Planned Trips in 2024?

[WillyB]

We have booked our 1st "official" trip for 2024.

7 nights from 4/27-5/5 at Mark Twain Lake. This location was the 1st "Official" camping trip we went on after our 21C's trip home from Sumas. So it's sort of a tradition now.

Since I still have to work our trips this year will be close to home. But "fingers crossed" this will be my last year of 9 to 5.

The countdown clock to retirement has begun.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by WillyB

We have booked our 1st "official" trip for 2024.

7 nights from 4/27-5/5 at Mark Twain Lake. This location was the 1st "Official" camping trip we went on after our 21C's trip home from Sumas. So it's sort of a tradition now.

Since I still have to work our trips this year will be close to home. But "fingers crossed" this will be my last year of 9 to 5.

The countdown clock to retirement has begun.

Yay! There's a lot to be said for short trips close to home. Frankly, if given the choice, I would rather take lots of short, 1 week, trips than one or two long trips with lots of down time in between.

2024 is a year of change for us as we have a pending relocation to Idaho this spring.

[brroberts]

How folks use their RV’s certainly can be very different; hence, the variety of RV’s, and the variety of ways to outfit them.

We are on the opposite spectrum, and don’t really use the Escape unless the trip is 3 weeks or more. Everyone has different wants and / or schedules.

Some folks hate reservations, some hate trying to make it up on the fly. Lot’s of different ways to go; not necessarily better or worse, just different.

I hope each of you continues to make great memories.

Willy, we will be in St Louis in mid March for some Blues games via Amtrak. Then we head out on our first 2024 trip from late March to early May all centered around the eclipse.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by brroberts

Willy, we will be in St Louis in mid March for some Blues games via Amtrak. Then we head out on our first 2024 trip from late March to early May all centered around the eclipse.

Let's Go Blues!

Keep in touch. If I'm not traveling for work we should grab a drink.

[Centex]

March 22 ~ April 16+, main destinations are:

• Utah Dead Horse Point State Park site 50
• Arches National Park site 19
• Chaco Canyon National Historic Park site 13

Lots of flexibility for Chaco, I'll be 'staging' at a commercial campground in Bloomfield, NM, ~60 miles from the park entrance hoping for a window of cooperative weather / road conditions to get in there via the notoriously 'iffy' unpaved ~17-mile northern access road through Navaho lands. I'm ready to wait-it-out / extend the trip duration if required.

With huge thanks to David Murphy for specific site suggestions and assistance in securing reservations.

[splitting_lanes]

Originally Posted by WillyB

We have booked our 1st "official" trip for 2024.

7 nights from 4/27-5/5 at Mark Twain Lake. This location was the 1st "Official" camping trip we went on after our 21C's trip home from Sumas. So it's sort of a tradition now.

Since I still have to work our trips this year will be close to home. But "fingers crossed" this will be my last year of 9 to 5.

The countdown clock to retirement has begun.

We’re going to the Spring NOG event on the Oregon coast at the end of April. A niece of ours booked a wedding on the same weekend in Pennsylvania, but we had NOG booked first. It will be the longest trip we’ve taken our cat Leyna on.

I too am getting close to retirement. Have three more months on my current project, and I don’t know if I’ll find another or not.

I don’t know about you, but some days I feel like I’m totally ready to retire, other days, I’m afraid of the loss of income stream. I think I have it under control without the money, but it’s impossible to know the future.

[Vermilye]

1. A short haul from La Paz County Park in Parker, AZ (Current Location) to Dome Rock in Quartzsite at the beginning of February.

2. Feb 13 - Lake Havasu City & the SARA Rodeo Grounds for a week of fireworks at the Western Winter Blast.

3. Heading home to upstate NY - leaving Lake Havasu City Feb 18, arriving in Oswego, NY April 3, mostly 2 day stops every 150 - 200 miles.

4. The Spring Fling rally in Tamworth, New Hampshire KOA May 15 - 21.

5. Bolerama at the Long Beach Conservation Area, Ontario, CA July 10 - 15

6. Algonac Glassic Egg Scramble, Lakeport State park, Lakeport, Michigan, September 5 - 10

7. The Niagara Wine Escape, Niagara Falls, Ontario, September 11 - 15

8. Hungry Mother Rally, Camp Burson, Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA, October 23 - 27.

That's what is planned, but who knows what else!

[Perry Butler]

This winter's camping starts around January 15 when we head to Texas.

I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of where we go:

My formatting may not be how you would format, but it works for us and our friends.

Not included yet are a month to Kellogg, ID for the trike rally in June, two weeks in northern Minnesota for the infamous "Family Campout" near Grand Rapids, and two other campgrounds (not yet decided) and 6 weeks next fall to Nova Scotia.

During the other months we spend a week here, and a weekend there.

Enjoy,

Perry

[brroberts]

Our other trips after May:
Sometime to NE to visit friends.
End of June to mid July Iceland Sorry, no E19 on this one.
August to TX my folks for a week
Early September to mid November OH, NY, PA, MD, WV, to my folks in TX and back home. Mostly OH and PA.
Christmas to TX at my folks
2025 tentative spring: NE, Costa Rica, Iowa
Nothing decided beyond that!

[Mike G]

I'm sure I will be spending some time camping in NW Arkansaw, SW Missouri, and maybe SE Kansas during the months of March, April, and May. But the only thing set on my calendar is the Greenleaf Old-Time Music Festival at Greenleaf SP south of Muskogee, OK from April 15-21. The group books the park for that time and then handles the reservations directly, instead of having people go through the state park. This will be my 3rd year attending.


