Train travel - better in Europe

 I'm sure I've mentioned several times that we so enjoy train travel. That's how we got around Italy for the month of May and it's how we got around the UK. Certainly there are some places you can't get to by train - there was a hot springs between Rome and Tuscany where we wanted to stop, but the train was not nearby - but anywhere major was a piece of cake.

Our train travel in the UK was great

When we flew in to Gatwick, we immediately saw a sign for "All train tickets -> this way" We bought our ticket ($22 each) and walked just a hundred yards or so to the platform where our train arrived in just a few minutes and took us straight to Bexhill, our destination. Then it was just a 10 minute walk to the sea and our room.

Train travel in Europe is easy

And it is so comfortable

The USA needs more trains

When we needed to get to JFK from the Jersey shore, we ended up paying $300 for a private driver. We didn't want to take any chances! When we returned we decided to figure out public transit. Seems to me there should be a train from some central NYC location that goes down the Jersey shore to Atlantic city, making stops along the way. That would be perfect, but no such thing exists. Using Google Maps public transit directions, we took an airport people mover train to the subway station, subway to Port Authority bus station. At the ticket counter, we asked for a bus ticket to Barnegat NJ and she directed us to the gate. When we showed our tickets to the bus driver and said we're going to Barnegat, he said these tickets won't get us there. His last stop was Lakewood, then we'd need to change buses, buy a new ticket and continue on. Well, OK, what can we do. Realize that it's about 10pm now (3am UK time) and we just want to sit down. 

When we reached Lakewood bus terminal, I noticed a bus to Atlantic City was just pulling out. Yep, that was the bus we wanted and the next one wouldn't be there for 2 hours or more. Now, it's past midnight. At this point we called an Uber! $60 was worth it to have no more worries and be dropped off right at our door. The driver was delightfully chatty and that last hour sped right on by. 

All totaled we paid a little less than $100 for the trip from JFK to LBI.

Let's try Canada's trains

We're thinking of a trip in 2023 to Vancouver and are looking in to driving to Toronto, then taking the CN train across. Whaddaya think? I've never slept overnight on a train before, sounds like fun.

Decisions, decisions

When the Escapade was over we found ourselves in a situation we haven't seen since our very first year of living in the road. There is nothing on our calendar until October in Florida. We could go in any direction our hearts desired, and take as long as we want.
After meeting up with Kim and Don, we were in Utah and just too close not to visit our friends in Park City.

Driveway camping at Tom and Margo's

What a view from their deck!

Lots of fires further west makes the sky so smoky

After we left Tom and Margo's we had some research to do. Were we going to go south? Monument valley is still on our list. Or do we go straight east and go across rocky mountain national park? Or can we go a little bit south and visit the brand new RV Park owned by Heath and Alyssa, then turn northeast? Once we're headed east, are we going to go all the way to the jersey shore before heading south, or turn at Missouri or Kentucky? We wanted to visit a friend in Minnesota, but that's awfully far north. We came up, roughly with 3 different routes to get from Utah to Fort Lauderdale, FL.

We needed to decide which of these 3 routes to take before we passed the blue star

The first decision point was in a little town called Duchesne, Utah (the blue star above). Going straight thru on highway 40 would lead to Rocky Mountain National park. Taking a right on highway 191 would take us to Heath and Alyssa. I decided to stop for the night in Duchesne! 

We stopped for the night in Duchesne (the blue star) to think about which direction to go

Yes, I was driving myself crazy, but I was also having fun. I love using Roadtrippers.com to play with different routes and see what's out there. It makes it oh so easy to "play what if." What if we go to monument valley, then east to Florida? What's the difference in miles if we go to rocky mountain national park, then east to new Jersey, then south to Florida?

Roadtrippers allowed me to plot each possibility, then turn them off or on to answer my what if questions. It makes it so easy. And it shows me cool things along reach route that I wouldn't know about otherwise. Like a hot springs on the west side of rocky mountain national park. We love hot springs! 

Armed with all the answers to the multitude of what if questions, Jim and I poured ourselves a glass of wine (or 2) and talked it over.

I said, it appears to boil down to seeing people, or seeing places. Jim said, unless there are other factors involved, I choose people! Ha! Decision made, we turned south-east at Duchesne in order to stay at Heath and Alyssa's property.

Bonus! 

Along the way was a national park that Don and Kim highly recommended we visit: Colorado National Monument. Wow.

