Recap Of 2014 Travels and Plans For 2015

DeBary, FL.

59 deg. Partly cloudy. N. winds @ 9 mph.

Forecast =  Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High near 75F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

Hope all of you had a good New Year's Eve and didn't celebrate too much. ;-)

Being that 2014 was a real mixed up travel year and we have a new RV and truck, I've decided to do a little research and see just what some of the figures were. To be honest, I couldn't even remember when we left DeBary to head North and exactly when we returned. I knew we were gone for quite awhile, but had no idea of just how long.

After checking Jim's calendar, I found that after Linda's last Dr. appointment, we left DeBary on the 14th of July. We headed up to Illinois by way of GA, AL, TN, KY and arrived in Rantoul on the 22nd of July.

We stayed at the Prairie Pines Campground for 76 days, with side trips to doctor's, friends, relatives, and other places while we were there. Friends stopped by while we were there and they really helped Linda get her mind off of her illness.

Thanks to all who came to visit!!!

After Linda's Cataract removal, we left Rantoul on the  6th of October and headed to Indiana to see Linda's cousin, Mike. He was ill at the time, so we didn't get to see him. :-(  From there, we headed to Ohio, came down into Kentucky where we stopped to see Linda's other cousin, Rick.

From KY, we headed down into TN and then into NC where we stopped for a few days to visit Jim and Linda's very good friends, Roland and Louise. After spending a few days with them, we headed to Apex, NC to visit Jim and Lind's son, Mike and his family. We spent 11 days there before heading to Virginia Beach, VA to visit Linda's and Jim's son Joe and his family.

11 days later, we headed South for some R & R in Myrtle Beach. Then, we continued South, down into GA and finally into Florida, returning to DeBary on the 18th of November.

All in all, we were gone for 127 days.

The trip was very good for Linda as it helped her get her mind on different things. Also along the way she showed a lot of improvement from the side-effects of the Chemo and Radiation treatments.

In case you're interested, here's a few other figures from the trip.

We traveled 5149 miles.

For the whole trip, Big RED averaged 14.6 mpg. with the best mileage being 22.5 mph. (obviously not towing), and the worst at 11.7 mpg. (coming through the mountains in TN and NC).

It was a very good trip. There were no problems with Big RED or Nora and for the most part we had nice campgrounds and good roads. The weather co-operated for the most part and we only changed travel plans once or twice because of it.

All in all, a very good trip!!!!

So, what's in the planning stage for 2015?

Well, ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  If, (and there's that big "if" again), the results of the PET scan that Linda will have early in April are good, we will be leaving DeBary around the middle of the month. The plan is to head up to Virginia to see Joe and his family then go to North Carolina  to see Mike and his family. From there, we'll go to the RV-Dreams Rally in Marion, NC, the end of May.

After the Rally, the plan is to work our way West, ending up in Portland Oregon sometime towards the end of June. We'll stay in Portland, visiting with Jeff and Heather for about 3 weeks before heading to Illinois, via a Northern route, stopping in Minnesota to see Linda's cousin, Bruce and Wisconsin to see Linda's Brother.

From there, we'll head South, arriving in Rantoul about the middle of August. As of now, the plan is to stay there until sometime in October before heading back down here to Florida, getting here  sometime in early to the middle November.

Big plans???? Yep, but if Linda's illness taught Jim , Linda and myself anything, it was to NOT put off doing things that you want to do. You really don't know what the future holds.

Now, as all of my regular followers know, all the above plans are written in pencil and Jim still has that big eraser, so all are subject to change. Hopefully everything will go well and Jim won't be wearing out the pages of his calendar with that eraser. ;-)

Did you know that noisemaking and fireworks on New Year's Eve is believed to have originated in ancient times, when noise and fire were thought to dispel evil spirits and bring good luck?

Woof!!!