First, our favorite view, location and doing what we love. Below is our first year travel itinerary with hyper-links to those locations where we have posted a blog. For some, we don’t have a separate blog, so that is incorporated in the “Summary of our first five trips.” We’ve included our “rates” for these. A 1 means we will never return and 5 means we will be back! If there is an * by the name, we have stayed multiple times.

Our favorite view!

The highest point on the parkway (south of Waynesville, near Mount Pisgah in North Carolina) is 6053 feet or above sea level on Richland Balsam Mountain at Milepost 431

We were on our way to hike at Graveyard Fields

This is our initial itinerary. For the next year, see our It’s Our One Year Anniversary as Full-Timers blog.

These are our locations visited since September 2013, with the most current first, with a rank based upon OUR experiences.  We tried to include the addresses, phone number, dates we were there, how many nights and a brief description of our time there, unless there is a hyperlink to the blog about our time there or to Compendium (our review of the campground).  Reflecting back (in March 2015) we have really enjoyed every location and have seen some great sights and learned a lot of history about the founding of this great country.

If there is an * by the name, we have stayed multiple times. The ranks are our personal opinions, with 5 as we must stay there again down to 1 where we will not stay again!

140 nights total from our first year as “extended stay” travelers

24). *Jacksonville North / St. Marys KOA, (rank 5) 5/19/2014 (3nd stay-one night)

23). Lake Aire RV Park & Campground, (rank 3) 4375 Hwy 162, Hollywood, SC 29449; Phone: 843-571-1271; 5/13-19/2014 (6 nights) (Toured Charleston, SC). LOVED the history here. Campground was ok. See the hyper-linked blog.

22). Campfire Lodgings, 116 Appalachian Village Road, Asheville, NC 28804; (rank 3) Phone (828) 658-8012; 5/9-13/2014 (4 nights). GREAT time. See the hyper-linked blog.

21). *Mayberry Campground, (rank 5) 114 Bunker Road, Mt. Airy, NC; Telephone: 336-789-6199 5/6-5/7/2014 (3 nights). Mt. Airy is Andy Griffiths’s home town and his show, Andy of Mayberry, was modeled after the town. The town has exploited this in a good way and have so many things to help you relive that wonderful show. We loved it and everything about the area. We wanted to watch some of his movies and/or TV shows afterwards, but the only way was to buy DVDs and we can’t carry around anything else in our RV! Very welcoming and relaxing. Great hiking nearby.

20) Jellystone at Natural Bridge #160; (rank 5) PO Box 266,16 Recreation Lane, Natural Bridge Station, VA 24579; Phone: 540-291-2727; 5/5-5/6/2014 (1 night). We did as much as possible here for an over nighter. Main thing was to see the Natural Bridge!

19). Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA, (rank 5) 484 Walnut Hills Road, Staunton, VA. 24401; Telephone # (800) 562-7566; 5/2-5/4/14 (2 nights). Beautiful resort and great location. We had a blast and hope to return.

18). North Fork RV Resort (small spaces-staff not very pleasant), (rank 1), Front Royal, VA 5/1-5/2 (2 nights). We had a fabulous time hiking and exploring. But the resort was not pleasant. Too small of spaces and the staff was borderline rude.

17). *KOA Fredericksburg 4/18-5/1 (13 nights), (rank 5) Jessica’s birthday and family time.

16) Waterway RV Resort, 850 Cedar Point Blvd., Cedar Point, NC. 28584, (rank 4); telephone # (888)318-1243; 4/13-18/2014 (5 nights). Read about this great time in the hyper-linked blog.

15). *KOA Fredericksburg, 3/26-4/13/14 (13 nights), (rank 5) Took Colin to Doc for 7 mo check up. Family time.

14). *Pirateland, 5401 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, SC, (rank5) 3/22-26/2014 (4 nights). We found more to do and really enjoyed our time here.

13). *Jacksonville North / St. Marys KOA, (rank 5) 3/22/2014 (2nd stay-one night). Again, just a stop over.

12). *Jacksonville North / St. Marys KOA, (rank 5) Scrubby Bluff Road; Kingsland, GA; Phone: 800-562-5220; 1/7-10/2014 (3 nights). This was a convenient stop coming or going to Sebring and heading to our daughter’s home.

87 nights total

11). *Pirateland, 5401 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, SC, (rank 5) 1/2-7/2014 (6 nights). We loved the beach at Myrtle Beach and tried this campground, which we now preferred over the other one. Friends from our first church now have a home here so we got up with the husband to catch up, went to their church and learned more about the area. But it was freezing (literally) so that put a hamper on things. But we found some great historical places to visit. We can walk on the beach no matter the weather.

10). *KOA Fredericksburg, 12/19-1/2/2014 (rank 5) (14 nights) Christmas with Jessica and family.

9) Jolly Time Acres, (rank 4) 289 home Taylor Road, St George, SC 29477; Dec 18 (one night). Bill stayed here alone as I flew up to Fredericksburg to care for Colin who was pretty sick. Bill drove up later after he handled a few things at home.

64 nights total

8). Panama City Beach RV Resort, (rank 5) 4702 Thomas Dr., Panama City Beach, FL 32408, Phone: 850-249-7352; 11/26-12/1 (5 nights) With friends. No blog. We stayed here over Thanksgiving. The park was fabulous, but it was freezing cold believe it or not.

7). Scenic Mountain RV Park, (rank 3) 2686 Irwinton Road/Business 441 N, Milledgeville, GA 11/22-11/26 (4 nights). No link to this blog, but I hope to write more one day and show pictures. This was a fascinating little town, originally the capital of Georgia. So much GREAT history. We rank this as having our favorite tour of a historical building, the Governor’s Mansion. The tour guide was a local college student majoring in history.

6). Forest Lake RV & Camping Resort, (rank 2) Thousand Trails Drive, Advance, NC 27006 11/19-11/22 (3 nights). No link to blog because this was such a short visit. We began to explore NC and had a few great hikes, met up with Bill’s cousin and we toured and throughly enjoyed the Billy Graham Library/museum.

5). *KOA Fredericksburg, VA, (rank 5) 10/10-11/19 (40 nights). No link to blog because this was family time.

4). Ocean Lakes Campground, Myrtle Beach, SC, (rank 3) 10/7-10/2013 (3 nights). No link to a blog. This was a nice resort and we had a good time.

3). Jekyll Island Campground, (rank 5) 10/4-6/2013 (3 nights). Oh we just loved this time! Read about it in the hyper-linked blog.

2) Port St. Lucie RV Resort, FL, (rank 5) a Passport America Campground, 9/17-9/21/2013 (4 nights). Fantastic!Read about it in the hyper-linked blog. Our only complaint was that the beach was about a 6 mile drive. The Campground is very isolated and not in that great of an area and it was so windy on the beach every day we were there. Not sure if this is typical or just the time of the year.

1). Tampa East, FL, Sun RV resorts, (rank 3) 9/5-9/7/2013 (2 nights). Great time. Read about it in the hyper-linked blog.