One Year and The Great Debate (by Sandy)

Well, it’s been one year since we hit the road!!!

June 3 — Woohoo!!

Here are some facts during this year:

States Travelled Through — 23

States Explored — 18 (not including Hawaii)

Provinces  Explored — 4

Months Traveling/Exploring — 6

Months Snowbirding in FL — 3

Months at Home — 3

Miles on the CondoOnWheels — 13,070

Miles on Car — about 14,200

Number of Different Campgrounds/Resorts — lost track but averaged 3-4 days per campground

Number of Nights Overnighted in Rest Areas En Route — 7

Number of National Parks/Monuments etc Visited — 6 parks, 5 other National properties 

Number of Great and Interesting People Met Along the Way — So Many!!!

Number of Travelling RV’ers We Still Stay in Touch With — 2 very special friends

Number of Places We Would Definitely Revisit — 6

Number of Places We Would Never Return — a couple

Number of Days We Have Missed Working — 0

Number of Days We Have Missed Home — 0

Friends and Family at Home Missed — All of Them

So.... what is the Great Debate?????

We have maps of US states and Canada. See photos below. Bill mounted them on plexiglass and we sometimes put them in the front window of the rig when camping. It’s a great conversation starter. 

These 2 maps show our progress in year one. We focused on the Eastern states. The second year we’ll be focusing on the Western states. 

Anyways, what qualifies to get the state added to the map?  

That’s where the debate comes in.  See the first 2 facts above for what’s at stake. 

Bill wants to add any state he drives through, rubber on pavement, especially if he has bought fuel or food, spent money, regardless of whether you just touch the tip of the state (like PA). 

Sandy thinks only states we have actually done something new or saw or did something out of the ordinary should be added to the map. So under Sandy’s concept, getting fuel, grabbing food, or making a pit stop does not count. It needs to be a ‘feet on the ground’ exploring type activity, so a bike ride, state park visit, a tour, seeing something other than land along the freeway. Or sleeping overnight in the state qualifies for Sandy. 

Will the debate ever get resolved?  Feel free to include your comments on this. Maybe you’ll convince one of us to change our mind!  Until then, we’re staying conservative in showing the states on our map. We’ve been told: ‘it’s your map, you get to make the rules’, so when you see one in an RV that’s completely full, you gotta wonder:  what were their rules for adding the states. 

Oh, I’m sure someone will wonder why Hawaii was included since the RV has not been there and definitely not while we’ve been retired.  It’s because the RV will never get there but we did visit Hawaii before we retired as the first step of our retirement plan to hit all 50 states. 

Legit?  We’re hoping so!  (At least it fell under our rules of inclusion)

P.S.   We’ve been to 44 states before retirement, but this map starts over in retirement with this rig. 

P.P.S.  Just read this post to Bill and he wants to add that he bought the maps so he gets control, but Sandy counters that with he used a credit card and she paid the bill. So....still under debate.