Background information for 2018

After returning from Alaska we decided that our next motorhome trip should be out west to include the states of Nevada, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Washington. As far as the states west of the Mississippi, our motorhome travels have taken us to Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Kansas. Although we have been in Nevada and Idaho the RV rule is that you can only count states you have actually camped in. About a year ago we started planning this trip and settled on the departure date of May 3, 2018. That allows enough travel time to reach Salt Lake City by May 8^th where our sightseeing activities will begin. The trip is planned to take us thru Rio, Nevada and on into California making our way down to Yosemite and Sequoia and then back up to San Francisco. From the San Francisco area we will work our way up the California coast on Highway 101 and continue on to the Oregon coast.  Just north of Coos Bay we will make a turn back inland crossing over to Crater Lake and up the eastern side of the mountain range. After exploring that side of the mountains we will head to Portland where we have friends who were on the Alaska trip with us. After Portland it’s up to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. While there we will make a day trip via ferry to Victoria Island, Canada.  After the Olympic Peninsula we will visit the area north of Seattle, possibly making a car visit to Vancouver, Canada. Then it’s back down to the South Seattle area where we will spend the 4^th of July week. The 4^th of July is always a problem week for reservations and we know to plan far ahead for that. We had a nice campground picked out but even calling six months in advance were not able to get a reservation. We called a number of locations and had to settle on a campground south of Seattle. After Seattle it is on to Idaho and then to Yellowstone. We have been to Yellowstone but Pam would like to re-visit the park. After Yellowstone we are on our way to Gillette Wyoming for the FMCA International Rally and finally a re-visit of Rapid City, South Dakota.

 As many of you know we spend a few weeks in Florida each winter after January 1^st. The Florida trips usually include at least one motorhome related rally. This year we had planned to leave home February 10^th for a rally at Lazydays in Tampa and after the rally change locations to 1000 Trails in Orlando. Next we would move up to Wildwood where my sister Connie and her husband Skip live. After visiting with them we would attend a rally in Moultrie Georgia and then head home. That was the plan but after we moved over to Orlando Pam made a request that shocked me. She did not want to return home for the six week period before starting the trip out west and instead remain in Florida leaving from there. And that is what we did. We intended to head north thru Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri to Nebraska and then head west on I-80 to Salt Lake City. A few days before the start of the trip we started looking at the weather forecast and decided to take a southern route via I-10. We left the Orlando area on April 24^th and made our way west with three nightly stops before reaching San Antonio on Friday April 27. We spent three nights in San Antonio and left there on April 30^th.