From Alabama With Love |
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Current Activities: It's Summer and time for an extended trip. This year we are heading to Maine to wrap up the final seven states. Come on along!
Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Done
Cape May, NJ - Done
Cape Cod, MA - Done
Acadia Natonal Park, ME - Done
New Hampshire - Done
Vermont - Done
Massachusetts - Done
New Jersey - Done
Assateague Island/Chincoteague, VA - Done
Shenandoah National Park - Done
Cumberland Gap National Historic Park - Done
Back Home in Alabama!
In November 2003, someone gave us tickets to the Auburn/Alabama football game in Auburn, AL - but these free tickets really started something special for us – RVing!
We are active people and enjoy doing all kinds of things outdoors – camping, hiking, skiing, biking, and travel. In addition, we were fascinated with visiting the National Parks. Trips to Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Great Smoky Mountains were already completed. In September 2003, we also backpacked the Grand Canyon from rim-to-rim. All of these visits were by car and we stayed in either park lodges or a very small tent.
After the Grand Canyon trip, we really started thinking seriously about getting a motor home. Our good friend, Clarence Ward owned a fancy class A motor home and had fascinated Gary with discussions of his travels. We started attending RV shows in and around the Birmingham area and had soon decided on what we were looking for. The plan was to search the paper for a used but nearly new motor home – you know the thing - just purchased by an “old” retired couple then one of them has a massive heart attack and just couldn’t use the new motor home any more.
Well, when we got the free football tickets, our search intensified - we started making trips to local RV dealers on Sunday afternoons. Finally, on the Sunday before the game, Gary suggested we give the salesman a “low-ball” offer on one of the units we had been looking at (remember, we have been looking since mid-September. it’s now mid-November and this unit has been sitting in dealer inventory for over a year).
You know what happened – they accepted our offer and we were now the proud owners of a 2003, diesel powered, 39 foot, Damon Untrasport. The first trip – to the Auburn/Alabama football game, of course. After that one weekend, we were hooked. Some of our kids thought we were nuts. Others wished they could travel with us. For the next five years, we travelled about 16,000 miles a year in the Ultrasport (which we affectionately called Arvy); but, we were not “full-timers”. Some of these trips were business trips and some were just for pleasure. In September 2008 we downsized and traded the 39 foot Ultrasport for a 2008, 36 foot, Tiffin Phaeton.
Today, we are fully retired, still not full-timers, but still travelling our 16,000 miles a year. This is where this journal starts – at the beginning of the seventh year of our RV experience. Many of our friends have asked us about our trips and even wanted to see pictures of our experiences. Last year we tried to keep them updated with emails – yuck! This year, we’re trying “From Alabama With Love”. We hope you enjoy our notes, pictures, and laugh at our boo-boos (there always are some).
In any case, we’ll see you when we get back.
Marty and Gary Underwood
Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Done
Cape May, NJ - Done
Cape Cod, MA - Done
Acadia Natonal Park, ME - Done
New Hampshire - Done
Vermont - Done
Massachusetts - Done
New Jersey - Done
Assateague Island/Chincoteague, VA - Done
Shenandoah National Park - Done
Cumberland Gap National Historic Park - Done
Back Home in Alabama!
In November 2003, someone gave us tickets to the Auburn/Alabama football game in Auburn, AL - but these free tickets really started something special for us – RVing!
We are active people and enjoy doing all kinds of things outdoors – camping, hiking, skiing, biking, and travel. In addition, we were fascinated with visiting the National Parks. Trips to Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Great Smoky Mountains were already completed. In September 2003, we also backpacked the Grand Canyon from rim-to-rim. All of these visits were by car and we stayed in either park lodges or a very small tent.
After the Grand Canyon trip, we really started thinking seriously about getting a motor home. Our good friend, Clarence Ward owned a fancy class A motor home and had fascinated Gary with discussions of his travels. We started attending RV shows in and around the Birmingham area and had soon decided on what we were looking for. The plan was to search the paper for a used but nearly new motor home – you know the thing - just purchased by an “old” retired couple then one of them has a massive heart attack and just couldn’t use the new motor home any more.
Well, when we got the free football tickets, our search intensified - we started making trips to local RV dealers on Sunday afternoons. Finally, on the Sunday before the game, Gary suggested we give the salesman a “low-ball” offer on one of the units we had been looking at (remember, we have been looking since mid-September. it’s now mid-November and this unit has been sitting in dealer inventory for over a year).
You know what happened – they accepted our offer and we were now the proud owners of a 2003, diesel powered, 39 foot, Damon Untrasport. The first trip – to the Auburn/Alabama football game, of course. After that one weekend, we were hooked. Some of our kids thought we were nuts. Others wished they could travel with us. For the next five years, we travelled about 16,000 miles a year in the Ultrasport (which we affectionately called Arvy); but, we were not “full-timers”. Some of these trips were business trips and some were just for pleasure. In September 2008 we downsized and traded the 39 foot Ultrasport for a 2008, 36 foot, Tiffin Phaeton.
Today, we are fully retired, still not full-timers, but still travelling our 16,000 miles a year. This is where this journal starts – at the beginning of the seventh year of our RV experience. Many of our friends have asked us about our trips and even wanted to see pictures of our experiences. Last year we tried to keep them updated with emails – yuck! This year, we’re trying “From Alabama With Love”. We hope you enjoy our notes, pictures, and laugh at our boo-boos (there always are some).
In any case, we’ll see you when we get back.
Marty and Gary Underwood
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