TinCanTour wrap up stats, lessons learned and best practices

As a winter nor'easter threatens to clobber us here in our hotel room in CT, we reflect sadly on our TinCanTour coming to an end!  We're both back to work but every night we go back to our blog and journal to see what we were doing a year ago.  Our 1st day a year ago we were wondering if we did the right thing - here's an excerpt from day 1 of our journal Oct 11, 2010:

"We went from NH to MA to CT to NY and eventually found our way to northern NJ.  We found some place online in Montage, NJ.  By the time we got there it was about 5:45pm.  It was getting dark early as it looked like a storm was moving in.  Pulling into the place I had to take a 300 degree turn up hill - managed to drag the bike rack across the street.  Fortnately, no damage!  We pulled into this place called Cedar Ridge Camp ground.  Aside from the tricky entrance, and the 90 degree turn carved into rocks just barely wide enough for our rig to get through, this place was a scary!  It seemed like a graveyard for old trailers (and many of them at that).  No one in sight.  We pulled up to the "office" where a 75 year old man who seemed to be under the influence led me into the office.  After settling up, we followed him in his golf cart to our site.  It was pretty much a field with a few trees and more deserted trailers.  As we were trying to get the trailer situated, we began to hear to rumblings of thunder getting closer.  So we scrambled to get the trailer stabilized, water hooked up and then . . . oh crap, the electric.  Turns out we needed an adapter to make it work at this place.  By now, the rain was starting and the lightning was cracking all around us.  So we decided to rough it for the night.  We went inside without even opening the slide outs (weren’t sure we could even open them as we may have parked too close to a tree).   It was cocktail time, cheese & crackers and a little dice farkle game.  We hit the sack early but kept 1 eye open all night waiting for the man with the knife to come through the door."

At the time we wondered if we had done the right thing.  Looking back now, we laugh!  Our 1st night out was by far the worst.  Every day there after turned out to be a new adventure.  This was truly a trip of a lifetime!  So we want to share some other interesting stats, lessons learned and best practices so you can be that much smarter about your trip.

Favorite places -  The Florida panhandle has some beautiful white sand beaches and awesome biking trails.  This was our favorite "beach" spot down south.  Next, starting in SD at Custer State Park and Mt. Rushmore and working our way up through ND to the Badlands National Park was fun with lots of interesting landscapes.  Then we jump over to East Glacier NP in Montana where the animal sightings were just incredible.  The trip from Banff National Park in Canada all the way to Alaska and back was beautiful at every turn.  Alaska was amazing with the glaciers and bears all around.  Wyoming's Grand Teton NP along with Yellowstone NP is probably our favorite area of the US.  Glacier East, Alberta, British Columbia and Alaska all a close 2nd place.

Total Miles driven:  36,751

Total cost of gas: $12,955

# days traveled:  308

Highest price paid for gas  $7.80 in BC, Canada

# Provinces visited in Canada: 3 (AB, BC, YT)

# States visited in US: 39 (which put us at 49 of 50 states we've now visited - still working on a route to drive the trailer to Hawaii)

# National Parks visited: 14 (but this doesn't include all the National monuments, memorials, historic sites, etc. that we also visited)

# Pictures taken:  10,233 (Tuesday night is picture night if you want to see them all)

Different animals seen along the way: Too many to list/count - coolest were the black, brown and grizzly bears!  If you kept up on the blog, you saw most of them!

# of breakdowns along the way:  One flat tire in Des Moines IA along the highway.  AAA to the rescue!!!

Speeding Tickets:  None :)   With 22,000+ pounds you always need to be thinking about stopping distance!

# of fights we had along the way:  0, unbelievable we know, but what is there to fight about when your on a trip like this!

# times we got lost along the way:  1, We were headed for a campground on the west side of glacier when we should have been headed for the east side of glacier, campground unknown. Minor considering all the miles we traveled.  Thanks to our trusty TomTom the trip was free of any other incidents. 

