The Distance:  1,868 miles as we worked our way from South Georgia all the way up to Maine, executing the first third of our 2018 plan.  That’s more than the rest of the year combined.  Our 2018 total is now up to 3,542 miles.  June will be a major slow down since we will remain in Maine and only shift locations twice.

Big mileage month!

The Places:  After leaving Wanee Lake we stopped outside Georgia to visit Rosemarie’s cousins, then began our trek through the Carolina’s with a stay near Asheville.   From there is was on to Wilmington to visit my mom and step dad, then up the coast to the Norfolk area to see Linda and the boys.  We cut inland a bit before stopping near West Point, NY to see more family, cut back east for a short stay in Newport, and finally continued north to our first Maine location.  This worked out to 4 nights in a national recreation area, 6 in private campgrounds, 13 in military sites, 3 in a relative’s driveway, and 5 in relatives’ houses.  For the 26 days in the RV, we had 16 with full hook ups, 7 with electric and water, and 3 dry camping. 

I think this is near Newport, RI.

The Budget:  Another close month at only 3.4% under budget, but under is under so we’ll take it, particularly since June and July are likely to be tough months for us in the financial arena.  We benefited from a substantial sign up bonus for a no fee checking account with Chase, rather cheap campground fees, and eight days free or nearly so as we stayed with relatives.  Thus our average nightly cost came out to just under $21.  That helped to counteract the big gas bill ($926 between Serenity and Loki) and $130 in tolls.  This keeps us well under budget for the year as we approach the half way point.

Rewarding ourselves for staying under budget.

The Drama and the Improvements:  We found a great replacement for Rosemarie’s folding bike (sold during our last stay in at Wekiwa Springs State Park.)  A bicycle thrift shop in Asheville had a brand new, recently donated 24″ mountain bike for $40.  As for drama: our steps continue to give us trouble.  I was unable to get them to retract as we prepared to leave Wilmington, but fortunately the owner of the storage lot helped get me settled by finding a loose switch connection, that, when jiggered, temporarily allowed them to work as designed.  Lastly, I managed to run us out of gas while in route to Maine; my formerly trustworthy gas gauge and warning indicator failed to provide a heads up, but it’s on me for pushing things too close to the edge.  We pulled over, detached Loki and I went a couple of miles up the road to fill up our portable gas can.  Ah well. 

• January Monthly Report
• February Monthly Report
• March Monthly Report
• April Monthly Report

And here are our 2017, 2016, and 2015 annual summaries which include monthly report links.