Summary of Spring 2018 Trip

Here's my final wrap up on Spring 2018.

I traveled for exactly 5 weeks, leaving on a Sunday and returning on a Sunday. I was on the road for both my birthday and Easter Sunday this year.

I traveled through seven states - Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. I drove my Minnie 3870 miles, and spent $1270 on gas. The price of gasoline went up considerably this spring, especially the last couple of weeks of my trip. If this keeps up through the summer, I'll be doing a lot less driving and a lot more sitting.

I got quite a few more stamps in my National Park Passport, including Chiracahua, National Seashores and the Natchez Trace Parkway, to name a few. I have decided my new favorite place to visit in my Minnie is the NTP. I plan to go back and drive the entire length of it someday soon.

I had a little bit of trouble with my generator while I was gone where it would not put power to my rig nor charge my batteries. I got around it when camping without hookups by running the engine for a few hours to keep charged, but it was annoying not to be able to use my AC, microwave or toaster if I was not plugged into shore power. I texted with my brothers and also called Cummins to ask for suggestions, but without seeing it directly, no one was able to diagnose it. The day after I got home, right before I took it to the shop, one brother suggested again the breaker on the generator (which I thought I had tried, but in actuality I was flipping the wrong switch), but suddenly that fixed it! Oh, if only I had gotten that right 4 weeks earlier, I would have saved some frustration. At least, it was solved before I paid for a unnecessary service call.

Last year I made a list of likes and dislikes when RVing. This spring I didn't hit many dirt washboard roads, but I would like to add "Driving in Wind" to my list of dislikes. It's tiring fighting to keep in the lane when 20-30 mph gusts are blowing you across the road. But all in all, I had a great time, and 5-6 weeks is a perfect length trip for me. I was ready to come home, but not desperate. I hope to take another trip or two this summer, but haven't decided where I will go. Maybe I'll take some grandsons up to the Grand Canyon.