Chickery's Travels

Chickery's Travels logo. A blue-green Earth globe with continents surrounded by dots with an arrow denoting movement or travel and "Chickery's Travels" as part of the dotted circle. Next to this is a photo of their blue and white Arctic Fox 5th Wheel with the awning out.
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December 5, 2018 by Guest Post 10 Comments

Full-Time RV: 2018 Year in Review

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We spent all of 2018 traveling the United States in our Fifth Wheel RV. We hope you enjoy this month-by-month review of our travels with links to all the campgrounds we enjoyed.

Click here to learn how we find the best campgrounds along our travels. These tips apply to RV resorts, RV parks, rustic campgrounds, and even boondocking spots.

  • January – Cocoa Beach, Florida
  • February – Rainbow Springs & Pensacola Florida
  • March – Fredericksburg, Texas
  • April – San Antonio, Texas
  • May – Wellington, Texas
  • June – Alexandria, Virginia
  • July – Cookeville, Tennessee
  • August – Tampa, Florida
  • September – Montgomery, Alabama & Hot Springs, Arkansas
  • October – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma & Wellington, Texas
  • November – San Antonio, Texas
  • December – Lajitas, Texas (Big Bend National Park) & Tucson, Arizona
  • RV-less Travel
  • What’s next?
  • Related posts:

January – Cocoa Beach, Florida

We stayed at the campground on Patrick Air Force Base for all of Nov, Dec & Jan. Donovan, Richie, and Agata came to visit while we were there. We spent a lot of time at the beach and Julie & the kids also enjoyed Disney and Universal Studios.

If you're looking for a wonderful military campground, check out these Waterfront RV sites at Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  Magic Kingdom entrance photo

February – Rainbow Springs & Pensacola Florida

We were blown away by the crystal clear waters of Rainbow Springs! In Pensacola, we were able to stay at a Navy base campground right on the bay, the Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area.

Rainbow Springs State Park Florida sunset at Perdido Key Florida

March – Fredericksburg, Texas

We attended a conference for RV entrepreneurs and Julie presented a blogging workshop with her business partners. We stayed the whole month and enjoyed our time in the Texas Hill Country. We highly recommend the Texas Wine Country Jellystone campground.

Enchanted Rock State Park Texas couple at Enchanted Rock State Park Texas

April – San Antonio, Texas

Justin & his girlfriend, Kayla moved into a new apartment with Donovan in San Antonio.  So of course, we visited San Antonio twice this year. The first visit was in April and the Texas Bluebonnets were in bloom! When visiting the area, we always stay at the Alsatian RV Resort in Castroville, just west of town.

San Antonio Riverwalk Texas Bluebonnets

May – Wellington, Texas

We went to a tiny little town in Texas to be filmed for a documentary (more on this in Oct).

RV Nomads documentary filming Wellington Texas twon square

June – Alexandria, Virginia

We drove for days after the movie filming to get to Virginia for our oldest son’s wedding and to be able to spend time with all the family that came in! We are so happy to Agata in our family!

The wedding was amazing and we got to celebrate with so many loved ones. While in the northern Virginia and DC area, we stayed at our favorite military campground: Fort Belvoir Travel Camp.

wedding couple walking down the aisle Ft Belvoir Travel Camp  in Alexandria Virginia is a terrific military campground on the Potomac River.

July – Cookeville, Tennessee

We stopped in Cookeville to visit Julie’s parents and discovered a lot of wonderful hiking spots. That is Julie on the ledge of one of the many waterfalls in the area. We loved staying at the Crossville KOA.

KOA Campfire Ozone Falls in Sparta TN

August – Tampa, Florida

Back to Tampa to get some work done on the RV and visit Sean’s parents. We spent time at two different campgrounds in the area: MacDill Air Force Base FamCamp and Lazy Days RV Resort.

