2007 Wrap-up

Dorcas and I have done more traveling this year than we have ever done in our whole lives. I retired in the summer of 2006 and Dorcas retired in the spring of 2007, and we have certainly taken advantage of our new-found freedom. At the beginning of 2007 we traded up to a bigger and better motor home. During the year we put 12,676 miles on our new motor home and spent 149 nights in the coach. No grass growing under our wheels! For those that think we may have abandoned our tent-camping roots, we spent 51 additional nights on the ground sleeping in a tent. Major RV excursions included 12 weeks touring the west this summer, 6 weeks in the Adirondacks and New England in the fall and our winter Florida trip which is currently in progress. Major tent camping trips included 11 nights canoe camping on the Current and Jack's Fork Rivers in Missouri, 12 nights bike camping on the Katy Trail in Missouri and 12 nights canoe camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. During 2007 we visited 32 different states. If the good Lord is willing and the price of diesel doesn't rise, we hope to do just as much traveling in 2008.

There were also a few major downers in 2007. My mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and is battling that terrible disease. We also lost Izaak, our loving camping, hiking and paddling companion for more than ten years. We miss him terribly and are fighting the temptation to get another dog right away. Our plan now is to wait until the end of next summer, because there are some places we want to visit this year where it would be difficult to take a dog. Maybe by then the right dog will adopt us. In the meantime, we make it a point to pet as many dogs as we can.