End of Trip Summary

March 25, 2014

Our trip has been an amazing first extended winter trip to the south-west US.
Just a few notes and facts to summarize our little adventure.

A few facts:
-- number of days - 75
-- total miles driven - 7,850 (12,633 km)
-- fuel used - 485.9 gal. (1,839.3 l)
-- average cost per gallon - $3.35 ($1.13 per l)
-- works out to 16.2 mpg (or 19.5 mpg in Imperial gallon)

Where we spent our nights:
State Parks - 21
National Parks - 7
RV Parks - 15
Quartzite - Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - 6
Free camp sites at Walmarts, Casinos, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, Flying J, Camping World and State Visitor Centre - 25
Other - 1
The average cost per night - $11.55

Number of states - 10

National Parks and Texas State Park yearly passes - $150 - good for a year from date of purchase.
T-Mobile - our data and phone package - $70 x 3 months = $210

What Worked for Us
- PeeWee worked flawlessly - kept speed at 55mph - great for fuel savings
- not one bad camping experience
- being very flexible in our daily plans meant no pressure
- never had a problem getting into any State, National, private RV parks without a reservation
- met great people along the way
- Arizona was just a fabulous state- loved the desert and everything about it - must see it when in bloom
- we had excellent information from Marianne Edwards, who happens to be from Elora, and runs a website 'www.frugal-rv-travel.com' and puts out amazingly detailed informative eBooks on several US states. She also runs the Boondockers Welcome site. If you're into frugal travel, look her up.

What Didn't
- our T-Mobile connections for data and phone were very spotty in many locations
- getting blog updated took a lot of time, frustration set in when trying to upload photos and info after a         full day then losing it or being extremely slow
- unable to get into my Sentex email account - lost contact with family and friends till I switched over to another account
- not being able to use the Boondockers Welcome site, where you can make arrangements with other members to stay free at their homes - very handy when all you need is a place for the night

Time to adjust back to the home routine. Thanks for checking out this blog and we're glad we were able to share it with you.
Until the next trip.
Grace and Rainer

Trying to organize all the travel info picked up along the way. We're sure it will come in handy again.

Not what we had expected by the time we got back. More snow on the way. Oh well!

Corvette Museum to Home

Wednesday, March 19 to Thursday, March 20, 2014

After a windy night at Camping World and one more purchase, we had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant just around the corner and then stopped at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. We're not really car enthusiasts but this interested us. What a fantastic job they did exhibiting the history of the Corvette car. First a movie and then a self guided tour. The 60 and 70 models had a special appeal to us. Must be the age thing. Spent a fair bit of time to try to ingest it all but don't have too much technical stuff to post. The photos will have to do. They had a heart-breaking event take place, as recently as February 12, 2014. At 5:30 a.m. an alarm sounded and they found out that a large sinkhole in one of the main display areas opened up and destroyed at least 8 cars. Some have not yet been retrieved. Very sad. Afterwards, a four-hour drive brought us to the Kentucky Horse Park Campground in Lexington, KY. This was our first stop on our way down and will be the last before arriving home. Saw more Ontario plates there. Guess the march home for snowbirds is on. Treated ourselves to a great supper at the rustic Red State BBQ just down the road. Another quiet night (they all were) and then on the road the next morning for the long drive home. It was I-75 all the way to Detroit. The weather was sunny and only one construction delay on the highway. Recognized and talked to two people I knew from Cambridge at one of the rest stops. One left Florida and the other from the west side of US. Very quick border crossing and then the first real snow sighting as we approached London. Yuk! Two coffees for the road to stay alert till reaching home, which was at 8:30 p.m. It was a full day, with almost a 12-hour drive behind us. Very thankful for the safety along the way. What a fantastic trip!!!
Will post a summery with some technical info and what worked and what didn't, as soon as we get things back to normal on the homefront.

Wednesday, March 19

In Bowling Green, Kentucky

The start of the Corvette

This 1974 Corvette belonged to the late singer Roy Orbison.

What a super way to display the cars.

It was great to be able to relate to some of the stops on Route 66, since we drove part of it.

Some of the racing teams that drove the Corvettes

Impressive engines. Hard to believe the get them under the hood.

A couple of the concept cars

This photo of the car is made up of thousands of smaller photos

This was a live view of the area in the museum where the sinkhole sucked in about eight cars.

A heart breaking sight.

They are still trying to retrieve some cars.

This is especially sad, since it was the 1-millionth car produced, the same colour scheme as the first one produced in 1953.

We wish

Didn't buy the photos.

2014 

Prospective buyers

2014

We placed our order for the new 2014!

Almost the same spot we had on our first night starting our trip.

Trying for a last minute update to journal and blog. What a mess, honest it doesn't always look like this.

Had some great ribs and pulled pork here.

Thursday, March 20

A little caffeine fix on the 401 back in Canada to keep us alert for the rest of the trip home.

Nashville, Tennessee

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

After finishing the Natchez Trace Parkway earlier today, we made our way to the Nashville Grand Ole Opry area, where we checked out the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Centre. You wouldn't think that touring a hotel complex would be worth it, but this sure was a spectacular indoor setting with gardens set in three different glassed in areas. Lush plants, flowers, palm trees, waterfalls, walkways and even a boat tour was available. What a tropical setting. Apparently, the Christmas decorations and lighting are not to be missed that time of the year. After a shopping (looking) fix in a massive high end mall, we stopped at the Grand Ole Opry House to check it out. They did have an evening performance, but we settled to just have a good snoop since we had no idea where to spend the night.
Moved on and headed for Bowling Green where we food shopped and pick up a few things at Camping World where we also spent the night in their parking lot. Whew, a full day.

It was hard to believe this was an indoor setting under glass.

There was a large business conference going on at the time.

Boat tour....

....past fountains

Waterfall

Endless variety of plants

Fish in pond at top of a waterfall

Taken from behind a waterfall

One of several dining areas

Sign me up.

One mall too many.