Up until now we’ve always traveled during the summer; the months when it’s hardest to find those “perfect” temperatures. But now? We are heading into uncharted territory for us. We are now both retired and ready to get on the road. But, where to?

We are realizing there is more to choosing a destination than just saying, “Let’s go to Michigan.” My husband has wanted to go to Michigan, specifically Mackinac Island for a long time. He grew up in Michigan and I lived in Lansing briefly, but we have not visited the state in our RV. So, Michigan it is. But, what about weather? At what point are we pushing our RV structure limits too far? When is cold too cold?

With temperatures in mind, I got to work doing some research. I created an Excel sheet that lists all the states except Alaska and Hawaii. I then looked up the average temperatures for those states by month. This included highs and lows and notes about regional differences. I highlighted the hottest months and the coldest months for each one. It seems like it would be a lot of work, but it really didn’t take that long. I then created another table that I labeled “Best States for Travel by Month”. I used the other table to find the states that best fit my four categories: Best State, 2nd Best, Okay, Worst. My hope with this one was to get a quick picture to help with that age-old question, “Which way do we go?”

The next step to this process was a collaborative one. I had recently printed way too many state maps for my travel journal. I didn’t have the heart to just toss them so I was excited to find a good use for them. My husband and I sat down with a printout of the Excel sheet (I hid all the months except the ones we would be traveling) and the extra maps. I labeled the maps October, November, and December. I used a different highlighter to color in the states in the areas we would possibly be traveling as my husband approved them. He was looking for temperatures he felt that we and the RV could handle. Spreading these maps out and seeing the areas “shrink” was interesting. We immediately knew where we needed to head to first and about when we needed to start heading to home base.

We now know that we will head directly up north and then we will take our time heading home. Mackinac Island will be exciting as we will really get to use our new Lectric E-bikes to explore. Heading there first ensures that we will have perfect weather for those bike rides. We will then need to be below Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia in November and definitely in the southern parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia by December. This works for me because I want to see New Orleans. I wonder how early they decorate for Christmas.