Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Journey, Best Ofs/Worst Ofs....

Apparently, this post never made it to you Google Reader subscribers, so here we go again, same version, new publish button....

Hat tip to CJ over at CozyGirl for suggesting a Best of/Worst of regarding our land yacht voyage. We had actually written all of the notes during one day of travel--yes, something to keep the RV chauffeur awake. We felt it was appropriate at the end of the calendar year as many other media outlets begin their "Best Of/Worst of 2012" exposes. As is common with most relationships, we did not always agree, so we noted each others names when our opinions differed.

This post is also dedicated to Debbie over at Great Escapes From NJ who said she loves blogs with links--more links here than the Johnsonville sausage factory. Oh, and a big howdy to our current neighbors,  RoadmaptoNomad, who became full-time RVers just yesterday, how awesome is that.

I apologize in advance as to formatting---Blogger should rename itself to Booger--cause I get madder than snot when I use their app. Don't you love the message "An error occurred while trying to save or publish your post. Please try again. Ignore warning"--I thought the reason for WARNINGS was so they were not to be ignored. I don't see Tylenol putting on their labels "Keep out of reach of children. Ignore warning". I was within a razor's edge of renaming the blog to FLIP THE BIRD VECTOR.

So, if you see uncentered photos, text spacing, etc. where they don't belong, it is not due to the over indulgence of egg nog as I prepared this post. In the "Edit" post, all looks reasonably well. However, when I go to "Preview", it looks like someone riding the short school bus got a hold of my laptop. Also, since most of our readers made it beyond Kindergarten, not every picture will have a photo.

Rant off. Temporarily.


OK, the winners and losers area..............


MEMORIES:
Top Two Most Memorable Days:
 A day in New York City (Teri)


Bucket List Checkoff-- Oshkosh Air Show with oldest son (Dave)


Top Two Most Scenic Memories:
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (Teri)


Grand Canyon, Arizona (Dave)


Best single day, big city experience:
Broadway--Rock of Ages-New York City (Teri)--the day my man card virginity was taken.

San Franciso city tour (Dave)

Best single day experience, smaller city:
 Cycling around Monterey Bay, CA

Prettiest single day drive:
Coastal South Carolina in the Fall

Prettiest sunrise:
Austin, TX.

Prettiest sunset:
Snake River/Twin Falls, ID in late May

or
Ogallala, NE amidst a storm brewing over a forest fire

Favorite non-Texas state:
South Carolina- Teri
Idaho- Dave

Worst day of the journey:


RV PARKS:
Top 3 RV Parks:
Ocean Lakes Travel Park- Myrtle Beach, S.C.


Cherry Hill RV Park- Washington DC.--Easy commute to the city.


Turning Stone Casino/The Villages RV Park- Oneida, N.Y.--Beautiful, well-layed out, trash can at every sight.


Worst RV Parks:
Century RV Park, Ogden, UT--park was fine, but office staff couldn’t spell RV.
Timberlane Campground, Clarksboro, NJ --- too much attitude, charging weekly for electric and dozens of square bugs that we still find alive in our rig 3 months later. Funny enough, this is where popular RV Blogger Cheddar-Yeti is holed up for the Winter.
Skyline RV Resort, Darrien Center, NY—park wasn’t too bad, but loud mouth seasonals were disruptive.

Best boondocking experience:
Perrine Bridge, Snake River, Twin Falls, ID. watching base jump divers and sleeping for free!

Well, just like RV'ing, things don't always go according to plan...
 

Big City with Best Choice of RV Parks:
Myrtle Beach, SC

Big City with Worst Choice of RV Parks
San Francisco, Denver and D.C.—flip a coin.

Most Unique RV Park Visited:
Hiway Haven, Sutherlin, OR.—yeah,  drive-in movie screen included.
 
Most frustrating part:
Although not frequent, bad Wi-Fi--yeah,yeah, Verizon Mi-Fi blah,blah

oMost desired amenities:
Good Wi-Fi, Pull thru parking, walk-friendly 

Favorite song that depicted the journey:
"FREE" Zac Brown Band 

Favorite words:
No Regrets-- Dave
Enough (Contentment)-- Teri

Favorite two websites: 
RV.net -almost any question you need answered can be found here. Hat tip to my virtual mentor, Newman, who has dedicated his life to making sure I didn't electrocute myself.

rvparkreviews.com-- The Yelp-like source for RV'ers!

