2020 in Review – Loving the RV Life

2020 in Review – 2020 was a year many would not want to repeat! It was our second year of full-time RV living. We found out it’s easy to follow CDC guidelines for Covid-19 while living in an RV. This includes limited outings, social distancing and wearing masks when we are out hiking, exploring or buying groceries. Who knew living in an RV was an easy way to stay safe during a pandemic!

We visited 18 states where we stayed at least one night. We added five states to our U.S. State Map: ND, MT, WY, LA and FL. Mark drove the motorhome 8,020 miles, which was 1,840 miles less than we did in 2019. We stayed 222 nights in RV parks (165 with full hookups and 47 electric only). We stayed 144 nights in boondocking/moochdocking locations. These locations were in the desert southwest, Harvest Host locations and visiting family members. Thank you to Mom and Dad and to our daughter and son-in-law for letting us stay on their property in return for helping with chores or projects. We even visited our other daughter and son-in-law in AK in November for 12 days!

When the pandemic was announced on March 11, there were so many unknowns for RVers. Fortunately, Arizona was one of the few states which kept their RV parks open during the early part of the pandemic. With cruises and international travel shut down, many families have now purchased RVs for their vacations. This is good news for the RV manufacturers! Unfortunately, this puts additional strains on RV park capacities which makes it harder for RVers to find openings.

2020 in Review – Highlights

January-March

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The winter season in Arizona was perfect! Our favorite boondocking sites are Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and Plomosa Road in Quartzsite. We attended the annual Quartzite RV Tent Show and always seem to find something we need! We were fortunate to get a site at Lake Havasu State Park with Peter/Janna (Peter is Mark’s brother) for the annual Lake Havasu Balloon Festival. It’s fun to see the morning balloon accent and the “night glow” is our favorite!

In February, our family (Cassie, Marty, Carissa and Oliver) came to celebrate my 60th birthday early. We stayed at Red Rock Canyon Campground west of Las Vegas (no hookups). We found places for all of us to sleep in the motorhome. For instance, Mark slept underneath the dining table so our grandson could be with Heidi and Carissa in our bed! So many memories from exploring and hiking with them in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. In March, I celebrated my birthday at the Phoenix Motorway. This was my first NASCAR race ever! Never too late to try something new!

April-June

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With the worldwide pandemic hitting the U.S., we decided to move into an RV park for a month. Verde Ranch RV Resort in Camp Verde AZ was perfect. It was a new park, had lots of space and was located along the Verde River. We even ventured out and hiked some of Sedona’s amazing hiking trails. Once May came, 90+ degree days were more common, so we drove to Colorado Springs CO for a few days. Hiking trails were plentiful and the scent of pine was in the air! After that, it was off to Sioux Falls SD (we are South Dakota residents). We explored and relaxed in several SD state parks. They have large RV sites and are usually next to rivers or lakes.

Finally, the weather was warmer so we could head to MN to visit family! We first stopped at Heidi’s Mom and Dad’s farm where we helped with a few projects. It’s always fun to have morning coffee time with them! Then it was time to spend time with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. We enjoyed babysitting our grandson so our daughter could work at the family’s strawberry farm. It’s fun to pick (and eat) fresh strawberries!

July-September

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With the pandemic continuing, we “moochdocked” on our daughter’s farm. We spent quality time with them, canned produce, played games, helped with chores/projects, and watched our grandson grow up right in front of our eyes. We were fortunate to celebrate his 1st birthday too! Wonderful memories were captured in photos!

It was time for an adventure, so we took an extended trip to ND, MT, WY and SD. Highlights were hiking in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, going to the Medora Musical, picking grapes at Tongue River Winery, hiking all the trails at Devil’s Tower and witnessing the annual buffalo roundup in Custer SD! Heidi even bought a new sewing/quilting/embroidery machine in Rapid City!

October-December

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It was time to head south, so we decided it would be an adventure to follow the Mississippi River. Adventure it was! We drove The Great River Road which is a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through ten states. We will treasure what we learned about the Mississippi River and all of it’s 29 locks and dams! After that, we made our way to Foley AL where we stayed a month at Anchor’s Aweigh RV Resort next to Steve/Kris (Steve is Mark’s brother). Spending time with family is great even following social distancing guidelines! Our RV site was just six miles from the white sands of the Gulf of Mexico!

Our other daughter and son-in-law live in Alaska and we took three flights (PNS/ATL/SEA/ANC) to see them. We were very impressed with Delta Airlines and felt very safe flying. It was so fun to be there with lots of snow on the ground and to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Who knew there would be so many things to do in AK in the winter! We hiked, put puzzles together, played games, installed a window seat with homemade cushions, and ate wild game (bear, caribou, moose and snowshoe hare) and fish (salmon and halibut). So many great memories happened in those 12 days!

Christmas 2020

The Christmas season sure was different this year because of the pandemic. The Sundays leading up to Christmas were spent on FaceTime with each of us making our own Christmas cookies! What a great way for everyone to connect and make something sweet too! On Christmas Day, we connected via FaceTime with family to celebrate virtually this year. We can all hope Christmas 2021 will be back to normal!

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In conclusion, we hope you found this “2020 in Review” helpful. It was fun to go through our photos to see all the amazing things we did in 2020! We are now in St. Augustine FL enjoying being a half mile from the Atlantic Ocean. The sunsets over the saltwater marsh are especially spectacular!

Loving the RV Life – Heidi and Mark

Check out our previous blog: How can you quilt in your RV?