Interesting people met along the way:  We stopped counting but will remember them all for years to come.  Hope to see the guys from St Augustine around the horseshoe pits again.  We're also hoping our Alaska friends Dave and Lori (and Spaz) make their way to visit us in NH someday.....

Lessons Learned:

99.9% of the people you meet camping are wonderful, interesting, helpful, informative, fun and crazy!

We underestimated the number of miles we would travel without the trailer once we reached a destination.  We planned to double the miles we traveled with the trailer - reality was more like quadruple!  This was mostly during the winter months while hanging in the southeast.  Once we got moving north and only stayed places long enough to scope them out, we'd rack up fewer non-towing miles.

A smaller rig would have been fine maybe but we were really comfortable the whole trip.  We definetely could have packed lighter!  It's amazing how little you need to survive and have fun while Rving.

You don't need to bring a gun for protection.  We had no concerns about our safety (people or bears) along the way and the gun just caused delays, extra fees and paperwork crossing borders!

You should obtain an export license for laptop computers (and anything else applicable) you bring into Canada and back into the US.  US border guard informed us that he could have confiscated everything we had but he gave us a break . . . what a sport, eh?

Alberta and BC Canadians are very nice, friendly people, eh.  Most of them speak only english and don't speak french at all.

Spend the money on a nice 35x zoom lens or better (digital SLR)!  20x was nice but we "had to" upgrade along the way!  Note - pocket digital cameras don't work well after you drop them in the water!  While kayaking, it's best to leave your camera in a plastic bag or you'll find it necessary to replace that too.

When you're traveling to some of these places in July/Aug, you should stay in the campgrounds at higher elevations (like right at Bryce entrance) versus in the valley, the temps can differ 20 degrees.


Best Practices:

Camp in US State and Canadian Province campgrounds - well maintained, reasonably priced, easy to find, usually located right where all the action is.  Most private campgrounds are more expensive because they offer activities we did not have time for.

If you visit your destinations just ahead of the tourist season it can be a much more enjoyable time.  Campgrounds and National Parks are much less crowded and you will see more wildlife than you can imagine.  Prices are sometimes lower and you don't need reservations everywhere you go.
Be flexible with your plans.  This applies to pre-season mostly!  Don't book reservations more than a week ahead so you can change plans/check out places other campers recommend along the way.

RVParkReviews.com is a great source for finding campgrounds and getting good feedback to avoid the bad campgrounds.  Reserve America.com is a great online source for making reservations, quick and easy!

Keep a blog and or a journal.  The blog is a lot of work but it's fun sharing with friends and family.  The journal is great to go back to and read some of the details that you may not want to share with friends and family at the time (:
A nice quiet convection space heater for the master bedroom works well - saves on propane and the noise from the RV heater so it doesn't wake you up all night.

Invest in the in-line water filter where you can see the filter.

An inflatable kayak takes up little room and good if you want to hit the water - perhaps 2 singles if you each want to do your own thing but the double worked great for us!  A kayak is a must if you are heading for the Snake River at Grand Teton National Park.  We dropped a bike off 5 miles down the road and then cruised down river from the dam.  Guess who got to ride the bike back to the truck?

Bottom line:  If you're thinking about taking a trip like this but nervous about striking out on your own, we can be packed and ready to go as guides in 24 hours!!!

More to come . . . Tincantour 2016

Stratman RV Resort & Tiki Bar -- Cincinnati, OH

We've been home for over a month now.  We sold our house - had to be packed and out by the end of the month so the blog has been on the back burner.  So, going back to after a week in Goshen at Keystone having our trailer worked on, the Stratman RV Resort & Tiki Bar was just what the doctor ordered!

The Bickford's are coming!!!!!

Our campsite was a spacious level concrete pad with electric and a leaky water hose all for free. 

