Buzz windshield

- a slide out lock that malfunctioned

- a trailer running into the pick up



We only had to fire Ms. Garmin once or twice and always ended up hiring her back. She certainly does occasionally lose her sense of direction. We had a great time. Thanks for all of the hospitality. It's great to be home. What I missed the most...my recliner!