The Best Laid Plans

Stage One: Planning

Planning a five week trip from Illinois to Maine to Kentucky in a teardrop camper is a feat of logistics!   We used a calendar, a BIG calendar, a road atlas, an RV state park campground guide, at least one laptop, and at least 2 phones

We got the idea to get the teardrop camper at an RV show in January. We bought the Atlas on Valentine’s Day. We ordered the RV state park campsites book and picked up the teardrop (affectionately named Gigi) in April.

We started picking places to visit and booking campsites in June: Michigan, Ontario, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Kentucky.

Little by little pieces and parts fell into place. 

Stage Two: Shopping and Packing

Oh wait!   We needed a vehicle with more oomph to tow the teardrop.  The Jeep was traded for a small truck.  

I needed a better fitting bicycle!   An old Schwinn fit me perfectly and got a new front inner tube

My companion retired at the end of June.  Oh wait!  I had to retire too.  Mid August it was!   

Menu planning. Grocery shopping . Budgeting.  Food prep 

Laundry.  Clothes organized and packed. Food packed.

Fortunately we already had the teardrop outfitted with kitchen gear, etc.

An extra gas can for Just In Case!

In the midst of this one of us moved to a new home.  Oh boy.   A chiropractor appt

was squeezed in after that for the morning our trip began...whew!

Finally all ready to go!!

from left to right...Ernie and Bert (the bikes). Gigi (the teardrop), Smalls (the truck).

Stage Three: The First Leg

We drove to Holland State Park in Michigan for our first few nights.  Oh dear.  Postage stamp sized campsites. Signs everywhere saying:  No alcohol allowed.. (HaHaHa....Oops). We settle in, admittedly surprised at the campground, but ready to make the most of our first few days.

On our first full day in Michigan we got into the swing of being retired.  We took a leisurely bike ride, played some competitive backgammon (I'm being forced to say here that I lost 2 out of 3.)

Yes, here is the board just one move away from my agony of defeat in the rubber game.

We took an after dinner walk to the beach and watched a fabulous sunset, after which we shared ice cream from Dune Dogs cafe!

On our second full day of retirement living, we went to the Holland Farmers Market.  

The produce here is so artfully displayed and very colorful.

Tomorrow we will head out to visit some friends in East Lansing on our way to Point Pelee in Ontario, Canada.  Stay tuned for more adventures on the road with Got Bliss?