Mornin’ campers! It’s Silver Cliche’ here, back blogging after more than three years.
For the past several seasons we had a different camping style while we raised a grandson. Blogging was out! Our trips were shorter (it turns out there is a limit to how many days two oldsters and two dogs can travel with an autistic teenager versus without one), our evening and morning routines were hectic (feeding a 6’, 200 lb 14 year old requires an amount of effort that seriously impacts blogging time) and our nerves were frayed (our experiences might better have been recorded in “Psychology Today” than here on blogspot). Now my “buddy” is back under parental supervision and Mrs. Cliche’ and I are looking across America with wanderlust.
So, in three months we resume our travels. This time it’s a planned 10,000 mile trip heading west from our Florida home until we reach lands end (not the clothing store... the Pacific) then north until we get about as far from home as we can without risking the RCMP dismantling our Airstream in a search for COVID or apple pie or Smith and Wesson or whatever it is they like to look for inspect for in Yankee RVs), then east until we’ve camped on all five Great Lakes and the North Atlantic, then south and home to Florida.
There’s a lot to prep in the months ahead. Most of the trip is booked already. We will finish the lower 48 that we haven’t yet visited on this round (we have camped in the Cliche’ in 32 states so far). We are undertaking the most significant revamp of the Airstream so far including a new Lithium battery system, new recliners, a new larger mattress (when we first hit the road we had three dogs but only the 12 pounder slept in the bed... the two oldsters have passed and in their place is an 80 lb golden/lab who prefers a firm mattress and soft pillow... more sleeping space is essential) and a few other improvements. We also have a new truck for this trip. Gone is the trusty 2014 Tundra that was the only vehicle to pull the Cliche’ from the day we hitched up in October 2014 in NJ. What a truck! In her place is... well... an exact clone. Literally nobody has noticed that three months ago we replaced the 2014 with a 2020 that is identical in every detail. That choice will allow me to reuse old pics whenever I am too lazy to take a new one. I may be old, but I’m not stupid!
So, follow along! There is now a “follow” link on this page. I hope it works better than our old mattress. For the next few months I’ll blog occasionally about trip prep and our shakedown cruise (we hope to go to Georgia in late February or early March). In late April we start “MOART 2021” (the mother of all road trips). With luck, I’ll be back to posts most every day and pics on Flickr.
Later!
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