I was talking to a friend yesterday, and the subject of our winter travel plans came up. I always say that our plans are set in Jello, because we never know when something may come up, or we’ll just get bored with what we’re doing, and shake up the Jello and take off an entirely different direction. It’s what keeps the fulltime RV lifestyle so interesting.
As of right now, after our Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina, Ohio the last week of September, we plan to spend a few days at Smith’s Campground and Cabins in Loudenville, Ohio, and then pop up to Norwalk to see my cousin Vanessa and her family for a day or three. After that, we will start heading south toward Florida, where we’ll hang out until it’s time to start heading to Arizona for our western rally in early March.
After hearing our plans, my friend said we seem to have fallen into a routine, going from the Midwest to Florida, and then on to Arizona every winter. Hmmm… maybe so. Travel routines are easy to fall into. RVers find places they like, make friends there, and it just seems natural to return every year. The problem with that is, there is a great big country out there, and they never get to see it when they do that.
We have wintered everywhere from Florida to Texas to Arizona. and we have come to realize that we like Florida best of all. With its many lakes and rivers, as well as the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, it is a great place for kayaking and fishing. In fact, we have discussed changing our legal domicile from South Dakota to Florida several times.
While we may seem to be repeating our winter travel route, really there are not that many choices of places for RVers to spend the winter months. We like the Rockport/Port Aransas area of Texas, but really don’t care for the Rio Grande Valley at all. If it were not for our family in Arizona, and our western rally, we really wouldn’t have any reason to go back out west every year.
The spring, summer, and fall offer many more travel options, and that’s where we can avoid routines. This summer we explored the Pacific Northwest, and the northern states between Washington and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Next summer we would like to return to New England, where we have not spent much time. In fact, in thirteen years on the road, we’ve only been there once! There is so much to see and do in that region that it would take several years to see it all.
And then there are all of those flyover states, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and such, with so much to offer that most people never know about. We really need to spend more time there.
Routine? No, I don’t think so! We do have some favorite places we will probably return to over and over again, but there is so much more on our bucket list we still need to get to. I don’t think we’ll ever fall into a routine. At least I hope not!
Thought For The Day – It’s easy to be wise. Think of something stupid to say, then just don’t say it.
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Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Everyone has routines/habits. They simplify life by reducing the number of things we have to concentrate on. And habits we choose to preserve in our lives, or which ones we let fall by the wayside are more a statement of we are than we are doing.
I wonder myself why friends of mine make the comments they do about our behavior, or why I defend some of our behaviors and ignore others of their comments. Some have been supportive of our new life, others not so much so — but they all have their opinions and they are all happy, yea, eager to express them.
I doubt that anyone gets into full-time rv’ing for a singular reason; and I also doubt that many people in someone’s life ever understand more than the simplest of our motivations. But we all project — to a greater or lesser degree. We project our fears on others; we project our weaknesses on others; the things we don’t want in our lives we fear for our friends.
What’s wrong with a routine? A routine actually suggests that we have found something we like and that we make a conscious choice to periodically repeat that pleasure. While I may have a craving for adventure I can’t see a solitary downside to doing something I enjoy. But from my own perspective I do see a greater danger in an insatiable thirst that cannot be filled. I don’t mind a few routines — they tell me I have some balance in my life. And when I look back on my life I realize that most of our habits have not been lifelong habits — well, other than how I tie my shoes. Even habits/routines can have habits and cycles; they come and they go on a schedule of their own choosing.
What’s really important is that we follow OUR own course — not someone else’s.
I recommend that you include the flyover state of Iowa in your summer travel plans, and, while there, that you attend the July Winnebago Grand National Rally in Forest City. It’s always a hoot. The seminars are nowhere as good as yours, but the activities are fun, the factory tours are interesting, and the people are great.
On the topic of New England, I lived there for thirty five years, and never especially liked it. It’s a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I have been much happier since I moved to south Florida.
HaHa. Sorry, I don’t believe the words routine and Nick belong in the same sentence. Your friend must have been kidding, or he doesn’t read your blog.
We look forward to you and Terry coming to stay in beautiful Mohican & Amish Country. I have been working on a list of Must See’s while in our 5 county area.
Larry Cadman who will be doing a workshop at the Gypsy Rally in September was just here 2 weeks ago walking around the campground with his Gypsy Rally tee shirt on promoting your Rally! He would LOVE to take you kayaking down the Mohican River! Just ask him!
After retiring from Washington, D.C., we moved to Florida and bought a gorgeous three bedroom condo right on the sand in Ft. Lauderdale. Loved our home and location, but hated the humidity and weather in Florida. Also, our taxes were horribly expensive. After giving Ft. L. a try for seven years, we moved to Phoenix. Very low humidity, which we love, and even though it’s hot as hell in the summer, it’s much more tolerable than the heat and humidity of Florida. And our taxes are about $9,000 less for the same amount of space and land here in Arizona, compared to what we paid in Ft. L. We do miss the ocean, but overall this has been a much better place for us and our lifestyle! I highly recommend Arizona, compared to Florida, as a place to live. Perhaps rv taxes are different, but the weather remains the same no matter what type of housing one lives in. Best wishes to you and Terry!
If you are a full-time RVer, you only have a few choices to go where the weather is good in the winter. So we usually rotate between Florida, Texas, and Arizona. We always like the Gulf coast area so we put our name on the list for an SKP ERPU lot at Rainbow Plantation in Alabama. In 11 years of travel we have decided there is no ONE place perfect year around. So we think eventually will go from Washington for the summer to one of the southern states for the winter. If that puts us into a routine, so be it.