And, we found a crazy place to stay the night - a Harvest Host location called Buzzard's Belly. It's located in an old ghost town called Cisco. One of Cisco's claims to fame is that the movie "Thelma and Louise" filmed some scenes there. So, we found Thelma and Louise on Amazon Prime Video and watched it. Yep, we recognized a few shots. This is one of our favorite things to do as we travel - watch movies filmed in the location.

You've heard about the middle of nowhere? We found it.

   

Packing

 When we were newly-minted full time RVers - back in 2004 - I remember having to unlearn the need to pack for travel. We would be living in our RV in a park for a few weeks, or even a month, then it would be time to move on. My brain would get busy thinking of what I needed to pack for the trip, then I'd shake my head and realize that wasn't necessary! I was taking everything, including the kitchen sink, with me. We were driving our house! 

It didn't take long to get used to that. I LOVED traveling in my house. Wherever we were was home. When we're ready to go, we just stow everything in place, turn the key and head on down the road.

Now I find myself in the opposite situation. It's time to get on the road - we are booked to give seminars at two RV rallies in Wyoming in July - and I want to just turn the key and go. 

Not so fast. 

The kitchen stays fully equipped

We keep our little camper van fully stocked with everything needed in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. We have a full set of silverware, plates, coffee cups, wine glasses, coffee pot, and cookware that stays put in the cupboards and drawers of our Roadtrek. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. stays put in the tiny bathroom, and a full set of bedding also stays in place. We even leave a few clothes in the closet so we can be ready to leave on a moment's notice in a hurricane evacuation or other emergency.

But, we're going to be gone for 2 months. We need more clothes. We need our computers and various technology. We need food. 

The final thing we need to consider is tasks to perform around the house to leave it ready to withstand a hurricane while we're gone. Bring items in from the backyard that could fly away. Close the shutters, make sure a neighbor has a key bring in our mail, and to keep an eye on the place. etc. etc.

We start a week or so in advance, both Jim and I set up a "staging" area where we put things as we think of them, like the couple of Baby Yoda figurines that Jim 3D printed for our friend's kids that we'll be visiting, and my coffee table Blog book that I like to use as show and tell during our seminar. Things that aren't necessary, but they're important. 

Then I start to stress out.

After this past year of covid confinement, travel has gone from being commonplace to unthinkable. What are we doing? Why are we leaving our comfortable home? What am I forgetting? Why did we say yes to Wyoming? 

I decide that we should stay the first night at a local campground, so we could go back home if we discover we forgot something. Good idea right? But, I think it just prolonged the stress. We drove the couple of miles to Easterlin Park - one of our favorites anywhere - and had a delightful night. Ahhh, our comfy, cozy camper van with all the necessities of life. We only forgot one thing - the Berkey water filter - a necessary item. Since we use it in the house as well, it's something we need to remember to take back and forth. Maybe we should just get another?

We had planned to go back to the house once before actually leaving. We left a few tasks, like closing shutters and running the dishwasher, for the morning. Now I am worrying all over again, what are we missing? Will everything be ok while we're gone? Oops, I need to run the dishwasher, but Jim wants to shut off the water - so we have to hang around for a while. More time for me to worry! We look at the weather and see a tropical storm headed for the gulf coast - just where we're heading. Should we wait a couple of days for it to pass? But, we're all ready to go. How about this - we could leave now but visit friends in N Florida for a couple of nights. But, what if the storm comes to N Florida? Decisions, decisions.

"I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." 

Well, we got everything taken care of (I think) and we got on the road. The sound of the tires on the highway is like a lullaby - erasing all my cares. If we forgot anything now, we'll just have to do without, or find a way to buy it. All is well. We're RVing.

We ended up visiting with 2 different friends in N Florida - Nick and Terry in Edgewater, and Alex in Melrose. I'll write another post on that. Suffice it to say, we like friends with driveways!

A train ride, Kiwi, and beer

We like train rides, so when we heard that one of the world's great train rides went from Christchurch to Greymouth over Arthur's Pass, we booked it. That was before we adjusted our RV route to go from Greymouth to Christchurch - over Arthur's Pass. I am generally against retracing my steps, won't this be a waste of time when there is so much to see in New Zealand? Jim said no - when we're on the train, I'll actually get to enjoy the view! So we kept the reservation and I'm glad we did. Train rides are relaxing - just sit back, eat and drink, and watch the beautiful scenery.

I think it is possible to go over and back in one day, but that's not relaxing! We had heard that the small town of Hokitika was very nice, so we found a place to stay on AirBnB and took a bus from Greymouth.

