Leah and I are on the road again, continuing our Great American Road Trip–part 4, with some significant changes and improvements.

Last year, during the summer of Trumpandemic, we took an abbreviated trip to upstate New York in search of open outdoor vistas with blue skies and limited exposure to crowds, which we found at Letchworth State Park.

Soon after, we rounded the top of New England to enjoy a requisite Maine lobster dinner…

to dip a toe in the Atlantic on Hampton Beach…

• 

and to gawk at the wealthy from Newport’s Cliff Walk.

We hugged the coastline until we reached Chincoteague, Virginia…

in search of precious ponies…

and to listen to the silence at the Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk, VA.

The trip was short (only 5 weeks and far from our ambitious itineraries of past years) yet refreshing, and daring (for all the anticipated COVID closures) yet unremarkable with one notable exception…I wrecked the Airstream in Tarboro, North Carolina.

Halfway to Tignall, Georgia (our final destination) and needing a lunch break and a leg stretch, we stopped at a charming town boasting a historic district of 18th century and antebellum landmark homes recognized by the National Park Service. I parked the Airstream inches from the curb on a narrow residential road across from Blount-Bridgers House, an 1808 Federal-style mansion-cum-museum,

and returned an hour later to continue our journey.

I casually pulled out, unaware that a protruding power pole ID tag had snagged the rear awning support and ripped all the cleats out from the aluminum skin, taking down the entire awning assembly and crushing the end caps to the tune of $17,000.

Thankfully, our insurance completely covered the damage. As we drove our beloved, but bandaged 27FB Flying Cloud to the Tampa Airstream dealer for repair, we considered the possibility of an upgrade should one be available. As luck would have it, a Florida family was trading a 2018 Globetrotter 27FB at the time, pending delivery of their new Airstream by February 2021.

We felt as if we had won the lottery. A deposit was offered on the spot, considering a total lack of previously owned inventory throughout the country.

The deal was sealed in April, when Leah and I picked up our reconditioned summer rig and took it for a dry run in Ruskin, FL in preparation for our summer adventure. We enjoyed the whisper-quiet, ducted AC; the ease of deploying the power stabilizer jacks; the convenience of rolling out the power awning; and the notion that our roof-mounted solar panels could provide us with increased boondocking possibilities.

Join us on the road as we explore 44 destinations (mostly new, sprinkled with some favorites) for the next 20 weeks:

• May 1: Lake Powhatan/ Asheville, NC
• May 4: Natural Bridge, VA
• May 7: Vineland, NJ/ Northern NJ
• May 12: Philadelphia, PA
• May 15: Pittsburgh, PA
• May 18: Jackson Center Airstream Factory/ Dayton, OH
• May 19: Indianapolis, IN
• May 21: Nashville, TN
• May 24: Memphis, TN
• May 27: Hot Springs/Little Rock AR
• May 29: Eureka Springs, AR
• June 1: Oklahoma City, OK
• June 4: Amarillo, TX
• June 6: Albuquerque, NM
• June 10: Taos, NM
• .June 13: Great Sand Dunes NP, CO
• June 16: Rocky Mountain NP, CO
• June 20: Cheyenne, WY
• June 22: Flaming Gorge, UT
• .June 25: Bear Lake State Park, UT
• June 28: Craters of the Moon NP, ID
• July 1: Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey, UT
  • changed to Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park
• .July 3: Crystal Crane Hot Springs/ Burn, OR
• July 4: Bend, OR
• .July 9: Crater Lake NP, OR
• .July 12: South Beach State Park, OR
• July 15: Seaside, OR
• .July 18: Olympic NP, WA
• .July 21: Port Angeles, WA
• July 25: Mount Rainier NP, WA
• July 28: Bothell, WA
• Aug 2: North Cascades NP, WA
• Aug 5: Spokane, WA
• Aug 8: Glacier NP, MT
• Aug 12: Great Falls, MT
• Aug 14: Billings, MT
• Aug 16: Deadwood, SD
• Aug 19: Badlands NP, SD
• Aug 22: Sioux Falls, SD
• Aug 25: Baraboo, WI
• Aug 29: Clinton Lake State Rec Area/ Dewitt, IL
• Sept 1: Land Between Lakes National Rec Area, TN
• Sept 5: Top of GA Airstream Park
• Sept. 9: Skidaway Island State Park, GA
• Sept 15: Home

Yes, we are happy campers!