Skip to content

Where’d We Go 2018

Epic, incredible, unforgettable, inspirational, enlightening, and informative are a few of the adjectives we use to summarize our 2018 travel adventures. We started the year in southern Texas and ended in Arizona. In between those states we drove east as far as Ohio, traveled across the northern US states starting in Wisconsin and ending as far west as Washington state before making our way south to Arizona.

Our route was generated based on a map of places we have on our “to visit” list, suggestions from others, information gleaned from vlogs, blogs, google searches, websites, etc. Weather also is a huge driving force in making a travel route. At the beginning of the year we posted a 2018 travel plan that we followed for the most part. Two major factors in route changes from the plan to actual were due to a family emergency that delayed our summer travel by several weeks and the massive wildfires in the west causing us to turn back east from the Washington/Oregon border to Idaho instead of reaching the Pacific Ocean. Remaining flexible is definitely a key to successful full-time travel!

Listed below are statistics of the numerous locations that we visited during 2018. Each one of these amazing parks, museums, markets, etc. are mentioned in our weekly travel journals found in the archives here. We hope that if you have any inkling to travel that this will be a catalyst in your decision to get out there and explore. We look forward to seeing you on the road!

Eighteen States

Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Our definition of a visited state is that it includes a least one overnight stay.

Nine National Parks

Teddy Roosevelt (ND),  Bryce Canyon (UT), Zion (UT), Canyonlands. Arches (UT),  Capitol Reef (UT), Grand Teton (WY), Yellowstone (MT, WY, ID), and Glacier (MT).

Six National Monuments

Tonto (AZ), Gold Butte (NV), Pipe Spring (AZ), Cedar Breaks (UT), Grand Staircase-Escalante (UT),  and Craters of the Moon (ID). 

Three National Historic Sites

Three National Historic Sites – Minidoka (ID), B Reactor (WA), and Natchez Historic Park (MS).

Six Other National Sites

Vicksburg National Military Park (MS), Natchez Trace National Parkway (MS, AL, TN), Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (TN), Oregon Trail National Historic Trail (ID, KS, MO, NE, OR, WA, WY), Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (NV), and Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NV). 

Eleven State Parks

Valley of Fire (NV), Pink Sand Dunes (UT),  Dead Horse (UT),  Goblin Valley (UT), Mount Spokane (WA), Riverside (WA), Washington (WA), Big Bone Lick (KY), Dunbar Cave (TN), and Three Island Crossing (ID). Farragut (ID)

Four State Capitol Buildings

Jackson (MS), Bismarck (ND), Boise (ID), and Salt Lake City (UT).

Seventeen Museums

George HW Bush Presidential Library and Museum (TX), Phoenix Art Museum (AZ), Heard Museum (AZ), Scottsdale’s Museum of the West (AZ), Western Sky Warbird Air Museum (NV), Pioneer Museum (UT), Museum of Clean (ID), Idaho Potato Museum (ID), Miracle of America (MT), Buffalo Museum (ND), North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum (ND), Roger Marris Museum (ND), Fargo Air Museum (ND), Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum (IN), KitchenAid Experience (OH),  USS Lexington (TX), and Longhorn Museum (TX). 

Fifteen Factory Tours

Airstream (OH), Thor Vegas/Axis (check out our Axis review) (IN), Nexus (IN), Lippert (IN), Spangler Candy (OH), Kitchen Aid (OH), Nissan Smyrna (TN), Toyota Motor Manufacturing (TX), Toyota Motor Manufacturing (MS), Tiffin Motorhomes (AL), Oliver Trailers (TN), Blue Bell Creameries (TX), SAS San Antonio Shoemakers (TX), Ethel M Chocolate (NV), and Buck Knives (ID). 

Eleven Farmer’s Markets

Tomball (TX), Gilbert (AZ), Superstition (AZ), Chandler (AZ), Moab (UT), Provo (UT), Boise (ID), Nampa (ID), Coeur d’Alene (ID), Green Bay (WI), and Appleton (WI).

Three Gardens

Gilgal Sculpture Garden (UT), Manito Park Gardens (WA), and Grotto Garden (WI)

Two Major Rodeos

San Antonio (TX) and Houston (TX).

Two Zoos

Como Park Zoo & Conservatory (MN) and Marshfield Zoo (WI). 

In addition to all the amazing locations listed above, we visited many, many city and county parks, wineries, orchards, farms, cheese factories, hiked dozens of trails, spent time helping family and friends with projects, remodeled a house for three weeks, followed scenic drives for miles, visited our beloved Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, and much more.

Now it might seem like everyday of the year was spent racing around from spot to spot seeing the sights but that’s just not the reality. More days were spent relaxing at home in the RV than were spent out. Time was also spent doing mundane tasks like cleaning, grocery shopping and filling up with gasoline. Here’s a few statistics on those tasks:

  • 39 – gasoline fills in the car
  • 35 – gasoline fills in the RV
  • 36 – unique Walmart stores we shopped at for general merchandise and/or groceries
  • 64 – grocery store visits other than Walmart
  • 16 – times we did laundry either at a laundromat or at the home of a family member

2018 was an incredible adventure for us and one that we hope to repeat in 2019. Future plans include visiting sixteen new states and two Canadian provinces along with stays at numerous Harvest Hosts locations. So many, in fact that we are calling our summer travels the “Harvest Hosts Tour”. Stay tuned for the detailed reveal of our 2019 travel plans.  We are excited to have you join us on another epic adventure year. See you then!