FOOD:
Top 2 Dining Experiences:
 
Indochine- Wilmington, N.C., our first stab at Thai food, awesome!


 
 Steamboat Bill's- Lake Charles, La.--Shrimp Pistolettes, the best!

Favorite Cheap Eats:
Waffle House - (Southeast USA)
Culver's - (Northeast USA)

Favorite Campground Treat:
 
 Snickers Ice Cream Bar
 
Least Favorite 2 Dining Experiences:
Cracker Barrel- Wilmington, NC. Spices must have been back-ordered while we were in town.
Ogallala, NE. Elevated the definition of “bland”.

Best Surprise Food:
 
Carolina BBQ--mustardy vinegary BBQ sauce= besty.



Most Frequent Meal Prepared In The Rig:
 Pierogies with our own bacon and onion topping

 
NUMBERS:
Most Expensive Budget Month:
November (Crash Month): $3,766 (insurance deductibles + 4 new tires)

Least Expensive Budget Month:
August (Month in Bristol, IN.): $1960.00

Total Miles Driven:
11, 166

Number of States Visited:


34


Number of Campgrounds Visited:


Longest single day drive:
447 miles, Williams, Az to Bakersfield, Ca.

Shortest single day drive:
Golden, Co. to Littleton, Co., 21 miles

Highest price per gallon of diesel:
$4.49. California. No surprise.

Lowest price per gallon of diesel.
$3.39 Texas, in April 2012. No surprise.

MPG Towing:
13

MPG without RV:
20

Best investment under $100:
 Table top grill.

Hottest day:
Ogallala,, NE-105, in June.
Coldest day:
Austin, TX- 27, in December. LOL.

Scariest weather moment:
Tornado warning, Bristol, IN. in August

There you go folks,  hours of work, organizing photos and arm wrestling Blogger is complete! And, if you don't like this blog post, I am hiring Christy over at He Said/She Said to write a formal response---I hear she does a stand up job!

To our 60+ followers and 42,000 who have stopped by since April, we say:
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM DAVE AND TERI AT FLIP FLOP VECTOR!










Saturday, December 22, 2012

Memories, Good and Bad, of The Journey...

Hat tip to CJ over at CozyGirl for suggesting a Best of/Worst of regarding our land yacht voyage. We had actually written all of the notes during one day of travel--yes, something to keep the RV chauffeur awake. We felt it was appropriate at the end of the calendar year as many other media outlets begin their "Best Of/Worst of 2012" exposes. As is common with most relationships, we did not always agree, so we noted each others names when our opinions differed.

This post is also dedicated to Debbie over at Great Escapes From NJ who said she loves blogs with links--more links here than the Johnsonville sausage factory. Oh, and a big howdy to our current neighbors,  RoadmaptoNomad, who became full-time RVers just yesterday, how awesome is that.

I apologize in advance as to formatting---Blogger should rename itself to Booger--cause I get madder than snot when I use their app. Don't you love the message "An error occurred while trying to save or publish your post. Please try again. Ignore warning"--I thought the reason for WARNINGS was so they were not to be ignored. I don't see Tylenol putting on their labels "Keep out of reach of children. Ignore warning". I was within a razor's edge of renaming the blog to FLIP THE BIRD VECTOR.

So, if you see uncentered photos, text spacing, etc. where they don't belong, it is not due to the over indulgence of egg nog as I prepared this post. In the "Edit" post, all looks reasonably well. However, when I go to "Preview", it looks like someone riding the short school bus got a hold of my laptop. Also, since most of our readers made it beyond Kindergarten, not every picture will have a photo.

Rant off. Temporarily.


OK, the winners and losers area..............


MEMORIES:
Top Two Most Memorable Days:
 A day in New York City (Teri)


Bucket List Checkoff-- Oshkosh Air Show with oldest son (Dave)


Top Two Most Scenic Memories:
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (Teri)


Grand Canyon, Arizona (Dave)


Best single day, big city experience:
Broadway--Rock of Ages-New York City (Teri)--the day my man card virginity was taken.

San Franciso city tour (Dave)

Best single day experience, smaller city:
 Cycling around Monterey Bay, CA

Prettiest single day drive:
Coastal South Carolina in the Fall

Prettiest sunrise:
Austin, TX.

