One Year Later, Part Two

 Golly, where does the time go, eh? As I set about gathering the photos and tallying the numbers to commemorate our second Roadiversary and see exactly where the time went, I thought it would turn out a bit pathetic considering half of our second year on the road was spent in one place. In a year when you think nothing else will surprise you, especially something of the pleasant variety, I was pleasantly surprised. 

My folks continue to plot our route on their wall map, our second year in purple.

 

 

I’ve said it before, but in case you weren’t here or not paying attention, I’m not really an RV Travel Blogger. I’m a blogger who lives full-time in an RV, so I can see how that might be confusing, but I was a blogger for many years before we went mobile. If you don’t believe me and you aren’t supposed to be doing something more important than reading my blog (preposterous!) go click this link Before There Was Here or the tab of the same name up there in the header (phone readers, tap the three little bars for the drop-down menu.) When you’re done, come back here and I’ll walk you through an illustrated guide of the numbers we tracked during our second year on the road.

We hiked 606 miles on formal hiking trails.

The title of Biggest Expense went to Campground Fees.

The first runner-up, almost a tie, was Major RV Work when the turbo was replaced.

Food took Honorable Mention, nearly a three-way tie.

We visited five National Parks, two for the first time,

and six National Monuments, all for the first time.

We dined out eight times, which is less than our once-a-month “rule”, and that means I have credit built up heading into our third year.

We had the pleasure of sharing our favorite activity with several of our favorite people.

As well as two of the previously mentioned National Parks/Monuments, we stayed at six state parks, four USFS campgrounds, four regional parks, one BLM boondocking location, one military FamCamp, and five commercial RV parks.

We crawled and clambered.

We paddled and pedaled.

We encountered a new type of rattlesnack. THREE times. Fortunately, each time before they encountered us.

We only visited five states all year, but that’s really five states in six months, which isn’t that bad. In all but one, so many of our little mascots showed up along the trails, making us smile each and every time.

As we begin our slow roll back into the world, we will miss them and the landscape with which we’ve become so familiar. We will certainly return someday, perhaps just to explore, perhaps permanently. That decision has plenty of time to be made, and we have plenty of geography to cover before making it.

COMMENTS

1. OwnLessDoMore.us “I’m not really an RV Travel Blogger. I’m a blogger who lives full-time in an RV, so I can see how that might be confusing, but I was a blogger for many years before we went mobile.”

   YES. Same. I started blogging in 1997 or so. Tried being an RV blogger for our first two years on the road (2015-2017), but it felt too not-me, and I couldn’t compete with those who were monetized and video’d and corporate affiliated out the wazoo. Nor did I want to. They’re good at it, and they can have it.

   I shall continue to sit at *your* lunch table.

   Happy commencement of Year 3, I love that your parents track you on a wall map so damn much, and I hope our paths will cross again soon.

   • Chasing Dirt So true! The folks who *are* RV bloggers have it all figured out, and I am eternally indebted to those of them who share their free content and wisdom. I love making my blog, and I learned a long time ago that making something you love into a job can very easily and quickly turn that thing into something you loathe. I’m glad you want to sit with me at my table — I know you’ll bring good food, too! 😀

     Isn’t it cool that my folks have that map? Not only that, but they’re very tolerant of my asking for the pics of it, taking my advice on the pin color selection, and just following along. Long-distance family is why I started blogging in the first place, so that puts a nice bow on it, doesn’t it?

2. Laurel This is such a wonderful retrospective of your second year of traveling. It’s amazing what you’ve done and seen, even with being paused in one place for half of the year. (Note that I did not say “hunkered down” LOL.) I always enjoy your beautiful photos of your hikes, and it’s fun to see the friends you meet up with. I am, however, very sad to realize that it has been so long since we’ve seen you that we did not make it into the retrospective this year. But that will change this winter, and we’ll be sharing adventures with gators instead of rattlesnacks! (Don’t tell Mark.)

   I’m happy to know that you’re keeping track of your going-out-to-eat credits and that you have some stockpiled for the future. 🙂 Congratulations on another successful year of RV life, and may this next chapter be filled with excellent adventures of the traveling kind!

   • TBG Dear Laurel.

     I only need to be faster than you if a gator shows up. 😋

     • Laurel You are bad. 😂

   • Chasing Dirt Thank you, my friend, for the kind words and for not saying “hunker” or “bucket list,” which I don’t think we’ve discussed yet. I, too, paused when I realized that many of the folks we met and befriended in our first year didn’t have a repeat appearance this time. But get ready for Year Three!!! I should have lots of food credits amassed by the time we see you, and we can get some good grub one way or another.

3. Shannon Despite only visiting five states, you managed to experience some of the most dramatic scenery in the US, so I’d say it was a pretty good year. I was very pleased to be able to ID the parks and monuments from the photos alone (well, that and having read the relevant prior posts….) because they were perfect encapsulations of what those spots are about. My one prediction is that when you head east you will feel that your eyeballs need a tune up, because everything is going to look GREEN instead of RED. But eventually you will become accustomed to seeing things like trees, shrubs, and grass. 🙂

   • Chasing Dirt No doubt that we hit the jackpot by being halted in southern UT and practically at the gates of Zion early enough weather-wise that we could enjoy *most* of our time here. We’ve been practicing our green-vision on our little lawn here, but you are right — we have missed the green of the PNW and are very definitely looking forward to the green of the SE. Once we lose all our amenities for the first time in a long time, we may be grumpy for a day or so, but it’s a small price to pay to get moving again!

4. Pete You did a wonderful job of re-capping your 2nd year on the road

   thanks for re-living it with us!

   • Chasing Dirt Thank you, Pete! Maybe someday our paths will cross and we can raise a glass to this wonderful, wacky life!

5. Barb I just want to thank you for sharing this journey with your readers. I’m always so excited to get the email about a new blog post. I love all your photographs. Safe travels!

   • Chasing Dirt Thank you so much, Barb! It always makes my day to hear that folks are perked up when an email notification hits their in-box 🙂

6. placestheygo Five states in six months is the way to go. Each state has so much to offer and time needs to be spent getting to know an area. We’ve seen people who fly through areas and move too frequently and then after just a couple years they are all burned out. Your beginning life on the road looks awesome! Hopefully, we will meet to hike together again one day. Safe travels where ever the road leads you.

   • Chasing Dirt I agree! Before hitting the road, I spent hours pouring over other travel blogs, and one of the stand-outs was that almost everyone said they traveled way too fast at first and risked major burnout. We’ve tried to relax as much as possible and enjoy the ride.

     We were so glad to include you on the list of “favorite folks” we met in the last year, and we look forward to hitting the trails with you again someday!

7. Lowe's Travels Congratulations! Wow, 606 miles of hiking, that’s a feat! I even noticed the tall and short at El Ranchero 🙂

   So happy we got to help TBG in trail pointing 🙂
   Hah, when my mom was alive, she too tracked our journey after giving her a huge USA map.
   It will be a bit different as you crossed over to the East! Humidity, green and lush hills, gnats and bugs, rain and some storms. It will be fun especially when you encounter the gators.
   I sure hope that when you come back from the east, you will swing by AZ again.

   • Chasing Dirt Thank you! I was surprised at our hiking mileage, too, especially since it topped our first year.

     We have fond memories of all the time we got to spend with you in the last two years, and you can bet your butt we’ll be seeing you in the future! I want to come sit in your bird blind 🙂

     We are a little nervous about the humidity, bugs, and all the stuff in Florida that wants to kill you, but what’s life without a little excitement, right? 😐

8. chapter3travels You may have been grounded for a bit, but you’d never know it from your photos. You saw some incredible scenery and got to engage in plenty of your favorite hobby. Really, as Covid-screwy years go, you did pretty well! The photos that have you guys in them against these incredible backgrounds really are my favorites – the last kayaking one, the one where you’re bouldering against the red rocks. Just awesome shots that really show how epic all this scenery is. Great stuff! And I concur with Shannon – it’s gonna take some adjusting getting used to all that green! Cheers to year 3!!

   • Chasing Dirt I feel like a broken record, but we really lucked out to have been able to make the decision to stay put here in Southern UT for just about every reason imaginable in this Year of the Virus. Your favorite photos are due to TBG’s eye for that. That’s a perfect way to describe it as showcasing the perspective of the scenery as well as it can be done in photos.

     We are so ready for some green, even if it’s gator-green. The worst part is that we’re traveling in opposite directions this year 😦

9. W & L Filuta So many of your beautiful photos remind us of our own travels. We share quite a few destinations in common!