New Year's Eve

Uh oh...heading out to a New Years Eve party with our Louisiana friends...this may not end well 😮

Dream big!

With 2019 nearly upon us, I want to wish all our friends and family a fantastic new year! May this be the year you dream bigger and reach higher. May this be the year all your dreams and wishes come true. May this be your best year ever.

Happy New Year!

Moving Day!

It's moving day, Louisiana here we come!
Bring on the crawfish, jambalaya, po'boys, not to mention drive-thru daiquiries!
Oh my...so much good food!

Laundry Day

Not much happening here the last couple days. Dirty laundry hamper was overflowing so yesterday was laundry day. Today was another wet day, too crappy out for cycling or running so we did an indoor workout with Kelli and Daniel 😁

https://youtu.be/YGZY8O0xVMk

MCTS Season 2 Episode 2

Hey fellow sun chasers! We just uploaded episode #2...sure to be a remedy for those of you with insomnia...😄 
Actually it is a bit boring as we were still travelling in this episode. But now that we've reached the Gulf Coast, we're settling down for a couple weeks. That means we'll be shooting more than just footage from the road 😁

Hot and humid 5k

Just got back from a 5km run but wow, it's humid today here in Alabama! It's only 20°C (68°F) but with 88% humidity, it is muggy! 😥

Wild Surf!

Wow, a big storm's brewing over the Gulf of Mexico! Even though we were sitting inside the RV, we could hear the surf pounding the beach! We had to go check it out! We found several people fishing! Talk about angry seas!

A walk around the park

A few photos from our outing today exploring the trails around the campground here at Gulf State Park

How we do Christmas!

This is how Sheila and I do Christmas: T-shirts, shorts, sunny, 18°C (64°F)...and Bailey's 😃

Christmas Sunset

Yes, it's another sunset shot from here in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We can't get enough of these beautiful Gulf of Mexico sunsets!

It's impossible to have a bad day, when you're at the beach!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

MCTS - Season 2 Episode 1

Despite the fact that last year's videos were quite pathetic, we're at it again!
So here is Episode 1 for this year...beginning when we leave home on Dec 3. This particular episode is mostly driving so it might be a bit boring. 
I'm hoping to release a new video each week.

Road Bike Riding

Sunny and 21°C...perfect day for some road biking 

Let's go cycling!

Went for a bike ride and ended up in Florida! 😃 Such a beautiful day - pretty cool going for ride on your road bike a couple of days before Christmas. Seems like a very bike-friendly area...bike lanes everywhere.

Sunset over the Dunes

It's been an awesome day here in Gulf Shores Alabama, finishing off with another beautiful sunset over the dunes on the Gulf of Mexico! The best part...tomorrow we get to do it all over again!

Gulf State Park Trail System

The back country trails here at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama are excellent for trail running! And it's awesome to be able to run in shorts and a tanktop again!

Laundry Day

It's a wet, cold, crappy day today, and the dirty laundry is piling up so it's time for a trip to the laundromat!

Don't tease the 'gators!

Sure, for me, taunting these savages would be the first thing that comes to mind 😂

Beach run

Is there anything more nourishing for the soul than going for a run on the beach?

Gulf State Park

It's beautiful here at the Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama! So well maintained and these sites are huge!

post bike ride hydration

Not sure about everyone else out there but our Christmas season is off to a great start 😃
We just got back from our bike ride so we needed to...you know...re-hydrate (wink, wink)

A perfect day for a bike ride!

It's gorgeous here on the Gulf Coast of Alabama...sunny and 17°C!
I think it's time to go for a bike ride!

Merry Christmas from the pups

Kelly, Hope and Chance want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Trailer Tree

We only have enough room in our RV for our teeny tiny Trailer Tree...lol 😃 

Five Guys!

Just like walking through the Pearly Gates 😁

Nice morning for a run!

Lovely morning for a 5km run!
We love spending winters down here on the Gulf Coast...sunshine, palm trees and 18°C 😎  Not too hot...not too cold...just right!

