Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going

We have always been travelers, in North America and in Europe in our employment years. Since retiring after the summer of 2008, we have become nearly full-time travelers, world-wide, undertaking a variety of extended trips. A list of continents, countries, cities visited--not to mention cathedrals, museums, ruins, markets, etc.--would be dull and tedious and would not reflect what we do. We're not out to set any records, endure travel stress-tests, nor tick off items from bucket lists. We mostly like the excitement of learning in intellectually and aesthetically interesting places, and we don't mind going back to some of the same such places over and over again. We mostly favor places that have stood the test of time and are history- or literature-laden. But that doesn't mean we won't travel to appreciate contemporary matters, such as, for example, architecture in young places like La Defence, Shanghai, or Dubai. Our journeys are recorded in our blog, www.roadeveron.blogspot.com. There are now more than 4,000 posts, and many thousands of photos. The blog is searchable and can be viewed by country and major city if one so wishes. In addition, here on the website, Vicki writes a variety of short essays on the practical aspects of our travel for the Escapees' World Wide Travelers newsletter.

On the other hand.... As we enter our golden years and as the number of long-term travels increases, an aide-memoire has become increasingly useful. Too many times now, writing blog posts or other things, we have been mistaken about when we saw something or did something or other. So we'll at least have the handy abbreviated reference below, dull and tedious as it is, a brief chronology of our travels...

Travel Chronology*

Pre-retirement travels: cross-country US/Canada, 1970, 1972; many visits to the US West, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s; Canada/Alaska 2003; European travels, 1979, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1998, 2005 (Tour du Mont-Blanc); Japan, 1983; Mexico, 1993, 1994

We sold our Missoula home in 2007; sold/donated/stored the rest of our possessions, in 2008, and hit the road

Retirement travels:

September, 2008-March, 2009: Asia/Pacific tour...China, Nepal, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii

March, April, 2009: Menlo Park,** CA,  Missoula, MT, St. Cloud,** FL; purchase of Grey Wanderer, a Roadtrek Adventurous camper we then shipped to Bremerhaven

April, 2009-February, 2010: Ireland (tenting), Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, UK, Spain, Portugal in the Grey Wanderer (stored near Marseilles)

February-June, 2010, Fort Lauderdale,** St. Cloud, Menlo Park, then road trip to DC**; Sandpoint,** ID, Missoula, Menlo Park and daughter Rebecca's wedding at Half Moon Bay

June-December, 2010: France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece (stored Grey Wanderer near Athens)

December, 2010-January, 2011: Ft. Lauderdale, St. Cloud, road trip to Menlo Park (Saturn)

February-August, 2011: Greece, Italy, Sicily [April: Menlo Park for birth of grand-daughter Penelope], more Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands (stored camper in Amsterdam)

August, 2011-June 2012: Missoula, daughter Rachel's wedding; then apartment in Menlo Park, grand-parenting Penelope; travels to Kauai, Maui, Yosemite NP; assorted day-trips in Bay area

June-September, 2012: France, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain (stored camper in Toulouse)

September 2012-March 2013 Menlo Park, grand-parenting, assorted day-trips in Bay area, then DC

March-November, 2013: France, Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Scotland, Italy (sold Grey Wanderer in Rome)

December, 2013: Menlo Park, then DC

January-April, 2014: New Zealand, Fiji; then Menlo Park, Ft. Lauderdale

April-July, 2014: Cruise from Miami to Barcelona, then 3 months in Paris apartment

August, 2014-May, 2015: Menlo Park, DC, Missoula, purchase of Dodge/Bigfoot camper, Pacific coast to Menlo Park; CA camping; snowmobiling in Montana, Wyoming, camping in American Southwest

May-August, 2015: Netherlands, purchase of Le Duc, small Class C camper, Belgium, France (stored camper in Amsterdam)

September, 2015-March, 2016: camping in CA, Montana, American Southwest; snowmobiling in Montana, Wyoming; sale of Dodge/Bigfoot; purchase of Le Sport, Mercedes/Sportsmobile class B+ camper

April-August, 2016: Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Ireland, France, Spain (stored Le Duc in Figueres)

September-December, 2016: cross-country from Menlo Park to Prince Edward Island to Knoxville, then DC; then back to Menlo Park

January-March, 2017: Argentina, Chile, Peru

March, 2017: Menlo Park

April-June, 2017: Spain, Portugal, Andorra (stored Le Duc in Figueres again)

July-August, 2017: Menlo Park, Missoula, Yosemite

August-September, 2017: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, United Arab Emirates

October-November, 2017: Mediterranean, Barcelona to Rome, Spain, France, Italy (stored Le Duc in Rome)

November-December, 2017: Knoxville, DC, Menlo Park

Jan-March, 2018: New Zealand

April, 2018: California

April-July, 2018: Sicily, Malta, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, San Marino; stored Le Duc in Rome

August- November, 2018: California, Montana, Washington and points en route

November- December, 2018: California, Washington DC 

January-March, 2019: California

March-August, 2019: Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, France, UK; stored Le Duc near Edinburgh

September-December, 2019: Menlo Park, CA, Knoxville, TN, Washington, DC, back to Menlo Park

January-March, 2020: Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam

March-June, 2020: Menlo Park

June-August, 2020, Montana

August-December, 2020, cross country trip, Montana to Upper Peninsula, to DC, Knoxville, and return to Menlo Park

January-February, 2021, camping in San Diego

March-June, 2021, Menlo Park, Montana, Washington, Oregon

June-October, 2021, Iceland, London, and Paris

November-December, 2021, DC, Knoxville, Menlo Park

January, 2022, Mission Bay, San Diego

February-March, 2022, Cross-country, to Florida, Redneck Riviera, Tallahassee, WDW, Fort Lauderdale; to Knoxville via southeast coast

April-June, 2022, Rome, Florence, London, southern UK, Paris, southwestern France

July-August, 2022, southeastern US

September-November, 2022, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava

December, 2022, US, Arkansas, Tennessee, DC, North Carolina

January-March, 2023, New Zealand

April-June, 2023: Barcelona, Paris, Alsace, Alps, Burgundy

July, 2023-April, 2024: Missoula, Cary, NC

May-October, 2024: Paris, Bruges/Ghent, Riga/Tallinn, London, New York; and whither then, we cannot say...

*Dates are rough, approximate, and include considerable overlap and back and forth between countries (e.g., in and out of France and Italy in the Alps; ditto Austria and Germany; driving to and from Sicily through Italy; etc.)

**Family members and their families: Menlo Park, daughter Rebecca; DC, daughter Rachel; Ft. Lauderdale,  Mark's sister Carole; St. Cloud/Knoxville, Vicki's sister Marie; Sand Point/Oceanside, Vicki's brother Bob