Steve and Judy's Travels!

Let’s add another number to the list.  We’ve got 4,219 miles to go to get to Fairbanks.  We haven’t started that trip yet, but it’s in our plans starting the second week in May.  I’ve got 56 hours of continuing professional education to go by the end of the year.  I’ll probably finish that early and make it look easy….  And we’ve recorded a few birds this year.  Our number remaining to get to 500 for the year is now down to 415.

But something else occurs to us.  There are 254 counties in Texas.  I’m thinking we should record at least one bird in each of them.  We’ve done that for a lot of counties in Texas already anyway:

Only 138 counties to go.  We’re almost half way there!

So our current totals are:  4,219, 415, 56, and 138!

What is the perfect size for an RV?

At rest, bigger is better.  It’s nice to have more room and amenities inside.

But could we improve on the design and get even more room?  Why not start with a double decker like this, and fit it out as a motorhome?

Think how much stuff we could stuff into a double decker.  That would be awesome.

Except maybe highway overpass clearances would be a deterrent.

For more space then, why not a reticulated bus?

Oh.  Wait.  I mean articulated.

That’s better; but too many articulations.

This one.

That’s better.

So there we have it.  Buy one of these articulated buses and fit it out as an RV.  Room for everything we can think of.  The perfect machine.  Unless of course you’d like to park it in an RV park some time.  Unless they have 100 foot long spaces, it wouldn’t fit.

Let’s start over.  What is the best possible motorhome that will fit in every campground?  A twenty-footer, maybe twenty-five.

They can go anywhere!  And they’re small enough to get around town; don’t need to pull a tow car.

So, we should design the coolest possible motorhome that doesn’t exceed twenty or twenty-five feet.  It can’t hold very much, but it can go anywhere!  National Forest Service campgrounds here we come!

But how do we get the best of both worlds, I wonder.  And thus my “aha” moment.  Create a small agile RV and combine it with the “articulated” concept.  Make the combined length 40 or 50 feet.  In our current motorhome, when we’re hooked up to tow, we’re 60 feet long and we can fit into lots of RV Parks without unhooking.  Make the front module a self-contained unit though, so when you’re through with highway driving and RV Parks, the back segment can be dropped, and the front part goes and fits anywhere!  You don’t have to haul a tow car either; just disconnect and use the front part to drive-about.

Like this, only with a pass-through while they’re connected like a passenger train or passenger bus.  Maybe the front part is shorter and the back part is longer.

Brillant!  If I do say so myself. (And even if I’m the only one saying it.)

It takes days to load up for a trip, but after six weeks in the bus, we pull in front of the house and in two hours, unload everything we need to be back inside the house.  The bus goes to its parking spot and we spend the rest of the day making sure everything we brought in is either in the laundry or put away.  We amaze ourselves.

2018 Arizona Trip Map

It’s good to be home.

There are so many USB chargers to carry now, and with this they just plug straight in to the wall outlet.

Less clutter.

Almost home.  Tonight we’re in Falfurrias.

2018 Arizona Trip Map

As 2018 year draws to a close; thinking ahead.

2019 is the year we finally make the Alaska trip.  I was a teenager when I realized I needed to go to Alaska, the great northern frontier.  Now it’s time.  I imagined doing it as a homesteader and having a dog sled team.  Maybe a bush pilot.  We can make it simpler than that!

We didn’t make a big birding effort in 2018.  Our normal annual count is around 400 species.  We’re finishing this year with 380.  Next year, however, with the Alaska trip, we’ve set our sights on 500 birds!  That will be our biggest year yet.

And this year I’m not going to forget about continuing education hours until the last minute.  No sir; fully cognizant.  No way I’m waiting until the last moment to finish my hours.

Still traveling; now we’re in Junction.

2018 Arizona Trip Map

Greeted by a bald eagle.

4,219 miles to go to get to Fairbanks.

500 species remaining to be seen for the year.

And 56 hours of continuing education to go.