Boondockers Welcome

We decided to take advantage of our Boondockers Welcome membership! Similar to Harvest Hosts, BW is a network of fellow RVers that provide space for us to park for the night or 2, or 3! Great concept!

Movie night!

Watching The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix, what a cute movie!

https://www.facebook.com/ChristmasChronicles/

Harvest Hosts

We found a great spot to park our rig tonight...overlooking the vineyards at Corbin Farms Winery in Calera, Alabama! 

We are members of Harvest Hosts, and it's an awesome program - a network of farm and wineries that let RVers park on their property! 

Corbin Farms is one such host...and what a nice spot to park! It could have been more scenic had they not been cleaning up the old vines and planting anew! I'd love to stop by again when the vines are flourishing! It was a wet rainy weekend, but still kinda cool!

   

Snow...WTF?

No, no, no!! We could have stayed home for this snow. 😜 Hunkered down in Pigeon Forge TN for a few days as snowstorms and heavy rains are forecast around us.  Areas just east of us could get 2 feet of snow!  Should have stocked up on storm chips.  😉

Cheap gas!

WOW..
$1.94 a gallon for gas here in Tennessee! After all the driving we've done in the US over the years, I never dreamed we'd see gas prices drop below $2.00 per gallon! I need to stock up so I can take some back home to Canada 😄

Christmas at Pigeon Forge, TN

Sheila and I have been hanging out in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for the last few days, and we went out last night in search of Christmas lights. Wow, we discovered 'The Island in Pigeon Forge' and we were totally overwhelmed! The Island is a shopping and entertainment complex, and the staff goes all out at Christmas! There was so much going on, it was tough to get a decent photo. The centerpiece is this 200 ft tall observation wheel with some crazy lighting effects! It's so big, I couldn't get a photo of the whole thing!

Done with Candy Hill Campground

After a couple days here at Candy Hill RV Park in Winchester Virginia, we're on the road again! What's next...maybe Knoxville, TN? Maybe Pigeon Forge? Not sure yet, but we'll know when we get there :-D

It's time to finally camp in campground!

After two days of setting up camp in paved parking lots, it was time to settle down in a campground for a spell :-)
We are now relaxing in Candy Hill RV park here in Winchester, Virginia. 
Nice place...concrete trailer pads, full hookups, large convenience store and, obviously closed this time of year, but a very nice, 25 meter, pool!


It'll be nice to relax a bit, recharge, have hot showers, and stock up on provisions! We'll be here for two nights then it's back on the road for a couple more days of dry camping in parking lots...lol

New Space Heater

Trying out a new little space heater in the trailer. I think the goldies approve. No sooner did we unpack it and they were huddled up to it!

Night #2, and maneuvering through Wilkes-Barre, PA

By Tuesday night we reached Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and found a conveniently located Mohegan Sun casino. Most all casinos are RV friendly so we pulled around back, and sure enough RV parking spots! Safe, secure and quiet. Perfect...but it's chilly here...BRRRRR!

Sounds simple enough, right? Find the casino, pull in and park! But as Paul Harvey would say, '...now for the rest of the story...'. True, it didn't take long to find the casino but following the signs for RV parking, we ended up heading out the rear exit and leaving the parking lot. WTF? We tried a local neighbourhood to circle around and come back. That's when the fun began. I heading down a street, around a bend then the street slowly got more and more narrow. Barely squeezed past a fence and parked cars. That was it...we could not get any farther. We had to back up the rig about a half mile...past the parked cars, past the fence and around a sharp turn. Eventually we got out on a main road where we still needed to get turned around. Eventually found a big parking area where we could do a 180 and had back to the casino. What an experience that was!  

First night on the road!

On Monday night we had a very gracious host in Scarborough, Maine provide us with a campsite 😁

Finally, we are starting our migration to the South!

Finally, the snow has ended and departure day has arrived! With blue skies and clear roads, we're able to get out of Saint John and begin our winter migration to the south...WOOHOOOO!

It's still SNOWING!

Okay, enough is enough! STOP SNOWING! Sheesh!🙄
At this rate we won't get out of Canada until the 'January thaw'! How can we be expected to chase the sun if we're snowed-in at home!

Season 1 Episode 3 now on YouTube

Hey Sunchasin' Nation! 
I put together another tremendously boring episode from last winter's video footage...this time from March, 2018 in Milledgeville, Georgia...
https://youtu.be/mV6UF2-xeSM

MORE SNOW!

More snow?! Make it stop someone...please make it STOP! Multiple snowfall here in the Maritimes and it's not even December! We need good, dry roads so we can get out of here and begin our winter migration to the south!!

Season 1 Episode 2 now uploaded to YouTube!

Hey Sunchasin' Nation!
I've gone through more video footage from last winter...February, to be exact, and put together Episode 2! It's an agonizing 16 minutes long 🙄
For those of you in desperate need of entertainment, here it is for your viewing...pleasure(?)

New video uploaded - Season 1 Episode 1

Hello Sunchasers!

I have never attempted to do videos...until now! Ever since we first planned on becoming snowbirds, our intention was to do YouTube videos. BUT, I'm very shy by nature and very much an introvert. I prefer to keep to myself most of the time. I normally avoid the spotlight.

Well, I've been sitting on a bunch of video footage from last year's trip down south, and I've been hesitating to put it together in a video. Mostly for the above reasons and because I'm pathetic when in front of the camera 🙄 Despite that, I went ahead and put together Episode 1. Be warned, it's quite lackluster and boring!

So with that glowing review, here's Season 1 Episode 1 of Maritimers Chasing The Sun. From December 2017 to January 2018...

MCTS Season 1 Episode 1

Is it really just one more week?!

I can't believe it...only one more week until we head south for winter...WOOHOOO!

Why snow? Why now?!

It's a good thing we hadn't planned on hitting the road for another week...I've been shoveling for the past couple of days, and it might be awhile before we get the trailer out of the yard 😭

Two Weeks to go!

We're getting excited about heading south! The truck's been serviced and I finished a couple small jobs in the trailer. Unfortunately we are a bit worried about slippery conditions during the trip with the 4 inches of snow that just fell and now we're hearing more is on the way 😢

Three Weeks To Go!

Our departure date is only three weeks away! And it's getting chilly here in Saint John, NB...I can't wait to be back into shorts and T-shirt weather 😄

Still taking care of small tasks on the truck and trailer: some wallboard in the trailer to be repaired, replacement brake controller to be installed in the truck, and I'd like to install a 12 volt/USB outlet by my nightstand in the master bedroom of the trailer. Still not sure how I'm going to fish a new wire to that. Hmmmmmm...

One month to go!

The countdown is on! In one month, on Dec 1st, we migrate south for another winter! We can't wait! Back to the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Louisiana...then we'll be exploring Texas for the first time!

We're getting the trailer ready to go...cleaned up and stocked up!

As is usually the case, we'll probably put in two or three longish days at first, to get beyond the snow line and minimize the potential for snowy/icy conditions! First night will likely be somewhere around Portland, ME...second night will probably be somewhere between Milford, PA and Scranton, PA. By day three we'll be in southern Virginia. By then we should start seeing Spring-like conditions and we'll slow down and begin taking our time.
After reaching VA, we'll probably take advantage of our 'Harvest Host' membership (allows us to dry camp at participating wineries, breweries and farms) and/or Boondockers Welcome membership (allows to dry camp with fellow RVers) instead of campgrounds. We did make campground reservations at our various destinations down south because we'll be staying at those places longer. When we're set up somewhere for weeks at a time we like to have full hookups with lots of amenities at our disposal 😃

Our first long-term stay will be in Gulf Shores, AL at the Gulf State Park. We'll be there for the last two weeks of December. It won't be hot, but should be comfortable enough. We're anticipating temperatures to be in high teens Celsius, with occasional days in the 20s. That's like a nice summer day here in Saint John, NB 😎 From there, it's over to Robert LA, a suburb of New Orleans. We'll be revisiting a campground we stayed at last winter, Reunion Lake RV Park. This will give us a chance to catch up with some friends we met last year at this same place. We'll spend the first two weeks of January at Reunion Lake then we're off to Texas with probably one night of boondocking en route. Then comes our two month stay in Texas - two weeks in Galveston, a month in San Antonio, then two weeks in the Austin area.  It's going to be so much fun!

We'll start working our way home as of mid-March. And much like before, we'll take our time because there's a few things we want to see. Things like the 'Hot Springs National Park' in Arkansas. A National Park built around ancient, hot spring fed, bath houses that date back to the 1800s! Interesting and disturbing all at the same time...lol Other stops will probably be Memphis, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. There's a community in Minnesota called 'Little Canada'. Might be fun to visit that place 😁

From there, we're not sure if we'll go through the US or Canada to get back to the East Coast. It'll be an adventure no matter which way we go!

Counting Down!

Our time to get away for the winter is drawing near!

Our departure date (Dec 1) is a little less than two months away, final prep work is underway and we're starting to get excited!

- Hauled the trailer over to the dealer for it's yearly inspection.

- Early in November, it'll be the truck's turn - inspection and oil change.

- At that point, we'll park our little Zoom-Zoom. We have a Mazda 3 that will sit still all winter, so we'll cancel the liability insurance until we get back in the Spring.

- The IRS paperwork is complete. We use form 8840 to declare that even though we'll be living in the US for the next few months we have closer ties to a country other than the US. We do this so our pension income won't be subjected to US income tax while we're in the US.

- We've arranged with our neighbours to do periodic house checks for us while we're gone.

- I've renewed our various camping memberships.

- I've contacted Medicare New Brunswick to inform them we'll be out of province for several months.

-Next step is to add supplemental coverage to our Blue Cross health insurance plan for our travel in the US. 

Back Home Again!

And after saying goodbye to all the alpacas, and our gracious hosts (Red and Connie), at Misty Acres Farm in Augusta, Maine, we were back on the road this morning. The final leg of our winter getaway!

Happiness is...coming home after a long day on the road and your neighbours who've been looking after your house for the last several months have left YOU flowers and a card.

Have I mentioned that we have the BEST neighbours? Thank you Brenda and Doug...love you guys.

And that's a wrap for 'Maritimers Chasing The Sun - Season 1'!

As we sit back and relax, we can't help but relive and reminisce about our trip...so many great memories...so much good food...and new friendships that will last a lifetime.

Miss Kelly is Chilling

It's a 'ruff' life 😊

And yes, she needs a good brushing.

Several expectant Alpaca Mothers

Visited with the very pregnant girls this morning...no babies overnight! 😔

Alpacas!

We left the Boston area this morning and headed north. Have to make one more stop on the way home at one of our favourite places - Misty Acres Alpaca Farm!

They are so beautiful.

Several of "the ladies" are pregnant and overdue...it would be so awesome to see a birth or at least a newborn!  This is Tag...she is very pregnant!

We found Misty Acres last year through the Harvest Host program (if you are an RVer, check it out - a network of farms, breweries and wineries that offer spaces for RVers to stop for a night) and we loved it here. The owners are wonderful!

Sam Adams Brewery

Had a great tour of the Boston Samuel Adams Brewery today with Dan as our tour guide.

It's free! It's fun! You get to sample free beer!

The Boston Brewery opened in 1988 and is where all new beers have been created with the exception of the Boston Lager, which was created in founder Jim Koch's kitchen. There are larger Sam Adams brewery locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but the Boston location is the "test kitchen" where they come up with all the new flavours. We got to try the Boston 26.2 Brew created to celebrate the Boston Marathon...so tasty and light!

We've always been Sam Adams fans...now we're even bigger fans! Thanks Sam Adams!

Packing up the trailer now for tomorrow's departure from Boston. Our winter excursion is winding down...and we'll soon be back home in New Brunswick