Well, here we are! We’ve been in Fort Collins for a few weeks, and have been living full-time in our Class C RV for over six weeks now. I’ve learned quite a bit about myself and my wonderful little family. Here are some key take-aways:
Introverts, take heed of weekends.
I didn’t expect how pregnant with people the RV parks can be. You can practically feel the presence of other people. The parks breathe with them, and even when inside, you get the sense that you are never alone. Folks circle your camper with their children and dogs and bikes and sports equipment. If you’re in a park with lots of amenities, you can expect unexpected noise — from Friday night dance parties that bump along into the wee hours after a hard work week to random trains (?!) chasing you and your dogs around what should be a serene lake, there is very little peace on weekends.
Perhaps this is just me coming out of the oh-so-popular Memorial Day weekend, but as I sit here on a Friday and listen to the hum of new folks and the barking of dogs on either side of me, I’m a bit peopled out. A long hike today was rejuvenating, but goodness do I miss the silence of our home.
Drive longer stretches and stay in place longer.
When we started on this glorious snowjourn, I had thought we would enjoy spending a few days in Mississippi, a week in Texas, a few weeks in Denver, and then a few weeks in Fort Collins.
What’s a two to three hour drive in an RV with a towable car behind it?
Well, I discovered those two-three hours turn into five and six with traffic (LOL) and now that I’ve driven several hundred miles myself, they take their tolls. I’ll confirm in a few weeks when we head back to our home base in giant chunks, but you might as well bite the bullet, do the tiring driving in bigger chunks, and enjoy your stay when you get where you’re going!
Small spaces dirty up fast, but clean up even faster!
Real talk, I was super nervous about keeping two dogs, five birds, and two folks with ADHD in a tiny little space. However, we prepared well for our trip — a spray bottle with vinegar mixed with water goes a long way, and while we clean up a little bit every day, we were very deliberate in creating a space for everything. When all you have to do is pick up a piece of clutter, turn 360, and slide it away, cleanup goes far faster that I would ever have hoped!
I have some pretty good ideas of how I want to live large in our big house when I get home as well!
Traveling with our fur and feathered family is easier than I thought it would be.
I was pretty nervous about working and living and loving and thriving and exercising in a tiny space with all our beloved creatures.
How would we work if the birds started screaming?
Would the Starlink internet keep us afloat–and be fast enough for video calls?
Would I even be able to do yoga if I can’t turn around without tripping over a dog?
Rain is the bane of my existence with some of these issues, but I’m loving our extra long walks. The parrots are absolutely thriving with their wingdows and time spent right next to us as we type away on our keyboards. And because the bunks come equipped with lovely curtains, we can wrap up the big parrot cages in the morning to safely let out the littles, who fly happy circles around us in our RV.
A few things have been our saving grace:
- Investing in a drivable (Class C or Class A) with a tow vehicle is heads and tails easier than towing a trailer. The car follows wherever we go without swaying into other lanes no matter the weather, and attaching and detaching is super simple when we accidentally drive into gas stations that are a tiny bit too small for our turning radius.
- We overprepared for the birds, and they love the different scenery out their windows.
- We created a beautiful outdoor space with a rug and tent, which has been such a boon. I work outside most days on our lanai in our home in Florida, and this works particularly well when the weather cooperates. This has doubled as a yoga space, and even though we perform reaaaaally inflexible poses, the freedom to move has been incredible.
- We picked campsites with fenced doggie parks. Nia and Obi, our little peibies, really love the freedom of being off-leash, so these little camp K9 sites have allowed them to roam and play and enjoy, even when I’m recording tutorials for work.
Overall? It’s been a great time.
I’ve loved being able to spend real time with my family and friends around myriad campfires. It’s been challenging at times (like when we had to move campsites twice on the day of my aunt’s memorial service), but nowhere near as tough as I thought it might be. We’ve met friends in multiple states, sampled wines from local Harvest Hosts, floated in glorious pools, cooked a ridiculous number of hotdogs and s’mores, hiked high into the mountains and deep into canyons, and eaten more green chili than I’d ever thought I could stomach, and it’s been… lovely.
I can’t say that I’m not looking forward to being home, but I’m looking forward to future camping trips even more. Here is our gallery of joy so far:
I am forever grateful we can take our whole family with us and explore the rest of the drivable world, all together.
Weekenders can be the worst, depending on which park you go to. In our campground in Texas, they’re particularly loud. 1980s rock has now translated to “loud jerk next door” in my head đź« .
We have found that state parks tend to attract the quieter crowd, but usually you can only be there for 2 weeks at a time. Also, keep an eye out for the seasonal spots – places where retirees tend to set up campgrounds with big decks on campers that have been there for years. It’s unlikely they like to be too noisy and tend to drive out the louder people.
We have never stayed at a Walmart and never will – Harvest Hosts has the ability to park at breweries and wineries and that’s way better. Usually you’re all alone, in a remote spot, with a restaurant in walking distance from where you park. Sometimes you’ll get a neighbor, but they’re almost always full time travelers and always make great company. I’ve spent several Saturday evenings just chatting with the neighbor full-timer at the brewery, sharing stories on the road. Much better than a noisy parking lot! Another huge benefit is if it’s a winery, it’s usually a giant farm where they don’t mind if you have your dog off leash to really let loose.
We actually did harvest host winery hopping all the way up California. We occasionally stopped at a campground overnight just to recharge and empty tanks. Learned a lot about the limits of our campground and our travel. It was exhausting, even though we only went 100 miles each day.
It’s funny you bring up the fact that your birds were content with less than you expected. We had the same experience with our cats, who just want to look out the window and enjoy the new view.
We’ve stayed at a few state parks, and simply having a little more space between campsites can go a LONG way. However, in Denver, Colorado, there are only two state parks (that I found, anyway!) in the greater Denver area… which means finding a reservation can be tough. We had to move three times while staying in Cherry Creek, though it was only for ten days! I don’t know what we would have done without CampNab, which alerted us when sites became available–stayed in Fort Collins forever, I guess ahaha.
This was an absolute life-saver when our campground didn’t have room on a Saturday. We ended up staying at a winery, and it was utterly delightful–and dog friendly, even inside when it rained. Thank you so much for this tip!
I see this as proof that traveling enriches everyone and every creature’s life! What in the world do you do for a catbox, though?
Thank you so much for all your encouragement and tips. We had a wonderful first snowjourn because of it. Cheers to you and yours, and I hope we will see you around on our travels!
It’s definitely one of the more annoying challenges we have. The first camper we blocked out a part of the outdoor storage for the catboxes and made it accessible from inside. Another one we built a cabinet specifically for the cats. Our current small rig has a spot in the back that has a small access door so that you can flip up the bottom bunk and store kayaks and things inside. We use that spot for both the cat box and a dog crate.