2020 Recap

2020 was a dumpster fire of a year. We were supposed to go up the Pacific coast, visit friends we had never met, take our first trip to the ocean, and so much more. In April, due to THAT WHICH SHALL NOT BE NAMED, we found ourselves struggling to figure out where to go next. Almost all of our reservations had been cancelled and we thought it would be safer to stay in one area for as long as possible. We ended up spending the summer in Colorado (which was also lovely) and wintering down in New Mexico and Arizona. While we didnt encounter as many technical difficulties as we had the previous year, animals and people illnesses sidelined us and decimated our budget. While we have hope that 2021 will shape up to be the year we had hoped 2020 would be, we are going to be making permanent changes to how we travel and where we spend our money.

2020 Highlights

Travel Map

Started in San Antonio, TX, ended in Black Canyon City, AZ

Best of 2020

Favorite RV Park

Wine Ridge Resort, Pahrump NV

The Wine Ridge RV Resort takes top place this year (I know, I know, over the beautiful forests and mountains of Colorado??) because we had great wifi, mountain views, private bathrooms, and wilderness for Kojii to walk around in. It was also incredibly cheap for how fancy it felt. It had a true resort feel (they pick up your garbage at your site!!) with resort amenities (pool, racquetball, tennis… fancy people stuff) but at a mom and pop park cost. We have paid much more for much less. While people didn’t really take the pandemic seriously there, we kept to ourselves and had zero problems.

Favorite National Park/Tourist Attraction

Carlsbad Caverns

We got to see some amazing sites in 2020. Going to national parks and hiking ended up being some of the best parts of our adventures this year. We both agreed that the Carlsbad Caverns take the cake. We went on a whim on a random weekday. It didnt have the name recognition of Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, and we didnt know anything about it. It ended up being phenomenal. You felt transported to another world down there, and as someone who has seen too many horror movies about being trapped in an underground cavern surrounded by cannibals, I didnt feel claustrophobic from the experience. Quite the opposite - the gigantic caverns made me feel very small. There is also a gift shop a mile underground where you CAN MAIL POSTCARDS! If you can, try and go during the season where the bats migrate. We didnt get to see that, but I can only imagine that it would add to an already incredible experience.

Best Quality of Life Purchase

Dishwasher

I am incredibly spoiled. Ron does 99% of the cooking and 100% of the dishwashing in the RV. Imagine a tiny sink. Now imagine half of that. That is what Ron has had to use to wash dishes in the RV. We also don't have hot water (our hot water tank has been split since day 1 - for some reason the inspection didnt show that) so Ron has to heat up all the water in a kettle and doing a day’s worth of dishes can take over an hour. We bought a dishwasher and installed in in the shower in our bathroom (where much of our storage lives). It has cut down dishwashing time at least in half.

Best DIY Upgrade

The flooring

One of the first things we did when we got the RV was rip out the carpeting and laminate in the main living area. It was stained and gross, and we wanted to put plank flooring down that the cats wouldnt absolutely tear up. Our dreams were dashed when we installed flooring and it was immediately ripped up by our slide out. With time running out and us not wanting a sticky floor to live on, we got the thinnest stick on tiles we could and threw them on the floor. The result was… passable at best. We spent months trying to figure out what was on the slideout that was ripping up our beautiful flooring. We still don't know. We purchased floaters that help lift up the slide out just a tad when it comes in, and that has kept the scratches to a minimum. We installed a new plank flooring (cursing our previous selves for using such strong adhesive on the tiles) and absolutely love how it turned out. It makes the whole RV feel a lot more like a home.

Best Overall New Addition

Clementine

While we always knew we would need to get another cat as a companion for Poseidon, we thought it would be far in the future. After Kojii’s health scare (that’s for another post), we realized you never know how long you have with your pets. We didnt want Poseidon to be alone again, and so we spent a month searching for the perfect cat for our family. We looked at hundreds of cats, met a few of them, and finally found Clementine. She and Poseidon have become the best of friends. Yes, we are probably a little crazy for having three cats in an RV, but overall she has been a wonderful addition to the family.

Best City to Visit

Ouray, CO

I want to take everyone I’ve ever met to Ouray. Nestled in the mountains, its nickname is the Switzerland of the US. The town itself is tiny, with a ton of charm. The roads to get there are windy and exciting and the views are spectacular. Take a hike up to one of the many waterfalls and eat dinner in a historic district. Stop at one of the many mountain towns on the way and just enjoy the whole trip.

Best Restaurant

Amicas in Salida, CO

We didnt eat out much in 2020, but when we did we still had fairly lackluster experiences. This was not the case with Amicas in Salida, CO. We had been craving pizza for months. There are quite a few pizza places in Salida, and we ate here on a whim. The pizza was absolutely amazing. They had tons of different combinations and both of our pizzas were cooked to perfection. We even came back a second time a few weeks later and had a similar experience. Service was a little slow, but the food more than made up for the wait.