We began to hit our stride in 2019, though due to a lot of stuff coming up in the summer we did not make our usual North American trip, so we only had one short trip in North America this year. In total we spent 124 days on the road, and visited 7 countries if you count our accidental incursion into Austria one day while traveling thru Germany.
We spent extensive time in Germany, Belgium and Italy. While we had a great time everywhere, Italy really captured our hearts. The cities were interesting, the people were kind and helpful, and the food was fantastic. It is interesting because we initially approached Italy with a little trepidation as several of the people we talked to had bad experiences there. We were a little extra cautious about where we stayed at night, and I will confess to using the Autostradas for most of our travel so we missed the back road experience. The secondary roads in Italy are challenging so neither one of us felt very guilty about our decision. Since we gravitated more to campgrounds than in the past Ton declared that she thought campgrounds were worth the extra cost to have unlimited electricity and use of the showers.
Because we traveled differently our cost per day was higher in Italy than anywhere else we have been in Europe. We paid to camp every night in Italy, and while the costs were not excessive it did add up. Also, while the autostradas are not as expensive as the autoroutes in France, using them frequently did add to the costs. Having said that Italy was worth every extra cent.
Once again we had no trouble with either François or Scout. For the first time we did have some routine service done on François and the costs were higher than we would expect to pay for the equivalent work here, but not excessively so.
Another good year, we can only hope to continue with our positive adventures in North America and Europe.

November 19, 2019 Portland OR
While our last trip home was an adventure and merited some story telling. This trip was without any drama thanks to Delta Airlines. That is

November 18, 2019 Paris FR
Another trip is wrapping up. I spent the night hoping we did not run out of LPG for the heater as the temperature hovered around

November 17, 2019 Gron FR
Today was cleaning and packing day. On Sundays what little that is open is open between 9am to Noon, so we headed out early to

November 16, 2019 Gron FR
We woke up early with only two things in mind for the day. Head over to the Valrhona Chocolate company, and then jump in François

November 15, 2019 Tournan-sur-Rhone FR
We had big hopes for today, but nothing went well. Our plan was to revisit a town we had fond memories of from our very

November 14, 2019 Nice FR
We have a friend who arrived in Paris a few days ago. Ton and her have been keeping in touch and sharing some photos. We

November 13, 2019 Nice FR
Last night we were discussing what to do today, and as we often do when planning things we consulted the weather channel app. It told

November 12, 2019 Nice FR
We finally had to reluctantly leave Italy behind. We will talk more about our impressions of Italy later, but we both found it wonderful. We

November 11, 2019 Sanremo IT
Italy has a hold on us. Our plans were to head over to Nice in France today but when we woke up this morning the

November 10, 2019 Monaco
We decided to take the train into Monaco from Sanremo. Some places exceed your expectations and some just miss. I had been looking forward to

November 9, 2019 San Remo IT
We have made our way over to the Mediterranean Sea again at Sanremo. This is the last city we plan to stay at in Italy

November 8, 2019 Turin IT
It really pored all night last night. The heaviest sustained rain we have seen on this trip. The last week has been wet and cool

November 7, 2019 Milan IT
We woke early to head into Milan as the weather forecast was threatening. It looked like the best window was going to be in the

November 6, 2019 Milan IT
We have hit a lull in the trip. A combination of poor weather and the need to be much more deliberate in planning. It looks

November 5, 2019 Vicenza IT
Today was a maintenance day. Our campsite is less than 100 yards from the main shipping channel for Venice port so we began the day

November 4, 2019 Venice IT
After a wet and windy night we woke up to sunny skies with a touch of fog. The bet we had made on the weather

November 3, 2019 Venice IT
As planned we moved to the other side of Venice to a campground that was open for the whole time we are planning to be

November 2, 2019 Venice IT
The weather today is very Oregon like; steady rain and high temperatures in the 50’s. Our plan was to simply head up to Venice and

November 1, 2019 Ravenna IT
We departed Sienna reluctantly, the town really struck us as one of the most beautiful we had seen. Part of the reason we left today

October 31, 2019 Sienna IT
If you are following our destinations you will notice we have headed south. The drive was pretty uneventful, the last 45 minutes were thru

October 30, 2019 Lucca IT
We woke early to catch the bus as there were only two options, one at 8:15 and the next at 11:10 which we thought was

October 29, 2019 Lucca IT
Today we headed south back into Tuscany. It was a short trip so we were able to complete an important task which was a stop

October 28, 2019 Cinque Terre IT
We had another great day on the Cinque Terre. We are staying at a basic Sosta run by one of the local ambulance services, so

October 27, 2019 Cinque Terre IT
Todays trip was driven by the weather. So far the weather has been spectacular, the one day it did rain it was nice enough to

