Lake Wales, FL – Nov 2022

My 2022 RV travels, as outlined in the map above, are now complete.  It’s great to be home.  Don’t get me wrong, the almost 7 month road trip was AMAZING!  I saw so many amazing sites, caught up with so many wonderful old friends, and just to be back on the road without masks and mandates and doing what I love was the absolute best.  This blog will be both a brief recap and retrospective of this year’s trip, along with a catch up of life here at the Home Base RV site in Lake Wales, FL.  So let’s dig in and get to it.

2022 Travel Recap

And what a trip it was.  Over the course of 204 days I visited a dozen states, with 28 stops.  As you can see at left, my before state stickers at top, and after state stickers at bottom, I added quite a few new additional “states visited” during this trip.  I neglected to check my mileage before I left, but my best estimate is that I travelled a total of 12,275 miles during this trip.  According to my records, I consumed 1,184 gallons of diesel fuel, with a total cost of $6,007.  With those numbers, I averaged just over 10 miles per gallon, and spent just a hair over $5.00 per gallon on average.  My campground fees this year were $10,146 for this travel adventure, coming in about a quarter below my $50/Day budget to a $49.74/Day actual.  I’m pleased with that.  I haven’t yet tallied all the numbers in all of the categories, nor have I updated the costs on the “Fun Facts” page.  I’ll get to that within the next month or so.  Lastly, I had over $10,000 in truck repairs during this trip, between hitting a deer, denting a wheel, and replacing a hydro-boost pump.  Thankfully about $7k was covered by insurance.  But still, that was a lot of repairs.  Hopefully I’m done with that for a while.

I also managed to add a few more stars to my National Park visits keeper.  My before picture is at right on top, and the after picture is at the bottom.  I added 5 national park visits this year including Roosevelt NP, Wind Cave NP, Badlands NP, Great Sand Dunes NP, and White Sands NP.  I don’t have an entry for the latter as when I got this keeper, White Sands was a monument and not a National Park.  So, I simply added a star sticker at the bottom right to indicate the extra visit.  As you can see, I’ve still got a long ways to go to complete visits to all National Parks.  I hope to check off quite a few more on next year’s run.

Back at Home Base

So I was definitely looking forward to getting home.  I was NOT however expecting to see this disaster of a yard upon my return.  Grass up approaching my knees, all the beautiful landscaping severely overrun by weeds, and my precious Live Oak tree looking like it got hit by a hurricane (which sadly it did).  So, soon after I got my RV backed into the site and all setup, I was standing outside just overall shocked at the condition of the yard, ready to strangle to guy I had hired (and prepaid) to be my lawn service.  I felt really bad for my neighbors who had to look at this mess day after day.  I was also surprise that I had not heard from the management office regarding the poor upkeep of my lot.  Anyway, as I was looking at the mess I was in, a husband and wife couple stopped over to chat.  I mentioned that my lawn service guy really let me down and was about to be fired, to which they replied that they did lawn service in the community. I hired them on the spot!  My other guy does not live in the community, while these folks do.  They are full time here, even in the summer, so they would certainly be a much be choice to keep up with the yard.

The very next day, David and his wife Denise arrived at around 11am, and started to get to work.  They mowed and bagged all the clippings, trimmed the trees and bushes, edged all around, and weeded everywhere.  They hauled away all the debris, and finished the job around 5pm.  What an amazing transformation they accomplished!  I was so amazed and grateful of their hard work that took them the better part of the day.  When it was all over, I asked what I owed them and they said that a normal mow and trim would be $15 once the site was in order, and that they asked for $25 given the state of things.  I practically yelled at them for grossly underestimating their value, and handed them $150 for their efforts – which in retrospect was probably still not enough.  But, I’ll certainly take good care of them going forward.  They have already returned once to mow and trim, and did a spectacular job, so once again I overpaid them for their services.  These folks are keepers!

Now that things were starting to look a bit better, it was my turn to get to work to take it to the next level.  I made two trips to Lowe’s and purchased 15 bags of mulch each time, along with some fabric weed guard.  I’ve still got the rest of the back section and a couple other spots to get done, which I estimate to be another 10 bags worth.  I’ll hopefully get that done this week.  With the mulching done, I was then able to get my yard items out of the shed and placed back out in the yard.  The bird bath, shepherds hooks with planter and bird feeder, along with the solar lighting was all put out.  To that, I added the new pieces that I acquired along my travels this year.  This included a wooden bear holding a Welcome sign that I purchased in Wyoming, a pair of metal cactus pieces I got in New Mexico, and lastly my wind driven metal Rooster I picked up in Texas.  What a great addition these have made to the landscape.  The rooster seems to be the biggest hit as I’ve had folks drive by commenting about how they like it.  The only issue happens to be its identity – as it has been called a Rooster, a Chicken, and a Hen by the community folks.  Oh well, doesn’t really matter what they call it as long as they like it.

