Randy and I consider ourselves so very lucky in getting our “winter spot” in Southwest Florida. Our families are both mostly based there, and every winter whether on sailboat or RV we plan to spend the holidays with them. Last winter, we were between the sailboat and RV and needed a place to stay so we booked an Airbnb that was a fifth wheel RV located on a small horse farm in Estero. We loved the farm and location and so we inquired whether the owner had an extra spot for us to hook up our soon-to-be RV for the following winter. We lucked out that she did and so we spent 3 months (Dec – Feb) there on our RV. It’s awesome that we didn’t need to book reservations so far in advance and pay crazy Florida winter fees. In fact, since the horse farm was in need of maintenance, Randy worked out a work camp deal with her for our stay in exchange for him helping out with repairs on equipment, clearing of weeds/briars from the fence line and even feeding the horses – both minis and full size. It was was such a great experience that we’re looking forward to it next winter. We had hoped to have another month there, but since Randy excepted a work camp in Yellowstone National Park for the summer, we needed to be on the move to be in West Yellowstone by April 1st. So, after just 3 months seeing family and friends and getting all of our annual doctors checkups, it was time to head west once again.

Last year when we headed west, we were leaving from Georgia (where we purchased the RV). We headed to Louisville to catch up with friends and then took a northern route up through Indiana, across Illinois and Iowa and into South Dakota. This year, we decided that since it was earlier and still very cold up north we would take a southern route. We first stopped in Lake City, FL for 2 nights to catch up with our friends Jody and Barry. From there, we went north-west to Florida’s panhandle to stay a couple nights in Pensacola. There, we visited with my nephew (Jack) and his girlfriend (Bella). They both go to school at Western Florida University and we were glad they had time in their busy schedules to get together with us.

New Orleans, LA

Since we were in the panhandle and headed west through Alabama and Mississippi, we decided to stop in New Orleans. Randy has been to the Big Easy many times in the past for work, however, I had never been before and always wanted to. So, we booked 2 nights at New Orleans RV Resort and Marina just 15 minutes from the French Quarter. We used a resort recommended driver to take us and Sophie (with stroller) to the French Quarter. It was nice that we could text our driver, Adam, and he’d pick us up at a prearranged rendezvous point when we wanted to come or go from the city. I really just wanted to walk the streets and look at the historic buildings so we used a self-guided tour I found online. After exploring the streets, we headed to Pat O’briens on Bourbon Street and ordered a NOLA signature drink, the hurricane. We also caught some amazing blues acts as well as some epic people watching.

Westbound through Texas

Once we left New Orleans, we booked a couple of Harvest Host overnights to get us across the state of Texas. First up was Ceccoli Vineyards in Winnie, TX, just before Houston. We did a wine tasting there and chatted with another Harvest Host couple who were also staying the night. The next morning we continued on to Guadalupe Brewery, in New Braunfels, just outside of San Antonio. We were the only RV in the lot so we had plenty of room. We enjoyed some of their beers while listening to live music. The next morning, we left the RV there and worked out at the Orange Theory there in town. Once done with that we headed to San Angelo, TX, where we reserved 2 nights at the San Angelo State Park. The state park was wonderful and we were excited to have some time to explore the park, however, weather got in the way of that. We spent one night there and were notified by the park ranger the next morning that they were expecting severe weather that evening. We knew of the wind coming but not about 3-inch hail and possible tornadoes, so we ended up leaving early and pushing onto our next stop in New Mexico.

Heading north through New Mexico

We had two Harvest Hosts lined up in New Mexico and thankfully both hosts were so accommodating in letting us come a day early. The first one was in Portales and was a winery called Enchanted Vineyards. We were the only RV at Enchanted Vineyards and the lot was very spacious. They had excellent wine as well as local craft beer on tap. The best part was that their lot neighbored a pen with alpacas. As we walked back to the RV we saw some close to the fence line so Randy got a few carrots from the RV to feed them. They were so adorable…our first experience with alpacas! The next morning we headed north to just outside Santa Fe. The Harvest Host was a strip mall called La Tienda El Dorado. Once we settled in, we visited the hardware store so Randy could get a proper size screwdriver to fix our ceiling fan. After that, we visited Santa Fe brewery (also there) for some local beer before getting dinner at Fusion Tacos. It was great having so many options at a single Harvest Host.

After we spent 5 nights on the move across the country, it was time to slow down a bit. We made reservations for 10 days in Moab, Utah, so we could visit Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. But first, we stopped for a few days in Alamosa, Colorado, to check out Great Sand Dunes National Park. More on that in the next post!