We're 2 1/2 months in to living the nomadic life and it feels like we've been doing this forever and at the same time, there's still that exciting rush when we hit the road to get to our next destination.
Since our first stay in Texas, when we started our trip, we've only been staying in campgrounds for 1 week at a time. It's been a lot of work to unhitch, set up camp, break down camp, hitch up, and then do it all over again after just several days, but it also makes the experience of traveling feel like it's really traveling. We've been to 7 states so far, visiting state parks, national parks, chit chatting with friendly people, taking the dogs on adventures, fending off insects that look prehistoric, and making priceless memories.
Being on the road full time comes with its challenges though. Thankfully (knock on wood!), we haven't had any serious issues to put a major damper on our travels, but we've had some "Oh $h%t..." moments along the way! Namely, when we thought we wouldn't be able to find any cell signal while we were in the rural of Missouri... It had been Memorial Day weekend so everywhere else was booked out and we would've had to drive at least 2 hours out to find an RV park in town that most likely wouldn't have had any vacancies! I had stupidly not checked to make sure Bach would have adequate cell signal to work during the week... Thankfully our weBoost Drive 4G-X Cell Phone Signal Booster was able to find us just enough bars of signal. Bullet dodged!
❌Con: Planning and Booking Campground Stays
I love being organized and having a schedule, but I HATE planning trips... Thankfully Bach's pretty good at researching and finding great places to visit! That leaves me to be able to pretend like I did the bulk of the work by writing everything into the planner. 😂
At this point we have our stays planned and booked through the end of August, so we can breath easy for a while. Starting in August though, we'll start planning future trips on Sundays. For example, our last planned trip is camping with friends in San Diego at the end of August, so at the beginning of August, we'll research and book the next place we'll head to after that. Every weekend following, we'll add another destination so that we'll always have at least a solid 4 weeks planned out. This method is yet theoretical, so we'll see if it actually works as smoothly as we hope!
✔️Pro: The Ability to Visit New Places
As much as I hate having to sit down and make travel plans, I love the freedom of being able to visit so many amazing places! So far, my favorite places we've been to are Lake Lanier in Georgia (staying at Sawnee Campground), and Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas (staying at Gulpha Gorge Campground). This country of ours is vast in its natural beauty. Bach and I are going to try to visit as many national parks and forest as we can!
❌Con: Things Breaking Down in the Trailer
Inevitably, even with a brand new trailer, things break down... And finding a dealership that has an opening to be able to fix the issues quickly has proven to be a frustrating ordeal. We finally found a dealership in Amarillo, Texas that could take us, and they've been extremely accommodating and helpful thus far.
Forewarning: If you have the ProPride 3P Trailer Sway Control Hitch, and don't have this extra piece already, you'll need to get the ProPride 3P Hitch Lot Bar with Link Locking Plate in order for the dealership to be able to hitch up the trailer on a ball hitch. We don't have that part and only found out this morning of its existence and so the dealership has to take the whole hitch off in order to be able to move the trailer around! It's not an easy thing to take that hitch on and off and it'll likely cost us a good $300 for the techs to do all that work... 😫 Gahh... You live and learn, but I hope this tip will save you all the hassle of finding out the hard way...
✔️Pro: Living Simply and Deliberately
This is the main reason we decided to hit the road and explore! We wanted the freedom that comes with letting go of all the unnecessary material possessions we had accumulated and living simply and deliberately by focusing on gaining experiences and memories rather than grabbing at "things" that we really don't need and ultimately, don't make us happier. Eventually we'll find a place to settle down and put down roots, but for now, life on the road is better than we could have ever expected!