Our final day of packing, getting the travel trailer ready to leave and putting the boat to bed.  We can't believe it's finally here!

We've been sailors for 13 years - traveling the U.S East Coast, Bahamas, Cuba and Caribbean to South America plus a trip up the Pacific Ocean from New Zealand to Hawaii.  Thinking that we've seen most of the U.S East Coast after 28 trips up and down the Intracoastal Waterway, maybe it was time for new horizons.  We are typically slow and methodical when changing directions.  Not so much because we dislike change but more to "feel our way" and not make un-thoughtful decisions.  After almost two years of thinking and planning, we were ready.

For the past 13 years we've sailed our 43' Endeavour ketch Second Wind over 70,000 miles.  We started and ran a sailing charter business on the Hudson River (summers) and Marathon, FL (winters) for 7 1/2 years.  For 8 summers we managed the Catskill Marina in Catskill, NY and for the past 5 years I've been a Captain at Hudson Cruises driving a 100 foot party boat.  After giving almost a year's notice, last week we left both jobs and freed ourselves from any formal ties to this area.

If you are interested in more details of our sailing life, we have published four eBooks / paperbacks on Amazon which contain our daily blogs.  Here is a quick link to the books on Amazon - Sailing Travels of Bill and Laura.  Ok.  Enough of our "old" life.

Much of our research into RVing centered around what type of RV we thought would be most comfortable for us while being easy to drive and efficient (for an RV).  We looked closely at small class B vans like the Travato and class C motor homes under 25 feet.  Note that living on a 43 foot sailboat for 13 years has taught us much in the way of minimalism and we heartily embrace it.  Laura and I both like the simpler life and not having a lot of "stuff".

Last fall, we mentioned to my sister Denise and her husband Tom our plans for doing some traveling by RV this summer.  They immediately offered their 23 foot travel trailer which they hadn't used much in the past few years.  I mentioned we didn't have a truck to tow it with and they said, "Take the truck too and loan us your car while you are gone."  Wow!  An opportunity to taste-test the RV life with a minimal investment.  What a deal!

Tom and Denise have been getting the trailer and truck ready while we've been learning as much as possible about the trailer itself.  It was very easy to learn the trailer since they have it parked at our marina.  Yesterday we swapped their truck for our car and we're almost ready to go!

Trip planning has been on the top of our list for several weeks.  Since we've never traveled by RV before, we didn't really have any idea of how to find places to stay.  After reading some of the blogs and reviews on-line, a few weeks ago, I purchased RV Trip Wizard and started planning the trip.  Our goal was to travel for 3-5 weeks up the coast of Maine and through the Canadian Maritimes.   After 5 hours of working on the computer, we had a trip laid out for a big loop up the coasts of Massachusetts, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  Then back following the south shore of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. and down the Adirondacks back to central New York.  The trip was about 6 weeks and had us staying at specific private, state or federal campgrounds almost every night.  

After reviewing our plans, we realized it was a good exercise but would not work for us.  We wanted to be more free - stay longer at places we enjoyed and maybe drive longer days if we felt like it.  Still not knowing if not having reservations would be a problem, we decided to mostly wing-it and only plan a few days ahead.

I joined the Good Sam Club and purchased their Road Hazard insurance.  They have a deal for only 6 months so that worked out well for us. They have a trip planner which I've played around with and it seems nice too.  Problem is both the RV Trip Wizard and Good Sam Trip Planner are internet based.  You have to have an internet connection to use most of the software.  Then I found an app called RV Life.  This lets you download state maps to use off-line and will even use trips planned in RV Trip Wizard.  Nice!  I guess that's where we will start.

At least in the beginning, I would like to not take highways or toll-roads so we can see the countryside and not zone-out on the Interstates.  The RV Life app lets you configure these settings.  Our first leg would be from Catskill, NY to Plymouth, MA where we will visit my cousin Mike and his wife Jane.  When I plugged in the destination Plymouth, RV Life said it would be 11+ hours when not taking highways.  Yo!  Too much driving for our first day.  As we looked for a stop in the middle somewhere, I saw the southern coast of Connecticut and Mystic.  We are big on snorkeling and reefs so what better way to see underwater life than the Mystic Aquarium.  The app showed a free place to stop at Mohegan Sun casino - only a short distance from Mystic.  About 5 hours to the Casino then 5 hours to Plymouth.  Perfect!  Our destination for Monday (or Tuesday if we can't get everything ready) will be Mohegan Sun Casino where we will spend 1 or 2 nights and do some sightseeing.  There are no hookups at the Casino so we'll have to make sure our water tank is full and waste tanks empty before leaving.

I also have a Honda i2000 generator on the boat for charging batteries when needed.  I have this packed in the back of the pickup along with a 5 gallon jug of gasoline so we can have 120v power in the trailer when not hooked to "shore power" - yes, I'm going to mix in a lot of boating terms.  I've already tested it and our generator will run the trailer air-conditioner.  Good thing.  The next few days are supposed to be in the 90s.