Time period: Oct 7, 2010 – March 30, 2011
Miles traveled by RV: 3140
Miles traveled in total: 4405
While parked in San Francisco hanging out with friends post Burning Man, we were trying to figure out what was next for us. After a very hectic summer of a lot of physical and emotional movement with places to be, our schedule was suddenly open. And that’s when magic happen. On the evening of September 22, the opportunity to sublet in St. John was plopped in our inbox. Within a couple hours, we were pretty certain we were hopping on it, and within 48 hours it was a signed deal.
The next logistic was figuring out how to get there. We contemplated RV storage in California and just flying the whole way. But with never traveling by plane with Kiki before, a work trip that needed to be fit in and desiring some quality time with friends and family before we left the mainland for a few months – we decided to suck it up and do a mad dash across the country to Florida. While our lease technically started on October 1, we factored in not being able to utilize the first month into our decision. We booked flights for November 7, and gave ourselves a couple weeks to get to Florida and start the packing up process.
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Our first stop was in Lake Havasu City to catch up with our friends there, as we totally missed getting quality time with them at Burning Man. They hosted a small party for us to celebrate our upcoming adventure, and there was threats of people trying to dress up like Kiki to earn her spot on the plane to St. John.
New Mexico
Some friends of ours where on a short road trip visiting their family cottage in northern New Mexico, and invited us to stop in a for bit to share the experience. It was a perfect get-away mid country to escape and spend quality time. I also had a good bit of work that I was able to facilitate during the stop.
Gonzales, Texas
It was a given that we route through Gonzales to visit the good folks at Hillshade RV Park for a few days – where the NuRVers Rally was hosted earlier this year. It was excellent to catch up, despite everyone (including us) being in seemingly chaos mode. We also got up to Austin to spend a day with my brother sailing on the lakes, and got to meet up with Carmon of NuNomad.com.
Orlando
After two lengthier stops (and craving both being still, and having the mad dash over), we pulled long driving hours and made it into Florida as quickly as we could. There was much to be done to prepare for leaving our house on wheels behind and getting to the island, including:
– Business meetings with my staff (who are located in central Florida) to kick off some projects
– A business trip up to South Carolina to teach a class
– Going through everything we owned and deciding what got packed, and what stays behind
– Quality time with my parents and friends in the area
– Getting Kiki’s health certificate so she could fly
– Thoroughly cleaning the Oliver and preparing it to be still and unused for several months
And we did it all without too much stress, and me having a dreadfully draining cold/flu the entire time.
We picked up a rental car in Orlando, loaded our stuff in it and drove to Miami to catch our flight. Finally landed in St. Thomas after a couple aborted landing attempts, caught a shuttle, then a ferry and then picked up our rental Jeep.. and finally we landed at our winter home in St. John.
Where we have a lease through the end of March – and absolutely no clue what is next for us after that.
I’m new to your blog and love following your adventures! I hope you got to hang out in Taos (where I live when I’m not on the road) when you were in Northern NM. It’s the best small town around.