The 24 hour/day Tiki Bar (and pink flamingo decor) earned this resort "best campground on our TinCanTour"

Purveyors Ron & Julie Stratman

In addition to serving up free cocktails at the bar, we enjoyed big breakfasts and great cookouts at the hands of master chef Ron:

Between meals we were treated to live entertainment:

This campground allowed unlimited guest - the Hasselbecks stopped by to check out our tincan & spacious campsite:

There was a momentous day of golf when not only did Steve Pisani see this coyote's head move (note the stick holding up the coyote) but even more incredible was that Ron beat me (yes, bad) without any excuses on my part!  There's a 1st (and last) for everything!

Later that day we did a little off-roading while exploring a near by development in process:

Note the Stratlet boys in the back seat

The Taylors visited our campground one afternoon.  I could only take so much of watching this sad performance before I had to show these Midwest boys how to play their own game:

Sad cornhole display by Tim & Ron

Fortunately there's still hope as the kids were showing the Dad's how to do it:

Of course the kids showing Dad how to throw may account for the frustration you see here as Tim insist that the boys were using an illegal hold on their bean bags:

Meanwhile the ladies say "the Tiki bar is open":

All day and all night Lacey entertained everyone by plucking a frisbee out of the air:

Lacey reminded us of our Alaska friend Spaz!

Master of fire Tim Taylor demonstrates to Katie & Eva how to precisely toast the marshmallow for the best smores:

while the Taylor boys get some height in night swinging:

but the Stratlets (with home field advantage) get some serious height!

We managed to round up all of the Stratman's for a group photo (and after only 3 tries):

Katie, Eva, Julie, Matt, Ron & Tom Stratman

and the Taylor's:

Sam, Julia, Luke, Tim & Madelyn Taylor

We had a great afternoon and evening hanging out with the Taylors and Stratmans!  The next morning Suze discovered the Tiki bar is also a coffee bar:

Meanwhile Ronnie is whipping up breakfast inside . . .

Thanks again to our campground host Ron & Julie for making us feel at home!

We also spent some quality time at the Taylors sports complex and entertainment center.  No matter which sport it was, Luke displayed the best style (technique & wear - note that's a red sox shirt too, although now is probably not the best time to point that out).  In addition he took home the 1st place in around the world:

Luke's also a Patriots fan!

A not even close but still 2nd place going to Sam:

Pretty good form for Reds & Bengals fan!

And demonstrating her superior volleyball jumping height (while in flip flops) and finesse Madelyn pulls off a close 3rd place:

Not even worth mentioning was me and Gimpy Taylor's poor display (but we'll show Tim as I had the camera):

Note the air he doesn't get . . .

Later that evening the Taylors hosted a "Stock the Tin Can" party where we saw many of our "old" Cincinnati friends.  Early in the evening . . .

The Up to no good and caught . . .

Meanwhile our lovely wives looking all beautiful without even trying:

Cornhole heats up again at the Taylors house. Check out the intensity, form and focus (possibly frustration too - Ron is smirking behind that arm):

Note Tim has not only switched to lefty putting but cornhole too!

Michael getting a good seat by the fire pit early on:

Later in the evening the party on the back deck  . . .

while things were a little more laid back on the front deck:

Just like the old days we all gathered for a group picture:

Thanks again for the wonderful parting gifts for the final leg of the trip back home but more importantly it was really great to see you all!!!  Good thing the bar closed at 2am because in another hour Christy & I would have been heating up the dance floor just like the old days!   Thanks again to the Taylors for hosting a great time!!!

We packed a lot of fun into a short visit to Cinci!  Once we get settled somewhere in our new place you'll all have to come visit (just not all at the same time, we're downsizing).

So our tincantour sadly comes to an end (for now).  We look forward to going back on the road again some day!  We'll have one more blog posting with a collection of stats, lessons learned and best practices.  Hopefully that won't take as long as this posting did!

