We are not nearly as behind on the blog this month as last, two or three posts will catch us up entirely!
The Distance: 1,825 miles, or biggest month this year! Once we turned south and headed for Florida with only short stops along the way, we new this would be a big mileage month. But in a nice example of how we really have slowed things up this year compared to 2015, that year saw three months with even great mileage. Our 2016 total is up to 8,231 and it looks like we will be far under last year’s 14,296 miles. The rest of the year will see us bouncing around Florida, possibly putting us near 10,000 for the year, but certainly not much more than that.
The Places: We finished up our extended stay at Lebanon Hill Regional Park in Minnesota before moving south to visit my daughter near Des Moines, Iowa. From there we made a more aggressive run south through Missouri (The Catfish Place Campground,) Illinois (Scott Air Force Base) and Kentucky (Pirates Cove RV Resort.) Then it was three Air Force Family Camp’s in a row, Arnold, Dobbins, and Robins, before hitting Wanee Lake RV & Golf Resort in Georgia. We finaly pushed into Florida, making Grand Lake RV Resort in Citra our first stop, followed by a return to Blue Springs State Park near Orange City. We closed out the month with a stay at Mill Creek RV Resort south of Orlando and few days in the Bayba’s driveway in Venice.
We are up to three straight months without a single moment of drycamping, enjoying full hook ups for 19 days and electric/water connections for 9 (with three days parked in a a realtives driveway while we enjoyed the experience of sleepign in a house.) We stayed in private campgrounds for 10 days, military facilities for 8, and public parks for ten (8 county, 2 state) and in the just mentioned relatives’ house for 3.
The Budget: Unfortunately this was a tough month in which we ended up 23% over budget. We had a notible repair bill, yet another moderate medical bill that caught up with us, and an unusual four full fill ups for Serenity’s 75 gallon tank as a result of our highest mileage month of the year. And unlike last month when we participated in seven farmers markets, we were only able to attend a single selling event in October, though even that certainly helped. This puts us a slim 1.4% over budget for the year, and we hope to make that up in the remaining two months of 2016
On the good side, We managed to bring our RV park fees down to nearly $19 a day thanks to the Air Force Bases and incredibly affordable private resorts we found through Passport America. We enjoyed the 50% PA discount for ten days, and the subsidized low cost rate at military campgrounds for eight.
The Drama: We experienced an odd electrical problem that was mostly resolved by Horizon RV in Valdosta, GA, though we have some additional issues that need to be addressed before we begin drycamping in Key West later this year. Since then we are seeing some additional, odd and transient elecrical issues with our 12 volt system that might suggest a pending inverter failure. More to follow.
The Improvements: Uncle Dennis fixed our windshield washers (they were simply stuck and needed lubrication) and troubleshot our ongoing electrical issues, suggesting it might be the hosue batteries going bad but had the looks of something more significant. Armed with what he told us we will be going to another RV repair facility soon.
All of our monthly reports, as well as our first full year report, 2015 in Review, are linked below.
2016 Reports:
Shell On Wheels 
Pingback: 24 Months Fulltiming: December 2016 Report | Shell On Wheels
Pingback: 2016 in Review (Two Years Fulltiming) | Shell On Wheels
Pingback: 28 Months Fulltiming: April 2017 Report | Shell On Wheels