Winter 2023: Wrap Up

Shifting Gears

Sunset at Lake Pleasant

For Winter 2023 we tried to slow down a bit and we found that the best part of traveling is exploring new things, made even more enjoyable with old friends, while making new friends.

In Texas we really enjoyed visiting the Turtle Museum as well as the Nature Reserve, but what made it special was experiencing this with our friends from Iowa, Randy and Lu Ann.  And their friends were able to get to Port Isabel for a few days while we were there and we now have new friends.  In fact, the pic below is those same friends, visiting us at our lake place.

Mary, Lu Ann, me, Tim, Randy and Mike on our lakefront

In Arizona, we were able to connect with my old friend from high school and went golfing with his friend (who happens to be in a known grunge era band and was excited to start their 40th anniversary tour) and now consider him our friend.  We also connected with old friends from near our old neighborhood in Savage and even saw an old friend of our son's on the ball field (who was drafted by the Mariners out of high school).  While staying at the Voyager Park in Tucson, we met some people from a town just about 15 miles from our house that have been coming to the park for years and LOVE it, and now we have new friends we hope to see next year. 

Tim and I at Dell Urich Golf Course in Tucson

For the third year we evaluated the RV parks we stayed at for longer term stays, using the same criteria we've used for the past three years.   Even though Superstition Sunrise and Voyagers scored almost the same, we really like the Tucson area as it has way more biking trails and we planned on returning in 2024.  It's also way easier to get a spot than Superstition.  Focusing on places where we felt we could connect with old friends and make new ones has really helped us make that decision.

We are both spreadsheet junkies.  I tend to keep track of the expenses and miles, while Tim tracks hiking miles.  Gas prices really affected us on this trip!  The lowest we paid was $2.67 in Waco in January and the highest was $3.99 in Phoenix February.  For Winter 2023 here are some key stats:

• Total Miles: 7069, total with RV: 5425
• Total Travel Time (with RV):  89.75 hours
• Average RV Park rate $45.58
• Total Fuel Cost $2711.63
• Total hiking miles: 74.2
• Total biking miles: 114.97
• Rounds of golf: 4 (hopefully more in 2024!)

We're looking forward to our fourth winter 'not in Minnesota' in 2024, hoping to see more sunsets, play more rounds of golf, get better at pickleball, and take more photos along the way. And if we are lucky, maybe run into Paul McCartney, who has a place in the Tuscon area!

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Have you ever wintered in the south?  What is your favorite place to winter?  Leave your comments below!  Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.