A look back on an incredible year. Starting from the very southeast part of the country, Florida, going all the way to the most northwest part of the country, Alaska, including 3 ferries, a bit of Canada, with a little Hawaii thrown in for good measure ending up back in our winter escape, Venice, FL. We spent about half of the time caravanning with Karen and her rig, and the other half by ourselves. And we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves 99% of the time, even when fighting a horrible leak in an overwhelming storm in Alaska, replacing a rotted floor, and finding out recently we'd have to replace our entire Aqua-Hot heating system. One thing about this freestyle life is the unexpected and ever-changing views.
We covered a lot of miles this year, 15,688 with the motorhome and another 16,000 miles with the truck. The coach consumed 2,810 gallons of diesel fuel at an average cost of $4.08, with the highest being in Watson Lake, Yukon at a converted $5.94, and the lowest in Knoxville, TN this fall at $3.23, and averaged 5.79 mpg. We stayed at 62 different campgrounds and 16 more than once. Our campground costs were much higher than normal this year, and averaged $36.14/night, with the highest at $81.52 at a KOA in West Glacier, MT. We worked on shortening our travel days and did quite well, our average travel day was about 186 miles with our longest being 447 between Slidell, LA and Cornersville, TN, and our shortest was 38 between Rio Rancho, NM and Santa Fe, NM.
We had several unexpected repairs needed, capped with the worst and most expensive being the Aqua-Hot replacement, with our rotted floor a close second, and with little exception we handled them ourselves. We elected to do quite a few upgrades and changes as we went, new slide topper awnings, a new wood and tile floor, new TV's, new batteries, replaced a couch with a Stressless chair, added a TPMS, and new tires. We bought a canoe, and sold a canoe.
Now walk through our year with us.........
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| Disappointment |
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| Repairs begin |
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| John and Diane getting ready to fly |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| The installation of the new awnings |
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| Out with the couch |
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| In with the chair |
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| New tile |
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| More demo |
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| Wine with Larry and Mary Ellen |
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| Jan, the "diesel mechanic" hard at work |
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| Lunch in Colorado |
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| Hiking in Colorado |
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| Our caravan |
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| Tom and I solving the world's problems |
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| Onto the ferry |
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| Sunset on the ferry |
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| Porpoise along the way |
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| Hiking near Juneau |
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| Off the ferry we go |
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| Welcome to Alaska! |
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| And really welcome to Alaska |
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| One of the Alaskan natives |
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| And another |
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| A nice show |
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| What scenery! |
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| Happy Karen! |
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| Sisters on a hike |
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| A young guy |
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| Idyllic Halibut Cove, AK |
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| The intrepid fishermen |
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| Flight to a glacier |
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| We made it! |
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| A big guy |
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| Road to Denali |
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| John and Diane having a good time |
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| And so is Karen |
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| The mountain, Denali or Mt McKinley |
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| Flying out |
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| Our little group |
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| Lunch in Haines, AK |
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| Beautiful, peaceful Meziadin Lake in British Columbia |
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| Denizens of Yellowstone |
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| Intent on something |
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| Better than a zoo! |
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| Hello Hawaii |
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| The beautiful Oregon coast |
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| And more |
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| And more |
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| Back to Colorado |
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| Wow, what a beautiful fall |
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| Our floor finally complete!!!! |
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| Enjoying New Orleans |
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| Snow in Kentucky |
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| Our wonderful grandchildren |
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| Happy Thanksgiving! |
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| Faith is happy on horseback |
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| Christian mesmerized by Bert |
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| A rare shot of our son, Jason |
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| And our daughter, Kelly |
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And finally back to Florida with Harvey, Harlene, and Scott
around Jack and Betty's fire |
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
