We are finally out of Florida and on our way to Maine as part of our 2016 counterclockwise exploration of the east half of the US plus a bit of southern Canada as well.
The Distance: 795 miles, which shows that we are really starting to pick up the pace as this is more than we did in January through March combined. Our total for the year so far: 1586 miles. We expect to see even greater mileage in May.
The Places: Eight locations for this month, nine if you count the unexpected hotel stay due to a flight cancellation in Indianapolis. We started with a visit to Gloria and Bill’s in Venice that stretched from two to three days due to a bit of illness on my part, then we backtracked south to Sanibel for a five day stay in our favorite Gulf Coast park before finally turning north for a full week stay at Trimble County Park in Mount Dora. We stopped for one night on Uncle Bob’s property in Geneva before catching our flight to Indiana to see Dad and Marcia, and after returning from that visit we headed north to Gainesville to visit my daughter and cousins. Finally, we headed east to the Atlantic coast for a stay Gamble Rogers State Park before crossing into Georgia for a two night stay in Savannah.
We had full or partial hook ups for 16 days, dry camped for one, stayed in relative’s homes for ten, and in hotels for three. Looked at another way: we stayed at private RV resorts for six days, in public campgrounds for ten (7 state, 3 county), in relatives driveways, houses, or other property for eleven, and, as already stated, in hotels for three.
The Budget: We scraped by this month, finishing nearly 4% under budget, though only because of a few sales from Rosemarie’s jewelry, a bit of Craigslisting, and the refund check from our Active Advantage membership experiment. We managed this despite having to pay an (admittedly small) income tax bill and having to shell out an unexpected $240 for a new RV tire. In addition to some extra money from sales and refunds, what saved us this month was the 14 days spent with relatives or in free hotels (courtesy of Allegiant Air and a credit card sign up offer.) Not paying any campground fees for half the month more than offset the six days spent at high end private RV resorts. We are three out of four months under budget this year!
The Drama: We had to replace another tire on Serenity, which is really just confirmation that all of them are at the end of their appropriate life cycle. We will have to bite the bullet and do the remaining four pretty soon I think.
The Improvements: Once again, nothing significant to report. We have plans for improvements, such as new tires, a tire pressure monitoring system, a better work/crafting area, storage improvements, etc, but right now it just isn’t in the budget.
All of our monthly reports, as well as our first full year report, 2015 in Review, are linked below.
2016 Reports:
Shell On Wheels 