2024 travel adventure

Our epic 2024 travel adventure

Wonderful visits and a few big disappointments highlighted our epic 2024 travel adventure. After our 2023 visit to Alaska, our 2024 travel adventure should have been easy. Not so; we had some issues along the way. We visited new places, and again, like in 2023, we returned to Alaska. This time, we went to Alaska the easy way on a cruise ship.

Glacier Bay National Park
We visited Glacier Bay National Park on our 2024 travel adventure.

San Diego

We stop in San Diego yearly for doctor’s appointments. Usually, I finish the appointments in December, as was the case this year. In January 2024, instead of being given the go-ahead by my doctors and then leaving town, I was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. My only symptom of pneumonia was a headache. I was shocked to be admitted. It wasn’t a perfect start to my 2024 travel adventure.

San Diego VA Medical Center Pneumonia
Being admitted to the San Diego VA Medical Center in January for pneumonia wasn’t a great start for our 2024 travel adventure.

The story is pretty funny, and everything turned out well. The final parts of this story are still being worked on. Someday, when I have more answers, I will let you know how the story ends or at least develops into new chapters. Here is a link to my story about visiting the emergency room for some headache medicine and staying at the hospital. You can’t leave, you have Pneumonia!

Our 2024 travel adventure

Our 2024 travel adventure started with multiple repairs we needed to accomplish while traveling. The biggest one was getting our RV black tank repaired so we could travel without first completely emptying the black tank. The spring of 2024 was an opportunity to fix our RV while we crossed the largest states in the country. Here is an article with lots of failures and repairs. Sadly, some of the repairs are still not finished. Yikes, is our RV falling apart?

This is the cost of being a do-it-yourself RV repair person. Tami was watching to make sure I didn't fall off my chair during my little post dinner nap.
This is the cost of being a do-it-yourself RV repair person. Tami watched to ensure I didn’t fall off my chair during my little post-dinner nap.

As for the black tank, the repair required professional help. The biggest thing I learned about RV service professionals is that they are swamped. Don’t expect help quickly. This makes getting help more difficult while traveling. Here is a link to the first half of that story. Fixing our RV Black Tank Nightmare

The Chiricahua Mountains

Before our 2024 travel adventure, I didn’t know about the Chiricahua Mountains in the southeast part of Arizona. They are near the New Mexico-Arizona border, and our visit during our 2024 travel adventure was a very worthwhile detour on our way east across the southwest. Here is a link to the story. Geronimo’s Hideout in the Chiricahua Mountains

Hoodoos in the Chiricahua Mountains
Rock formations in the Chiricahua Mountains during our 2024 travel adventure.

Solar Eclipse

Our full-time journey (2017) started with a trip to see the 2017 total solar eclipse. For our 2024 travel adventure, It would be fitting to see the 2024 total solar eclipse. Seeing amazing things fits into our focus as full-time RVers. Missing the total solar eclipse would not fit our 2024 travel adventure theme. Seeing a total solar eclipse requires two things. First, you have to be on the path of totality. The second thing is you have to have good weather.

Tami watching the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Tami watching the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse during our 2024 travel adventure.

The solar eclipse looked like it would be a total failure, but we got lucky. Unlike our 2017 solar eclipse story, we almost missed the show because we were under the clouds. At the last moment, the cloud cover broke, and we got some great views. It was terrific. Here is a link to our results. Was the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse a Total Failure?

The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Our epic 2024 travel adventure 22

If you didn’t see the total eclipse in 2024, you could try to catch the August 2, 2027, total solar eclipse in southern Spain. That would be fun. In this part of Spain, cloud cover would almost be unheard of, so your chances of seeing the eclipse would be ideal. 2027, I might want to spend the entire summer in southern Spain. That would be great.

Tire problems

One of the things we resolved this year during our 2024 travel adventure was fixing our tire problems. On the way across West Texas, we had a tire problem. This tire failure resulted in several repair attempts while we wandered across the west. Finally, we resolved the issues in Portland after crossing Texas (twice) and then north to Portland on “bad” tires. Here is a link to that story. I hope it includes some lessons learned. RV Tire Failure Driving Across West Texas

Dodging an RV tire disaster our RV at the shop in Van Horn Texas
Our RV tire story started in Van Horn, Texas. The photo is from inside our RV while it was in the shop getting new tires.

Working our way north

As is our custom, we like to enjoy the weather in the Southwest in the winter and head north and up into the mountains in the summer. This year, the exception to our usual route was our trip across Texas to see the solar eclipse. This year, our 2024 travel adventure winter hiding place focused on Phoenix, and we spent some quality time there when not streaking across Texas to see the solar eclipse. We also spent more time in Yuma this year than ever before.

Our Hurricane Kayaks ready for launch at Canyon Lake.
Our Hurricane Kayaks are ready for launch at Canyon Lake during our 2024 travel adventure.

You might not think that Phoenix would be an excellent place for our kayaks, but we enjoyed exploring the desert with our kayaks. The red sandstone and blue water make for a beautiful contrast. Here is a link to one of our stories about kayaking near Phoenix. Exploring Canyon Lake Sonoran Desert by Kayak

Tami exploring Canyon Lake in her Hurricane Kayak.
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Not every adventure works out as you want it to. In our 2024 travel adventure, we made the bad decision to take a bike ride one day. Looking back on it, however, it isn’t as bad as I thought. We made lots of mistakes, but the number one mistake was that you should avoid bicycle rides in a hail storm. Here is a link to the story (including beautiful pictures) of our bike ride near Las Vegas. Red Rock Canyon Bike Ride turned Ugly.

