We remained at Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO at our resident camp host position for the first part of 2019. We went to our favotire spot in Moab, Utah for a dirtbike trip the last week of April.
We completed our responsibilities to Chatfield by June 1st and headed up to GoldHill, CO for a couple weeks of camp at Colorado Mountain Ranch (The most wonderful kids camp EVER)
By this point I had less than 2 months until baby #5 was due and was quite uncomfortable chasing after 2 year old Joshua! We left camp and headed to Steamboat Springs to park on my parent’s property where we would remain until 2 weeks after the baby was born.
Baby Radford showed up a bit later than expected, on August 1st 2019. That left us with only 2 short weeks before we needed to hit the road to make it Family Camp in Swanzey, New Hampshire. It is a loong drive from Steamboat Springs to NH. We only had a handful of days to do it, so we didn’t get to do much exploring along the way. Also, it’s difficult to find boondocking spots in the Eastern part of the country. There is always overnights available at places like Walmarts & Cracker Barrels. But not nearly as much public land that you can park on for a week at a time out there. This was the third time we have been to Pilgrim Pines Conference Center and we love it there. They have a neat campground in the woods near the lake where we stayed while we attended the conference. I love the rolling hills and the lush green of this part of the country. The old towns with bookstores and produce stands make it feel like you are traveling back in time.
When our conference was over, we decided we really wanted to go see Niagara Falls on our way back west. So for our next stop, we went to the NY side of Niagara falls, then the Canada side. We were stopping to visit family in Detroit and the quickest way to Detroit from Niagara falls is through Canada. We did all that in one day but WOW! Niagara will always stand out as an absolutely muse see destination!
We had done some research on getting into the Canadian border and we weren’t sure how difficult it would be with our big family, our RV and a dog. Especially with one of our family members being less than month old and having no official birth certificate yet! In the end it wasn’t difficult at all, we had to wait a little bit for someone to come talk to us. When they showed up they asked for all of our paperwork (birth certificates) and asked what we were doing there (Just driving through so we would only be there for a couple hours) . They took a quick look around and sent us on our way. Getting back into the US border was about the same. They did mention that it seemed odd we were all 7 born in different states except the youngest 2 who were both born in CO. I never realized that until then! 7 family members and 6 different birth states! I had never been to Canada and we enjoyed it during our quick drive through. The little differences were interesting, like the speed limit signs and trying to figure out how much gas costs in comparison since they measure it by the litre! We made to our destination near Detroit late that evening. We spent the next day visiting family and playing in Lake Eerie
We decided to head up Michigan and go through the UP because…well, why not? I wish I had more pictures from that drive. It was very interesting and beautiful up there. Tons of lake towns along the Great Lakes and lots of open land and forest.
If you wonder why we were moving so fast, it was because we had a wedding to get to back in Colorado in September. Jon also had a limited time off left and we wanted to make the most of it. We are always determined to get our sticker map on the side of our trailer filled in with the missing states so that often means choosing routes way out of our way. From the UP, we headed to South Dakota to cross Mount Rushmore off the bucket list. Mount Rushmore is still one of the most memorable stops for the kids. The monument made a real impression on them and was very educational.
We were out of time at this point due to wedding we had to be at near Rifle, CO on August 31st. So we headed to Rifle. Rifle has some really beautiful scenery. Rifle Gap State Park is one of the several state parks in the area and is a beautiful place to stay near the lake.
After the wedding we were ready to stop moving for a little bit and find a good place to relax! We were still new to this boondocking thing and wanted a spot where is wasn’t too hot in September, with good solar potential and cell signal and little to no neighbors. So, we headed over to Woodland Park, located in the mountains near Colorado Springs. Still one of our favorite spots!
It was time for Jon to head back to work after his paternity leave, he was starting a new position and didn’t want to risk poor internet or power issues so we headed back to base camp for a few weeks to settle in to his new position. Yup-Steamboat Springs!
