2018 was a big year for us as it marked our first trip in a RV outside of the US. Our first year traveling outside of the US was full of new experiences and tested our resourcefulness.
A small example of a difference that took us a while to sort out. In Europe the grocery carts are very similar to ours as you would expect, except for one difference they are chained together. Each cart has a small chain that when you return it you connect to the next cart. The first time we went to the grocery we saw everyone getting a cart but could not figure out how to get the chain loose, so we skipped the cart and got a couple of hand baskets. This continued for our first couple of weeks which was getting old as we would end up lugging very heavy baskets around the store. We were too embarrassed, and did not have the linguistic skills to ask someone how we could get a cart. Finally one day I decided to figure it out and watched someone else retrieving a cart and realized that to get the cart you put a .50 or 1 euro coin in a slot and the chain popped out. When you returned the cart and stuck the chain from the next cart in your coin popped back out. The purpose is to get everyone to return the carts to the right place and not leave them all over the parking lot.
For 2018 we took two trips in the United States mostly to California to see friends and to explore San Diego. We also took two trips to Europe, the first except for one night in Spain, was entirely in France. Our second trip was focused on Spain, but we had a tough time getting out of France as “one more thing” would pop up.
In total for the year we traveled 113 days, and covered 4 countries if you count our one day in Gibraltar. We expected that RV travel in Europe would be more expensive than in the US and were surprised that our daily costs are almost the same in Europe as the US, they are just spent in different buckets.
Below are the entries for 2018.
November 6, 2018 Portland OR
We had an incident free flight. Thank you United airlines. Our first trip in our own RV in Europe is over. We were a little
November 5, 2018 Paris FR
We were up bright and early to deliver François back to France Motorhome Hire. After a quick turnover we were off to the train station

November 4, 2018 Gron FR
The weather is definitely going towards winter. No frost this morning but very dense fog. Over night we were joined by 4 other RV’s so

November 3, 2018 Gron FR
We woke up to frost, another sign that it is time to probably be going. In France most churches stop tolling there bells around 6

November 2, 2018 Noyers FR
As the trip is winding down we are less focused on seeing things and more focused on moving in the right direction. Now we are

November 1, 2018 Issoire FR
After a short nights sleep and feeling a little worst for wear we woke up to beautiful blue skies. It was time to make some

October 31, 2018 Mataro SP
The problem with traveling during shoulder season is the weather is unpredictable. It has been a wet October in Spain, and it culminated with today.

October 30, 2018 Barcelona SP
Today we planned a second trip into Barcelona. The primary purpose was to visit the interior of the Sagarda Familia, much like the Alhambra visitors

October 29, 2018 Mataro SP
Well we are starting to run into some bad weather. We woke up to temperatures in the low 40’s scattered showers and heavy wind. All

October 28, 2018 Barcelona SP
While we are staying in Mataro, the purpose of the visit is to see Barcelona. The campground we are staying at is about 40 minutes

October 27, 2018 Mataro SP
There is nothing much to write about today. The weather forecast was for rain all day, and they were right. We shifted about 90 KM’s

October 26, 2018 Sant Cugat Sesgarrigues SP
Tonight we are parked at a winery called Cellar Battl Artcava. We are little bit southwest of Barcelona. This area is known for a sparkling

October 25, 2018 L’Ampolla SP
We finally did some serious back country driving today. Rather than take the freeways back to the coast we decided to cut across the mountains

October 24, 2018 Tereul SP
After a string of big cities we decided to head a little more into the back country. Teruel is in the mountains west of Valencia

October 23, 2018 Valencia SP
Today we wanted to see the new part of Valencia. At some point recently the residents of the city rerouted the river that used to

October 22, 2018 Valencia SP
Our campsite is located outside of Valencia about 40 minutes by train. Ton has been looking forward to Valencia for a couple of days particularly

August 21, 2018 Valencia SP
After a night of sleeping in howling winds and a couple of showers we began to feel for the first time that time was against

October 20, 2018 Aguamarga SP
Unfortunately the Costa del Sol has turned into the Costa del Lluvia y Viento (Rain and Wind). The locals are telling us that they have

October 19, 2018 Malaga SP
The aire we are staying at is owned by a Spanish/British couple who are RV’ers’ also. You can tell as they designed it in a

October 18, 2018 Torre del Bengalbon SP
The weather today was supposed to be very poor all day. There was a large storm that passed thru overnight complete with lightning and high

October 17, 2018 Gibraltar UK
Today is a day of three currencies. Last night Ton thought that we should take care of our laundry on the Navy Base at

October 16, 2018 Rota SP
Last night we had to do some soul searching about what direction to go next. When we arrived 6 weeks seemed like a long time,

October 15, 2018 Granada SP
Today was a day we really looked forward to when we headed to Spain. The Alhambra is one of the biggest attractions in Spain, and

October 14, 2018 Granada SP
This will be a very short update. We woke up to pounding rain and a little wind. It caught us off guard as it had

October 13, 2018 Seville SP
After breakfast we decided to head into town a little early for a coffee, and to use some indoor plumbing. As we were walking into

October 12, 2018 Seville SP
Seville was always our target for the trip. After a poor nights sleep on the wrong side of the tracks we decided to shift to

October 11, 2018 Seville SP
Some of our other friends are also touring Europe this month. They are staying in 5 star hotels, and River Cruise Boats. Tonight we are

October 10, 2018 Casceres SP
Decisions get made for you sometimes. One of our bucket list items for this trip was to visit the Alhambra in Granada. We finally felt

October 9, 2018 Tordesillas SP
Today we left the land of Pintxo (Basque) and entered the land of Tapas (Spanish). We stopped in two towns today. The first town was

October 8, LaGuardia SP
We had wanted to visit some of the caves under Laguardia, but when we arrived yesterday it was too late to get in. We decided

October 7, 2018 Elciego SP
We are in Rioja country. The plan for the day was to drive to the fortified town of Laguardia which is famous for its cave

October 6, 2018 Pamplona SP
Today was an almost day. We were both very much looking forward to Pamplona. It had a great reputation. Ron is a huge fan of

October 5, 2018 Donostia-San Sebastian SP
While François did not move today, we did. Today we did the trip to San Sebastian-Donostia that we had planned for yesterday. After a late

October 4, 2018 Orio SP
Plans change, sometimes by accident. We had planned to go to the nearby city of San Sebastian to do some sight seeing. Before we left

October 3, 2018 Orio SP
After 16 days in France we finally reached Spain. We could have spent the entire trip in France, and enjoyed ourselves, but this trip was

October 2, 2018 Bordeaux FR
Everyone we talked to over the last few days told us we had to go to Bordeaux. Ron was a little intimidated with the idea

October 1, 2018 St. Laurent Medoc FR
We spent the day exploring the wine region on the west side of the Gironde River. This area has some of the most expensive wines

September 30, 2018 Blaye FR
We had an early start to the day. The weather continues to be great, highs in the low 70’s and lows in the low 50’s.

September 29, 2018 Rochefort FR
Today we reluctantly left Brittany and decided to take a big bite out of our trip to Spain. We covered over 350km today to the

September 28, 2018 Dinan FR
Today we enjoyed Brittany. We had to make a decision, who said there is no stress on these trips. We are really enjoying Brittany and

September 27, 2018 Mont St. Michel FR
There are two iconic images of France for tourism. One is the Eiffel Tower and the other is Mont. St. Michel. Since we were close

September 26, 2018 Coleville FR
We are still on the Normandy peninsula basically moving from the area of Utah Beach to Omaha Beach. We got a late start as we

September 25, 2018 St. Mere-Egliese
Today we covered the most distance we have covered in one day on the trip, about 200 miles. We got up a little early, and

September 24, 2018 Chartres FR
Our plan when we arrived was to head towards Spain, so of course we drove north today to Chartres. Along the way we decided to

September 23, 2018 Chinon FR
We woke up to another blustery day. The weather forecast called for rain most of the day and they were right. We are trying to

September 22, 2018 Chateau de Chambord FR
Well, plans change. We had originally planned to go to Orleans for the day, but last night we discussed spending a few days in the

September 21, 2018 Orleans FR
It was time to get moving. Last night with some encouragement from Robyn we decided to head to Normandy. Orleans seemed like a good first

September 20, 2018 Sens FR
Today the jet lag won, so we slept in very late. After we were finally going we had a nice lunch. As we were getting

September 19, 2018 Sens FR
Today we picked up François the motorhome at France Motorhome Hire. Sally and Simon did a great job walking us thru the paperwork and showing
September 17-18, 2018 Sens FR
Another easy travel day with everything working as it should courtesy of United Airlines. Both of our flights actually departed a little early, and with
August 22-23, 2018 Long Drive NV/OR
There is not much to write about these two days. We did our best imitation of long distance truckers covering about 970 miles in two

August 21, 2018 Las Vegas NV
Alex had to teach so we had a day to kill in Las Vegas. We are not gamblers so we decided to have an easy

August 20, 2018 Las Vegas NV
When we were doing the planning to see both of our sons we new that it would be hot in Las Vegas but our experience

August 19, 2018 San Diego CA
Our final day with Dylan on this trip was the San Diego Zoo. Dylan is a member of the zoo so we were able to

August 18, 2018 San Diego CA
Dylan swung by to pick us up about 930. After a breakfast of noodles prepared by Ton we headed off to our first stop of

August 17, 2018 San Diego CA
Today we headed into San Diego to spend the weekend with our son Dylan who is working there for the Fish and Wildlife Service. We

August 16, 2018 Victorville CA
Today was a travel day. We wanted to avoid Los Angeles so we decided to head east and go around LA. So we headed east

August 15, 2018 San Luis Obispo CA
Today we started the day visiting one of our favorite places in central California. Near San Simeon there are beaches that are covered in Elephant

August 14, 2018 San Luis Obispo CA
It was time to finally leave our friends Pae and Supachai. For our going away Pae prepared a great Thai breakfast of Cao dom. Ron
August 13, 2018 San Jose CA
Today was a nice easy day. We stayed around our friends neighborhood for the day. When Supachai came back from work we went out for

August 12, 2018 San Francisco CA
Today we played tourists in San Francisco. We headed into the city early to beat the traffic and headed to the Embarcadero area. We lived

August 11, 2018 San Jose CA
Today was much more relaxing than yesterday. We started with a nice breakfast near our friends apartment. On Saturdays they close the street in front
August 10, 2018 San Jose CA
We had the alarm set for 6am, so we could meet our friends Pae and Supachai for happy hour. The early drive was easy but
August 9, 2018 Canyonville OR
It has been awhile since our last trip. We spent most of June and July working on getting the house ready for our travels and

May 4, 2018 Paris FR
The flight home was uneventful but long. The only hitch was that American Airlines couldn’t be bothered to transfer our bags to Alaska Airline in

May 3, 2018 Paris FR
Today we planned to spend at the Louvre. Of all of the places in Paris Ron wanted to spend some extra time there as he

May 2, 2018 Paris FR
Today was our day to be tourists. You cannot go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, the Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. We

May 1, 2018 Paris FR
Today is labor day in France. We decided to stay in Montmartre for the day as we were not sure what was going to be

April 30, 2018 Paris FR
After an early start where we returned François to France Motor Home Hire. We had a quick meeting with the owners there and have a

April 29, 2018 St. Julien de Sault FR
All things must end. Last night there was a heck of a storm that woke us both up. For the second time we had a

April 28, 2018 Merry-sur-Yonne FR
Our night in the car park at Flavigny was uneventful, except after the warm nights in Provence it was quite chilly back in Burgundy. When

April 27, 2018 Flavigny-sur-Ozerin FR
Today we had to bite the bullet and do some freeway travel. We needed to get north so we can be in position to turn

April 26, 2018 Tournon-sur-Rhone FR
We are finally having to focus more on direction than interesting places. We picked the destination of Tournon-sur-Rhone based on it being a good distance

April 25, 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape FR
The plan for today was to visit Roussillon which is another one of the most beautiful villages in France, but we also had to find

April 24, 2018 Gordes FR
Today we headed towards another one of the most beautiful villages in France. Gordes is considered a must see stop in Provence by most of

April 23, 2018 Saintes Marie de la Mer FR
Today was about Flamingos. After some muddling about in the morning and doing some laundry we were off to the Camargue which is a large

April 22, 2018 St. Remy de Provence FR
We decided to shift a little south to another part of Provence. The town of St. Remy de Provence was highly recommended to us, so

April 21, 2018 Orange FR
We had an adventure today that we did not at all anticipate. Our plan was to shift about 40km’s from Pont du Gard to Orange

April 20, 2018 Pont du Gard FR
Today we needed to get serious about going east. Our plan for the past few days has been to head to Provence, but we never

April 19, 2018 Rose SP
We are parked in an aire next to a hotel in Fitou France. Do not try to find it on a map unless you have

April 18, 2018 Rose SP
Well we thought we were going to head east towards Provence, but instead we found ourselves in Spain. We realised we were really close to

April 17, 2018 Carcassonne FR
We finally had to make a decision about what direction to go next. As we have been heading south we have been having an ongoing