Prettiest sunset:
Snake River/Twin Falls, ID in late May

or
Ogallala, NE amidst a storm brewing over a forest fire

Favorite non-Texas state:
South Carolina- Teri
Idaho- Dave

Worst day of the journey:


RV PARKS:
Top 3 RV Parks:
Ocean Lakes Travel Park- Myrtle Beach, S.C.


Cherry Hill RV Park- Washington DC.--Easy commute to the city.


Turning Stone Casino/The Villages RV Park- Oneida, N.Y.--Beautiful, well-layed out, trash can at every sight.


Worst RV Parks:
Century RV Park, Ogden, UT--park was fine, but office staff couldn’t spell RV.
Timberlane Campground, Clarksboro, NJ --- too much attitude, charging weekly for electric and dozens of square bugs that we still find alive in our rig 3 months later. Funny enough, this is where popular RV Blogger Cheddar-Yeti is holed up for the Winter.
Skyline RV Resort, Darrien Center, NY—park wasn’t too bad, but loud mouth seasonals were disruptive.

Best boondocking experience:
Perrine Bridge, Snake River, Twin Falls, ID. watching base jump divers and sleeping for free!

Well, just like RV'ing, things don't always go according to plan...
 

Big City with Best Choice of RV Parks:
Myrtle Beach, SC

Big City with Worst Choice of RV Parks
San Francisco, Denver and D.C.—flip a coin.

Most Unique RV Park Visited:
Hiway Haven, Sutherlin, OR.—yeah,  drive-in movie screen included.
 
Most frustrating part:
Although not frequent, bad Wi-Fi--yeah,yeah, Verizon Mi-Fi blah,blah

oMost desired amenities:
Good Wi-Fi, Pull thru parking, walk-friendly 

Favorite song that depicted the journey:
"FREE" Zac Brown Band 

Favorite words:
No Regrets-- Dave
Enough (Contentment)-- Teri

Favorite two websites: 
RV.net -almost any question you need answered can be found here. Hat tip to my virtual mentor, Newman, who has dedicated his life to making sure I didn't electrocute myself.

rvparkreviews.com-- The Yelp-like source for RV'ers!

FOOD:
Top 2 Dining Experiences:
 
Indochine- Wilmington, N.C., our first stab at Thai food, awesome!


 
 Steamboat Bill's- Lake Charles, La.--Shrimp Pistolettes, the best!

Favorite Cheap Eats:
Waffle House - (Southeast USA)
Culver's - (Northeast USA)

Favorite Campground Treat:
 
 Snickers Ice Cream Bar
 
Least Favorite 2 Dining Experiences:
Cracker Barrel- Wilmington, NC. Spices must have been back-ordered while we were in town.
Ogallala, NE. Elevated the definition of “bland”.

Best Surprise Food:
 
Carolina BBQ--mustardy vinegary BBQ sauce= besty.



Most Frequent Meal Prepared In The Rig:
 Pierogies with our own bacon and onion topping

 
NUMBERS:
Most Expensive Budget Month:
November (Crash Month): $3,766 (insurance deductibles + 4 new tires)

Least Expensive Budget Month:
August (Month in Bristol, IN.): $1960.00

Total Miles Driven:
11, 166

Number of States Visited:


34


Number of Campgrounds Visited:


Longest single day drive:
447 miles, Williams, Az to Bakersfield, Ca.

Shortest single day drive:
Golden, Co. to Littleton, Co., 21 miles

Highest price per gallon of diesel:
$4.49. California. No surprise.

Lowest price per gallon of diesel.
$3.39 Texas, in April 2012. No surprise.

MPG Towing:
13

MPG without RV:
20

Best investment under $100:
 Table top grill.

Hottest day:
Ogallala,, NE-105, in June.
Coldest day:
Austin, TX- 27, in December. LOL.

Scariest weather moment:
Tornado warning, Bristol, IN. in August

There you go folks,  hours of work, organizing photos and arm wrestling Blogger is complete! And, if you don't like this blog post, I am hiring Christy over at He Said/She Said to write a formal response---I hear she does a stand up job!

To our 60+ followers and 42,000 who have stopped by since April, we say:
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM DAVE AND TERI AT FLIP FLOP VECTOR!