Our Epic RV Journey

December 26, 2025December 26, 2025

Travel Day to Lisbon, Portugal – Day 1

This fall Pat and I planned a guided tour of the back roads of Portugal and Spain. The tour company (Overseas Adventure Travel – OAT) has been highly recommended by its prior customers. I did sound like an interesting tour traveling from Lisbon Portugal (southwest coast) to Madrid Spain in the center of Spain. The route was a southern one that included may small historical towns and the real gem was staying in old historic castles or monasteries. Of course they have been mostly updated!

December 8, 2025December 8, 2025

Merry Christmas Greetings

In this blog post, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends, plus this will be my annual what we did over the summer letter. Yes, I am back to writing a Christmas letter. In addition, we would like to think about the true meaning of this holiday. To begin with, let’s go back to the warm days of summer:

August 1, 2025August 1, 2025

Cedar Key Florida – Another Visit Post Hurricane

We certainly enjoy stopping off at Cedar Key (CK) on the way back home after our winter in Florida. I believe this is our 4th time to stop for a few days to enjoy the laid back gulf coastal life and some great seafood. CK has a fascinating history and many recoveries after devasting hurricane damage.

June 6, 2025June 6, 2025

A Snowbird Winter – part 3

We wrapped up another great winter season by early April and began the journey back up north. This part three of the winter recap will complete the summary of the major events and activities. We are very fortunate to spend the winter in a mostly warm location and without many of the usual homeowner’s chores! Plenty of spare time…

May 25, 2025May 25, 2025

A Snowbird Winter (pt2 of 3)

Pat and I really enjoy our winters in Florida. It is like 3-4 months in a tropical paradise with very few daily chores to do. Like being on vacation! Well, when you are in this mode for a few months it becomes time for something different. What to do when getting bored with paradise? Book a cruise, of course! Off we go for a 5-day cruise out of Tampa!

May 12, 2025May 12, 2025

Appalachian Trail – “Creek”

I had planned to continue writing about our winter in Florida, but have a new real time event that I wanted to share. I enjoy many of the local Virginia hiking opportunities either on the Appalachian Trail (AT) or any of the hundred other mountain wilderness trails. My idea of a good hike is three-four hours on the trail followed immediately by a good restaurant meal somewhere, then back home to shower and rest. We are blessed in this area to have a plethora of hikes available! This week, I joined an AT Through Hiker for a few hikes, including one that was very challenging!

April 19, 2025April 19, 2025

A Snowbird Winter (1 of 3)

Have you ever wondered what the heck these retired snowbirds do when they go to Florida for the winter? Well, in the next 2-3 posts I’ll try to capture some of the flavor of our relaxed but busy pace. These blogs will summarize our time in the south and bring this blog back up to date.

March 27, 2025April 19, 2025

Three Weeks in Virginia

In this post we have returned back to our home in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains from our fall trip to Europe. We have so many things planned in the next three weeks including a family get together at Christmas. This will be our first Christmas at our home in eight years. Since before I retired and we sold the prior house, bought an RV, and took to the road. Let’s see what we accomplished in three weeks!

February 14, 2025February 14, 2025

Cocoa Beach Florida – Arrival Back in USA

In this blog update, we arrive back to the US from our 11-day transatlantic cruise. The cruise port of Canaveral is next to the area that we have spent much time over the past 30 years. My parents bought a house here after retiring from Up North. It felt like we were really coming back home after being gone almost two months, even though we have one more travel segment to get back to our actual home in Virginia. That flight will be in a few days, but first we wanted to do a few things here…

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025

Transatlantic Cruise – What to Expect?

In this post, we continue with the two-month vacation as we are nearing the end. Previously, I covered the beginning of the cruise from Barcelona to Port Canaveral Florida and the one stop at Funchal. Now, we will ponder what exactly to expect on the remaining cruise as we leave land near Portugal and cross the Atlantic Ocean.