Special offer

BEACH NOTES ... 1221/2009 ... Ocean City, New Jersey

By
Real Estate Agent with Goldcoast Sotheby's International Realty License # 9481514

ON THE ROAD AGAIN ... Taking Scoop's (my late father) Chevy from Ocean City NJ to California to our son, Nick, and his wife, Cori

Well, the first phase of our trip is over ... we went from Ocean City NJ to Novato CA in 11 days with a two-day non-driving stop in Santa Fe and another 1/2 day at the southern rim of the Grand Canyon ... or a total of 8.5 days of driving out of the total 11.  Could we have made it faster ... yes.  But you need breaks.

Our longest driving day was our first one ... 723 miles, our shortest driving days 171 and 147 which were the last 2 days which could have been combined.  Overall, we covered 3,529 total miles in a 2004 Chevrolet that concludes just under 60,000 miles.  We stated with a four new tires and a check-up ... and it was a great trip.  In some ways, I thought a great deal about my late father as we drove along.  My wife, Leslie, was co-driver.  In our late 60s driving can be a difficult matter as you try to cover so much milage in a particular time.  However, it was smart to break it down, take longer breaks, etc.

Why do this?  We decided to take one car to our son who has only on car ... we had three cars ... so now we are equal.  In our little island off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean City, NJ; you don't need three cars.  Nick and his wife, Cori, at the end of Marin County need to have two cars.  And I think my father would have been pleased with our decision.

So we are here for the holidays ... we will combine staying with Nick & Cori, also renting a 2-bedroom condo in Sausalito for a week, returning to their place for a few nights, and flying to Los Angeles to drive to the pier for a return cruise by way of the Panama Canal to Miami FL and a flight to Atantic City NJ and a return to our barrier island in South Jersey by mid-January, 2010.

So we have been posting most of the way across the country ... often tryeing to identify real estate agents in each state.  We have also sent out four different newsletter updates to friends and family as we roll along.  Finally, I work in a resort marketing situation which slows down quite a bit from December through the middle of February ... so my decision was when you are not making any money, you might be better off spending some.  And that brings us to our present situation.

Phase #1 of our road trip is over as of last night.  Phase 2 begins today.  Thanks for reading some of our adventures.  You can find past postings of our travels on my Active Rain site.                   dap

Posted by

GARY DIGIORGIO -Denver- Arvada -Westminster
THE DIGIORGIO GROUP /(303) 898 - GARY (4279) - Westminster, CO
REOptions LLC

Dustin..Love OC..I have family there...hoping to visit next summer

Dec 21, 2009 02:04 AM
Sharon Senger
tcDocs - Seattle, WA
Licensed Transaction Coordinator

Dustin,

So glad to hear that you have arrived safely and I am sure you are excited to see your family for the holidays.  Looking forward to hearing about your next phase :)

 

Dec 21, 2009 02:28 AM
Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore - Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Your Realtor Down the Shore!

You picked a great time to be out of NJ!!!  Just north of Ocean City where I live we got anywhere from 16 to 24 inches of snow!!!  Enjoy California!

Dec 21, 2009 03:08 AM
Anonymous
Laura and others ...

Thank you so much for your follow-ups ... we have sent 4 update newsletters to our friends and family reviewing our trip along with my daily "active rain" postings ... appreciate your comments.  Happy holidays and new year 2010.                             dap

Dec 23, 2009 02:19 AM
#4