Week 302-303 - Where are you going next? - 06-04-2012

Where are you going next?

That's what a lot of our friends are asking.

We have been home in Atascadero, California for almost two months. We came home for our son Nick's marriage to Hayley. It was fabulous, see Mattson/Hickox Wedding. Our plan was to stay a couple more weeks and then head out. However, our wonderful house-renters, Paul and Monica, announced that they bought a house. This is great for them. They have been the best renters we could have. They always pay by the 1st and have taken good care of our home. You can't ask for more. So now, we must stay in the area, get the house ready for new renters.

We have had a nice time at home visiting all of our children, grandchildren and great-granddaughter. Now, we would like to go see Emily in Northern California. But, that will have to wait. This is where our motorhome life-style kicks in. You just go with the flow! We were blessed to be trained by Craig. We met Craig on our first week of full-timing. Heck, we didn't even know we were full-time motorhome travelers. We just thought we were out to see America. Craig met us in San Diego. He told us he had traveled full-time for a dozen years and asked "would you like a few tips?". Absolutely! Craig spent an hour or two with us. He gave us a list of dozens of "must see" places. These lesser known locales are great to visit and yet few people know about them. They are not famous like Niagara Falls, but unique like Royal Gorge in Colorado.

Craig encouraged us to not set schedules, but be willing to change your route easily. More importantly, we learned the 2-2-2 rule; we call it Craig's Rule. "If you want to always enjoy your travels and never tire of them, then don't travel more than 200 miles in one day, always get to your destination by 2 o'clock and always stay at least 2 days." If you violate any of these rules, you will start to tire of traveling. We adopted this rule and it works. Travel 400 miles in a day, get there at dark or stay only one night and you are sure to start thinking about giving up and going home. We modified the rule: 1) We set our daily target at 150 miles and 2) we never pay after dark. As we move at most three times a week, our weekly maximum is 450 miles.

Okay, okay, that's great, but "where are you going next?". Oh yeah, sorry. This is how we plan our routes.

1. First we set our general direction: For example, our next known destination is the 26th Annual Senior Games in St. George, Utah in October, 2012. To start planning, we launch our PC-based GPS CoPilot version 10 (they ruined CoPilot with version 11). The most direct path from Atascadero to St. George, Utah is 518 miles. For us, that's at least 8 days of travel. But, we have plenty of time so a direct path is not what we want.

Let's assume we can rent the house by August 1st. That gives us eight weeks to get to St. George. That's 8 x 450 miles = 3,600 miles. Wow, that's enough miles to get to New York City or Fairbanks, Alaska. Now, we decide to expand our route. Since we've been in Atascadero for three months, we should get to Chico, CA to visit our daughter Emily, husband Chad and granddaughter Micah. And while in Chico we need to visit with Pete's sister, Donnalee. We figure that out later. Adding Chico, the route is now 1,046 miles. But, we made the same trip on Highway 50 from Chico to St. George in 2010. We always want to see new places, so let's change it up a little. We have heard that Susanville, CA is a nice little town, so let's head there, then Minden, Nevada (it has a nice casino RV park for a stopover) and then to Nevada's Treasure RV Park in Pahrump, Nevada. So, the final mileage is 1,121 miles.

So, now we have a general path with only one must-stop, at Emily and Chad's.

2. Next, we check the weather: We started using www.Weather.com, but now feel that www.AccuWeather.com is well, more AccuRate! And we check the TV weather as well. Obvious this is more important in the cooler months. But, we'll check the weather forecast at various points of the trip. This might alter when we wish to arrive. Also, it might change our plans on where to dry camp. When dry camping, we don't want to run the air conditioners as it gobbles up lots of diesel.

3. Now, we set tentative dates: It's 357 miles to Chico, so that will take us 4 days. Gee, do you always move this slow. Yes, for the most part we do; remember Craig's rule? We also would like to stop in Grass Valley at our dealer, DeMartini RV, for some motorhome service. This is tricky. Appointments are always in the distant future as they are booked for months. So, we'll call now and try to get an early August time slot. Once, we have the date, that might change our trip somewhat. Let's assume it works really well and we can be in Chico in one week.

4. How long do we stay in Chico? Chad and Emily have a new house on three acres. And they have lots of projects. So, we'll get there and enjoy their fellowship and get to work on projects. It is 769 miles from Chico to St. George if we stick to our original route. Oh shoot, we never do, as someone will mention another place we should see. Like last time we left Chico, we hiked to the Feather Falls near Lake Oroville. But, if we don't deviate, we need two weeks to get to St. George. That gives us five weeks that we could stay in Chico. Em, don't get that excited, as we always get antsy to hit the road. On the other hand, you never know!

Doesn't it sound like we are set into a rigid path and schedule. Truthfully, it has never worked that way. Every night we discuss "Do we stay another night or move on tomorrow?" The true joy of living in a motorhome full time is never having to leave home but always being able to move on.

Do you want to travel and really enjoy it endlessly? Then, don't make appointments or reservations or set absolutes dates to get to somewhere. Just go day by day, smell the flowers and enjoy life "Craig's Way".

Ugh, now back to renting the house. That's where we are going next.

Until next week, love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from Jun 2012