Despite Winter being right around the corner, it's that time of year when I start thinking about camping. Sure, I still have four or five months before I need to pick up the trailer from my parents house and start getting it ready for the season. I have to de-winterize it by draining the antifreeze from the water lines. I have to tear apart the wheel bearings, clean them, inspect them, re-grease them, and then put the wheel back together. I also have to check the gas lines for any leaks with my trusty spray bottle full of soapy water.
Meanwhile, @mrsbozz has a list of stuff that she needs to get done. Put everything back in that we took out so the mice don't get into it. A good deep cleaning, and we are ready to hit the road. The Michigan State Park system allows you to start making reservations for their campgrounds six months before your actual trip. That means if we want to make a trip over the weekend of June 12th to the 15th in 2025, I have to make the reservation today.
Which I plan to do when the window opens in about an hour.
You might think six months is plenty of time to get your reservation in, but I'm not kidding when I say some of these campgrounds fill up fast. Actually, what a lot of people do is book sites in the prime spots at some of the more popular campgrounds two weeks out.
Say for example, I wanted to book that weekend I mentioned above and I wanted to guarantee I got two specific sites. I might book June 2nd through the 15th, then I would come back in later and cancel all of the nights except the 12th through the 15th. I've actually never done that before, but many people do and it garners a lot of debate in some of the state park groups that I follow.
The state has actually started to implement cancellation fees to try and keep people from the practice I mentioned above. Depending on when you cancel, you only get a portion of your nightly fee back now, and there is always an $18 service charge on reservations that you never get back.
People still do it though, and people still complain!
It's about 14 degrees F here today with a wind chill that has the temps probably pretty close to 0 which would be something like -17 for the rest of the world I think. It's pretty easy to understand why my thoughts would be drifting towards the warmer months and nights spent around the campfire.
The hope is that @diamonddave will be recovered enough from his medical stuff that he is able to come along with us this year.
Although @mrsbozz gets her summers off from work, I do not, and that means we usually have to stick to long weekends when we camp. Especially this year since I already lost a week of PTO (personal time off) to my first battle with Covid. Talk about annoying! I guess I should just be happy we aren't in the lockdown era where people had to stay at home for two weeks!
Perhaps one day when we are retired, we might be able to take some longer trips. If it were up to @mrsbozz, she would like to sell the house and buy an RV and become "full timers". I like the idea of having a homebase to come back to though.
Anyway, with thoughts of warmer weather and longer trips kicking through my head, I thought it might be fun to put together an ultimate Hive roadtrip. Over the years, there are people on the chain who I have grown pretty close with. I'm going to skip the folks who live in my home state because most of them I could drive a couple of hours and meet up with at any time. There are others though who would take a bit more planning to visit.
I apologize if I leave anyone out. It's not that I don't want to see you, it's just that I either don't know remotely where you live, or I it just slipped my mind. As you can imagine, it would be a long list if I tried to hit everyone on my following list. I'd also need a boat or a jet!
With cold weather settled into Michigan, I'm thinking of someplace warm, so I would probably head down to Florida with the other snowbirds and stop in to see @ksteem and his awesome solar installation, maybe play with his drone(s) and catch some sun on the beach.
I think @solominer is down south somewhere too, so assuming I can find his semi off the grid farm, I might set up the RV for a couple of nights and load up on some garlic and perhaps a little herb.
I also think @enginewitty is down that way as well. I'd definitely be down for some fishing with @thealliance OG. I'd also probably swing by the Washington DC area to check in on @dswigle to make sure she is okay.
From there, I would definitely head North along the coast to New Jersey and bug @bdmillergallery for a bit. Drink some whiskey, tinker about on his Jeep, have him paint a portrait of @mrsbozz and I, kick it by the lake, nothing much really...
While in Jersey, I might even stop by to see @silverd510, check out his new workshop and drool over his silver collection.
Next stop... @tattoodjay in Massachusetts. I bet it would be fun to just take a walk with him and hear some of his stories from over the years. Maybe do some light trail photography and see in person all the cool places he has shown us over the years.
Dang, I just realized how long this post is getting. I guess I am going to have to split it up into two parts. Tomorrow is Friday, so that means my post will be about Finance, but check back next week when I continue my Ultimate Hive Road Trip.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
I've often thought about doing as your wife suggests: selling everything and just living out of a camper. I'd love to just drive around Japan, camping and taking photos. My wife would never go for that idea. And, as you say, it is nice to have a homebase.
