Day Two- First day on the road

June 20, 2013

“Early to Bed, Early to Rise” – the plan is for Alex and the kids to share the bedroom and Grandy will use the sleep sofa. Not a viable option when Mommy and Sophie are not here and it’s just me and Ty. Puppy dog eyes... "Grandy please don’t close the door”… “Grandy will you sleep back here with me”…so 8:30 bed time means I’m up at 5:30.

One minor concern was how slow the frig was to cool down… not a problem, set at coldest “9” resulted in 25 degrees in the Fridge and all the water bottles in the freezer rock solid… moved the ice maker bar to operating position.  :)

Started to re-read Movin’ On – Living & Traveling Full TimeIn A Recreational Vehicle.  One of their key points is “It’s not a vacation – It’s a life style” which is best shown in their rule of “200 to 1”. Don’t drive more than 200 miles in a day and then stay at least 1 week. Given that we aren’t really full timers but rather seasonal users so we’ll probably stretch that guideline a bit. Today’s run is about 185 miles so we’re good on that, but given that I’ve committed to helping a buddy with the New York State Lightning Championship Regatta being held at Cuba Lake this weekend will have to break the stay a week rule and be on the road again tomorrow.

Quick definition here. Full timers cannot own a “stationary home” or “home on a foundation." I didn’t know until yesterday that this is in fact an insurance industry definition. It seems that the next level after that is some one that uses the RV more than 150 days per year. This seems to be just a bit more than I intend but probably comes close to describing plans for the next couple of years.

A couple of other key points in the book is not driving on interstates and not making a fixed itinerary which does fit. This summer’s goal is 2 trips with a 10 day break in mid-July for me to visit Delray and the kids to go to Vacation Bible School back in Baltimore.

Key points of Stage 1 are:

• get to know Cuba Lake Yacht Club, particularly the “Pirate Academy” run by a buddy that winters at Coconut Grove Sailing Club. This program sounds the perfect “messin’ about in boats” experience.
  Sounds like it’s time to read the kiddos Swallows and Amazons soon!
• leg 2 is a visit to Niagara Falls and a run along to Canadian side of Lake Ontario with a stop at CORK “Canadian Olympic Regatta at Kingston” where I plan to help with some race committee work in early August. Again this came about from meeting some terrific folks during the winter racing around Biscayne Bay.
• hope to get to the “Shanty” in Canaan, NY for 4th of July
• The final major objective is a long weekend at Watkins Glen for the New York State Wine Festival where Ian will finally be able to join up with us after a major plant closing/maintenance period.

So in total roughly 1,000 miles in 4 weeks so not too far off the 200 mile per week target and a couple of stays for about a week.Trip 2 is roughly July 27 to August 18 with a general destination of the New England/ Canada Maritime.

Leonard Harrison State Park – Wellsboro, Pa

Lessons from today:

1. When reserving a spot, make it close to the play ground.
2. Consider walkie talkies, cell phone cover age in the mountains is not reliable.
3. Consider a sat phone for RV.. good for boats and covers the mountain.
4. Pa State Parks are terrific mid-week summer rate of $27/day with 50 amps and birds chirping :)

All in all a good first day. Meet up with Alex coming from Baltimore and the bus coming from Hanover at Sellinsgrove was perfect. Got the RV parked and was trying to figure out if this was the best exit when Alex pulled up 2 minutes later. Couple of detours and small road “hill climbs” combined with a 175 degree turn at a stop sign brought back some skill!