I’ve continued making additional improvements to the lot.  I was looking to purchase a couple of nice comfortable chairs to put along the shady side of the RV for some afternoon reading and socializing.  I found on Marketplace what I thought was the perfect pair of chairs with pull out ottomans, that also came with a nice glass-top side table.  I made a slightly lower than asking price offer for them which was kindly accepted.  I made arrangements the next day to pick them up.  It was about an hour away, so I certainly was hoping that they were in as good a shape as the pictures indicated.  When I arrived and they opened their garage door, I was taken aback to see that they actually had 4 chairs and two tables.  That is not what I had thought from the Marketplace add.  I did not have the room for four chairs in their intended location, and I was assuming my offer was just for two of them.  So I told them I was just taking the two I had planned on, and they could sell the other two to someone else.  Just as I was finishing up loading the two into my truck, the husband comes out and says that they are selling the house and downsizing everything.  If I wanted the other two chairs and additional table, I could have them for no additional cost.  At that point I could not refuse, and figured I’d find something to do with all four of them. So, I took them all home and decided to use them in place of the plastic chairs I had around the fire pit.  This seating would be way more inviting and way more comfortable.  So, that’s what I did which you can see at right with the before and after pictures.  Now I’m on the hunt for one more set of these same chairs so that I can put them in the shade next to the RV as originally planned, but also can relocate them over to the fire pit for some additional seating as needed.  Sadly, they are out of stock everywhere.  But I’m on the list with the manufacturer to get a notice when they are back in stock.  This was certainly a nice upgrade!  As for the plastic chairs, I’m going to put them along side the road with a for sale sign to see if anyone else in the community can use them.

My brother Gerry came out for a weekend visit soon after I had arrived.  We actually planned this get together back in August when we were together in Albuquerque.  We both enjoy seeing shows at the local playhouse, so I looked at their schedule and we arranged to get together when I got back so that we could check out some restaurants and take in a show.  The first night we had dinner at a place called Cherry Pocket which is a steak and seafood place.  They are also apparently well known for their homemade cherry dressing.  So we were sure to order side salads with our entrees so that we could give it a taste.  It was actually quite good.  In fact, I’m going to get a bottle to share the next time all the brothers get together.  When we got back, I broke out the fire pit and got a nice roaring fire going.  It was a perfectly cool night – just right for a fire. The next day we went to the afternoon show of The Outsider which was hilariously funny and well acted, followed by a visit to yet another restaurant we’d not been to for some BBQ.  That too was really good.  So, it was a great weekend with some great company.  Thanks for the visit and we’ll see you again in Jan for the next show.

So I mentioned something about hurricanes earlier.  I like to plan my RV trips such that I leave before any hurricanes come, and only return after hurricane season is usually over.  It worked out mostly good this year as I was far away when hurricane Ian devastated many parts of Florida.  Fortunately, it had sufficiently lost much of its strength before coming through our community, which minimized any significant damage.  However, once I got back in Nov, one of my neighbors pointed out the damage my Live Oak tree had taken.   Though it has not toppled over, it has definitely pulled up some of the roots, and is heavily leaning.  Thankfully, it is leaning in a direction that if (when) it falls, it won’t do any damage to any structures – mine or my neighbors.  I’m hoping that it can continue to survive and perhaps reestablish some rooting strength on its weak side to allow it to stay standing.  Time will tell.  Then, a couple weeks after I’m back, we get the threat of a late season hurricane named Nicole (named after my niece).  I’m ok riding out thunder storms and such, but not hurricanes.  So, I put all my outdoor furniture back into the shed, closed up all the slides in the RV, and made refuge to stay with my brother David and sister-in-law Debbie (and their not so friendly dog Brodie).   I kept a close eye on things back at the RV using my security camera.  When I got back, the only thing I lost was a single banana plant.  However, I also think that the poor Live Oak tree might have leaned just a bit further from this storm as well.  There’s just no telling how much  longer it will last.  Thanks Dave and Deb for taking me in during this storm.

So the last thing I have to share is that Santa came a bit early this year.  While gas prices have come down since their peak over the summer, diesel prices have not been so fortunate.  Around here, a gallon of diesel is running around $5.30 per gallon.  Though I’ll not be towing while I’m here at the home base, the truck still does not get the best of mileage – making it somewhat expensive to use as a daily driver.  Also, I’m hampered with its excessive size when doing things like going to yard sales or chasing geocaches.  It’s just not easy to park, and at times leaves me with limited options.  Before I started full time RVing, I had a Prius C as my daily driver, and absolutely loved it.  The maintenance was very inexpensive, and with 50+ miles per gallon, was an extremely economical car to drive.  So even before I landed back in Florida I started looking for a gently used, recent vintage full size Prius that I could purchase and use to buzz around while I’m here in FL.  I found one at CarMax, and after negotiating and completing the purchase totally online, the car was delivered directly to me here at the home base.  While the process was not without its challenges, the end result was excellent.  I got myself a nice economical car once again.  In fact, I was shocked the first time I had to fill up the gas tank.  I have been accustomed to spending $250+ to fill up the truck, so spending just over $27 to fill up the Prius was a most noteworthy and welcomed event.  And, I have just enough room on my driveway to hold both the truck and Prius. Just perfect!  When I leave in the spring for my next adventure, I’ll simply cover the car and leave it parked here in the lot while I’m gone, and it will be there ready for me when I return.  What a perfect arrangement!

Final Thoughts

Again, it’s great to be home.  It gives me time to relax, catch up on some needed truck and RV maintenance, and spend time with family and friends in the area.  I’ve got some projects to work on over the winter including updating the community historical video, creating videos and music for the upcoming 50th anniversary show, getting on the schedule for some Citizen on Patrol (CAP) sessions, and most importantly, laying out the plan for next years RV adventure.  More on that in future blogs.  Also, now that I’m back stationary, I’ll resume to keeping a monthly schedule with these blog posts, hopefully with something interesting to share that happened during the month.  So, until next month, be well and safe travels.

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!