To view a map of where we've been, click here : 
Monday, February 7, 2011
Thought I'd post an update as it's been a looooong time. We're still loving our new hometown and don't feel like visitors any more. We're used to the quickly changing weather and consider any day above 40 degress F to be a warm day (unless it's really damp or the wind is blowing like today!) The boys are starting sports soon, we're all really involved in Cub Scouts still and Joss is a volunteer board member on the elementary school PTO. Our trailer has been on an RV lot in Salem Oregon for more exposure and we recently visited it at Christmas time on our way to Triangle Lake. It still looks amazing and almost like new. We're hopeful it will find a new life this year, it really is a nice trailer!
Monday, April 12, 2010
We're really settled now in Sequim. We bought the house we've been renting for the past year and a few months...let the renovations begin! Joss is picking color swatches and Robert is interviewing contractors for an add-on. The trailer (and truck if needed) are for sale. Total price for both is a bargain basement of $94,500. It's a unique trailer and is looking for the right person(s).
Monday, March 3, 2009
We've settled in to our new home in Sequim, WA. We leased a home two months ago just 1 mile south of "downtown" Sequim. Joss just wrote a blog entry about the house so I'll leave that to you here... (click to go to new blog)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Yes...we're still at the RV park in Sequim. We're paid through this month but Joss is ACTIVELY searching for a home for us. There are a lot to chose from that's for sure! Now that we're not moving and I (Robert) have a new sales job and the kids are in school and Robby has started Cub Scouts and etc., the trailer seems to be getting smaller! We're looking forward to a new home.
Stationary life (notice I didn't say sedentary life!) has rapidly taken over and there has been no time for photo posting or blog writing, but we will! We have a couple of months of photos to post so we'll get working on that. We'll send out an email blast when we do. If you're not on the email list, go to our contacts page and let me know to add you.
Friday, October 24, 2008
We're still here! Oh yeah, we're moving here so I guess we'll be here for awhile! I (Robert) have started my new job with The Home Depot and am heading to Atlanta Sunday for a week of training. The boys have started school and say they really like it. We have a new mailing address and local cell phone numbers. We've even got a storage unit to start off-loading things from the trailer and truck we won't need for the time being (like the generators and 125-pound hitch). We'll update the blog soon with details of the new job and other things :)
Friday, October 17, 2008
We have arrived in Sequim, Washington. This is the place we are going to call home after our year long search across the country. We are at the same RV park we were in last December. You can read more on our blog with a few pictures from the drive to Sequim that Joss took.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
We're back in Portland, Oregon for the 4th time. We came up from Ashland (Phoenix) yesterday and stayed with our friend Candia in her driveway. She lives in East Vancouver, WA. We stayed there until noon today when we got the call saying our trailer was done. Unfortunately it took all afternoon to transfer our things from the rental trailer back to our home. I say unfortunately because we wanted to be up in Sequim tonight. Instead we're at the Columbia River RV Park. We'll take the rental trailer back tomorrow and then head for home.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Today is the 13th anniversary of our first date! It was Friday the 13th of October, 1995. The number 13 has always been lucky for us and tonight we are parked in space 13 at the Holiday RV park in Phoenix, OR. We stayed here a year and 10 days ago. We're on our way to Portland to get our trailer and then we're on to Sequim.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
We said goodbye to Nana and Papa, Aunt Diane, Uncle Randy and cousin Julie around noon today and got on I-5, heading north. For the first time, the RVGypsies are a broken family. Joss and the kitties drove in her minivan, while Robert, Baylee and the boys drove in the truck. We stopped in Kettleman City for a quick bite to eat then continued to Los Banos, CA.
If you've been following along for a long time (almost the beginning) you'll remember that 13 months ago we were "stuck" in Los Banos for 8 days while our truck's radiator was being replaced. Since we were familar with this campground, we came back to it. That's a first for us: two stays in the same RV park. This was our 6th stop and it is our 78th stop!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Encinitas, Calif. We came down to visit Joss' parent's and Robert's sister and family for a few days before heading back North. We had a busy week in Chino Hills and are beat. We're going to stay down here (close to San Diego) until Sunday.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
WE HAVE RETURNED! Only 416 days; 29,420 miles; 28 states and 76 different views out our bedroom window later, we pulled into our old hometown tonight. Read the blog about our impressions of Los Angeles upon our return.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
We are in Lost Hills, CA for the night. At 8:30 pm we decided the animals were getting tired of being in the truck for 11 hours so we decided to pull into the only RV park around (evidently, based on the rates they charge!) We did the most miles today that we've ever done, 500 miles.