One of these days I need to get over there to go fishing with @enginewitty too. Actually I haven't been fishing in years, since before moving to Japan, so I'm sure I'll do a terrible job, but will be fun just meeting and chatting. When I make that trip, you should drive down too. I believe @coinjoe already volunteered to meet up with us as well. He's in southern Indiana.
That would be fun. I would think there are tons of opportunities to fish over there being an island nation like it is. I'll have to see what my schedule looks like when the time comes!
That's a great thought, and east coast vacation! Start in Virginia or South Carolina and head north! I haven't been back east in many long years now. Too cold in winter, just like you're having right now.
That's wild that you have to book so early on campsites, but that means there's a lot of demand. The smart man plans ahead and if there's no cancellation fee why not book up the two weeks and keep what you want nearer to the date.
Yeah, a lot more people used to do that before the cancellation fee. Actually back in the day you couldn't even reserve I don't think, it was just first come first serve. There are a lot of people who wish it would go back to that. The East Coast is just the beginning. I'm working my way back to you, no worries!
That would be awesome! Pacific Coast Highway is quite a drive! Another place worth visiting is southern Utah, it's a beautiful place. Stay in Moab and you have three national parks in very close proximity. The nice thing about having that trailer is you don't have to pay for hotels, and those are so expensive anymore...
They really are! My buddy took his Jeep out to Moab a couple of years ago. I think he is going to take it back out to a different area of Utah next year. He was talking about it anyway. It's definitely a state that I underestimated. I really do want to drive the PCH one day, but things might be dodgy around Malibu right now!
Sounds like a cool plan for a road trip and to catch up with some cool people on here
Would be great to meet up with you
I thought it would be a fun idea! Perhaps one day...
dont they say keep dreaming it and it will come to be
Head on over. Just give me a heads up so I’m available to meet up.
You ought to do a long trip some time to meet these people. I know the distances are huge though. Some people like the nomadic life, but I like my home comforts. I have all my music gear set up here.
Yes, even with the nicest RV or trailer, I would still want a stick and brick to come home to.
It really does help you get through winter when you start looking ahead and focusing on planning activities for the warmer months. I'd love to get some camping in this next year. My brother and I are planning a trip to Colorado for the end of May to Telluride. Can't wait for that!
That sounds like a fun time! My wife and I have talked about visiting Telluride in the past, but since neither of us are skiers, we don't really know if that is the smartest place to go! I always figured there is more to do there than just ski, but I would imagine skiing is the big draw.
I've never been so I hope so! There's tons of things to do there outside of skiing season. We're going to have access to four-wheelers so we'll do some trail riding and there are lots of hiking trails. I don't always synch with higher altitudes quickly and it's a short trip so that part should prove to be interesting.
Oh wow, that is cool. I bet that will make it fun. I wish we would have had more time to do some hiking, but I am not sure I would have been able to handle the altitude either. Denver wasn't bad, but when you get up past 10,000 feet, it's crazy!
This post made me think about your 3rd wheel or RV or whatever you have. I don't aspire to much as far as possessions are concerned but while I was in Mexico I ran into a group of RV enthusiasts and I have to say, that is one piece of property that I would really like to have. Being able to live just anywhere that you want, especially now that Starlink is available to anyone, just seems like a dream come true.
Sorry for not properly addressing the actual topic of this post, I think it is wonderful that you are going to meet up with people. I should try to organize another HIVE meetup in Vietnam because there are quire a few users here and I have only ever met a handful of them.
My wife and I have talked about the benefits of having a cabin somewhere versus being able to travel to different places and they both have their pros and cons. I actually don't have any plans for this trip yet. I was just doing it as a bit of fun, but maybe one day I will be able to actually achieve it.
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Wow! :) so interesting!
!discovery 35
Than you!
There's an awesome campsite RIGHT ON THE BEACH just north of us. Ormond Beach/PalmCoast area I think. I want to camp there and don't even have a camper!
Check it out and would love to meet you guys for an afternoon or dinner. (I'm starting new work after next week and not sure how schedules will be yet, but likely pretty busy), but a person still has to eat!
Haha, for sure! This is just a pipe dream right now, but maybe one day it will actually come to fruition. It's been over a decade since I have been to Florida.
Hecks ya, hmu when you come through !PIMP