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Enjoyed your post very much! Hubby and I have struggled with whether we go full time or keep our home in Jacksonville, FL and just travel spring thru fall. We are lucky that our home is paid for here. Still, there are the costs of property taxes, home insurance, lawn maintenance (while we're gone), electric (greatly reduced while on the road) and sewer (we have well water). All in all about $8200 a year, or $683 a month. We too believe that one day we will have to land somewhere and we don't want to impose on children. We are not quite Medicare age yet so the thing that may keep us grounded for a while will depend on the cost of our medical insurance until then. Even though we have coverage via our previous employer, they are putting more and more of it on our backs lately. Also, unless the realty market changes quite a bit, we wouldn't get the full worth of our home. So, for now we are staying somewhat grounded. Will re-evaluate in a few years. Thanks, Wanda Gardner 2004 SeaBreeze 8321LX

Thank you so much for your response. You truly have inspired me to be brave! I found the highway you soke of alongside the St Lawrence Seaway and it has definitely been added to our plans...sounds beautiful! It is regrettable about the bridge over Lake Champlain but we are still plannning on going up that way regardless. I found on the web road advisory sites for VT and NY that will help a lot. Burlington, Ben & Jerry's and the white mountains of NH will now stay on our list. I am definitely buying that Truckers Atlas!

Hi 2driftrs! Thanks for the welcome! You are the second couple that has told me about the Motor Carriers Atlas. There is a Flying J about 20 minutes from our home that I will be visiting tomorrow to purchase one. About $50?? but less than body work repairs! We are so looking forward to The Catskills and the Adirondacks. We live in Jacksonville, FL. Yeah, interstates are great for getting from point A to point B but we love the back roads and small towns. We are thinking of finding a campground central to all the places we want to see and unhooking the jeep and taking off! If you don't mind, I'd like to pick your brains about a couple of highways we're interested in? There is a highway 4 that goes across from around the Quechee gorge in VT over to Rutland VT then on to Glen Falls, NY; Also a route 7, 22A that goes down from Burlington, VT to Fair Haven, VT; and lastly a highway 3 that runs through the upper half of the Adirondacks and comes out around I81 at Waterton on Lake Ontario. Have you driven any of these? Are there any particular scenic drives up around that area that you love. Any camping spots you always go back to? As far as GPS devices, we have two. I hook the Tom Tom up for hubby when we're doing the interstate A to B drives just to keep him in the proper lanes for turns...I can nap that way ( ). When riding around in the jeep, my laptop is with us and Microsoft Trips and Streets is loaded...with that I can zoom out to explore other possibilities in the area. Still, I take paper maps with us for back-ups....puppy dog dripped water in my last laptop. Did I mention we had a Lance Truck Camper for 5 years prior to our trade-up? I guess I'm only worried about making sure with our larger motorhome that the routes from campground to campground are planned a little in advance and unexpected issues are minimized...if not, we too will become experienced at unloading and turning around! Oh...and we will never drive the motorhome at night unless absolutely necessary. Nope...don't want to hit Mr. Bull Moose...or Mrs for that matter. Sorry for all the questions. Any information will be appreciated! Wanda & Nick Gardner 2004 SeaBreeze 8321LX

Thanks for the route info Gary! I'm glad we joined FMCA. We've met a lot of nice folks here already! We live in Jacksonville and are headed to Acadia as well. Can't wait to see Maine. On the way up we must stop by Springfield, VA. for a while or our family members will be really mad at us. We'll be staying at Pohick Bay Campground while visting the family since it's only 7 miles from their home. Have you ever stayed there? We are booking it up to Acadia after VA. so we are taking mostly interstates. The only request from hubby was for me not to take him on the Jersey Turnpike or through DC, Philly, Baltimore or NY city...one more request...he wants to visit Cabelas in PA. So from Pohick Bay, we too are takin 15 via Gettysburg to I81 to I78 just like you are doing on your way home. It's all interstate on the way up until we get to Bangor, ME where we get off to head to Acadia. We are staying in ME. for 4 weeks beginning 6/25. Staying at Balsam Cove Campground between Bangor and Acadia then heading to just below Portland to stay at the Saco KOA. After Maine we want to slow it down and do some back roads. We wanted to head to the White Mountains area around Conway, NH, then head over to Burlington, VT then down to Rutland, VT, then over to the Adirondacks and then Niagara Falls. It's an industrious trip for our first long run. If not too tired after that we might just keep going! who knows! When will you be in the Acadia area and where will you be staying? If you see a metalic chartreuse green jeep wrangler driving down the road it could be us so wave! Wanda Gardner 2004 National SeeBreeze 8321LX 2007 Jeep Wrangler

We are planning our first long trip out in our new/used 34' class A with a Jeep Wrangler in tow. It's a little scary. Hubby is pretty comfy driving but I'm the navigator....yikes!! Anybody ever traveled between NH, VT and upstate NY without having jumped up and down between interstates. I've got the low clearance places under control...it's the unknown roads that scare me. Anybody ever traveled that area have any suggestions?? All comments appreciated. Wanda Gardner 04 Seabreeze 8321LX