While not as productive a trip as we had hoped it would be in getting my Dad settled into his new digs at a rehab / long-term care facility – he's a had a tough last 6 months physically and mentally at 94 years old – the trip produced one significant highlight in our full-time RV journey:
Ding, ding, ding, ding!
Our 2020 Tiffin Open Road 36LA just surpassed 50,000 miles driven since we picked it up new 4 years and 4 months ago!
While we had high hopes with our decision to go full-time RV-ing more than 7 years ago, I don't think we ever imagined seeing and experiencing all the sights and destinations we've encountered in these past 50,000 miles. Twenty-five states visited for more than a simple overnight stay, with about 1/3rd of them visited multiple times for different reasons. If not for COVID-inspired cancellations and delays, we'd probably have added 3-6 more states to that total.
Memories made with our grandson, Jace, hopefully which will last for a lifetime with him. Barbara started having Jace write in a journal every day on his last trip so he can refer back to what he saw, and we've added pictures of those encounters to help him remember the things he's enjoyed. He's visited almost half of the states we've traveled to, racking up more than 2 ½ years of motor home living with us.
We've met incredible people on our journey as well. Many are fellow Tiffin owners, but others who travel in some other brand of motor home or in 5th wheels and travel trailers. Many we've met just by stopping by and saying hi (we greet as many Tiffin owners as we can), but we've also met so many people through our beloved lemon-beagle, Grover. He's too stinkin' cute for his own good, and he's always a conversation starter. Some folks we keep in touch with through this blog or on Facebook, while others we've managed to travel with on multiple occasions when our destinations and schedules coincide.
If there's one question we're always asked when speaking with RV-ers and non-RV-ers (besides the usual “How have you managed to not kill each other in that time frame?” - just kidding), is “What has been your favorite place to visit”? And while many stand out for very different reasons – the quirky places like Roswell, NM, The Thing museum just over the AZ border on I-10, and Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska – Barbara and I both agree that two places make our “must-see” places to visit when traveling in the US, whether you're in an RV or not:
The Black Hills of South Dakota, especially the Rapid City / Custer State Park area, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
So many things are must-see places to visit in South Dakota. The obvious one is Mt. Rushmore just outside of Rapid City. But for us, it's not THAT you just go there; it's WHEN you go there. As in what time of day you go there. Barbara and I found this out completely by accident when visiting the area to get our South Dakota residency established before buying our motor home. We only had a day in Rapid City, and had checked into our hotel for the night and had our dinner at a local restaurant. With nothing else to do and wanting to see the sights, we decided on a quick drive up to Mt. Rushmore about 20 minutes away.
Our timing couldn't have been better. At the end of the day (this was more than 4 years ago, so I hope they still do this now), they ask active-duty military and veterans if they want to participate in the flag lowering out front. At the time I wanted to spend this visit with Barbara by my side, so I declined the offer. Then as the sun starts to go down, they play the Star-Spangled Banner, and as the last notes of our national anthem fade away, they bring the lights up on the monument. It's a very moving ceremony, and something every American should experience in their lifetime.
So the moral of the story is if you're going to see Mt. Rushmore, time your visit for about a half-hour before sunset for the best view of this national treasure.
Also be sure to take in Custer State Park and Wall, SD while out west. Sure, Wall Drug is a tourist trap, but if you're an RV-er, you have to try to get a spot on some BLM land just south of Wall at a place called 'The Wall At Wall'. It's prime boondocking land overlooking the Black Hills where you park on the edge of a cliff looking out over 300 feet above the Badlands. The view is spectacular!
The Outer Banks of North Carolina gets our vote for a couple of reasons; first, in one day we watched the sun rise up out of the water (the Atlantic Ocean) and set in another body of water (Pamlico Sound) with no land in either view. Pretty cool!
You're also close to Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers made their first powered flights. The Outer Banks also features one of the most annoying accesses to any area we've been to; namely, the Washington Baum bridge. It's a slab bridge more than a mile long built in 1994, and the architect and builders should be horsewhipped. We call it the 'Porpoise Bridge' because each slab is not joined smoothly, making the front end of the motor home bounce up and down for more than a minute. The slabs are timed wrong for longer vehicles like ours, and as I said, it's annoying to drive.
Finally, these 50,000 miles wouldn't have been as easy and enjoyable as they have been without the skilled craftsmen and women at Tiffin Motorhomes. Not that our Open Road 36LA is exactly the same as it came out of the factory in August of 2019. With upgrades to our bedroom slide mechanism and interior cabinets, our home on wheels is better than even we imagined it would have been when we started this journey.
All-in-all, a great milestone and a great decision. Here's hoping for many more relatively trouble-free miles in the next 4 years!
No comments:
Post a Comment