We dropped of our trailer in Portland yesterday morning for repairs and headed south in the rental trailer we got on Monday. It weighs about half what our trailer weighs and the truck hardly knows it's back there. Good thing for speed limits or we'd probably already be in So Cal tonight!
We've got 240 miles to get to Joss' parent's house tomorrow. They have been keeping our minivan while we've been gone and we're going to pick it up before going inland to Chino Hills for a week of reunions with friends and family!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
We're still in Vancouver, Washington and will be into next week. We had a repair facility come out yesterday to look at the trailer. They are going to order parts but it may take 2 weeks to get some of them in. THEN they said the repairs will take TWO WEEKS! Yikes! We are making alternative living arrangements and might have an exciting (at least to us!) announcement soon.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Joss drove us through the beautiful Columbia River Gorge today on our way to Vancouver, Washington. We entered Washington State at 2:07 pm local time via I-205. The rv park we originally wanted didn't have room for us for an entire week so we went a little farther West to the Vancouver RV Park off of I-5.
Along the way we had a fuel shortage scare. I expected there to be gas stations at the junction of I-82 and I-84 in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. There weren't so we had to keep going West. The on-board computer said we had 0 miles to empty but we made it to the nearest town and all was good. It was only the 3rd time in 27,000 miles that we've had a close call, not bad I think!
Friday, September 19, 2008
We'll we finally pulled out of Missoula about 1:30 this afternoon. We normally like to get on the road before 11:00 but we had some more tire issues today! When I was checking the truck tires this morning I found a screw in the treads. Not wanting to pull it out and chance a flat in the campground, I drove to a nearby tire store. The screw turned out to be a 1/2" long and didn't penetrate the tire. While I was there I got another trailer tire so we'd have a spare. Even though we only have a thousand miles or less to go, it just isn't worth the time on the side of the road not to be prepared.
Meanwhile, after getting back to the campground I proceeded to fill up one of the truck tires that was low. It took about 30 minutes with the pathetic little 12 volt pump I have and JUST as I'm unscrewing the attachment to the valve stem, the fresh water tank that I'm filling is overflowing! So I quickly drop what I was doing at the tires and run to shut the water off. I then get distracted putting away the hoses, filter, etc. By the time I get back to the tire I hear a loud hisssss. I had abandoned the valve stem while it was half on/half off. ALL the air I had just spent 30 minutes putting in...was gone! Arrggh! "Oh well" I said to myself, "SOMEONE doesn't want us to hit the road yet!"
But we finally did and many hours later we pulled into the Panda Express for some chinese food and then off to Wal-Mart for a quick overnight stay. As we pulled into the Wal-Mart, we couldn't figure out where to park for the night. Turns out...YOU DON'T. There are signs posted that say overnight parking is Verbotten! We got out the laptop and found an RV Park close by and called it a night. We're in Kennewick, Washington and will be going along the Columbia River Gorge tomorrow, through Portland and staying just over the river in Vancouver, WA.
Monday, September, 15, 2008
We left the Battlefield yesterday morning and headed to Missoula, MT. About 50 miles east of Butte, MT we had two trailer tires blow (see the blog for more details). After getting new tires put on by the side of the Interstate we drove on in to Butte where we stayed in a Denny's parking lot for the night.
This morning we ended up at a truck repair facility to get the trailer raised on it's frame (long story) and hit the road.
We're now in the Missoula KOA and we've already hit the pool! We're meeting up with a family from Idaho that is biking from Alaska to Argentina. Here's their website, check it out: Family on Bikes.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
We're at the 7th Ranch RV Park a few miles south of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This must be the week for National Monuments for us! First Mt. Rushmore, then Devils Tower, now this. I (Robert) have always been interested in Custer's Last Stand and since we've been in the Black Hills I've been reading more about it. If you see a bumber sticker on the truck that says "Custer had it coming", you'll know where my sympathies lie!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
We left the town of Custer, SD around noon today and drove up to Devils Tower in Wyoming. After several wrong turns and wrong campgrounds at this park, we're now in the Pronghorn Campground in Keyhole State Park.
