Almost everything is going so well we hesitate to mention it lest we jinx it, heh.  This month we finally started working our way north through Florida, with stops to visit relatives and friends in their respective towns.

The Distance: 329 miles, bringing out 2016 total up to 791.  We are picking up the pace a bit from our leisurely 20 miles traveled in February.   Based on our loose plan for the year, w expect that mileage to increase in April and again in May as we race up the east coast towards Maine.

The Places:  Five places, six if you count a return to Key West Naval Air Station in the midst of our state park visits.   We closed out a 43 day stay at NAS Key West before heading up the Overseas Highway for a couple of short short, back to back stays at Curry Hammock and Long Key state parks.  After which we returned to NAS Key West’s Sigsbee Campground for a five day stay until our surprise opening (Thanks Nealy’s!) at Bahia Honda State Park.  From there it was on to Coral Springs and then across the state to the Gulf Coast and Turtle Beach on Siesta Key, near Sarasota.  We spent the first 23 days with at least power, usually with water as well, and a few days with sewage to boot.  We spent eight days dry camping; six in the traditional sense at Key West plus two days driveway camping in Coral Springs.  Another way of breaking it down: We spent 29 days on government/public land (14 military, 10 state, 5 county) and two days on private land.

The Budget:   After two months under budget we couldn’t hold on this month, and ended up 12% over.  The big killers?  A $270 tire replacement while in Curry Hammock and the overpriced ($62/night) stay at Turtle Beach.   We are still under for the year and have cracked down a bit this first part of April, but it was disappointing none the less.

The Drama:  As mentioned above, we had totally dstroyed RV tire, but we also mananged to get a flat on one of Loki’s rear wheels while in Coral Springs.  Fortunately we have a good spare, and once we got across the state to Venice, Rosemarie’s brother Jerry plugged the damaged rubber for us.

We continue to track the repairs on the Big Kahuna, with Pioneer Transmission Service reporting they are a week or so away from complete and ready to ship the transmission back to Charleston.

The Improvements:  Nothing significant to report again, and I may even drop this section for future monthly summaries.  Unlike the old bus, Serenity is mostly good to go, and we need to avoid spending money on improvements until we get our finances back in order, which probably will not be until The Big Kahuna has a new owner.

All of our monthly reports, as well as our first full year report, 2015 in Review, are linked below.

2016 Reports:

• January Report
• February Report

2015 in Review

• January Report
• February Report
• March Report
• April Report
• May Report
• June Report
• July Report
• August Report
• September Report
• October Report
• November Report
• December Report