Scott and Tami at the Red Rock Canyon
Scott and Tami at the Red Rock Canyon

Further north, near Saint George in Utah, we had a beautiful hike, looking for the last seasonal waterfall in the Red Cliffs area. Here is a link to that story. Finding the previous waterfall in Red Cliffs National Conservation Area

Red Cliffs National Conservation Area
Red Cliffs National Conservation Area

Going back to Alaska

You may have thought we exhaustively covered Alaska in our 2023 journey, but we considered it incomplete. (I still feel it is incomplete.) During our 2024 travel adventure, we went back to Alaska, this time without all the work and none of the driving. In July, we launched on a cruise ship out of Seattle and headed north to visit Canada and Alaska’s coastline. Unlike our 2023 cruise to Mexico, our cruise to Alaska was on a boat filled with passengers. Both cruises were terrific. Here is a link to our 2023 cruise to Mexico, where the staff outnumbered the passengers. Spoiled Rotten on our Cruise

This is the view of the grand staircase and dance floor on our cruise ship.
This is the view of the grand staircase and dance floor on our cruise ship during our 2023 Mexico cruise.

Unlike our cruise to Mexico, our cruise to Alaska was crowded and included plenty of children. I am betting that a July departure had something to do with both issues. Unlike our trip to Mexico, we didn’t expect the weather to be great. Here is a link to our 2024 travel adventure to Alaska. Our cruise to Alaska

Tami and Scott on the Holland America Eurodam
Tami and Scott on the Holland America Eurodam

The most impressive thing we saw and enjoyed on our cruise to Alaska was Glacier Bay National Park. Unlike the rainy cities along the coast of Alaska, we visited Glacier National Park on a great day, and it was terrific. Here is a link. An Unforgettable Cruise through Glacier Bay National Park

Tami standing on our balcony next to the amazing blue water in Glacier Bay National Park.
Tami standing on our balcony next to the amazing blue water in Glacier Bay National Park.

Lost in Vancouver

You probably don’t want to take a forty-foot RV towing a car on a lap through downtown Vancouver on Friday afternoon during rush hour. Here is a story about getting lost in Vancouver, including the details about how we got lost. Lost in Vancouver

Port Mann Bridge
Port Mann Bridge, British Columbia, Canada; we didn’t get lost until after crossing this bridge.

Wildfires in Canada

The plan for our 2024 travel adventure included visiting Jasper, Canada, after visiting Alaska. We made it to Canada but never Jasper due to wildfires raging through the town. We could have made different plans near Banff, but one of our hopes was to drive the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff in our RV. The north end of the Icefields Parkway was closed, so we decided to save that trip for a different adventure. Here is a link to the story of heading back south, including a story about our RV electrical system failure. Sadly, our Canada Trip was cut short.

View from our RV as we make a lap through downtown Vancouver.
View from our RV as we make a lap through downtown Vancouver.

Instead of spending the rest of the summer in Canada, we headed south and visited Whistler and Vancouver. This time, we didn’t get lost in Vancouver. We could go back to Whistler!!!

After sunset from our campsite overlooking the Puget Sound.
After sunset, from our campsite overlooking the Puget Sound.

Exploring new places in the Puget Sound

Not going to Jasper during our 2024 travel adventure freed up additional time to explore northwest Washington. We were already familiar with these places, and with the extra time, we got to dive deeper into the local culture before heading south for the winter. Here are some links about our 2024 travel adventure in northwest Washington.

Other RV repairs, upgrades, and issues.

I already mentioned a few repairs, and one failure (my failure to turn on the electricity at one campsite) led to a big discovery during one-stop while heading south. I woke up to an electrical failure in the middle of the night. Someday, I will revise the article to tell you the answers to the mystery. For now, here is a link to the incomplete electrical failure story. Our RV electrical failure led to a surprising discovery.

True Topper RV slide toppers
We got our fabric slide toppers replaced this fall in Oregon as we worked our way south just before the rains started in the Pacific Northwest for the year.

As for upgrades, we replaced our fabric slide toppers with True Toppers. We aren’t done testing, but our True Toppers are the answer to a big RV issue. For us, it means that we won’t have to fight with our slide toppers ever again. Here is a link to part of the story. Our RV slide toppers are junk and are going into the trash!

Summary

During our 2024 travel adventure, we drove our RV 7,741 miles, crossing nine large states and one short visit to British Columbia. We also traveled about 2,000 miles on a cruise to Alaska and Canada. We added new national parks to our list and revisited some of the ones we love. Overall, we made 75 distinct stops, and most importantly, we visited with some of our fantastic friends and family members.

Final thoughts about our 2024 travel adventure

In 2025, I anticipate fewer miles on the RV but more far-reaching adventures.

As always, I am indebted to all the readers and hope to entertain and inspire you to live each day to the fullest. As for Tami loving me, I am the luckiest man alive.

Tami and Scott at Fort Casey.
Tami and Scott at Fort Casey during our 2024 travel adventure.

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Links

San Diego VA Medical Center

Chiricahua National Monument

Hurricaneaquasport Prima 125 Kayaks

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Red Cliffs National Conservation Area

Holland America Cruise Lines

Glacier Bay National Park

True Topper USA

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4 thoughts on “Our epic 2024 travel adventure”

  1. I love following you all. It’s great seeing all the pictures. We actually have been to a lot of the places, but we are no longer RVing. Gary still works at Dan Nicholas Campground, but we bought another house. Keep posting.

  2. I was just thinking about you two, as I haven’t seen any posts. It sounds like you had a good year of traveling. We went on a cruise to Alaska in July, and I must admit we did not have a lot of children on our cruise. It was a phenomenal two-week cruise, and we want to do it again. Take care and Happy Travels. Thank you for sharing…

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