Winter approaches and it is time to close down the summer RV

We have shifted from near drought conditions to daily rain. At the travel trailer which we call "our cabin in Michigan" the high recently was 49F and the low that night was 41F. Meanwhile, to the west in Illinois the low was 34F.

The MI campground closes for the season as of November 1 and so we are planning and preparing for our winter escape to the southwest.

I winterized the Roadtrek so if temperatures should drop below freezing, or if our delay southward is delayed, we'll be fine.

We'll spend a few more days in MI, will then winterize and vacate the TT for the season. I expect at least one more good campfire before we move on.

A cool night campfire

We had a wonderful summer.

Resting at sunset

Sharing the beach

A piney squirrel neighbor

Cormorants headed south for the winter

Tossing stones at sunset

A rescued snail

a sunset, one of many 

Dogs at the Beach bucket. Yum!

The travel trailer, our "cabin" in Michigan

A glorious sunset, Chicago skyscrapers on the horizon 

G after a bike ride to the Dunes

A "simple" lunch in Bridgman MI at the Lake Street Eats

Another day in Bridgman, in our "life at the beach"

Preparing an association newsletter article in the Roadtrek

Class B meets Travel Trailer

Our green heron neighbor, at the pond

Just a typical beach day

Wine, anyone?

The snail we retrived

a sunny afternoon

Our blue heron neighbor at the pond

Our Roadtrek 210P at the Warren Dunes

Here's to living a full life, and making a difference, discovering new horizons and enjoying our limitless life.

More on Class B Extended Living

"We have a 5th wheel........We are considering a Roadtrek as an adjunct to our fifth wheel since there are a lot of spots in US and Mexico (particularly Yucatan) where a large fifth wheel will not go.......Reed and Elaine"   That's a reader's April 17 comment to my post of February 24, 2015.

We began with the Roadtrek, Reed and Elaine are taking the opposite approach. However, they know where they want to go. When we began our planning we weren't so sure. We wanted real experiences to validate our ideas and assumptions. We also wanted the possibility of setting up "bases" in several places in the U.S. where we could stretch our legs and relax, and use the Roadtrek for the explorations from these places. Because we had a nebulous plan, we really weren't sure of how it would turn out. But we decided the explorations would come first in the Roadtrek. We would learn from our experiences and discover the locations for our bases.

And so it has been. About 18,000 miles later we know where in the Midwest and where in the Southwest we will be. We are no longer tied to our sticks and bricks condo. Our bases provide mild summers and mild winters within short distance of so much to see and do. As one said "Getting there is all the fun" and there are a lot of choices in RVs and we researched just about all of the Class Bs and Cs out there. We decided that most important was to get something that would work for the intended purpose and our intended lifestyle. We wanted a 3-1/2 season exploration vehicle designed for use on paved or gravel roads. We intended to use it to create our future. Because we had so little practical experience we first rented a Sprinter based van and I've published some detailed information about that on my personal blog. However, these are all personal observations viewed from the lenses of our personal intentions.

We never expected to live in the RT for extended periods, although an Alaska trek is on our list of possibilities. Such a trek would require about 6 weeks. Our recent 90 day trek stretched to a 110 day experience which certainly tested our concept. There are "tiny homes" and the Roadtrek is miniscule by comparison. However we are still smiling after that 110 day experience.