28 nights after setting out on our June RV trip, we’re home. The trip was far different than we’d planned. We thought we’d see the Florida panhandle and maybe follow the Mississippi River up north. But after seeing that the weather is about the same along the west coast of Florida and the prices are 1/3 of those along the panhandle, we chose to save some money and have similar experiences – sunny days at the pools and beaches!
We’ve been drawn to the Tampa/Sarasota area of Florida for a long time, but spending winter there back in 2017/2018 really made it click that some people don’t have horrible winters. This last winter in Northern Illinois was horrendous. Beginning in mid-October, we hated the weather. It was dark, cold, and wet until we left. Even June, the month we skipped, was wet and cold. We’re not sorry to have missed it.
We began our trip home with a few days of unplanned time. I thought we’d wind up in Memphis for a few days. So we began the trip north. The first day, we stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s PlayPlace somewhere in Georgia and decided to just go home. We spent that night in Tifton, Georgia, at a KOA.
We began driving again the next morning without a destination again. There’s a gap between Chattanooga and Nashville where there aren’t really an RV parks. Chattanooga was too short of a drive, so Nashville it was. By chance, we stayed at the first place we ever camped! It was fun in the summer to see all of the amenities and pool ready to be used – instead of shut down for the season like last time. We caught lightning bugs that evening and played on the playground and pool in the morning.
After our fun morning, we got on the road. We at at Cracker Barrel along the way. And wound up staying at a very popular overnight RV park in Mount Vernon, Illinois. They had a fun little playground and a basketball hoop. Our kids had a ball that night.
We made plans for lunch in Champaign with cousins. They chose Blaze Pizza. We at like kings and queens. Then we made the final 3-ish hours home. We backed it into our driveway without issue.
It’s no secret that we did a lot of house hunting on our trip. Some days, the kids chose to do it. Other days, we made them do it. We all had fun looking and exploring.
One of our goals on the big RV trip of 2017/2018 was to find a place we wanted to live other than where we are now. Arizona seemed to hold promise for a lot of reasons. It has sunshine, warm weather, mountains/open spaces and a sense of adventure. But this winter in Illinois made even a mild Arizona winter seem like too much. The west coast of Florida is basically the only place that meets our wants.
So we learned a lot about the real estate market. And the homebuilding process. We have a lot of things to consider.
But for now, we’re excited to spend the rest of our summer between home and at the family lake house in Wisconsin.