What a great AirBnB we found! It was upstairs in a building that used to be an old movie theatre. People bought it and converted it to a home with the upstairs as a separate apartment. We had a full kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom. And the WiFi was screaming fast.

We had our own separate door ... the Green Door ... and the key was in a place specified on the website. We were home. For 2 nights. We almost did one of our YouTube shows from there, because the WiFi was so good - but thought better of it and went to the Kiwi museum instead!

We were just a couple of blocks from everything. Restaurants, beach, museum, bars, everything.
In case you don't know - Kiwi is not only a fruit, and the nickname for people in New Zealand, it all started with the bird. Kiwi is a flightless bird known only in New Zealand.

Did you know that, as an island, New Zealand does not have any native mammals. None. No deer, no bear, not even any squirrels. If you see a four-legged creature  in New Zealand, it was brought here by people.  The only type of animals here as natives were birds, and fish. The Kiwi is the national symbol. You simply do not see them in the wild, not only because they are almost extinct, but also because they are nocturnal. So, when we learned there was a Kiwi museum in Hokitika, and you were guaranteed to see a real, live Kiwi, we had to go. What a funky little museum. To build up to the Kiwi, you were led along a path alongside a pond full of eels. Apparently eels are a major food source? And whitebait - a kind of minnow.
Then you go down a very dark corridor with darkroom lights and arrows pointing to the pen where you should see a Kiwi - indeed, we did see a bird - kind of a cross between a partridge and a penguin. You weren't allowed to take any photos because, well, it was dark - and the flash would blind the poor bird. There was only one, but he/she was quite active. They must have left food along the edge of the pen so that it would be running along where we could see it. When you left the museum, they gave you a printed photo of him/her.

We also enjoyed walking along the beach in Hokitika and picking up some Fish and Chips to take back to our BnB. You hear that Hokitika is a place where you can buy some authentic New Zealand Jade, aka Greenstone, aka Pounamu. Yep - I counted at least 6 different Jade jewelry stores, but I couldn't find much of anything in my price range. But, after hunting through several stores, I settled on a sweet little pair of gold earrings in the shape of a spiral. We learned that the spiral is a symbol of continual advancement in an upward, albeit roundabout, course. There tiny dot of Jade in the center of the spiral, making the price affordable at near $100. After putting them on and wearing them for the day, I decided I liked them a LOT. I'm so glad I bought them ... err ... rather that Jim bought them for me! It is considered bad luck to buy jade for yourself, you always buy it for someone else. So, Jim took them to the register and bought them for me :-)

The next day we had bad news ... our bus back to Greymouth and the train was cancelled. It was coming up from further south and part of the road had been washed out in a storm. Yikes! What do we do?

Lemons to Lemonade

We emailed our AirBnB hosts, Luke and Jose, to ask if they had any suggestions. How wonderful they were! Of course, they said, they know someone who is driving up from Hokitika to Greymouth this morning and they'll get us a ride with them and take us there. Wonderful people. He is a New Zealander and she is an American who has adopted Hokitika as her home. We loved meeting them.

They got us a ride with the van than transports bicycle riders. There is a well-known bicycle trail along much of the west coast of New Zealand south island and a shuttle service for the bicyclers. It just so happened that they were driving the shuttle van from Hokitika to Greymouth on the day our bus was cancelled. It's called the Wilderness Trail Shuttle and they were only transporting bicycles that morning so they had room for us!


In Greymouth there is Monteith's Brewery. This is a stop we wanted to make, but our original bus schedule didn't allow enough time so we wrote it off. Because of our bus cancellation, we were on the Wilderness trail shuttle and, guess where they were going? ... Yep! Monteith's Brewery.

And we arrived a good two hours before our train was scheduled. We were able to take the tour as well as taste a few beers and enjoy some wonderful food - I remember a Lamb pizza that was exquisite.
On our tour, we met fellow travelers who had a car and offered to drive us to the train station! Isn't it wonderful how things work out?!
The train ride from west to east was equally delightful as east to west.

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Off to Australia, chasing the sun for 18 hours.

Our flight to Houston was scheduled to leave from Miami at 4:30 pm on Sunday. We were packed and ready to go when we went to bed Saturday night so we got a pretty early start. After a leisurely cup of coffee and tidying up the house, we asked Jimmy to drop us off at the Tri-rail station on his way out of town.We have found that taking the Tri-rail commuter train is a good way to get to Miami airport. It takes a $5 ticket and about one hour of travel. Tri trail ends right at the Miami airport - easy-peasy.

