Welcome to our RV Travel Blog

Taken in Pikeville, Tennessee

Lee Ann, Tucker and I welcome you to our new 2014 RV Travel Blog. To keep all our friends and family posted on our where-abouts and activities during our 7 month RV trip, we decided to create this RV Travel Blog. We'll also be setting up a twitter account that will notify our followers of new updates to this blog as well as allow us to make quick on-the-road twitter posts with pictures and videos. Stay tuned on that.

Current Location: 3/11/2014 - Picayune, MS

How'd we get here? To bring everyone up-to-date, here's a brief timeline.

Little History: 2003-2008 as RV full-timers in our 40' 5th Wheel, we were workamping at various RV Parks throughout the Carolinas, Florida and New Mexico. In April, 2008, we pulled off the road in Englewood, FL to establish our home base, which involved selling our 5th Wheel and remodeling an old house for the next 6 years. Why 6 years? We financed the remodel, which turned out to be a very extensive, out of our own pockets which are not very deep. I could do another whole blog on that but will spare you the details.

Englewood, FL - April 2013 - Although, we love our newly remodeled home and especially our friends and neighbors in Englewood, we began to get the urge to go RVing again, so in April 2013, we purchased a used 2006 30' Safari Simba Motorcoach and a new 2013 Jeep Wrangler to tow behind it. I was really looking for a larger coach (34 - 36') but when we found this one at Camping World in Bartow, FL, Lee Ann said, "smaller is better" for our budget so we went for it. We've had to get used to the smaller footprint compared to our big 40' 5th Wheel, but getting the hang of it. 

Our 2006 30' Safari Simba Class A Motorcoach and 2013 Jeep Wrangler

Checkout Trips - August & November 2013 - We did a couple of short trips in Florida to checkout the coach. One to Matlacha, FL (Small artist/fishing village enroute to Pine Island which is south of Englewood) and one to Crystal River, FL over the Thanksgiving Holiday with our good friends, Tom and Barb Calderon. Both trips were without towing the Jeep.

1st Checkout Trip was Sugar Sand Beach RV Resort in Matlacha, FL

2014 RV Trip Planning - After 6 hot summers of house remodeling and weekly lawn mowing in Florida, we planned for a 7 month journey starting in March and ending back in Englewood on October 1st, 2014. Why March, you say? Our long time friends, Ray & Ruby Hoffer, from Picayune, MS invited us to attend a couple of RV Rallies with them, one on March 12th and another starting tomorrow, March 19th.

Trip Preparation - There was a lot to do before our departure on Sunday, March 9th. Here's the short list:stucco the outside of our house, install window trim and new hurricane shutter layout configurations, primed and painted the house yellow, reorganized our cargo trailer for more storage space, electrical repairs to coach, purchased and installed our tow-bar, brake buddy and accessories, installed of our own towing base-plate on the jeep, installed and wired up dedicated taillights on the Jeep, did tow checkout ride 2 days before departure, moved our personal items including a lot of tools and everyday living items aboard the RV, prepared the house for our absence including installing the hurricane shutters.

A couple of days, before our departure, my good friend and next door neighbor in Florida, Jim Brown, help me with the tow baseplate installation on the Jeep. 2 hours turned into 6 somehow. After completing the dedicated taillight installation and wiring and installing the portable Brake Buddy, I did the test tow around Englewood. All checked out fine. No wiring issues.

Late departure - We planned to leave by 10 AM on Sunday the 9th with an ETA before dark in Tallahassee but with all the last minute prep, didn't actually leave Englewood until nearly 5:00 PM.

See next post for 1st travel day info.

Sorry for the long post but necessary to set the stage for the following posts.