{"id":2401,"date":"2022-07-10T00:38:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-10T00:38:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2022-09-30T20:53:25","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T20:53:25","slug":"final-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.millers.ca\/4amigos2021\/uncategorized\/final-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Thoughts July 10, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Orange\u00a0<\/b>highlighted route = Mark and Laureen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Yellow<\/strong> highlighted route = Vince and Kim<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
28,766 km, 8 provinces, 34 states and 3 countries in 7 months.\u00a0 Amazing!<\/div>\n
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The<\/b> Roles<\/b>:<\/div>\n
We all did a little of everything, but we tended to shine in our own ways.\u00a0 Vince<\/b> and Mark<\/b> took on the role of finding places to camp and the best place to park for the day.<\/div>\n
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Kim<\/b> took on the role of finding the best places to eat and figuring out where we could dump our holding tanks and get fresh water.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Laureen<\/b> took on the role of tour organization and researched what the best things to see and do and for the best prices.<\/div>\n
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Nobody felt we missed out on anything, and everyone felt they were contributing.<\/div>\n
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Our<\/b> route<\/b> – Starting point<\/strong><\/div>\n
Alberta for Mark and Laureen and British Columbia for Vince and Kim<\/div>\n
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Montana<\/b>,\u00a0 Idaho<\/b>,\u00a0 Utah<\/b> and<\/b> Nevada<\/b><\/div>\n
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Arizona<\/b><\/div>\n
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Mexico\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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California<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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New<\/b> Mexico<\/b><\/div>\n
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Texas<\/b><\/div>\n
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Louisiana<\/b><\/div>\n
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Mississippi<\/b><\/div>\n
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Tennessee<\/b><\/div>\n
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Georgia<\/b><\/div>\n
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Alabama<\/b><\/div>\n
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Virginia<\/b><\/div>\n
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Washington<\/b><\/div>\n
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Maryland<\/b> and<\/b> Delaware<\/b><\/div>\n
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Pennsylvania<\/b><\/div>\n
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New<\/b> Jersey<\/b><\/div>\n
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New<\/b> York<\/b> and<\/b> Connecticut<\/b><\/div>\n
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Rhode<\/b> Island<\/b> and<\/b> Massachusetts<\/b><\/div>\n
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New<\/b> Hampshire<\/b> and<\/b> Maine<\/b><\/div>\n
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New<\/b> Brunswick<\/b><\/div>\n
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Newfoundland<\/b><\/div>\n
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Nova<\/b> Scotia<\/b><\/div>\n
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Prince<\/b> Edward<\/b> Island<\/b><\/div>\n
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Quebec<\/b><\/div>\n
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Ontario<\/b><\/div>\n
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Michigan\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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Wisconsin and Illinois\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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Iowa<\/b><\/div>\n
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South Dakota\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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Wyoming and Montana\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Saskatchewan\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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Alberta\u00a0<\/b>(for Mark and Laureen )<\/div>\n
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\u00a0British Columbia <\/b>(for Vince and Kim).<\/div>\n
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Most<\/b> memorable<\/b> place<\/b>: New Orleans during Mardi Gras for all 4 of us.<\/div>\n
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Best<\/b> city<\/b> tour<\/b>.<\/div>\n
Laureen<\/b>: Memphis<\/div>\n
Mark<\/b>: Quebec City<\/div>\n
Kim<\/b>: Boston most enlightening and Quebec most beautiful<\/div>\n
Vince<\/b>: Washington DC<\/div>\n
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Best<\/b> City<\/b> Activity<\/b><\/div>\n