October 26, 2019 Florence IT
After our quick view of Florence yesterday we headed back in today with a plan for a walking tour of Florence. It is another beautiful

October 25, 2019 Florence IT
At the beginning of the trip Hilton informed us that we had to use points by November or we would lose them, so we are

October 24, 2019 Perugia IT
The weather forecast was threatening so we had a debate about whether to head into Perugia. But after consulting with the weather channel app and

October 23, 2019 Passignano IT
We have moved north towards Tuscany. Our plan for the day was to visit the university town of Perugia. Parking and places to stay were

October 22, 2019 Rome IT
Our second day in Rome was aimed at the Roman ruins and the Colosseum. Again the public transport in Rome worked very well and we

October 21, 2019 Rome IT
Today we decided to start our time in Rome by visiting the Vatican. Yesterday after some research we decided to do a guided tour, it

October 20, 2019 Rome IT
Not much to talk about today. We woke a little early, prepared François for movement after four days sitting in one place. The drive to

October 19, 2019 Naples IT
We slept in a bit today, and after pottering around the campground a while we headed into Naples. When we got to the train platform

October 18, 2019 Amalfi Coast IT
Yesterday was a bucket list item for me, and today was a bucket list item for Ton. Before every trip Ton gives me some places

October 17, 2019 Pompeii IT
Since we are parked across from the entrance to Pompeii we decided to visit the site. I have always been interested in Pompeii since I

October 16, 2019 Tropea IT
Ton read my account of entering Tropea yesterday and said it sounded a little whiny. Ton thought Tropea was a really beautiful city, and felt

October 15, 2019 Tropea IT
I was worried about the day for some reason. I was 90% sure that I had told Greta Garmin the right ferry terminal, but there

October 14, 2019 Taormina IT
Taormina was on Ton’s must see list today. I made a scouting run down to the terminal to discover the best way to Taormina.

October 13, 2019 Giardini-Naxos IT
Today was a maintenance day mostly. We woke early as we wanted to drive to the US Navy base at Sigonella to take care of

October 12, 2019 Agrigento IT
We finally have a plan for Sicily and it was time to move on from Marsala. It was a short drive to Agrigento for our

October 11, 2019 Marsala IT
Our first full day in Italy was a treat. We were still a little unsettled about our plans for Sicily when we woke up. Marsala

October 10, 2019 Marsala IT
Our ferry ride was relatively uneventful though it was 23 hours instead of the advertised 19 hours. We never found out what caused the extra

October 9, 2019 Toulon FR
There really is not much to talk about today. We needed to be in Toulon at 3:30 pm to catch our ferry to Sicily, so

October 8, 2019 St. Tropez FR
Today François stayed in place while we visited the neighboring city of St. Tropez. It was a short bus ride to St. Tropez, but it

October 7, 2019 Port Grimaud FR
Another day of big driving, and me being clueless. We wanted to get down somewhere near Toulon as our ferry to Sicily leaves from there

October 6, 2019 Lyon FR
The jet lag is starting to wear off so we woke a little earlier to head into Lyon. We purchased an all day pass for

October 5, 2019 Lyon FR
We are both battling a little bug coupled with jet lag and a pretty good storm resulted in a poor nights sleep for both of

October 4, 2019 Gron FR
Today we moved about 5km’s to our favorite aire at Gron. Jet lag won the day and neither one of us were moving around until

October 3, 2019 Sens FR
Started the day by going over to retrieve François from storage at Eurocamping Cars. The next stop was Garage Alary to get some new tires
October 2, 2019 Sens FR
We made it back to France. This time the trip was on Delta Airlines and unlike our previous flight on Icelandic they provided plenty of

June 25, 2019 Portland OR
Except for a terrible check in process Iceland Airlines got us home on time, and relatively comfortably. This was our longest trip so far at

June 24, 2019 Gron FR
We dropped François off and took our normal route to Paris. Everything worked as it should, except there was a long line to buy tickets

June 23, 2019 Sens FR
Today was our last day with François so our priority was to get to Sens in time to make a quick run thru Auchan to

June 22, 2019 Epernay FR
We picked Epernay as a destination as it was about 60% of the way to Sens, had a decent place to stay, and looked like

June 21, 2019 Luxembourg City LX
Luxembourg City is a beautiful city, but for now it is also a giant construction project. At nearly every point we turned there is a

June 20, 2019 Alzingen LX
We have both wanted to visit Luxembourg on this trip. We almost swung thru on our way out, but it did not work out. So

June 19, 2019 Kortrijk BE
We woke up to a pretty serious thunderstorm. It had been raining off and on all night with a few gusts of wind strong enough

June 18, 2019 Westvleteren BE
Today we moved a whole 15km to a nice aire on a farm in the village of Westvlateren. It is a very small village known

