2022 in Review

“Where are you from?” It’s a question we regularly get asked when we’re traveling away from home. Seems like such a simple question to answer or at least it used to be. You see when you’re a full-time RV’er home is where you park it.

Although living in an RV creates some unique challenges, our Georgetown is home to us. It’s been ten months and we have really gotten used to “the house” and the lifestyle. I remember coming back to the coach after spending a couple of nights in a hotel while getting some service done in South Carolina. When we got back to the coach it was just like anyone getting home after traveling… ah, we’re home! In fact that’s one of the advantages of traveling in an RV – your bed your stuff every night apposed to dragging your things from one hotel to another.

We never owned an RV of any type before we purchased our Georgetown GT7 class A motorhome. In fact, I think our RV experience was limited to spending a night once in our friend’s 5th wheel. So being logical thinkers of sound body and mind, we sold our house and a majority of our possessions and moved into our motorhome full-time to travel the country in unfamiliar places where we have never been before. So how is that working out?

So I crunched a few numbers on our first (almost) full year and it looks like this:

• 11,950 miles driven
• Called 27 states and 1 province home
• 316 nights at 65 individual stops which included
  • 52 RV parks for 294 nights
  • 10 nights boondocking in 10 different locations
  • 1 stop at a families home for 7 nights
  • 2 hotel stops for a combined 5 nights
• 7 National Parks

It would be a vast understatement to say this has been a remarkable year. We both feel so fortunate to be able to do what we’re doing. It’s really impossible to capture it all here, but in short:

We have witnessed the breathtaking natural beauty of this country from majestic mountains, to white sand beaches.

We have seen Eagles sore overhead, Buffalo roam open pastures and Black Bear tend to their cubs along with just about every other wild animal imaginable.

We have revisited the old west and walked in the footsteps of Butch Cassidy and Wild Bill Hickok.

We have learned a lot about our history along the way while visiting places such as the Crazy Horse Monument, Mount Rushmore, the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Gettysburg and Washington DC.

We have met many wonderful people along the way who have re-instilled our confidence in mankind.

Before we started on this venture we educated ourselves considerably on the important things to know about owning and living in an RV and have learned so much more along the way. So, in no particular order, this is our “11 things you should know” list:

1. Connect with other RV’ers: Facebook is great for this and there are many full-time RV groups but I would also recommend joining a group specific to your RV model. You’ll find help is only a click or two away.
2. Slow down: Don’t treat it like a vacation or you will wear yourself out. Spend more time at each destination then you think you will need. Days doing nothing are OK.
3. Chase 70 degrees: Well that’s impossible but travel so that you avoid hot or cold weather as much as possible. RV’s are not as comfortable in extreme temperatures.
4. Read the reviews: A friendly camp host can make a marginal RV park into a good one and conversely a grumpy camp host can make a nice RV park into a crappy one.
5. Travel days shouldn’t be work: Don’t push it, max out your day at 300 miles or less and get to your next destination no later than 4:00 so you have time to set up before dark. Harvest Host is great for the one night stops along the way.
6. Make time for me time: You will be spending a lot of time with your spouse. You don’t have to do everything together. Every once in a while run some errands or some other activity alone. We all need some me time.
7. Space and weight: The two golden rules of RV life. Avoid the souvenirs along the way, your memories and pictures are all you need. And if there’s something you’ve just got to have, give up something in exchange.
8. Prepare for repairs: It’s not a matter of “if” things will break it’s a matter of “when”. Schedule time for routine maintenance and have a plan for when things break.
9. Trip planning: This is the job part of full-time RV living. It takes a lot of planning to piece all the parts together and schedule your RV parks. We use RV Life Trip Wizard for this and couldn’t imagine doing this without it.
10. The right GPS: Don’t trust Google Maps, rather get a GPS that is meant for RV’s or trucks so that you avoid low bridges and such. Many use the RV Garmin but we like the free Hammer app.
11. Friends and family: Remember, you’re free to travel about the country so make time to meet up with new friends and reconnect with old friends and family. Consider a home base to come back to once in a while.

We’re already excited about what 2023 has in store for us. We’ll start by slowing down awhile in southern Arizona for the winter and then head north once the snow starts to melt. We’ll spend a lot of time in Northern Arizona, Utah and Idaho before heading up to Glacier and Banff. After that, I guess we’ll just head down the road a piece.