We got there about 1 PM. I like being early to the airport, especially right now when there's a government shut down and stories of TSA agents not coming to work. We expected long lines and chaos but got none! We already had our boarding passes and we only had carry on luggage, so we went straight to our gate a full 2.5 hours ahead of time.

We arrived in Houston just after sunset. We wouldn't see the sun rise again for nearly 22 hours. We really found our gate for the non stop United flight from Houston to Sydney. 17 hours in the air.

Yes, that was a long time, but they had dozens of movies available for free in the seat back video screen, they served food and complementary wine. We brought some Tylenol PM to help us sleep, and these cool TURTL neck-wrapped head rests.

 I think we actually slept for a total of maybe 5 hours, not bad. But that still left 12 hours to kill. I watched 4 full length movies ("Searching" was really good.) That took up 8 hours. Still 4 more hours to sit and squirm. We were really lucky to have only quiet kids, no crying babies, and no coughing people. The worst part was that there was a lot of turbulence, so you could not get up and go to the bathroom. One time I simply ignored the flight attendant who told me to go back to my seat, I think she was ok with that.

After flying West, following the sun, for 16 hours, the sun did rise again behind us just before reaching Sydney and we caught a glimpse of the special blood full moon and I think we even saw a tiny bit of the lunar eclipse that happened that night. It looked like there was a little bite out of the Moon.  (Jim says I imagined that :-(

It was now Tuesday morning - we missed Monday altogether.

We had just a short layover in Sydney before catching a domestic flight to Brisbane. Sleep deprived and thoroughly discombubbled, we zipped thru customs, but had a tough time finding our gate. Finally we were directed to a shuttle bus that took us to the other side of the airport where domestic Qantas flights had their gates. 

We were just in time, I got settled into a window seat and when we took off I was rewarded with a fantastic view of Sydney harbor and, wait .. could it be? Yes it is! There's the Sydney opera house, that iconic view that I've seen in hundreds of photos but never for real - it's right below me with no clouds in the way so my phone can get a pretty good picture.

WE'RE IN AUSTRALIA!

See our Australia/New Zealand photo album

Chris Guld
GeeksOnTour.com

Sand Dunes and Trains

The Great Sand Dunes National Park is only a half hour away from the campground where we were staying. Back when we were in a big RV and towed a little car, we would have made a morning or afternoon visit using the car. That is the only drawback about traveling in this little RV, we don't tow a car. If we want to drive somewhere we have to break camp and drive the RV. Admittedly, there's not much to it, no jacks or slides to bring in. We just turn the front seats around back into driving configuration, wash dishes and put them away, unplug from electric, and go. That may only take 5 minutes, BUT, it's the thought that counts. The thought that we're pulling up stakes and moving on. It just feels silly, once we're on the road it feels like we should keep going, not return to the RV park. It's a very different mind-set from having a towed car to take on excursions. We find that we stay at locations for shorter times, and just move on when we want to see something else. I think 5 days is the longest we've stayed anywhere in the Roadtrek - other than when we're working at RV rallies.

Anyway, when we left, we made the Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park our first stop. Weird to have what looks like Death Valley, or the Sahara, up in the Colorado mountains. But that's what it is. It's actually the mountains, acting as a barrier, that makes the sand build up into these giant dunes.

Kids, of all ages, were having fun on sand sleds sliding down these mountains of sand. We didn't do it. Sliding down would be fun, but first you had to climb up! And, it was hot. We were there in the afternoon and the sand was over 100 degrees.

Trains

Just another half hour down the road is the town of Alamosa, Colorado. We made a reservation for a train ride there. When we decided not to go to Durango - that also meant we wouldn't be doing the train ride that has long been on our list from Durango to Silverton. When we consulted Roadtrippers for things to do in this area - the Rio Grande Scenic Railway became a Must Do.

It was an all day trip, complete with a meal and bar. Our tickets showed seat assignments of 19A and 19B. When we found our seats, we saw that they were being used as the bar. Hey! They got our number, right? I guess we missed the announcement that said it was open seating.

We were free to move around throughout the train. One was completely open air - great for photos.

One of the train cars was called Mardi Gras. Notice the words, Illinois Central, at the top?
This is the train car where the song, City of New Orleans, was written. How cool!

