Thanks! Much appreciate the suggestions. We stayed in one of the mega-parks in Mesa, not really our thing. But Scottsdale was very nice, we ate lunch there after a nice morning tour of the desert gardens. Beautiful.
November 2016
So our planning for 2017 is taking a slightly different twist. Our late spring departure might get moved up, depending on how things go short term.
Given that is the case, we may end up traveling through the winter, either in the FL panhandle, or around to Alabama (say Fairhope), or even down to Corpus Christie TX. Generally we wanted to stay near the water, and not have too bad a time with cold weather until things warm up.
With that plan, we might end up on the southern route again, heading down I10 through San Antonio, Hill Country, Dallas, thence to New Mexico, then up through Colorado and Wyoming on our way to the Northern States (ID, SD, ND, MT) we want to see in the late spring / summer.
I also wanted to update a few additional destinations/activities for future reference:
Montana Kalispell, Bozeman, Flathead Lake (there is a possibility of a Givens class 1-2 July in Kalispell)
Arizona Tucson and old Tucson, the Boneyard (DM AFB), Flagstaff again.
Oregon Portland, Astoria, Bend, Crater Lake
Idaho Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Craters of the Moon NP, Sun Valley, Idaho City, Hells Canyon Recreational Area
South Dakota Mt Rushmore, Deadwood, Black Hills
As to the RV (our 30' Airstream), we are more than convinced that it offers everything we need for extended travel.
We just got back from a few days with my brother camping at Bonita Springs (near Naples) and the Middle Keys to Long Key State Park. Really enjoying the new layout with the rear dinette as well as the lounge area offered by the 30' vs. the 27' model we traded. The two 55w solar panels do an excellent job of keeping the AGM batteries topped up in storage. For example I was able to run the refrigerator on propane for several days before the trip and had no issues with the batteries falling off of charged voltage (13.7V).
Long Key State Park is about 15 miles north of Marathon, and somewhat remote. All the sites back onto the water, so it was a pretty view. There was no sewer, but good 30A service and fresh water. No WiFi either, so it was interesting being pretty disconnected during the election last week.
Here is my picnic table: