Lora and Erics
RV Adventure & OUR Alaska Dream
with Bella Bee Marie
Lora and Eric have over 30 years of being together as partners. Married in Virginia many years ago, they started their life and family in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Eric's first introduction to camping was with Lora.
1988 New Market, Virginia - Endless Caverns
Camping was such an adventure early on, when Eric interviewed for an Engineering position, Eric and Lora spent the week at Natural Bridge, Virginia KOA in January 1989. The interview was in Waynesboro, Virginia. with Genicom Corporation. The temperature was in the 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
January 1989 Natural Bridge, Virginia - KOA
We really believe camping for the interview won Eric his job. Our life forever changed with a move to Waynesboro, VA. In 1990 we were married. Our honeymoon was a 2 week camping trip to Niagara Falls, New York; Thousand Islands, Ontario, Canada; and Lake Placid, New York.
May 1990 Niagara Falls, New York
Whenever we had Jonny and Matt for visitation over the summer from Lora's ex-husband we took the children camping. We visited regularly camped along the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. In 1992 the family grew to three with Phillip. Phillip was quickly acclimated to camping.
1992 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
After our trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Lora and I upgraded from Tent Camping to a Fleetwood Pop-up camper. In 1995 we took our first long trip with the camper Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
1995 Gatinburg, Tennessee
In 1997 we moved from Waynesboro, Virginina to Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Our first camping trip living in North Carolina was a visit to Travel Resorts of America, Sycamore Lodge, Jackson Springs, North Carolina. Travel Resorts of America (TRA) is a membership timeshare campground. The decision to join TRA in 1997 set us up for a path to achieving a goal to one day go camping across America.
In 1998 we traded up the pop up for a new Fleetwood pop-up with a roof mounted air conditioner.
In 2001 we trading up for a larger Fleetwood pop-up camper.
In 2006 we trading up for a Hybrid Fleetwood Resort TNT camper.
In 2015 Eric was laid off from Cummins Inc after 15 years of dedicated service. 7 years as a Customer Engineering Design Engineer and 8 years in various leadership positions as Customer Engineering Manager, Cost Reduction Manager, and Specs and Change Control Manager. In 2018 we upgraded our Travel Resorts of America membership to Premier Status. With this status we are eligible for 21 days free camping at some TRA properties on the East Coast, Coast to Coast Deluxe and Premiere properties.
The reintroduction of camping after a long hiatus. We sold the Resort TNT and purchased a 2017 Kodiak Ultimate 291RESL
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In July Lora gave her notice at the Church of Good Shepherd after 7 years of dedicated service. In August we decided to start taking more time on the road. We loved the lifestyle of camping full-time. We stayed 3 weeks traveling and got
along like it was in the early days of camping. We put the camper into service heading home for over 5 weeks. Once the camper was ready we hit the road for TRA Sycamore Lodge; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, then back to TRA Sycamore Lodge. The Kodiak went back into service. We continued traveling using our free Resort coupon for a week. We chose Peppertree Resort in Atlantic Beach, NC. Upon return we still did not have the camper, thus had to stay in a hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC to visit Brookgreen Gardens for the Christmas lights.
We were so tired of hearing excuses, while Lora and I were in Myrtle Beach we visited Camper Connection, Myrtle Beach. We checked out the
Beach we visited Camper Connection, Myrtle Beach. We checked out the Grand Design Reflection Travel Trailer 315RLTS. I have done extensive research on Grand Design Manufacturing and trusted the quality. We trade-in the Kodiak sight unseen. We scheduled to exchange the campers on December 27, 2017.
We picked up our Grand Design Reflection 215RLTS on December 27, 2017. We have not taken the camper home since purchasing it in Myrtle Beach, SC. We hovered around North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina until mid March. After that we left on the trip of a life-time.