One benefit of the wrong turns was we were able to grab a FTF (First To Find) geocache in Pine Haven, WY!!! Being the first to find a new cache is usually pretty hard and this cache has been in place for 3 weeks now! This would have been UNHEARD OF in Chino Hills, CA where we came from. Usually when a new cache was placed it was found within hours.
We're going to the United States' first National Monument tomorrow: Devils Tower.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
We finally made it to the Black Hills of South Dakota! We loved the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet and the Sullivan family treated us like welcomed guests. If you're a Laura Ingalls fan or interested in Homesteading life in the 1880s, you have to visit them. We'll write much more about our week there in a few days.
Last night we stayed in the Cedar Pass Campground at Badlands National Park. We pulled in at 9:30 pm and out at 9:30 am, as our main goal was to drive through the Badlands. Wow, talk about an alien landscape!
We caught I-90 after the Badlands, and headed south from Rapid City, SD to the Mount Rushmore area. After checking out a couple campgrounds, we decided on the Broken Arrow Horse Camp and Campground. It's very nice, with very helpful owners Larry and Gerri and lots of activities. I guess a week on the homestead in De Smet and working with the horses is having a residual effect on me (Robert). I'm starting to like the smell of horse manure!
Monday, August 25, 2008
We are in De Smet, South Dakota and camped on the very land the Ingalls homesteaded in 1880. We're the only campers here so we've got views out both sides of the trailer. As we've been reading the Little House books to the boys, we've notice a parallel with our journey. They were frequently moving around in search of a new and better home and we are too!
We've noticed two things about the prairie since we've been on it (Valentine, NE - Walnut Grove, MN - De Smet, SD); there is a lot of wind and a lot of flies! We'll be here for 3 or 4 days before heading West to the Monuments and Black Hills.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wow, we didn't think we'd end up staying in Valentine for a whole week! We ended up really liking our choice of campgrounds (Riverside Campground) and spent a relaxing week doing some laundry, doing some canoeing, visiting the wildlife refuge, getting the truck serviced, getting a haircut and doing some grocery shopping. Oh yeah, also some Go-Carting! The campground owners, Mike and Ann, put in a go-cart track a few years ago and it was a LOT of fun!
We headed North from Valentine this morning and into South Dakota when we turned East on I-90. We stopped in Mitchell, SD to see the world famous Corn Palace, right in the middle of the 2008 Corn Palace Festival (Rick Springfield was performing tonight). Then we continued East to Minnesota...you betcha! We are staying at the Plum Creek County Park, on the banks of...you guessed it, Plum Creek! If you've watched any "Little House on the Prairie", this was one of the places the Ingalls had lived. Joss is a BIG Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, so we're here to visit their past.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
We spent the night listening to the dozens of freight trains going East and West (often passing each other right about where we where) and the pitter patter of rain. We drove North through Alliance, NE and visited Carhenge (think Stonehenge in England only made with cars instead of rocks). Then headed Northeast and East to Valentine, Nebraska where we will partake of one of the 100 best canoeing rivers in America as voted by Backpacker magazine and one of the top 1000 adventures by National Geographic magazine! We'll be here until the 19th or 20th.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Like the westward bound pioneers of 150 years ago, we're camping in the shadow of Chimney Rock, just outside of Bayard, Nebraska. Chimney Rock was a very important psychological landmark for the wagon trains heading West. Read more about it here. We're just stopping here overnight and heading to Valentine, NE tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
WE MADE IT! One year ago today we left our "bricks and sticks" house for a life on the road. We're still married, we still like each other (kids included!) and we're not done yet!!!
We decided to stay put in Estes Park for a few more days, so that's where we still are. We'll leave Friday and go to Chimney Rock Nat'l Historic Site (it's on the Oregon Trail in Nebraska). After that, plans are to visit Valentine, NE (how romantical...and no that's not a typo, if you're a Popeye fan, you'll know what I mean).
So today we're planning a horseback ride in the Rocky Mountains and a play "Forever Plaid" this afternoon. Probably open a bottle of bubbly too (sparkling apple juice that is).
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
We've finally made it to Estes Park for the Moeller Family Reunion. It's been 1,550 miles since we decided to head West. Today's drive was through Western Nebraska, into Cheyenne, WY where we turned left and headed to the Rocky Mountains! The Big Thompson river was a beautiful accompaniment to our drive up the mountain. We're at Spruce Lake RV Park, where my sister Carla and her family will join us tomorrow. Then we'll join the other 80 relatives on Thursday for the festivities. We've stopped 10 different times this month so we're going to take a break here. We'll be here until 8/12.
