Ready to Roll

We hope you had a wonderful holiday.  We sure did.  It was almost nonstop from about noon on Christmas Eve until past my bedtime last night.  Only 364 days til Christmas.

With all the holidays, doctor’s appointments, visits with friends and family, and the birth of a new grandchild behind us, we are ready to turn our focus to the journey of 2010.  Hitch itch has set in pretty badly over the past week so it was easy to jump out of bed this morning and start preparations for traveling.

It didn’t take me long to get the Christmas decorations down.  Somehow, I had more in the end than when I started, so we made a trip to Target to purchase another plastic storage container for the extra.  Gene got the waste water tanks emptied and put in some fresh water so he could unhook the water hoses this afternoon instead of in the below freezing temperatures tomorrow morning.  Other than the electric cord and hitching up, I think we are ready to roll.

We are excited to get started on our adventure for 2010.  We are staying on the eastern side of the continent this year.  For the past two years we have been on the road for 9-10 months without a visit to Tennessee.  Both years we got pretty homesick (me especially) to see family.  We’ve decided to try something a little different this year.  Currently, the plan is to come back to Nashville two or three times during the course of the year.  Being in the east will help facilitate those home visits.

I said “currently, the plan is” because, as is the case with many RVers, our plans are not written in stone.  In fact, they’re not written at all.  So we wander around on our whims and fantasies and enjoy each day of this life we’ve been so richly blessed to lead.

However, we do have a rough idea in our minds as to what direction we’ll take.  South and warmer weather is first and foremost on our minds right now.  Tomorrow morning we will make our way over to I-65 and head to lower Alabama.  We are looking forward to spending several days at Escapees Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale and visiting with several friends we have there.

We have one reservation this year and that is in Silver Springs, Florida for the month of February.  Until then, we’ll roam around the Florida panhandle and across I-10 to St. Augustine.  We may even get down to Cape Canaveral before landing at Silver Springs.    As March brings in the flowering shrubs and trees, we’ll head up the east coast to Savannah.  By that time, we expect we’ll be needing a Kayley fix so will turn west toward Nashville.  We practically have to drive down my brother’s driveway as we make our connection to I-75 in central Georgia.  Might as well stop for a few days.

After a brief visit in Nashville in March, we think we’ll have a couple weeks for hiking in the Smokies while we wait for the weather to warm up in northern Virginia.  We’re anxious to get back on the Appalachian Trail again so much of our late spring and early summer will focus on hiking.  Northern Virginia is just a stone’s throw from Washington DC.  Gotta go there, too.  We’ve been to DC, but there is enough to do and see to keep us busy til the end of the year.  However, summer is HOT in the south.  We’ll probably head to Maine by early July after another trip back to Nashville.

That’s about as much of thinking ahead as we’ve done.  Although we don’t have the fine details plugged in, we are still excited and anxious to get started.

If all goes as “planned”, my next posting will be from Montgomery, Alabama.  Let the travels begin.