The Sprint, part 2 – What stays the same

Our most essential piece of travel gear is our contact list. It includes family (yup, Sue’s cousins are half of it…), friends and other people we’ve met over the years or along the way who meet stringent criteria – fun, stay in touch, we’d rather hug than shake hands. We love stopping by to visit people, becoming temporary neighbors while keeping in touch when we travel.

Although we had to narrow the range a bit during the sprint (remember when we visited Howard because he was only 4 days away?), and shorten the visits, we did manage four totally awesome stops.

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The Sprint, part 1 – What’s different

The Mississippi River from the Great River Road in Wisconsin

Our preferred approach to our travels is to let a trip unfold, giving ourselves opportunities to poke around to see stuff, meet people and enjoy adventures. Typically, we pick a concept (this year it’s Alaska) and we average about 50 miles per day. No, we don’t turn off the engine after 50 miles. Rather, we’ll drive 2-3 hours, find a fun place to stop, and stay and explore for a couple or a few days. Or more, or less. It depends.

Since our chosen route to Alaska is over 4,000 miles long, we need to sped some time re-positioning. In RV-speak, this means we pick up the pace to get somewhere, then we can slow down. At a 50-mile-per-day average, our approach would take 5 months which would leave not much time left to explore, well, Alaska.

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Heading North! (Again)

Yup, we’ve decided to head to Alaska for this year’s adventure. The concept is:

  • Head across the northern US toward Montana, then take a right toward and joining the Alaska Highway (formerly known as the AlCan)
  • Explore Alaska
  • Head back in the fall (August in Alaska) on a more westerly route to explore British Columbia
  • Get to Vermont before it snows, about November 1
  • Make up everything in between.
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First Gig!

Bear Swamp Blues Band (Photo by Jim Panos)

It was yet another great ski season, and the call of fabulous spring skiing has been distracting us a bit from thoughts of travel.

As did our gig. Yup! We set a goal for our blues band to play at least one gig this winter. Success! We made our debut on April 7 to a well attended party at the Castlerock Pub, at Sugarbush, our local ski resort. Judging by the smiles, dancing, high fives, hugs and smiles, our friends appear to have had fun. Our 6-piece band, the Bear Swamp Blues Band, had a great time as well. With planning, rehearsals and requisite jitters behind us all, it’s now time for the Destinators to start focusing on this year’s trip.

But first, a quick recap of our 2018 trip.

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Home!

The last mile (yes, this is the road we live on!)

We’re back in Warren and our 2018 RV adventure is now in the rear view mirror.

It’s nice to be home and we’re really looking forward to settling in and seeing our local friends again. We have amazing, fond memories of this trip and we are definitely going to miss being on the road – already do…  Hey, it’s almost ski season! Let it snow!

Pittsfield, MA – Unanticipated interlude

Cousins – Roger, Jeanette (standing); Sam, Sue, Helen (seated)

We are occasionally reminded that our life on the road includes more than just traveling about, and no part of life is left out. It was with great sadness that we learned of my cousin Richard’s sudden and unexpected passing.

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South Ontario

Lake Erie, Middle Island

So yes, the most direct route from Kalamazoo to Vermont goes through South Ontario, from Detroit to Buffalo. We’d not yet visited that part of Canada. And we had the time for one more adventure!

Of course, as is our nature, the first thing we did was make the direct route a little less direct… This tiny slice of Ontario touches three of the Great Lakes. We can see them all! And to do so, we used our proven-based-on-vast-experience, late season approach to planning – where can we find places to stay.

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