St Pete Beach Selfie  Honeymoon Island State Park Florida

September – Montgomery, Alabama & Hot Springs, Arkansas

We made our way back to Texas at a more leisurely pace and stopped for a week at each of these locations. While in Montgomery, we loved our first Corps of Engineer Campground, Gunter Hill. Next we stayed three nights at Downtown Riverside RV Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Then we were absolutely blown away Catherine’s Landing, a true RV Resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Hot Springs Arkansas Hot Springs Campfire

October – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma & Wellington, Texas

If you’ve never been to the Oklahoma City Memorial at the site of the federal building bombing, we highly recommend you go. It is very moving. We stayed at the Oklahoma City East KOA just outside of the city. It was a nice quiet place to rest a bit before heading back to Wellington for the premiere of the documentary film, RV Nomads: The Movie. It was very cool to see ourselves on the big screen. Don’t worry, we didn’t let the 2 minutes of fame go to our heads.

OKC Memorial NoXadFest in Wellington TX

November – San Antonio, Texas

Back to San Antonio to visit Donovan, Justin, and Kayla for Thanksgiving!

San Antonio hiking San Antonio Riverwalk Christmas Lights

December – Lajitas, Texas (Big Bend National Park) & Tucson, Arizona

By far our favorite location of the year was Lajitas, Texas. It is nestled between Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. Both parks have amazing scenery and a wide range of hiking opportunities. While there we stayed at Maverick Ranch RV Park.

Top of Lost Mine trail in Big Bend National Park in Texas Big Bend National Park in Texas

We stopped for one night at the Las Cruces KOA in New Mexico on our way  Tucson, Arizona to finish out the year. The Tucson Lazy Days KOA is a an amazing resort!

RV-less Travel

We also traveled a few places without the RV including Chicago, IL; Manteca, CA; Des Moines, IA; Niagara Falls, NY; and Springfield, VA. This year we have slept in 13 different states, 18 campgrounds and 5 hotels.

What’s next?

We’re currently planning to spend most of 2019 in the west: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. We’ll also be flying to 5 RV shows. Most importantly, we hope to visit more family and friends along the way!

Want to learn more about Full-Time RV Travel? Click here to read about the amazing destinations and terrific campgrounds you can visit. RV travel is for everyone whether you have a motorhome, fifth wheel, travel trailer, or even pop up camper!

Related posts:

2021 Year in Review
2022 Year in Review

Filed Under: Holiday Letter Tagged With: year of travel

Comments

  1. John Payne says

    December 6, 2018 at 9:32 am

    I enjoyed the year in pictures of your adventures! Thanks for including your campsites. For those of us that are not full timers, it is helpful when we plan our trips for the year! Happy and safe travels for you in 2019!

    Reply
    • Julie Chickery says

      December 6, 2018 at 5:43 pm

      Thanks for stopping by John. I review every campground we visit, so if you click on the links you can learn more about them.

      Reply
  2. Denise Chickery says

    December 14, 2018 at 10:15 am

    Hi Julie and Sean! It’s Aunt Denise! I’m so happy to see this! Good for you! You look like you’re having a blast! Steven and I send our love, Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

    Reply
  3. Carine says

    December 20, 2018 at 6:58 pm

    Thank you for the card, Julie & Sean. Looks like a wonderful year full of adventure! I would like to visit with you two when you come to Oregon. Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Fun New Year!

    Love,

    Carine

    Reply
  4. David Lopez says

    January 1, 2019 at 11:39 pm

    Thank you for the information. Do any of these locations have RV age restrictions?

    Reply
    • Julie Chickery says

      January 1, 2019 at 11:43 pm

      We saw older RVs at all the campgrounds and RV parks we stayed at, so I don’t think so. However, it is always best to double check when you make your reservations.

      Reply
  5. Candace says

    January 2, 2019 at 12:26 am

    Thanks for spending time chatting with me in Tuscon the end of the year. It’s great to meet the people I follow online. Thank you also for sharing so much of your travels and how-tos. I look forward to watching another year chock-full of great tips and reviews.

    Reply
    • Julie Chickery says

      January 2, 2019 at 11:08 pm

      It was great spending time with you! We love meeting fellow travelers.

      Reply
  6. David Lopez says

    January 2, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    I forgot to ask too, do you have to have military background service to get in those nice campgrounds? They look really nice

    Reply
    • Julie Chickery says

      January 2, 2019 at 11:08 pm

      To stay at the military campgrounds, you have to be retired/active military or DoD Civilian.

      Reply

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