Friday, July 25, 2008
We are in Friend, Nebraska! My (Robert) mom was born on a farm 3 miles out of town here in the 30's . Her Grandfather homesteaded the farm well over 100 years ago and we're here to re-locate it. As a child, I came to the farm in the early 70's and remember it like it was last week. Much of my mom's side of the family is buried here so we're going to visit the cemetery also. We'll be here until Sunday when we'll head West for our family reunion in Estes Park, CO.
Monday, July 21, 2008
I don't even know what day it is anymore but I do know we're in St. Joseph, MO. We crossed all of Missouri today, 310 miles from St. Lou to St. Joe. There is a lot to do in this little town and we're only here two days. Did you know Jesse James was killed in this town? Did you know the Pony Express originated from here? Stay tuned and we'll show you all about it. Oh and there are a bunch of neat sounding Geocaches here too!!!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A new first for the RVGypsies... 4 states in one day. We left Kentucky late this morning and drove into Indiana where we took pictures in a corn field and changed drivers. Not 15 minutes later we were in Illinois and after seeing the Arch in St. Louis, we were in Missouri. Woo Hoo!!!!
22 states, 22,000 miles (just as we pulled in tonight) and 11 months on the road! Where do we pick up our Mad Max Road Warrior jackets?!
We are staying in an "unknown" RV park in Fenton, Missouri. I say unknown because it's listed as a Mobile Home Estate Park, which I would ordinarily overlook but a neighbor in our Bowling Green campground, recommended it to us. We're about 20 minutes south of St. Louis and are going up to the Arch and Museum of Westward Expansion tomorrow. We'll be here for a couple/three days at the most.
Friday, July 11, 2008
We are in Kentucky! Bowling Green KOA to be exact. Joss wanted to see some of Kentucky since we were so close and once she found out the Corvette Museum and factory tour is in Bowling Green...well here we are! We had rain the last few days in Nashville but today was beautiful as we left. Nashville was a lot of fun. I think a little more for me (Robert) because I grew up listening to the country stars of the 60's and 70's as well as the legends on KLAC radio in Los Angeles. Mom was into classical music and Dad was into Country. I was fortunate to marry a woman who also likes country, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Randy Travis and Johnny Cash being some of our favorites. We had a great time at the Grand Ole Opry and the Hall of Fame. I think we'll be back to Nashville some day.
We'll be here until the 15th roughly, before heading to St. Louis.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Where are we??? Who knows! We're on the move now so places and dates are beginin' ta blur! Well actually, we're pretty close to a major city that most people have heard of...Nashville, Tennessee! This is our third Tennessee city in less than a week. Here is the link to the park we're in.
We have made a commitment to get to our family reunion in Estes Park, CO by the 29th so we're "beatin' feet" to cover 1,254 miles in 23 days. The mileage isn't the problem. It's how many cool things there are to see in that 1,254 miles that's the problem!!! Here's what we think our itinerary will be...
We're all going to the Grand Ol' Opry tomorrow night, followed by museums on Wednesday. Thursday we're meeting up with a new friend, Mike, that we met in our last hours at Skidaway Park in Savannah, GA. On Friday, we're heading North to Bowling Green Kentucky and the Corvette Museum! From Bowling Green, we'll go to St. Louis, MO, St. Joseph, MO, Friend, NE, someplace in Western NE and then to the reunion in Estes Park, CO.
In case you're looking at our map and wondering what the one night in Cookeville, TN was all about, well I'll tell you. We left Gatlinburg around 5pm last night and drove about 4 hours to the Super Wal-Mart in Cookeville for the night. Early this morning, we dropped the trailer off at a Titanium dealer to get some minor (though technically challenging) repairs done. After picking up the trailer at 5pm tonight, we drove to the new campground. So that's the story.
Friday, July 3, 2008
Well Asheville wasn't the cat's meow I thought it would be from all of the rave reviews we heard. Don't get me wrong, it was a neat city and the Biltmore house was amazing. We could have spent 2 or 3 days touring the house and grounds, oh and the vineyard! The area around Asheville is beautiful and we really enjoyed our hikes around Chimney Rock and Sliding Rock.
Our campground was small and cramped with the campground police seemingly watching our every move. We were very happy to be leaving today.