Laureen<\/b>: Boston Red Sox baseball game.<\/div>\n
Mark<\/b>: Driving supercars.<\/div>\n
Kim<\/b>: Broadway Play<\/div>\n
Vince<\/b>: Broadway Play<\/div>\n
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Best<\/b> Museum<\/b><\/div>\n
Laureen<\/b>: Border Patrol in El Paso and Phoenix Botanical Gardens in Arizona<\/div>\n
Mark<\/b>: Houston Nasa Space Museum<\/div>\n
Kim<\/b>: Civil Rights in Memphis<\/div>\n
Vince<\/b>: WWII Museum in New Orleans<\/div>\n
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Favorite<\/b> State<\/b><\/div>\n
Laureen<\/b>: Tennessee<\/div>\n
Mark<\/b>: Louisiana<\/div>\n
Kim<\/b>: Unsure.\u00a0 They were all beautiful.<\/div>\n
Vince<\/b>: Tennessee<\/div>\n
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Favorite<\/b> Province<\/b><\/div>\n
PEI.\u00a0 We all agreed.<\/div>\n
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Best<\/b> Food<\/b>.<\/div>\n
New Orleans and Boston. We all agreed<\/div>\n
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Best<\/b> meal<\/b>.<\/div>\n
Laureen<\/b>: Boston Clam Chowder, New York Pretzel and Spinach, apple and Brie crepe in Montreal.<\/div>\n
Mark<\/b>: Louisiana Gumbo, Boston Clam Chowder and Anniversary dinner in Newfoundland<\/div>\n
Kim<\/b>: World War II Museum restaurant in New Orleans and Salem with Lobster Roll.<\/div>\n
Vince<\/b>: Boston Clam Chowder, Anniversary dinner and Salem Lobster Roll.<\/div>\n
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Tips<\/b>:<\/div>\n
1.<\/strong> CAMPING<\/b> SITES<\/b>.<\/div>\n
ioverlander is a great app for finding free informal (no services) camping. People post where there are places to stay overnight or for a few nights.\u00a0 They give a description of the place, size of area, road noise and any tips that might be useful. It’s not 100% fool proof, we did find ourselves in a few tight spots or having to look elsewhere because we didn’t fit. We never felt unsafe at any of the places. This type of camping takes a bit to get used to. Vince and Kim are pros at this, and Mark and Laureen were just learning.\u00a0 Hats off to Vince for biting his tongue and keeping his thoughts to himself (mostly) when Laureen started to question the places we were staying and when Mark was getting frustrated trying to fit his rig in (Vince’s 5th wheel is 23 feet and Mark’s pull trailer is 31 feet).\u00a0 Vince saved us thousands of dollars by camping this way.<\/div>\n
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We joined Harvest Host but didn’t find them overly convenient for us.\u00a0 You can stay at some neat places (wineries, farms, golf courses, breweries, restaurants, museums, etc) but it’s limited to 1 night stay, and you are expected to support their business.\u00a0 With wanting to tour the area for a couple of nights this wasn’t our best option.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Campgrounds were our last resort.\u00a0 They were great for doing laundry, topping off water, recharging batteries, emptying tanks,\u00a0 etc\u00a0 but mostly seemed like a waste of money for the time we were there.\u00a0 We only needed a place to sleep.<\/div>\n
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2.<\/strong> TOURS<\/b>.<\/div>\n
When booking more than one in a city, the visitor center is the best place to go because they can give discounts on tour packages. Check different websites because the same tour can be more money on different sites. Full day tours are the best for time management and really give you a feel for the place.<\/div>\n
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3.<\/strong> LOYALTY<\/b> CLUBS<\/b>.<\/div>\n
Join them as often as you can to get the discounts offered.\u00a0 Free car washes, money off gas, loyalty points, etc.\u00a0 We didn’t go out of our way to stop at a particular one, so we joined them all.<\/div>\n
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4.<\/strong> DINING<\/b> OUT<\/b>.<\/div>\n
Split meals when eating out.\u00a0 More often than not, you get enough for 2 people in one order because portion sizes are big.\u00a0 Not only does this save you money, you sometimes have room for dessert.<\/div>\n
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5.<\/strong> GROCERIES<\/b><\/div>\n
When buying groceries, buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh.\u00a0 They last longer in the freezer and won’t go bad as fast as fresh in the trailers.<\/div>\n
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We started out buying groceries for a week, then changed it to once every couple of days. We found we weren’t sure when we would be eating at the trailer and food was going bad. You are always driving by a grocery store so stopping is easy. We kept soup, pasta and a quick-prepare frozen meal (skillet dinner) on hand at all times for quick meals.<\/div>\n
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6.<\/strong> GARBAGE<\/b><\/div>\n
With no easy access to household waste disposal, we learned to unbox packaged food, prep veggies and repackage meat in the store parking lot to use their garbage cans.<\/div>\n
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7.<\/strong> WHAT TO PACK\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n