June 17, 2019 Ypres BE
We only moved about 50 kilometers today to the town of Ypres. I picked this stop because I was interested in a Commonwealth War Ceremony

June 16, 2019 Bruges BE
Bruges deserved a second day so after spending some time talking to our Dutch and English neighbors we headed into town to take a look

June 15, 2019 Ghent BE
Today we took the train into Ghent leaving François in Bruges. Ghent is an easy 30 minute train ride from Bruges and we are parked

June 14, 2019 Bruges BE
Bruges is one of the most visited cities in Europe and a world heritage site. It is one of the cities that is being loved

June 13, 2019 Brussels BE
Today we took the train from Antwerp to Brussels for the day. We always intended to visit Brussels, but when we looked at the parking

June 12, 2019 Antwerp BE
It was poring rain when we woke, and the temperature had fallen quite a bit. Earlier in the trip we probably would just have settled

June 11, 2019 Maastricht NE
Today we departed Germany after 34 days. Germany was an easy place to travel, we enjoyed the country. It is a well organized and well

June 10, 2019 Cologne GE
Another long drive today as we decided it was time to move on from Germany. Just like with Spain we thought we had enough time

June 9, 2019 Bremen GE
We learned yesterday afternoon that Monday is a holiday in Germany which explains the big crowds both in Bremen and at the stellplatz. When we

June 8, 2019 Bremen GE
There was a pretty violent thunderstorm last night that lasted a couple of hours. I think as a result we both woke up early and

June 7, 2019 Hamburg GE
When we moved from Schwerin to Lubeck we crossed from the former DDR (East Germany) to the BRD (West Germany). We knew because the pedestrian

June 6, 2019 Lubeck GE
We have found a city in Germany that we really have a good feeling about. As we have traveled around Europe we find cities or

June 5, 2019 Schwerin GE
Once again we feel like we are running out of time for the trip. We spent last night setting out priorities because we came to

June 4, 2019 Colditz GE
When I was 11 or 12 my friend John and I were totally fascinated with the story of Colditz Castle and the allied prisoners of

June 3, 2019 Leipzig GE
We spent the day touring around Leipzig which is a nice city. This is an up and coming city in Germany, which means it still

June 2, 2019 Leipzig GE
Today was a day of rest mostly. We woke up and decided to get some chores done, the biggest of which was laundry. Leipzig was

June 1, 2019 Dresden GE
We made the short hop up the Elbe River to Dresden this morning. We had a bit of an adventure checking out of our stellplatz

May 31, Meissen GE
A very light day for us. After sleeping in we took our time getting going in the morning with Ton updating her friends on Line,

May 30, 2019 Meissen GE
Today we decided to end our stay in Bavaria after 2 weeks. We were tempted to head into Nuremberg, but after some more thought we

May 29, 2019 Bayreuth GE
As I said yesterday we planned to move to Bayreuth to go to the largest beer museum in the world. It was an easy 50km

May 28, 2019 Kulmbach GE
Today was a pretty easy day. After Ton had one more luxury shower at the campground we headed into town to do some shopping at

May 27, 2019 Bamberg GE
When you are traveling from campground to parking lot to campground you start to appreciate the little things. This campground has absolutely the best showers

May 26, 2019 Bamberg GE
Had a rushed start to the day. Part of our daily routine is for me to get up and make a cup of coffee. When

May 25, 2019 Wurzburg GE
Tonight François is parked about 20 yards from the Main River in Wurzberg. We have had a couple of river barges come by close enough

May 24, 2019 Rothenburg ob der Tauber GE
We have visited a lot of walled towns in Europe, but Rothenburg is now the one that is the most striking. For Americans who are

May 23, 2019 Dinkelsbuhl GE
We slept well with a natural white noise machine going all night in the form of the Lech River running at near flood stage behind

May 22, 2019 Augsburg GE
Today we are on the romantic road in Germany. It is a 400 km stretch that includes some of the best scenery, castles, and pretty

May 21, 2019 Garmisch GE
It did indeed rain 1 to 2 more inches overnight with strong wind. We both woke up about 3 am with wind and extremely heavy

May 20, 2019 Munich GE
Well unfortunately the weather forecast was correct, it is really raining out. We lay around the room quite a while in the morning trying to

May 19, 2019 Munich GE
Last night we discussed our next step. The weather once again is intervening in our plans. The weather over the next three days is forecasted

May 18, 2019 Neuschwanstein Castle GE
Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the must see landmarks in Germany. Ton had already been twice, but since this is my first time in Germany

May 17, 2019 Garmisch GE
Yesterday when we went into the Army facility near us the guards told us we should have our identification cards registered with US Forces Europe

May 16, 2019 Garmisch- Partenkirchen GE
The day began with indecision. Thomas’ offer to attend his brewery event on Saturday was very tempting, so we began the day by looking at

May 15, 2019 Reichenau GE
We have been enjoying Lake Constance so we decided to spend another day on the lake at a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Reichenau Island.

May 14, 2019 Mainau GE
Woke to blue skies, so morale is up for the day. We decided to spend another day here to further explore the area. As we

May 13, 2019 Meersburg GE
Another cold night last night with lows in the high 30’s. The weather has been less than ideal this trip. We have so far had

May 12, 2019 Schonach GE
Tonight we are sitting at the bottom of a ski run in the Black Forest of Germany. We are near a small village called Schonach

May 11, 2019 Freiburg GE
Today was certainly less hectic than yesterday. We woke up a little earlier than usual, but were in no hurry to get going for the

May 10, 2019 Breighau GE
Today was supposed to be an easy day. We only traveled 70km’s and the only chore for the day was to fill the LP gas.

May 9, Strasbourg FR
Today was a day of rest for François but not us. The weather is starting to wear us out a little. We shut in yesterday

May 8, 2019 Kehl GE
Today we left France for the day. We are parked up in Kehl Germany as it was the best option to visit Strasbourg France. The

May 7, 2019 Colmar FR
Colmar is by far the largest city we have stayed in so far on this trip while it is only 65,000 people most of the

May 6, 2019 Eguisheim FR
Today we shifted a whopping 10km’s to Colmar. We did make a side trip to another Alsatian town on the way to Colmar. We

May 5, 2019 Riquewihr FR
The weather had gotten a little better overnight after heavy rain as we fell asleep. While it was still pretty cold and cloudy it was

May 4, 2019 Riquewihr FR
The weather has been pretty mediocre. Nearly every day has had some showers and most days the highs have been in the 50’s and lows

May 3, 2019 Essoyes FR
The main goal for us today was to visit the village of Essoyes. Essoyes is famous as the summer home of Renoir. He did a

May 2, 2019 Les Riceys FR
We are still a bit jet lagged so we find we are falling asleep late and then sleeping in. This morning we were not up

May 1, 2019 Troyes FR
Today is labor day in France so we knew we were going to be limited in our sites as most everything was closed. Since we

April 30, 2019 Chateau-Thierry FR
We slept in a bit as we are still fighting jet lag, but around 9am we decided to get up and get going. We had

April 29, 2019 Sens FR
Today we slept in until a little after 9am, and then headed over to Veron. Our first linguistic adventure of the day was with the
April 28, 2019 Sens FR
The flights today were courtesy of Alaska and American Airlines. Both flights were quite full, and the American flight had the tightest seats we have

January 30, 2019 Portland OR
A pretty easy day after yesterdays marathon drive. We woke up a little later, had breakfast, and except for a pit stop in Costco we

January 29, 2019 Burns OR
Today we drove across the great basin of the US. The great basin is an old inland sea that covers most of Nevada and Utah,

January 28, 2019 Death Valley NP
We are both still struggling a little bit with our medical issues so it is time to head home so we can see see our

January 27, 2019 San Diego CA
Today is Dylan’s birthday so we planned a big day around town to celebrate. We started out with a seafood brunch at Point Loma Seafood.

January 26, 2019 San Diego CA
Dylan suggested we head up to San Juan Capistrano to visit the mission there. It is about an hour north of here and you have

January 25, 2019 San Diego CA
This morning Dylan came over to give us his car for the day. We planned a shopping trip to stock up for the ride home,

January 24, 2019 San Diego CA
Not much to talk about today. We did the laundry, and both tried to relax and recover from our ill’s. Dylan joined us for lunch,

January 23, 2019 San Diego CA
Not a very interesting travel day. Both of us have been dealing with nagging medical issues so we decided to use today to go by

January 22, 2019 San Diego CA
Today we shifted to San Diego to see our other son Dylan. The drive over was pretty uneventful. Ton and I were talking about the

January 21, 2019 Las Vegas NV
Today we spent the day with our son Alex. He wanted to have Korean food for lunch so we had our second Korean barbeque in

January 20, 2018 Las Vegas NV
This was the last day for all of our friends in Las Vegas as they all need to get back home to go to work.

January 19, 2019 Las Vegas NV
Today we spent with our friends, beginning with a walk down the strip for lunch at a Beer haus. After that the group splintered for

January 18, 2019 Las Vegas NV
Our route today was on one of Ron’s favorite stretches of roads. US-95 from Fallon to Las Vegas passes thru some of the most stark

January 17, 2019 Fallon NV
After getting up we both felt a little better so we decided to push on. We planned an easy day down to Fallon, and Ron

January 16, 2019 Klamath Falls OR
We almost did not make this trip. Ton has been battling a rash that is making her very uncomfortable, she decided to push thru. Then