Riding on the city of New Orleans

Illinois Central, Monday morning rail

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders

Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail ... more

We went to that car to have lunch. Very nice.

There was a major forest fire along the route just a few weeks ago. Wow.

When we got back to Alamosa, we looked for a place to park by the Post Office. We had our absentee ballots, and other mail, forwarded to General Delivery here.

The post office was on a quiet street and the library was right on the corner with a nice parking lot. We slept there, picked up our mail in the morning, and left.

Where to? This was one of those delightful dilemmas! We really didn't know where we wanted to go. In 2 weeks, we had to be in Shawnee, Oklahoma, but there were a few different paths we could take. Straight south on back roads into New Mexico, where there were some hot springs, or on better roads in Colorado over to I-25 and to Capulin Volcano where we've been before. We almost left it up to the Van to decide :-) ... when we got to the intersection, which way would it turn?
The deciding factor ended up being the information that those hot springs were only 97 degrees. That's not a hot springs! Let's stick to better roads, and hopefully better Internet then.

Colorado it is - for at least another day or two.

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We always make reservations when we travel

NOT!

Planning is not our strong suit. Winging it is more our style.

We left fort Lauderdale a week ago. Our first stop is Green Cove Springs, near Jacksonville, where our mail forwarding service is located. Jim ordered a new drone and it just got delivered there so we stopped to pick it up. We used our Allstays app and found a Cracker Barrel where we can park overnight. It's great, you get dinner and breakfast.

Then we got on the I-10 Interstate highway which will take us all the way to the west coast of these united States, nearly 3,000 miles. Our reason for this trip is to present our seminars at the FMCA convention in Chandler Arizona, and the Escapee's RV club Escapade in Tucson. In other words, we're going to work. Here's the basic plan, as laid out in Streets and Trips

Driving the interstates is the easiest and most comfortable way to travel when you're in a big rig, towing a car. I-10 across northern Florida is actually quite scenic as well. 

Sometime after lunch, a tuna sandwich that I make while Jim continues driving, I look at a map and determine where we might want to stop for the night. Hmmm, we could make it into Alabama. There's an  Escapees park that we've heard is nice down by gulf shores. We could even stay 2 nights and give him a chance to fly his new drone and drive to gulf shores too. I called for "reservations" saying we would be there in 2 hours. No problem, come on down!

Back on the road, i-10 thru mobile, across the Mississippi at Baton Rouge, thru the Atchafalaya swamp. By now it's starting to get dark, so I look at allstays to find the next Walmart where we can park.

We want to stop in Waco Texas to visit our friend Frank and his family. That is now clearly 2 days away, so we call him to make arrangements. He says Tuesday is better than Wednesday and we can park at his family's ranch. Cool. So, we just need one night in between. 

Texas is the land of Thousands Trails. This is a membership park system that we belong to. We pay about 600/yr whether we use it or not. So we need to use it. I got online using their website and made a reservation for one night at Lake Conroe.

One night at the Frank family ranch was just delightful. I'll write a Separate post on that.

Back on the road and Jim was into driving, so we made it to just after dark again. Pulled off at a rest area, cranked up the generator and made dinner. I used ear plugs to soften the sound of the semis and we slept well.

We don't need no stinkin' reservations!

Architecture Cruise Around Manhattan

Our friend Dee told us about this New York City Architecture Cruise. 
We had a day between teaching gigs at Senior Planet in the city and this was a great way to relax and learn more ourselves.

It was a perfect September afternoon for a boat ride.

We were welcomed aboard the gorgeous 1920's themed yacht Manhattan II and cast off for our nearly three-hour tour. 

Our captain gave us the required Coast Guard safety briefing and turned us over to our fantastically knowledgeable guide, Joseph Lengeling, a member of the American Institute of Architects. He kept up an entertaining narration for the entire circumnavigation of the island of Manhattan. 

We were amazed at his expertise about old and new skyscrapers, architects names and dates, residential architecture, bridges, Art Deco and Beaux Arts styles as well as waterfront parks and infrastructure through the years. He told stories of history, biography, design and current events with an enthusiasm that showed his love of the subject. All without notes!

We had great views the entire tour. We took lots of pictures and met some nice folks.

We circumnavigated Manhattan!

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (George Washington Bridge)

We were treated to a complimentary beer, wine, or champagne and enjoyed some tasty snacks provided by the fine crew of two. 

You can't beat this tour for value. 5-Stars! Highly recommended. We'll be back.

Here is a link to more of our pictures. Enjoy!

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