[ad_1]
Experiencing new issues is likely one of the causes we have been initially drawn to RV life. We needed to see extra locations, style new meals, hear from completely different communities, scent new vegetation, and really feel completely different climates. Full-time journey promised us a solution to get on the market and have some hands-on studying concerning the nature, historical past, and tradition of our nation.
Our Journey Story
Allie had finished fairly a little bit of journey rising up, visiting locations like Paris, Switzerland, and Tokyo, whereas additionally taking many extra native household holidays in Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. I grew up in New England additionally, and have recollections of shorter journey to locations like Cape Cod, Boston, and Sturbridge. Each of us realized early on in our relationship that, although we now have finished completely different sorts of journey, we have been each drawn to journey. We additionally realized we had seen little of the USA compared to what we knew was on the market.
We traveled early on in our relationship collectively and got here to name these smaller journeys our micro-adventures. We might do day journeys driving up the coastal route in Maine, stopping for espresso, strolling alongside the rocky seashores, and visiting farmer’s markets or having lunch within the small cities scattered alongside Route 1. These have been a few of our greatest days collectively, and shortly we have been taking in a single day journeys to New Hampshire, Northern Maine, and Massachusetts. Any likelihood we may get, we might get in our automobile and head out.
Earlier than we even celebrated our first anniversary of being collectively, we determined to plan and go on a cross-country street journey. I used to be graduating with my bachelor’s diploma and Allie was planning to depart her job and transition to a different kind of labor.
Going West
We determined to go west. We each needed to get to the Pacific Ocean and see as a lot as doable on the best way. This journey is likely one of the most unbelievable issues we now have finished, and we suggest to everybody we meet to attempt to take off on a floor journey a minimum of as soon as. We deemed this our macro journey. We had no thought it was solely our first huge journey and what we might come to grasp and select to do.
We stopped alongside the best way the primary few days of the journey, however we knew the aim was to achieve some floor and get west. Our first huge layover was in South Dakota. We had heard about The Badlands and knew it might be place to get our Nationwide Park go, try the otherworldly panorama, and hopefully see some bison. We had deliberate a hike for our very first day within the park. About half of a mile into The Notch Path there was a rope ladder to climb. On the prime we each regarded round, amazed on the undulating panorama…after which Allie fell on the flat earth and broke each of her legs.
She should have fallen excellent in her mountaineering boots, and her ankles buckled and snapped, fracturing the bones in each of them. She refused to go house although. We spent the subsequent a number of weeks in an extended-stay resort in Speedy Metropolis, SD. She religiously adopted the RICE (relaxation, ice, compress, elevate) methodology, received within the pool to drift and transfer her physique, and sat within the passenger seat of our Jeep whereas I drove us via The Badlands, Custer State Park, and The Black Hills. Even being unable to maneuver about a lot, Allie needed to see what there was to see, after which she needed to maneuver on.
We made lots of changes on that journey, however we nonetheless noticed greater than we ever thought we might. We drove our manner via Yellowstone Nationwide Park, The Grand Tetons, over The Sawtooth Mountains, and into japanese Oregon. We slowed down in Oregon and visited many locations earlier than we even received to the coast, however we have been compelled to bypass Crater Lake Nationwide Park. There had been a document quantity of snowfall that earlier winter and the roads have been nonetheless closed into July that summer season. I keep in mind crying with disappointment within the bathe of the Tremendous 8 when Allie yelled from the mattress, “Let’s go to the Redwoods as a substitute!” My coronary heart skipped a beat as a result of we had determined earlier within the journey to chop our southern route and bypass California altogether for extra time in Oregon and Washington.
The Redwoods didn’t disappoint. By this time, Allie may take quick walks and we have been nonetheless exploring lots by automobile. After the Redwoods, we drove up Freeway 101 all the best way to Olympic Nationwide Park the place we fell in love with the entire of the Pacific Northwest. I suppose it could have been there that we determined we might stay right here sometime, however I know it was there that we determined to pursue RV life.
Lease an RV close to Olympic Nationwide Park right here!
Pursuing RV life
We met one other couple on a hike at Hurricane Ridge who have been spending a yr touring in an RV for his or her honeymoon. We listened to their story, went again to our automobile, and performed their podcast episodes all through the subsequent week of our travels. We have been every quietly pondering what it might be love to do what they have been doing.
It was proper earlier than we received to Glacier Nationwide Park that we turned to one another in a relaxation space on the aspect of the freeway and stated, “Might we do the RV factor?” We had each been desirous about it, nevertheless it felt too unknown, too scary, too on the market.
We knew nothing about RV’s. We barely knew something about touring collectively (though placing two folks in a jeep each day for 3 months forces you to get to know your self and one another fairly effectively shortly). We knew we needed extra of what we have been experiencing on this street journey. We knew that there was nonetheless a lot to see and do. We knew we needed much less stuff and extra journey, much less work and extra play, much less regular and extra bizarre in our lives.
By the point we arrived again at our Portland, Maine condo we had watched over 100 hours of YouTube movies on RVs. We have been studying a brand new language about what a Class A versus a Fifth Wheel was. We have been watching folks dump their tanks and hitch their rigs. We have been making lists and dealing time beyond regulation to save cash for buying our first house (on wheels) collectively. We spent the subsequent yr deciding on what RV we needed and the place we needed to journey in it. We discovered a lot in that point, however may also look again now, over 5 years later, and see how little we truly understood about RV dwelling.
We’re grateful for our resolution to promote our issues, transfer right into a tiny rolling house, and journey the nation. Now we have seen the dawn over The Grand Canyon, eaten beignets in downtown New Orleans, and hiked behind a waterfall in Oregon. We received engaged proper beneath the Alpine customer middle in Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park at sundown, with a herd of Elk bugling toes away. Now we have stared up at a Saguaro cactus in Tucson, walked the salt flats of Demise Valley, drank scrumptious espresso in Longview, WA, and visited Farmer’s Markets all throughout the nation.
Now we have constructed a enterprise based mostly on being out, loud, and proud as Queer ladies, encouraging others to take to the street, pursue RV dwelling, or simply go exterior for a stroll in nature. Typically, we take into consideration settling down and shopping for land to construct on. We just like the predictability of routine, our small mountain group, and the concept of laying roots, however we additionally say that we are going to all the time have a necessity for journey. We joke that perhaps we may have a tiny house with a basis…and an RV parked proper exterior, able to hit the street once we are.
Extra from Wander Free and Queer:
Enjoyable in Florida: High Winter RV Vacation spot with Wander Free and Queer
Working a Small Enterprise from the Highway with Wander Free and Queer
Every day Driver for Full-Time RVing with Wander Free and Queer
Attempting to resolve if full-time RVing is for you? Lease an RV to strive before you purchase!
[ad_2]