April 16, 2018 Rivieres FR
Today turned into a maintenance day. We are at a campground in Rivieres and we did not move here. After we were done visiting Albi

April 15, 2018 Albi FR
The day started out with a visit to the cheese shop under the supervision of Patrick the campsite owner. He also had a French couple

April 14, 2018 Salers FR
The plan today was to hit two villages in the Cantal region of France. Cantal is famous for it’s cheese and the ruggedness of it’s

April 13, 2018 Orcines FR
Today we reluctantly left Burgundy. But before leaving we wanted to take a look at some more of the Beaujolais country. Somewhere around Julien we

April 12, 2018 Rommaneche-Thorins FR
We woke up to a pretty steady rain in our Aire in Cluny. Ton pointed out that I had been throwing the term Aire around

April 11, 2018 Cluny FR
Last night we decided to head south for the trip. It took us up to now to finalize our plans, though we are going to

April 10, 2018 Dijon FR
Today we planned on spending the day exploring Dijon. The jet lag is finally wearing off and we woke up at a pretty normal time

April 9, 2018 Dijon FR
The jet lag is starting to wear off a bit and we were both up and moving around a little earlier. We were undecided about

April 8, 2018 Beaune FR
We are still fighting a bit of jet lag so we had another slow start to the day. We finally hit the road about 1030

April 7, 2018 Vincelles FR
The original plan for today was to visit Auxerre which is an interesting looking medieval town. We are both fighting jet lag so after some

April 6, 2018 St. Julien de Sault FR
Today was going to be one of the most stressful travel days for us as we had to make our way from Charles de Gaulle
April 4-5, 2018 Paris FR
Our travel day to France was nicely unremarkable. The airline of choice was Alaska and American using points Ron accumulated from work. We made the

February 14, Coos Bay OR
The final day of “Good Brew Hunting” had us dealing with some disappointment. The first two breweries we had planned to visit were not going

February 13, 2018 Bandon OR
Our last day in California on this trip was magnificent from a weather point of view. The skies were blue and it was relatively warm

February 12, 2018 Blue Lake CA
Good Brew Hunting continued today with two stops as we continue our very slow pub crawl north. After a slow start in the morning we

February 11, 2018 Petaluma CA
Ton has dubbed the rest of our trip north good beer hunting. The plan is to move north roughly following US101 through Northern California and

February 10, 2018 Baker CA
Ron is under the weather so today was about getting as far north as Ron could take and then to rest. We did make one

February 9, 2018 Camp Pendleton CA
Today was a travel day. We got up early and tried to clean some of the sand from Scout. Parking directly on the beach is

February 8, 2018 Camp Pendleton CA
We had a slow start to the day. One of the things about staying on a military base is that sometimes you share your campground

February 7, 2018 Camp Pendleton CA
The first job for today was to try to sort out our camera. It suddenly stopped working. We are not sure if the battery has

February 6, 2018 Camp Pendleton CA
Ton brought up the idea of heading over to the coast. Our original hope was to stay at the Navy park on Coronado Island in

February 5, 2018 Joshua Tree NP
Today we visited one of our favorite national parks. Ton really loves cactuses and Joshua Trees. It was originally in our plans for the trip
February 4, 2018 Las Vegas NV
Today we did what most Americans do which is watch the Super Bowl. The RV park at Nellis was having a Super Bowl watch party

February 3, 2018 Las Vegas NV
A slow day for us. We spent the morning taking care of laundry and using the internet at the office to publish the blog and

February 2, 2018 Las Vegas NV
We moved into the city for the weekend. Today was about a little shopping, giving Scout a bath to knock some of the mud off

February 1, 2018 Lake Mead National Recreation Area
After breakfast we set out to explore the rest of the park. We took a couple of short hikes and really enjoyed ourselves. The weather

January 31, 2018 Valley of Fire SP
Our alarm was set for 4am so we could get up to witness the eclipse/Blue/Blood/Super moon. The skies were clear, but it was really cold.

January 30, 2018 Caliente NV
I love the west. Today we drove a ridiculous distance thru the Mojave Desert. We wanted to position ourselves to see the Blue Blood Super

January 29, 2018 Reno NV
Ton had a restaurant on her bucket list that is near Reno. So we began our day by heading towards Gardnerville to get a Basque
January 28, 2018 Reno NV
Today was a driving day as we decided to get serious about chasing warmer temperatures. The drive was long, but very easy as there is