We had a short drive to our new campground, Smokey Bear Campground, a little bit East of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We're here until the 6th when we'll take the trailer to Cookeville, TN to a dealer for some minor repairs. After that, we're scheduled to be in Nashville, TN until the 11th.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
We rarely travel on a Sunday, as most other 'vacationers' are also on the roads but today was an exception. We were supposed to be in Asheville, NC yesterday but we decided to stay at Joss' Aunt and Uncle's farm in Swoope, VA an extra day. The boys LOVED the farm life. Robby has decided he wants to be a "farm boy" and Uncle Dennis and I made a pact to ship Robby out each summer in about 5 years!
We did something else we RARELY ever do...BACKTRACKED! Eegaad, horror of horrors, say it isn't so! But yes, thanks to some good advice from cousin Jakki's Dad, we took I-81 to I-77 to I-40 and avoided the mountainous I-26 into Asheville from the North.
Speaking of Asheville, THAT's where we are!!! It has been on our list of placed to "check out" since the beginning of our trip. We'll be here until the 3rd of July to give it a good looksee. We're also having some guests in a few days. Our close friend's from Chino Hills, Leanne and her daughter Kendra are going to stay with us for a week. We can't wait!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
We've gone back to Virginia, again. This is the third time in a month that we've crossed the NC/VA border. As we've often done on this journey, we made a last minute decision to head back into Virginia to visit with Joss' Uncle Dennis and his wife Anne. They have a beautiful home and ranch just outside of Swoope, VA. The closest town of size is Staunton which is the birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson and the Statler Brothers (great harmony those brother's have!). We'll be here until Sunday when we'll head south and back to North Carolina...Asheville here we come!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The RVGypsies headed inland today and back to North Carolina. We are in a city park, Hagan-Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, NC. It's just a few miles south of Greensboro, where our friend Paige lives. We're going to spend the weekend with her and visit her folks on Father's Day.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
We passed two milestones (or mileage-stones as they were) today. Our truck turned over 25,000 miles and 19,000 of those have been on this trip. I know, I know, big whup right? Well I've always been a geeky numbers kind of guy so I notice those things.
We left our campground outside of Elizabeth City, NC and drove directly to the Great Dismal Swamp State Park. With a name like that, how could we NOT go see it?! It was very hot and humid so we just visited the brand new visitor center and took a stroll on the boardwalk. We did run into a doe (female deer) and, of course, took a few dozen pictures. The swamp has an interesting history that includes George Washington and the Underground Railroad.
We're now at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, VA. Our campsite is a 4 minute walk to the shores of Chesapeake Bay. We'll be here until the 10th of June.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
We finally pulled up roots from the campground in Surf City this morning and headed up I-40 to I-95N. We took the interstates, even though it added 100 miles to our trip. The more direct route would have taken us through countless "little" towns. As cute as they are, 35 MPH or in some cases 20 MPH (!) makes for a loooooong travel day. We found a very neat and clean campground thanks to RVParkreviews.com. We pulled in a little after 6pm, set up, went to the office and ordered pizza! The park is called North River Campground.
We're going up to Virginia Beach tomorrow to see Josslyn's sister and her kids. Then we're going to spend the weekend around Kitty Hawk.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
17,000 miles and 9 months on the road have taken us to North Carolina today! Yesterday was an interesting day for us, we did something we've not done yet. We had to be out of the campsite by 11am at James Island County Park, so we packed up the trailer and hauled it to the overflow parking and unhooked the truck. We really wanted to go see the ONLY tea plantation in the United States (Charleston Tea Plantation) so we did. It was definitely worth the trip and we all enjoyed it. On the way back, we stopped at Angel Oak, said to be the oldest living thing East of the Mississippi. There was a Geocache located there and we had to get at least one Geocache done before we could put on our South Carolina sticker. After the plantation, we drove about 65 miles to Georgetown, SC where we stayed the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot.
We found out when we were in Charleston that it's "bike month" in Myrtle Beach. Bikers (motorcycles) by the thousands come to Myrtle Beach (and Charleston) in May. Towing our home through Myrtle Beach today was not a lot of fun. We had to make an emergency stop and for the first time, locked up the trailer tires...you should have seen the smoke!
We couldn't find any campsites in or very close to Wilmington, NC so we are up the coast a bit at Lanier's Campground in Surf City, NC. Wonder if this is the place Jan and Dean were singing about ? (It isn't). We'll be here until the 23rd, then they're kicking us out for the Memorial Day holiday. I think they have a bigger name coming in...the nerve!
