2012 Came in Just as Planned

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

 

Yes, 2012 came in just as planned leaving only the memories of 2011 behind. In the past I’ve recapped the year as my final entry for that year.  However, this has been a busy year and I have no intention of doing that.  It would absolutely take too long but there were also a few main events which I will mention.  Writing a blog helps me keep track of what we did and where we went and even who we were with.  It’s like a diary.  Well, it’s not really like a diary because in a diary we can really express how we feel about people and things.  On a blog we can’t do that because other people read it.

By this time I’ve usually also broken off the yearly blog and moved it to another site only to start a new, fresh blog.  I haven’t don’t that either.  I will but I just haven’t yet.

Two of the biggest annual expenses for us tend to be fuel and overnight parking fees.  This is always a good time to look back at those expenses and gasp.   It’s also a good time to figure what dues or memberships we pay are really worth it.  And, this we did.  Every year seems to vary some and that’s okay.  It’s the big changes in where we want to be that we like to reassess. 

It’s always fun also to look at our list of places we have stayed and try to pick out the absolute favorite ….. other than family’s or friend’s places.  The year before our absolute favorite place to be was San Diego.  The park wasn’t spectacular because there were no hookups.  It was the location that was the best ever --- right on the beach at Coronado Island.  This year we had nothing to compare with.  We stayed at some great places but not places we would make a mad dash to return to and nothing compared to the San Diego location of the year before.

Coronado Island .... San Diego

As an example, we are members of the Elks and pay dues each year.  The Elks is a great organization with numerous RV parks all across the country.  The overnight “donation” at these parks vary from one lodge to another but they are usually very reasonable and much less than other parks in the same area.  We stayed a total of 54 nights in 2011 at the Elks.  It is well worth renewing for us.

We are also members of Thousand Trails.  With that membership comes affiliation memberships at RPI and ROD parks.  We counted the overnight stays at these locations as a group because without the TTN membership we wouldn’t be able to stay at the other parks.  At 91 nights that’s another membership that we are definitely happy with.  

Then, there were the public parks we actually paid the going rate to stay whether it was for a night or two or even a month.  This number was much higher this year than ever before but that was because we booked the month of November at one park and the month of December at another so that we could travel over the holidays.  We don’t pay annual dues so the 68 nights we paid for in public parks has nothing to do with cutting out memberships.

We didn’t stay at a lot at casinos or state and county parks.  We did park a lot in driveways of family and friends.  Our boondocking was even lower than the year before at only 18 nights.  We didn’t stay at any Passport America Parks, KOAs or even SKP parks.  We did stay at a few FAMCamps but not as many as the year before.

I wonder what the stats will look like when we bring in 2013.  I’m sure there will be changes.  The ATVs have already brought a few changes to where we want to go and where they are allowed.  However, I’ve also discovered the places I like the best always seem to be around water.

 

There were a several events that took place in 2011 that I’m sure we won’t forget.  One was the accident.  Remember the Class C that crunched the rear end of our vehicle when we were stopped at a red light in Las Vegas? 

Then, there was Justin’s graduation.  Actually, he had two of them but the real biggie was his graduation from Navy Boot Camp in October.  

Lee was off work after surgery and hoping he would have a job to go back to.  Tammi and her family moved from New Jersey to Washington State.   After the move Tammi discovered the job she had transferred to was being cut.  Robert didn’t have a job because he gave up his job to move. However, things did turn out good.   Robert got a job, Tammi ended up taking a lateral move keeping the same pay and being promoted again when the current district manager transferred elsewhere. Lee’s boss actually held his job longer than the family leave allowed for!  The only stable one in the bunch was Sabrina.  There was a lot of stress for a while.

Happy New Year --  Here’s to a healthy and prosperous one for all!

‘Tis life on the road.