I'm confident there will be a trip or two (or three?) during summer to cooler locales such as the Rocky Mountains or northern Michigan or Minnesota's 'north shore', as the notion comes upon me.

[splitting_lanes]

I forgot to say we are currently staying at Beales Point at Folsom. Visiting the kids/grandkids in Granite Bay. Two more days then back to the salt mine.

[HABBERDABBER]

I've made a few inquiries with fellow Escapers and RV pals to do the
Lake Superior Circle Tour. We've done it, years ago, but in sections, for separate Summer forays to do kayak trips on Gitche Gumee. I'm mostly interested in revisiting the Ontario Province portions. If doing this trip solo, (with spouse) so be it.

A short week at some County & Wisconsin State parks on Lake Winnebago come this Spring.

A week up North, eh?, near Land 'O Lakes, WI with friends on Big Portage Lake.

And a week or so for the Mississippi River Rendezvous, Allah willing.

Also planning a weeks long road trip taking in the RV museum in Elkhart, IN, the eclipse in Indianapolis and visit kin there, kinda nearby Dayton, OH for the Wright Patterson Aviation museum and then visit kin in Scottsburg, IN. Mostly an eclipse trip, sans Escape, as we'll have other accommodations.

I got BIG plans; we'll see what comes of them.


https://lakesuperiorcircletour.info/travel-guide/

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by splitting_lanes

...

I don’t know about you, but some days I feel like I’m totally ready to retire, other days, I’m afraid of the loss of income stream. I think I have it under control without the money, but it’s impossible to know the future.

Well, being the guy who has said "this is the year I retire" three years in a row, my thought process has changed. I like what I do and someone is willing to pay me to do it plus we have time to do the traveling we want to do, so I've pushed my decision our two or three years. Of course that could change at anytime.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

Well, being the guy who has said "this is the year I retire" three years in a row, my thought process has changed. I like what I do and someone is willing to pay me to do it plus we have time to do the traveling we want to do, so I've pushed my decision our two or three years. Of course that could change at anytime.

At 66, I decided to quit teaching/tech coordinator/the computer department/teacher-student advocate, negotiator, etc. Three months later my retirement failed and I taught another year at the school where I moved 300 miles from my old school. However, I only taught, and wore no other hats. I realized all the hats I wore at Ashby school was much more enjoyable than just teaching 6 classes a day.

At 67 retirement stuck.

Enjoy,

Perry

[splitting_lanes]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

Well, being the guy who has said "this is the year I retire" three years in a row, my thought process has changed. I like what I do and someone is willing to pay me to do it plus we have time to do the traveling we want to do, so I've pushed my decision our two or three years. Of course that could change at anytime.

I like what I do, but the industry I’m in isn’t kind to older people. I’ve always known that, and have kept money aside for the downtime between contracts. I almost got kicked free last year, then a contract that was supposed to start for several months, started.

I doubt I’ll roll right into another gig that’s with people as good as the people that I’m working with now, and I don’t want to get terminated for lack of billable hours…. So, we’ll see what happens after this contract ends in three months. I know for sure that I’ll have to quit working to do the Alaska 2025 trip, so it’s sometime between this spring and next spring.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by Perry Butler

At 67 retirement stuck.

During the great covid/chemo lockdown we learned about Escape Trailers and thought about the adventures we might miss out on.

I've been "that guy" who barely takes a vacation all my working life. So 5 months after chemo, with covid pulling back and a thumbs up from the Doc we toured 3 Escapes in one day and came home to place our Escape deposit.

Since then the retirement countdown clock has started to tick REALLY LOUD. Hopefully I can be "That Guy" who knows how to retire.

I Think I Can...I Think I Can...

[occer]

Today is my one year anniversary of retirement.

So far 6 camping trips planned , among them the NOG gathering and Escape gathering in Canada.

[HABBERDABBER]

I "retired" or was declared redundant after 28 years with an outfit. Early retirement...58 & 1/2, at the start of the Great Recession. No big thing, I have had plenty of hobbies and activities that my job supported.
My experience is it takes 2 years to acclimate to "retiredness". Your old identity is gone, and you have to fashion another. Work consumes us, at times, and shapes our identity.
Retirement is the best job I ever had. No drug tests required, no Skype interviews, no 'mo boss, excepting one's spouse.

[splitting_lanes]

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

I "retired" or was declared redundant after 28 years with an outfit. Early retirement...58 & 1/2, at the start of the Great Recession. No big thing, I have had plenty of hobbies and activities that my job supported.
My experience is it takes 2 years to acclimate to "retiredness". Your old identity is gone, and you have to fashion another. Work consumes us, at times, and shapes our identity.
Retirement is the best job I ever had. No drug tests required, no Skype interviews, no 'mo boss, excepting one's spouse.

That’s something to look forward too. Seems accurate also, as this is the end of the second year of retirement for my wife. It seems like she’s really enjoying it now and has built herself a new set of things that keep her occupied and happy.

I’m 59, and I do kinda like the idea of retiring before I hit 60.

I met Occer a couple months ago, and he seemed pretty relaxed and happy.

[Iowa Dave]

We don’t get too serious when it comes planning ahead on camping trips. Fully retired for over ten year, I like to let the chips fall where they may. I understand that this is the year of crappie till September then it’s the season of the squirrel. Morel mushrooms call, ripening garden beckons, family is always foremost in our lives. We will get in some time in the west, a few rallies and fish with friends who have a motorhome and stay pretty close to home. The 21 is ready to go after loading, tires and brakes excellent. Camped 50 plus nights in 2023 would like do few more this year.
Iowa Dave