Mega X-Country Retirement COVID Adventure Disaster
 

Plan!
26 June: Head into work for last time, grip&grin and kiss some babies. Depart by noon. Finalize packing and try to wear out the dog.
26 June: Catch red-eye Lihue to LAX with the dog in cargo.
27 June: Arrive LAX 0520, grab rental car and dog, grab legit breakfast burrito from anyplace open. Make first RV appt around 0900.
27 June: Hopefully by noon have bought an RV and am headed south to parents house in Chula Vista. If from dealership, may be driving it. If from private party, will likely have to wait until Monday for loan check to process.
27 June - 01 July: Buy, take possession, outfit, shakedown... and give it a name.
02 July: Pick up family at LAX and start driving north up 395.

First night China Lake at a buddys house. See Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near Bishop next morning.
Second night near Momo Lake.
Then 7hr drive to sisters house in Sonoma to spend the 4th/5th. Plans get vague morning of the 6th as we head towards Virginia.

Planning this thing around how shitty the states are managing their re-opening processes is hard. Nothing is transparent, nobody will answer a phone, half the links are broken or direct you in circles and no matter what I do, there's Gavin Newsom's shit-eating face staring at me. There are lots of private campgrounds, resorts, RV parks open, but the limited state park sites seem to be full (can't tell though, because shit websites).

Anyways... after Sonoma, the wife wants to head back south to do the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam... then slide back up to Zion and Moab... then spend a night outside of Denver at a buddies house 11th or 12th. Gonna try and pick our way EAST one night at a time over the next 4-5 days and try and be in Virginia Beach on or about the 16th/17th. Anybody have friends along the way who own a lake or ranch or farm and would let a 30ft ClassA park for the night on their lake? Yes, I know it's gonna be 100*. Not sure if we're gonna do I40 or I70 or some other path, but I know there's going to be some suck.

Been looking at this one in San Diego... seller and I talking. My search for "One Used RV To Rule Them All" has revealed some insight into the industry... it's amazing how utterly destroyed a 15yr/old but only 25k mile RV can get sitting 360 days a year. This one is a unicorn.

Sounds like fantastic fun and a great way to start off retirement. I'm thoroughly jealous.

Taker er easy going over the mountains with that thing too.

I did a thing! Yup... 2008 Thor Hurricane 34B. Triple slide, bunkbeds, Ford Chassis with 360hp/450tq 6.8L V10... 37k miles. Bunch of new stuff installed and is a real looker. I was not interested in anything this big, but the market sucks. The longer I looked, this was where the market steered me. Most people now are looking for smaller or bigger. Plan is to get this x-country complete, live in it for a month or two if needed while we house-shop and I get my new career underway.

Currently in Ridgecrest, CA for the 4th. Headed towards Vegas on Sunday, then campgrounds and RV parks eastbound. Looking forward to seeing the worlds largest thermometer in Baker, CA in a couple days.

Oh, and no haircut for a couple months... and officially retired from the Navy 3 days ago. I'm a civilian!

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Swing that bad boy by Charleston SC and I can slap some sweet sweet turbo's on it. I got 2 EFR 6758's on the shelf. I offer retired military discounts.

Congrats on the retirement and RV, hope I can do something like this when I'm older. Beats the hell out of being stuck at home like the rest of us shmucks atm.

Awesome trip so far. Spent last night about an hour Northeast of Vegas. Tonight at the Zion River Resort. short drive to Grand Junction tomorrow, but trying to do something in Zion in the morning before we leave. Dog had a killer time at the river today!
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