What is Your Traveling Style?

Zephyrhills, Florida

It’s supposed to get up to 77 degrees for the high today, but down into the 50’s at night.   Can’t complain.  That’s about perfect winter weather in my book.

I read blogs every morning and enjoy seeing where everyone is at, what they are doing, and where they are planning on going.

One thing I’ve noticed is the difference in traveling/camping styles that we all have.

Some people are very social and spend a lot of time with other people.  Some people (like us) seem to be loners, and spend most all of their time with each other. 

Some people get heavily involved with the activities at the campground.  Some people (like us) get involved in our own things.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy spending time with other people.  We do, but we don’t want to “go steady.” 

Some people go to one spot and stay for months.  Some people move every 5-7 days.  We are somewhere in the middle, I guess.

Some people like “resorts” with paved parking pads, full hook-ups, no trees and lots of activities. 

Some people only camp at state parks or the equivalent.

We really love state parks, but have found that we also really love full hook-ups.  We find that state parks can be pretty expensive when you full time.  

We can get much better rates using our memberships and discounts.  We miss camping in state parks, with all the nature, and we will probably spend more time in state parks this year.  We just hate to have to conserve water and Al is not a big fan of the “blue boys.”  I love being able to use my washer and dryer!   My how we have changed since we started full timing. 

Although this is our first year of full timing,  Al and I seem to have developed our traveling style.  We find we hate to move too often.  We would probably be perfectly happy staying put for 4-5 weeks at a time.

Just about every moving day, at least one of us mutters the phrase…. “I hate to move.”   It’s funny how much it takes to pack up, but how little time it takes to set back up in a new location.

We are getting more comfortable driving the “big guy” and are a little less nervous getting in and out of the campsites.  Notice, I said a “little” less nervous.  I still worry plenty!  

Partly because of our Thousand Trails membership that allows us to only stay at one location for 2 weeks at a time,  partly because Al still has his Pest Control business to do,  and partly because my Mom is in Tampa, we have found ourselves staying in one place for only two weeks.  It gives us plenty of time to explore a new area, but not enough time to sit back and relax!  One of my goals this year, is to take more time to relax!  I just have to get Al on board with that.  He can’t seem to just sit still.

We find that we never just stay home and relax or read a book.  We seem to run somewhere just about every day.  I thought we would have some reading and relaxing time while in the Keys, but that never happened.  

We decided that we will probably stay put here in the Tampa area for a few months.   We have paid for our site here through March, so I guess that’s a good idea, huh?  During the winter months in Florida, it’s a good thing to lock down a place to stay before things get too crowded.

To avoid the dreaded “hitch-itch”,  we have been trying to get some ideas for future travels.

We definitely are planning to head back to the Keys towards the end of March.  The plan is to stay about 5 weeks.  Although the camping fees are dirt cheap, diesel fuel isn’t, so a longer stay will be smarter financially.  You can always justify things you want, can’t you?

We have been talking about summer plans.  We can’t be too far away from Tampa for too long, but a trip to Washington DC has been discussed.  We have also thought about Pensacola, Florida, Savannah, Ashville,  and Charleston.  I guess we will see how it works out.

My picture of the day.

Smiley