We love love love Steamboat! But as always, I was eager to get on the road again! So in late September we headed to Astoria, Oregon to visit my brother. I have written before about some of the fun things to do in that area. Although often cold, wet & breezy. We love it there.
One of the big things I wanted to show my family was the Redwoods. I had been to see them in Northern California as a kid and they made such an impression on me. So from Astoria, Oregon we headed down the coast-highway 101 with plans to stay at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. This is such a cool state park but when we got there the internet wasn’t good enough to stay and it was super super tight in the forest. We opted for a campground nearby: Ramblin’ Redwoods Campground and so glad we did! It was a fantastic place with amazing staff, as well as hiking trails and a playground and many potential forts in Redwood stumps!
From Northern California, we headed over to accomplish another major bucket list item-The Grand Canyon. We were amazed to find you could find free off grid parking just 10 minutes from the park entrance on the South Rim. So that is where we stayed for the week, the kids and I headed into the park almost daily to look around and attend Ranger programs. When Jon was available to come with us, we did some hiking as well. No matter how many times you see it, it always feels like your standing in front of a mural.
When we left the Grand Canyon, we headed to Four Corners National Monument. I always thought it would be really cool to see where all 4 the states connect and fun for the kids to be in 4 states and once. All in all, the whole area around the Monument is very unimpressive. The Monument itself it surprisingly low key and simple.
Our plan was to head back out East, stop in Ohio for a little bit to visit some old friends and our church before heading down to Florida to spend Christmas with Jon’s mom. Every now and then, you find an unexpected gem on the way to somewhere. That is exactly what we found in Elk City, Oklahoma. We were just looking for a place along our route to spend a week and break up the trip (We only travel on Jon’s days off). The city park in Elk City was listed as a potential boondocking spot on our FreeRoam app. As it turns out, it is a lovely city park located right on a pond with a playground, bathrooms, a dump station and shower facilities! To top it off, this park has 5 RV pads with free electric and water! As it turns out, they are no longer free, I just looked it up and they are now $15/night. Still well worth it for the location! We thoroughly enjoyed our week at this lovely park. The girls took the raft out on the pond and made memories they will never forget! (Mostly because they got stuck out there, scared to death and ended up on the other side of the pond to be rescued by dad). My favorite part of this stop was the Route 66 Museum in the town of Elk City. You guys- the place is a must see. So cool!!
From there we completed our journey to Tipp City, Ohio. We stayed there for a month visiting the church where we met and went to Church camp as teens as well as some old friends. We were also looking at houses in the area. We did not plan to stop full time RVing but thought it might be wise to invest in a house and that it would be nice to have our own home base for storage in a low cost area. We had looked all over the country as we drove just to compare housing costs and cost of living in different areas. We love Colorado, but the cost of living is so high we couldn’t keep traveling so much of the time if we purchased there, we wanted to purchase somewhere with a low enough cost that we could keep traveling in the RV without having to rent it out. So we looked around this area at houses, we prayed a lot and then we headed down to FL to spend the remainder of the year in the warm weather with family.
Now, I have never been a big Florida fan, too hot and too crowded. As far as beaches go, I prefer the dramatic beauty of the West Coast. However, I have to say, I could spend every December in Florida quite happily! It is so wonderful to enjoy bicycles and beaches in shorts in the middle of winter. Also so foreign being from Colorado! We closed the year with wonderful Florida weather and Christmas with family. Then came the start of a new year…and we closed on a house the last part of December in Ohio (long distance closure since we were in FL).
Why Ohio? You ask, well, we get asked that a lot and I don’t have a good answer. I say God tricked us into it with the low cost of living and our history there. There is nothing special about Ohio at a glance, and when you have seen the country and all of its beauty its hard to imagine settling down in a place like Ohio. All I can say, is God had work for us to do there and gave us a love for the good Midwestern people. We were so torn, we knew if purchased in this area of Ohio we could get sucked right into getting involved with church ministry and giving up on the life we love of traveling…
What a year! I enjoyed writing this post so much, looking back on all the places we saw in 1 year was so fun. Little did we all know what 2020 would bring…