Epilogue
First, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has followed our journey. Whether you’ve read and commented on our posts, kept us in your prayers, or supported us emotionally and financially -- we are deeply grateful for you.
If you couldn't tell from our posts, we hope you know that we have thoroughly enjoyed this amazing road trip. To say it like a five-year-old, "It was fun!"
A Remarkable Journey
There were so many things about this adventure that are so hard to put down in words. Every quaint small town we passed through (we stayed off the interstates as much as we could), every town mural, every clock tower, every church steeple, every blooming flower, every beautiful lake, every beach we walked on, every mountain, every American flag, every waterfall, every lighthouse, every unusual rock, every campground ... well, everything we experienced on the road was thoroughly enjoyed, very much appreciated, and refreshing to our souls.
THIS is why we sold everything, reduced our belongings to a bare minimum, and completely changed our lifestyle ... so we can experience the beauty of our country at our leisure!
Pre-Journey Questions
Since we were newbies to RV living, we had all kinds of uncertainties while planning our first major road trip ...
2. How well can we adjust to setting up and tearing down at each campsite?
3. Will the process of attaching and detaching our toad be too physically challenging for us?
4. Can we adapt to being away from our family for a few months?
5. Will we be able to find affordable AND available campgrounds during our travels?
6. Will we be able to adjust to such small living quarters?
These are just a few of the initial concerns that we had; however, we knew that part of our adventure would be discovering those answers along the way.
Answers Discovered
2. Very well!
3. No.
4. Yes, because of phone calls and FaceTime!
5. Yes!
6. Yes!
Rating Our Adventure
We both agree our ten-week road trip was a total success! We’d rate it a 9 out of 10. Sure, there’s always room to grow, and we definitely have a few minor regrets about things we didn't get to do, but we couldn't be happier with how the whole adventure turned out.
Endurance
Thankfully, we had no major issues with the RV, the car, and our health -- all four of us endured the miles quite efficiently! We did have one minor issue with our tow bar while trying to leave from Montgomery, Alabama, which wasn't a big deal. We were only going three hours down I-65 to Theodore, so we didn't get to ride together for that part of the journey. David was able to fix the tow bar before leaving from Alabama to home base.
As we’ve shared in previous posts, we hit a few expected speed bumps along the way. Looking back, those early missteps just gave us a good laugh -- and a few great lessons learned!
Almost Over
When we were within 30 miles of returning to our home base, we reminisced about the highlights of the past 2.5 months. While we were amazed by everything we got to experience, and were looking forward to seeing our Abbeville family, we looked at each other and stated in unison, “I CAN'T WAIT TO GO ON ANOTHER TRIP!”
This maiden voyage provided us with ...
- lots of laughs...
- plenty of opportunities to be our goofy selves...
- time to relax...
- quite a few campfires...
- chances to go thrifting...
- too many A&W Root Beer floats...
- being on a webcam so our family could see us...
- some very chilly mornings and evenings...
- opportunities to test our physical abilities...
- a lot of hand-holding to keep the weaker one from falling...
- plenty of moments that took our breath away...
- a whole lot of new experiences... and
- a ton of photos!
The only thing that could have made it better ... a lot more money! 😊
The Ending of a Wonderful Journey
We started on the road without knowing how long we would be gone. We had no set date to end our adventure except that we wanted to be back to our hometown by mid-October.
We can relate somewhat to how Forrest Gump felt when he started running. When he left his front porch, he had no agenda. He started off by just running to the end of the road, then to the end of town, then across the county, and eventually across the state of Alabama. While he was at it, he decided he might as well run across the country. Well, you know the story: he ended up covering way more territory than he ever anticipated ... he just kept running!
We left Abbeville with our sights set on visiting Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan -- three states we'd never been to together. Still, we had no set itinerary when we hit the road -- other than starting at the northern tip of Louisiana before heading east into northeast Mississippi.
Once we got these ten wheels a-rolling, we ended up adding three more unvisited states to the journey -- Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. Our ten weeks and two days of traveling took us through eighteen states, and we even went to Canada ... we just kept driving!
We camped in thirteen states at 20 different campgrounds ...
-- two were in different areas of Minnesota (southern and northern), and
-- four were in different areas in Michigan (two in the UP and two in the LP).
We traveled approximately 4,200 miles in the RV and approximately 3,000 miles in the car. Our seventy-one-year-old selves are quite proud of our traveling endurance!
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| The rear camera view of our toad. Our little Ford Fiesta did a great job of keeping up with us! |
Back to the Familiar
While we had a great time experiencing new things, we are happy to be back with the familiar. Familiar faces ... family ... friends ... all of which are also needed for refreshing our souls. We do not take for granted what we have been blessed with. We will spend as much time as we can making memories here, as well as with our family in Alabama and Texas, before we get back on the road again.
Where Are We Now?
Fittingly, the Aging Cajuns are currently parked at Cajun Acres RV Campground! We’re so grateful to some wonderful friends who gifted us a free week here. It’s a quiet, cozy spot just a few miles from our family. We plan to keep our wheels parked here through the end of the year, though we already have a few fun ideas for quick trips while we wait for our next big adventure.
Future Plans
We have nine states in the West to conquer, but they are too big to explore in one trip because it would mean a much longer time away and a much bigger budget. Our plans are to explore New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.
We will be more strategic in our planning for our next road trip. This time, we will have to plan around a different climate, terrain, and camping opportunities than we experienced going up north.
Stay Tuned
We’ll keep you updated on our adventures whenever we can. Thank you so much for following along with us! If you have any recommendations for the four states on our itinerary next year, we’d love to hear them.
Romans 8:14
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