Tag: Road trip

A Year On The Road in The Independent – Pt 12 (The Finale)

Arriving at Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort, the 84th and final
stop on our great Year On The Road RV adventure

All good things come to an end, as Chaucer once wrote, and, for us, it was arriving at Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort on the 52nd and final week of our grand A Year On The Road adventure across the US (and back) by RV. It was the culmination of a 12-month odyssey to discover more about the country, and expand our travel-writing horizons beyond merely Florida. It was successful in that aim in every aspect, and it was exhilarating to finally be back in our home town, and enjoying the inimitable Disney hospitality (especially at this rural and laid-back resort that most Disney guests never see).

Our campsite set-up in Fort Wilderness, in truly idyllic rural surroundings

We had started our final month in Biloxi, Mississippi, and traveled east and south via Gulf Shores and Mobile in Alabama, and then Navarre and Tallahassee in Florida’s “Panhandle,” the extreme north-west of the state, which is full of fabulous beaches and eye-catching coastline. The final 270-mile drive south from Tallahassee took us back into familiar territory once again, and the iconic signage that lets visitors know exactly where they are…

Gateway to “The most magical place on Earth,” Walt Disney World Resort, Florida

Having set out from home on May 14, 2023, we walked back through our front door again on the exact same day a year later, having traveled more than 35,000 miles in our combination of Winnebago Sightseer and Ford Fiesta (our trusty tow car), a journey involving 23 states, 16 National Parks and a lifetime of memories. In many ways, we’re still processing where we went and what we saw (it was a LOT), and we still have the appetite for more, albeit it won’t be for a while! The full trip gave us more food for thought than the previous 10 years combined, while also serving to underline the benefits of home and the myriad of places that are right on our doorstep.

It would probably amaze most Magic Kingdom visitors to know that this is the vista little more than a metaphorical stone’s throw from the theme park!

Of course, having completed the journey meant we were duty-bound to conclude our exclusive journal series for the travel pages of The Independent newspaper, a roughly 17,000-word diary of road-going exploits across the most remarkable country in the world. It was a real pleasure being able to highlight the month-by-month narrative of our RV exploits, especially the awe-inspiring scenic nature of most of it, and we hope people enjoyed riding along with us, and are also inspired to try some of it for themselves, especially by RV. This truly is The Big Country, and there is so much more to see apart from the obvious. For now, it is time to relax and reflect – but we WILL be traveling again in future! To read the final part of our Independent series, see this link: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/road-trip-usa-mississippi-alabama-disney-b2688413.html

Our spacious and blissful campsite at Fort Wilderness, surrounded by nature

If you would like to go back and enjoy the previous 11 instalments of our epic trip for The Independent, check out these links:

Month 1, Florida to Minnesota: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/american-road-trip-usa-florida-minnesota-b2369256.html

Month 2, Minnesota to Montana: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/american-road-trip-usa-minnesota-montana-rv-b2398864.html

Month 3: Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/american-road-trip-usa-yellowstone-glacier-national-parks-b2415050.html

Month 4: Montana and Wyoming: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/american-road-trip-usa-montana-wyoming-b2438975.html

Month 5 Idaho and Utah: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/american-road-trip-usa-idaho-utah-b2467275.html

Month 6: Nevada and Southern California: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/great-american-road-trip-nevada-southern-california-b2503940.html

Month 7, Arizona: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/great-american-road-trip-arizona-b2533875.html

Month 8, Arizona to New Mexico: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/american-road-trip-arizona-new-mexico-b2598440.html

Month 9, New Mexico to Texas: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/road-trip-usa-texas-new-mexico-b2622047.html

Month 10, Texas to Louisiana: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/road-trip-usa-texas-louisiana-b2638398.html

Month 11, Louisiana to Mississippi: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-america/usa/road-trip-usa-louisiana-mississippi-b2669174.html

RIP Ruthie, our faithful canine traveling companion

A Year On The Road – The Final Maps

Back in Orlando again, it’s time to tot up the final mileage and trace our entire route (in 2 maps) around the US. We reached West Glacier, Montana, at our furthest distance from Orlando at almost 2,700 miles away, albeit we reached there via a distinctly circuitous route that involved fully 12 states!

The first 7 months saw us take in by far the biggest ‘chunk’ of our year-long route, including side-trips into Colorado and Southern California by car, as well as parts of Northern Arizona and New Mexico

The “return journey” from there was also far from a straight line, taking in another 10 states before completing what was essentially a giant circle of the Midwest, the North, South West and Southern states. For much of the last 5 months we were close to the Gulf of Mexico before coming back into Florida via Pensacola and the Panhandle area, where we were definitely able to relax a bit (albeit keeping more than one eye on staying out of the way of some seriously stormy weather).

The final five months took us from the heart of New Mexico down to the far south-western corner of Texas, then right around the Gulf of Mexico via Galveston, New Orleans, Biloxi and Gulf Shores

So, with no further ado and a bit of a fanfare – “Ta RA!!!!!” – our final mileage comes to, wait for it…35,186 miles since we left home on May 14, 2023. In our RV, Fati, we traveled a total distance of 9,846 miles, while in our trusty little Ford Fiesta, Nippy, we added a whopping additional 25,840.

Somehow, we’re all still in one piece, albeit Fati has been in for several repairs and 2 full services, while Nippy is heading for a fourth service today and has needed new tires, windshield wipers and two air filters (!). Needless to say, we are immensely proud of our Ford-engined Winnebago RV, as well as our little Fiesta, and they both now deserve a good rest.

Finally back in Florida, we spent a quiet week in a beautiful little RV campground in Milton in the Panhandle before turning south for the last leg of the year-long trip

Will we have more travels to report anytime soon? The debate is now on at Chez Veness! We DO have a fair bit of work to catch up on first, but there is already talk of an East Coast RV tour, as well as a possible trip out West to the areas we missed this time, namely Washington, Oregon and Northern California, as well as more of Colorado.

So, stay tuned for further travel bulletins, and, if you have liked and enjoyed our blogs, please leave us a comment and be sure to check out our YouTube channel for a series of snapshot videos of the trip on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP5dY0TcznDGkOY8BQUkpQg

Bye for now…!

And we’re off and running…!

How we ended up in a field on a pecan farm in Georgia.

One day down, another 364 to go….

So, after a frantic day’s packing on Saturday, we left nice and early on Sunday at, er, 11:30am. Well, we had a few more tire issues, and, by the time we had everything sorted out (and Simon stopped swearing), it was about an hour and a half later than planned.

We don’t have specific daily targets for the first 5 days, as the object is just to get up to Michigan by next weekend for Susan’s mom’s memorial at their Okemos home. Our dear Kathy Prelesnik died in April 2020, and we hadn’t managed to get back there for a whole heap of reasons until summer 2022, and then Susan’s step-dad Gene took a major turn for the worse and he passed away last September.

In truth that was the final catalyst for our Big Trip, a kind of “it’s-now-or-never” moment. Anyway, that’s the background, and we are ‘winging it’ to start with, just heading north and seeing where we end up at the end of the day.

Today, that was Georgia, with Valdosta soon left in our rear-view mirror, and then Tifton, where we turned left aiming for Alabama. As a member of the Harvest Hosts system – where various businesses offer overnight stays to RVers – we started checking for any opportunities in this part of the state, and lo! and beold, we found ourselves in an open field, all on our own in a pecan farm.

It makes for a great start to our Year On The Road, and we can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

And here are the happy crew (all together now, “Me and you and a dog named Boo…..”)