The Places We Been - 78 in 2023

We stayed at 78 places in 2023! That meant 78 times parking, most of the time setting up but some were over overnighters. In those 78 locations we saw incredible places and we met people that left imprints on our hearts.

It started out with

Falcon Heights, TX where we rang in the New Year and I got to take a guided New Years hike at Falcon Lake State Park.

Next up in order are:

Del Rio, TX

Terlingua, TX

La Cruces, NM

Phoenix, AZ

Quartzsite, AZ 

Lake Havasu, AZ

Williams, AZ

Cotton Wood, AZ

Church Rock, NM

Casa Blanka, NM

Maxwell, NM

Fountain, CO

Aurora, CO

Lake Wood, CO

Colorado Springs, CO

Nun, CO

Hot Springs, SD

Box Elder, SD

Custer, SD

Murdo, SD

Fort Thompson Lower Bruce, SD

South Sioux City, NE

Dike, IA

Kalona, IA

Thompson, IL

Elkhart, IN

Fremont, OH

Madison, OH

North East, PA

Youngstown, NY

Geneva, NY

Little Falls, NY

Cambridge, NY

Shelburne, VT

East Montpelier, VT

Danville, VT

Hanover, ME

Calais, ME

Eastport, ME

Bar Harbor, ME

Boothbay, ME

Echo Lake, ME

Arundel, ME

Brimfield, MA

Princeton, NY

Geneva, NY

Ripley, NY

Amherst, OH

Shipshewanna, IN

Elkhart, IN

Broadview Heights, OH

Fairhope, PA

Harper’s Ferry, WV

Ashland, VA

Virginia Beach, VA

Rodanthe, NC

Belhaven, NC

Jacksonville, NC

Myrtle Beach, SC

Summerton, SC

Hephzibah, GA

Sarasota, FL

Naples, FL

Sarasota, FL

Crystal River, FL

Holt, FL

New Orleans, LA

Vidalia, LA 

Bossier City, LA

Frisco, TX

San Antonio, TX back at Lackland Airforce Base where we left on Dec 23, 2022 to start out our 2023 adventures. It seemed fitting to start out 2024 here now to launch our Westward bound adventures.

This I said in the previous blog post will be a much shorter list as our aim is staying 4 weeks at a time in places, with some 2 week stays plus of course travel days. 

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1zdW0K_FMG8uyvX-FBoFG69L0vutAWeo&ll=33.30069552069123%2C-103.63833943359222&z=4

Happy New Year 2024!

 Ron and I wish you all a wonderful start into 2024.

We hit the road running and so far we feel super excited about this new year and we are already hitting lots of check marks. 

We made it to San Antonio, TX on the 31st of December so we rang in the new year sleeping like babies. Instead of champagne at midnight we went for Mimosas at breakfast. Cheers.

Our first big change we decided on was us slowing down our travels this year. Last year was filled full of adventure and getting so many bucket list items marked off. From seeing places we always wanted to explore, to meeting up with family and friends we haven’t seen in years. A large highlight was the many ‘strangers’ we met that we now count as close friends and some even family. The joys were many in 2023. Not all was perfect and we faced heartbreak as well as I lost my Mom in May. It was a fast paced year and we both realize it is time now to use 2024 as a slow paced and more reflective year. 

This meant we booked a month here in San Antonio, TX at the Lackland Airforce Base FamCamp. A wonderful spot for us to get many things on our to do list done. First of all medical appointments that need to be addressed. Pain Clinic, Dentist, Eye Care are some of it. I went and donated 10 inches of my hair so I am even dropping some weight on that end for a good cause, I hope. 

Also, our daughter is getting out of the Navy at the end of this year so we had to decide to use this month to move our items stored at her house to a storage unit. This will happen later this month once we settle on a place and then rent a U-Haul to move one garage worth of stuff.

We are also brining home BooBoo today. Sweet Boo was staying with our daughter since we started this journey and we are now feeling ready to bring him home and join us gypsies on the road. So our traveling family is going from 4 to 5.

After our stay here we are planning on heading straight to Q, Quartzsite AZ to meet up with our traveling family there for a month. Then on to Nevada for our Renegade Bootcamp and Driving School before we aim North West. The Oregon and Washington Coast will be our aim this year. 

So wishing all of you that your goals and dreams come true. Nothing happens until we step forward to make it happen. Yes we will face curveballs and heartbreak this year. Every year has them but we will fill the rest of the time with being grateful for what we have and soaking in new adventures.

Much love,

Anke, Ron, Keetna, Oliver & Boomer

TX - The Three Musketeers

 The wonderful Herndon Family descended on a month long trip to the U.S. from Australia to visit Family and Friends and I was lucky to spend a couple of days with them and then one breakfast with Sonya and Heidi. 

The three of us are truly the legends in this 19 year friendship. I first met Heidi with her boys Dylan and Ryan at a Mall Playground and we instantly clicked. Then we decided, or Heidi convinced me 😉 to join the multiples club and on our first meetup there we met Sonya. The three of us shared a table and our history started there. Through thick and thin, with moving out of state and then even one of us moving to another continent we never lost a step. From our kids in diapers to 6 grown young women and men.

Our journeys with our families and kids diverged a lot, and from the outside one would not realize the strong bond we forged and still hold. 

So I am ending my last blog post for the year 2023 with saying how grateful I am to my family and friends that make my life so beautiful. ♥️