First month of Adventure
Ramblings from the first month of being on the road.
We did not have much of an expectation on many things as life is more simple like that.. if this is turning out to be stressful might as well stay home. So we did not have much of an idea of…
what is was going to be like on weekly bases, are we going to burn out for moving all the time, stopping at least for 3nights at the time! Managed it, expect once and paid for it for 4 days.
how bored are we going to get, have not had time to think about it yet!
how soon we are going to kill each other, still alive.. both of us!
how far we can travel on travel days, max 300 mi, pref 230mi and depending of roads.
live in a box with two big dogs basically for doing stuff, getting up etc we have to do different times so we do not trip over each other..I sleep later and go to bed first! Solved.
move from King to Queen size bed (you think that’s funny.. try it!!) ha ha, maybe get 2 separate duvets??We do not have 2 seperate but I have a duvet, no problem !!??!?
how are the dogs going to settle into moving camp twice a week? They LOVE it, it’s like Christmas morning every morning, new smells, new walks. They learned to love the camper on our short trips at the beginning.
Laundry.. sport laundry.. uhh?! I go to local Laundromat once a week and it’s quick and easy, do my shopping while laundry getting done. PS cycling bibs and running shorts, little hand washing goes far!!
Anyway it’s been 5 weeks since we left and we are still both alive and not coming back soon!
Im still huge believer on planning ahead, I have a trauma from “Super Yacht” days when we never knew from next day to another where are going to be or what we were going to do, so now days I plan! Someone thinks it’s very limiting life style but specially on traveling mode it works. As Michelle S. said “ it’s a recipe for divorce if not knowing where you are going to stop after a long day of driving across the country” . Yep and to add to that I need to have ready meal to cook up easy and space to run the dogs after a day of driving…
Where/how to camp
We have done “The Truck Stop” over night when one kinda over shoots the milage/drive time and it’s 8pm and I’m on WE NEED TO STOP NOW mode for the 3rd hour! Truck stops are not impossible option but you will not get much sleep as the Trucks will move in and out all night so its very noisy option.
Then there is the old days..” you can always park at the Walmart Parking lot” illusion. NO YOU CAN NOT! Or we have not seen one Walmart parking lot that would allow it yet! It might have been allowed before Covid but definitely not anymore.
Basically, what it comes down to… if “the homeless” RV people have not found the free over night spot yet and gotten it closed out, you are not allowed to overnight where you are!! Your quiet free over night camp spot is like “rocking horse shit”, as meaning, it does not exist !!
If you are not ready to turn off from the main road to a “not Private Road” and drive a mile down it and park there off the road surface on “kind of” leveled out surface that is great! ..because if your rig is not level enough your fridge will empty itself to the floor when you need to get dinner going! Be adventurous and do it but not in the end of long day of driving! I know its more than possible on desert roads in CA and AZ etc for now
Ian still believes that we are missing/driving past all these free camp spots everyday and I’m sure we will find one one day .. I will tell you when it happens!
Remember that most of “North America” does not get San Diego 365 sun. So they are all out and camping for the few months that is “summer”. Campgrounds and National Parks are FULL!
Recreation.gov is great web site to find National Park dry camping spots (real dry camping), then all the States have their own web pages for different dry camping sites (that are affordable). Idaho has Idaho Power and Idaho State Parks web sites and Washington has washington.goingtocamp.com that I know for now.
KOA is great for reliable camp option but will be busy and in “very close quarters” with rest of the campsite. Prices are pretty even across the US. Tons of kids and do not even think to get into the pool area… it was full years before you even thought about going there! Dogs are welcome but of leash areas are tiny and really not designed for “active” dogs. But… it is a good option when you are on the road and need to have a shower and do laundry… also you can empty your tanks and fill up with water while getting a night of sleep.
All the cool places where we get to camp in a forest, beside lakes and rivers and NOT having an other RV with in 10 ft of your bed window are dry camping spots (from $25-$50 a night).. that means year 2025 that you might get power and water on your camp site and in to your rig, but definitely no sewage outlet, some of them do offer it within the camp site separately. This means that all the water down the drain or toilet goes into tank on your RV and will fill up sooner than you planned. Full hook up campsites for a day varies from California $90-$200 to Idaho $35-$65.
Pitch and Bowl camp ground in Spokane, we have water and power but no sewage. Also a neighbor 20 m away.. ha
How we keep the standards up in everyday living… ;)
So we have learned before and during this trip to have a warm shower outlet outside of your rig instaled. If you (like me) are not really willing to shower front of some other pair of eyes, get a plastic tray on to your shower stall inside and after your shower dump the water out to the flowers, we have and are looking for shower “stall” system for outside but only one that would work for us is free standing and over $200 and not bowed for it yet! We also got a big (dog) bowl into our sink and keep emptying it out after washing dishes.. all this has given us few more days of “dry camping” time and need to go to “dump station”. We have 32 gallon gray and black water tanks and we can “dry camp” for 4 nights easy when careful with usage.
The size of your gray and black water tanks is something to consider quite seriously when buying your rig. If you are looking to do “Glamping” away from people get some decent tanks if you are not willing to shower in cold water (yes you can use bladders to warm up your water but you need to bring the water with you somehow as well, we have 35 gal fresh water tank) and of course do your business outside in a bush… great for the boys but for chicks with ants, TP etc… yes it’s possible.
Learning to shower in a bucket if needed for longer stay in beautiful camp spot
Also using paper plates is an option but we really try to stay away from it … we like to keep some standards up.
Next thing what we already realized on our weekend '“dry camping” trips was that we have not enough battery capacity! Woke up few times middle of the night to battery alarms going off in Borrego desert. The van battery system is separate from the house battery pack, which is a good to know but if you do not switch off your driving systems specially, it all looks innocent and switched off until you get the alarm as you forgot to do so! Something to figure out in the beginning!!!!
On the house battery side we learned that the fridge draws monster loads of power, even on minimum cooling. It’s not so bad in normal outside temps but when it’s getting to 85F/29C and over outside your domestic fridge is starting to work over time. There are options between electric and propane systems for like water heater and generator to work on propane. Do not know about fridges on RV’s
Then very little about solar panels as everyone is expert .. we got small panel on the roof that came with the rig. You will find out that there is actually not that much room on top of your roof for extra panels. Ian got extra movable panel set that fits in to small case. He rigged it to feed the house batteries, and we are good. It’s good to have movable solar panels as not all campsites are in full sun all day.
Our rig was used when we got it and the batteries were pretty shot.. something to consider to change if needed in the beginning.
Yes, a bit like on a boat.. something that you have to consider!!!
On a little lighter note….
Today we were moving camp… just the normal day, Rhona played with a next door campers cat.. yes they actually played together! Then Ian took Kaya to Vet for her “scooting” problem.. for you non dog people she had to get her bottom cleaned that only Vet does properly. Soooo… she was feeling all betrayed by the world and down on the dumps and at my feet all morning!!! I’m packing up the rig.. Ian is packing up his boat.. Rhona is on long leash out and about bouncing around and suddenly she has a mouse in her mouth that she is tossing up in the air like a toy and catching it again and again…. Everyone stops.. Ian goes and “finishes” the mouse.. both dogs in to the truck!!!! ho hummm…. continue packing… and we actually got to leave!
… just an other morning.. moving on…
Rhona doing what Rhona does.. hunting what ever moves!!
