As we look back over our past year, some things have changed and some have remained the same.    We still enjoy what we are doing, we are continuing to find unique places to visit, still enjoy geocaching, and don’t plan to stop any time in the near future.  

The most obvious change has been that we are spending longer times at each stop and enjoying it more.   We find that a two week stay is a good length of time for us to visit the local sites.   We even stayed one month in one spot this winter in Crystal River, Florida.      That was almost too long for us, but gave us a taste of what a longer stay is like - something that we will have to consider someday as we get older.   Staying longer means that we aren’t using as much diesel as if we moved more frequently, which certainly helps with the budget.     It also allows us to take advantage of weekly rates or one of our campground memberships which helps to keep expenses lower.   Another good effect has been the use of  US Highways instead of Interstate Roads, which means we are traveling at 55 mph or less - and that sure improves the miles per gallon, another budget help! 

We spent a wonderful 5 months in Washington State last summer.   Even though we grew up in the state, neither of us had explored the eastern part of the state, nor spent a lot of time on the Washington Peninsula.    We had a wonderful time getting reaquainted with our “home” state    And we remembered why we should have been gone by October 1st  as that is when the rain comes.

We did visit the Palm Springs area on the way south for the winter.   Really disappointed with the desert around Palm Springs - very DIRTY.    We had enjoyed geocaching in the Arizona desert, but the filth we found in all of the desert areas in California was to the point of being obscene.   People were literally driving pickups into the desert full of trash and garbage and just dumping it and driving off!

We found that we really enjoyed meeting up again with people we have met on the road.  It was so fun to meet up, compare places visited, enjoy some geocaching, and plan on when to meet up again.   This is one of the best thing about fulltiming - the sharing of travels with different people from all over the country.

This summer we are working our way up the East Coast eventually getting to Cape Breton on the northern end of Nova Scotia before heading back to Texas for Christmas.