9400 Miles Later

[dbawden]

We left our little 21' Escape last week in Tampa to fly back home for the holidays. We have nothing but good things to say about the quality and comfort of our little trailer. We started out on our island in Washington State and headed east in mid August. We began by biking on the Hiawatha Trail near Wallace and then moved on to Yellowstone, the Bad Lands, Black Hills, and Mackinac Island. We devoured the Cornish pasties in upper Michigan then it was time for Canada.

We visited friends on Lake Sturgeon then headed to Niagara Falls. Next it was on to Montreal with a one week house-exchange followed by Quebec, New Brunswick and buying two lobsters at Shediac, the lobster capital of the world. The furthestest east we went was Prince Edward Island. A highlight there was the Ann of Green Gables musical called "Ann and Gilbert".

We headed south as the weather turned colder seeing the 40' tides on the Bay of Fundy and then working our way through Maine to New York. We were able to stay at an RV park that looked out on the Statue of Liberty and was a quick subway ride to the World Trade Memorial. Avoiding Hurricane Matthew we drove inland to the Great Smokey Mountains then ended up in Charleston, South Carolina.

As we headed south to Florida we toured the Everglades and moved up Florida's western shore. Absolutely incredible seafood and white sugar sand beaches. We found a wonderful place to store our little girl and truck for a few months in Tampa. We will return in January to continue our trip across the south to California and then north back home by March.

Throughout the trip our little trailer has followed faithfully behind our tow and has been a place of comfort and security.

Here is a map of our journey so far.

[Santiago]

David and Terri, I am impressed with your travels.

Thank you for sharing your experience, we will be doing same soon.

[float5]

What a wonderful journey you have had already and that is only half way! Good that you were able to find a storage place.

[Rossue]

Really like your style & idea for your trip! Very glad we met you guys last February on your maiden trip. Your idea to take a break and fly home is very appealing- am thinking of doing same next year now. Thanks for sharing your journey!

[NW Cat Owner]

Wow, the lengths some folks will go to for lobster from the Lobster Capital of the World! I never knew lobster was THAT good!

What a trip! Dang! How fun!

[blhvet]

What an amazing trip! Something I'm dreaming of doing someday!

[ReagentGrade]

The store and fly method is one key to my wife's continued interest in RVing.

Another... I'm retired and she's is not (yet). I'll RV out to some place and she'll fly in. We'll travel for a while and she'll fly home.

It works for us!

[cpaharley2008]

May your trip home be as exciting as the first half, congrats on your new unit. We had to make some quick decisions also because of Matthew and being on the road heading east, but managed to skirt the storm.

[dbawden]

Several of you mentioned doing the storage and flying home option. Finding a suitable location storage for two months was a big issue for us. We checked out three recommended sites on Google Satelite and found some sketchy. Our physical inspection of all three sites confirmed our initial assessment.

[padlin]

What type of place did you end up finding?

[dbawden]

The storage site was in a better neighborhood, chain link fence, video security and a resident care taker who lived on site. A personal code opens the rolling gate for your access at any time. You pay by the month and we were prorated the few extra days we needed in the next month. Cost was around $200 a month for trailer and truck.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by dbawden

The storage site was in a better neighborhood, chain link fence, video security and a resident care taker who lived on site. A personal code opens the rolling gate for your access at any time. You pay by the month and we were prorated the few extra days we needed in the next month. Cost was around $200 a month for trailer and truck.

Good to know, I had thought about doing the same but leaving it up in your neck of the woods.

[Sisababe]

What a great idea to store the rig part way through your odsessey. ..my husband is still working and plans to fly in and out while I ramble around. I had considered bunking my rig in a warmer climate when I need to be home in winter weeks. Good info to know!

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

[Sisababe]

What resources did you find most helpful in selecting places to camp along your route? Do you belong to any discounts clubs you find worthwhile? I'm just starting and interested in what current resources folks are using to find clean, quiet, low key places to camp.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

[cpaharley2008]

There is camping and there is resting, the nice thing about your Escape is you can just about rest anywhere, camping is where you plan to stay for the night.

[dbawden]

We used the app RV Parky. We had other references but it always seemed to provide the necessary information, ratings, contact numbers, and directions to find a place.

[Sisababe]

Originally Posted by dbawden

We used the app RV Parky. We had other references but it always seemed to provide the necessary information, ratings, contact numbers, and directions to find a place.

Thanks dbawden. That's helpful!

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

[dbawden]

We returned to our trailer and truck and have continued on our journey. Tampa is such an incredible area we've decided to stay in Florida until we are bored. Presently in an incredible place called Fort De Soto County Park. This is the best yet. Cormorants, blue herons, white egrets, ibis, and pelicans feed on the plentiful fish. A man comes every morning and throws out his net to catch 10" tarpon for "bait". The beaches are beautiful sugar sand.

If your in this area, put this on your list. We'll next move up to manatee areas further north, cross back to St Augustine and then start moving west to San Diego. The temp back home is in the high 20's. Here are a few photos.

[rbryan4]

Nice shots. I love the Tampa St Pete area. If you make your way west through the Florida panhandle, you might want to check out Mexico Beach, east of Panama City. For my money it's the best beach in all of Florida.

[dbawden]

Perfect. Thanks. We'll put it on the gps. We will be hitting Cedar Keys for a few days before backtracking to St Augustine. We are NOT coming back this way so we want to explore as much of Florida as we can.