Goshen, IN - Keystone Service

We arrived at the Keystone manufacturer's lot on a Sunday afternoon so the place was very quiet.  They have full hookups here for customers.  We're stopping by to get a few things taken care of here before heading to Cinci.  Our first night here we had some severe weather roll in early evening which made for a cool sunset:

Our 1st day hanging out while the trailer was being worked on we decided to head for Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan.  Very nice park.  We biked the whole park and then scoped out the beach:

Evidently the water is not open until 11am as they kept announcing that over the loud speakers but unfortunately for all the people waiting . . . at 11am they announced the beach was closed due to the water being unhealthy.  Looked nice but glad we didn't put our feet in!

We also drove up to New Buffalo, MI where we checked out the beautiful waterfront and hit the downtown area shops.  With this being Susan's 1st time to MI, this also made it official that we both now have been to 49 of the 50 states - Hawaii next trip!

Looking like we're going to be here a couple days as they slowly make repairs to the trailer.  They've been putting us up in a hotel nearby.  One day we took a tour of the Keystone Montana manufacturing plant.  Great tour as we were able to see exactly how our rig was built:

Getting around this area isn't too bad but you may find yourself waiting on horse & buggies at rush hour . . .

One day we hit the Pumpkin-Vine & Maplehart Nature Trails with our bikes.  Roughly 26 miles of trails which go from Elkhart to Goshen to Middlebury to Shipshewana.  We covered about half of the trails in 1 day with beautiful farm land and canals along the way:

We saw deer in the farmers fields:

and lots of wildlife along the canals including these ducks:

and turtles:

and many swans by the dam:

and this grizzly and her cubs:

Oops, Duck & ducklings!  Got your attention though!

Great bike trail!  We did the other half of the bike trail the next day.  This part of the trail was a little messed up.  The map shows it running through Middlebury however it would stop with no clue as to where it picked back up.  We finally found the main trail hidden behind the DQ which we took for 4-5 miles out to Shipshewana.  Lots of farm land with horse & buggies parked in the driveways all along the trail.
We're looking forward to leaving for Cinci today after hanging out with the Keystone crew (better than new the techs tell us).  These guys really have been great about the whole thing!

More to come . . .

Arlington Heights, IL - Napoleon's RV Resort

We packed up and headed out of Door County early on another beautiful day.  We headed south toward Chicago but made a lunch stop in Cedarburg, WI to see Kristine & Jason.  We had a good lunch and a very nice visit in their wonderful new home.  Unfortunately I took no pictures other than one of this gold finch they noticed "resting" in the grill of the truck.  If you look really closely in between the spattered bugs you can see Jason and Kristine's reflection in the grill  too:

 

 We continued rolling south to Arlington Heights, IL where we stayed at the Napoleon's RV Resort.  Electric, water, wifi, powerwash and meals all FREE!

Our first night here we went to see future Red Sox player Mathew schooling everyone on how to rip the ball:

 while youngest brother Jason entertained the fans in the stands:

And here we have Coach Steve telling the boys they played a good game and giving them some things to think about:

When I was your age . . .

Another day we all hit the pool area which is a short walk from their house:

Jason sporting his Mr Cool smile while working the ladies around the fountain pool:

This dare for Matt to dive off the high dive cost me $10 (looking good Matt!):

Later in the day Football Coach Steve working on some blocking techniques with Nick and others on his team:

Another day we stopped by to check out Matthew's football practice:

Nicholas sporting a big smile and his favortie 1st place baseball team:

Our last night we went to down town Arlington Heights where there are many nice bars and restaurants.  We had an excellent Mexican food and then hooked up with some of Steve & Christy's friends at another Irish bar in town:

Napoleon's RV Resort was a great place to hang out for a long weekend!  We really enjoyed our visit with Christy, Steve, Matthew, Nicholas and Jason!  Thank you guys for everything!  Looking forward to your visit to NH!

Now we're off to Goshen IN to bring the TinCan into the Keystone manufacturer for repairs.  As soon as they are done, we head for Cincinnati to vist the gang there.

More to come . . .