How To Make Friends While Full Time RVing

rv friends 9

Friends we made RVing full time in Iowa at a museum. It was easy!

Some people think that when you are RVing full time that it’s hard to make friends. We used to think that too, but now we don’t.

As a kid, you may miss your friends at home too. But to solve the problem, all you need to do is just write postcards, e-mail, Skype or call your friends. When you do that, it makes it a lot easier when full time RVing.

So for all those kids who are worried when they go live in an RV full time, that they might be lonely or they may not be able to make friends, me and my brother Alex put this list together to show you that it is actually easy to make friends when RVing full time.

1. Go to Where Other Kids Are

Usually, you can find friends in swimming pools and fun places at the RV parks.

I would recommend KOAs as the funnest campgrounds and best places to meet kids.

They have Read more »

How To Save Money Full Time RVing In The National Parks

rving full time in the national parks

One of the "paint pots" in beautiful Yellowstone National Park

Back in September of 2009, one of the things that cinched the deal for us to go full time RVing was watching Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea series on PBS.

Once we saw it, we were hooked. We had to take the plunge and go full time RVing – and the places we had to see were many of the parks highlighted in that series.

Although we joke now that watching that series late night is the surest cure for insomnia known to mankind…it is an awesome series. A bit long in the tooth, but awesome nonetheless.

We loved the Ken Burns series so much it inspired us to go full time RVing.

Apparently, we were not alone. In fact, after that series aired on PBS, the attendance at America’s National Parks, especially the ones that received the majority of exposure in the series Read more »

The 7 Biggest Decisions To Make When Full Time RVing

full time rv mapSo you’ve decided to do it and go full time RVing.

Awesome! Go celebrate. Pop that bottle of Veuve Clicquot you’ve been saving way in the back of the fridge.

When you wake up from your hangover, its time to get to work….you now need to decide on a few things on your RV full time trip.

Here’s a few key points you’ll need to consider:

1. Timeframe

This is the biggest decision you’ll make after making the actual decision to full time RV. So ask yourself:

  • Is this full time RV trip forever?
  • Is it just a summer excursion?
  • Is it just for a full year then back to reality?

Whatever it is, this is the biggest decision you’ll need to make when full timing.

Why? Because this decision Read more »

Bear Attacks, RV Crashes, Drama and Trauma While RVing Full Time

rving bearWe went RVing to Yellowstone National Park looking for bears.

Well, not really looking for bears, but we did want to see some wildlife in their “natural setting”.

We saw some buffaloes, some elk and some mule deer, which don’t get me wrong – was very cool. We didn’t see any bears so we were all kind of disappointed though…

Thank God we didn’t see any bears because one of our friends doesn’t exactly like bears much.

In fact, we got him some bear spray when he landed in Jackson Hole, kind of tongue in cheek to poke fun at him. We all thought it was really funny and a big joke.

But he knew something we didn’t.

Bear Attacks

As fate would have it, the exact DAY we were in Yellowstone looking for wildlife, some unfortunate hiker was hiking alone and was attacked by a bear. He unfortunately didn’t make it.

He was hiking alone, lost his way, came upon a bear and the rest of the story is a bit uncertain. What the Rangers who found him do know is that he made some poor decisions that led to his unfortunate demise.

That same day, Read more »

How To Get Killer Blog Post Ideas…Even If You’re Not RVing Full Time

The.Rolling.StonesI heard that one of the Rolling Stones guys got the idea for one of their most famous songs when he was sleeping. He woke up in the middle of the night and recorded the song into a tape recorder (this is before iPhones) and the next morning he woke up and “Satisfaction” was on the tape!

I wish that would happen to me because I would like to be a rock star someday…

Sometimes ideas for blog posts just pop into my head like the Rolling Stones guy.

But usually I have a hard time thinking of ideas for blog posts.

So I figured if I had this problem, then other people might have this problem too.

So I decided to write this blog post about how to think of ideas for blog posts, even though it has nothing to do with RVing full time!

Actually, that could be tip #1 below (think of stuff that frustrates you and write about it on your blog)!

The good thing about traveling in an RV full time is you see lots of different things most days so you get good ideas for blog posts. But I’m not going to include that idea because everyone isn’t RVing full time like me.

So here are some ideas on how to think of good ideas to blog about:

1. Go to Sports Games, Attractions and Different Places

When you go to sports games and attractions you get a break, but you also get blog post ideas too. My family and I have done a few blog posts on sports games and attractions. For each one we got great ideas for different blog posts.

Chris Brogan says that you should always be looking for ideas for blog posts and writing interesting stuff down to blog about. This is good advice. I do this when we are traveling in our RV full time to remind me what to write about.

For instance, I have rally monkey collection and went to a Cardinals game:

rally monkey

Me and rally monkey #2 in Chicago!

I wrote a post on what this has to do with RVing.

Because we’re RVing full time, lots of people want to know about what we are doing. So that makes it a little bit easier to think of stuff to blog about. I still use Chris’ technique to help me remember stuff though.

But say you’re have a blog on cooking. And at the game you taste new foods that could inspire you to write a blog post on. Or maybe you could write a post about on something that happened at the attraction and how it relates to your cooking website. I did that on this blog post.

2. Make a Part 2 of Your Most Popular Blog Post

A super easy way to write a blog post is write part 2 of your most popular blog post, like “How to Write Blog Posts When RVing Full Time, Part 2” for example.

I was going to write that…but I decided to Read more »

13 Reasons Why Kids Should Go RVing

frogs

Catching frogs is another good reason kids should RV!

There are lots of reasons why kids should go RVing. At first when we went on our full time RV trip, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it that much. But now after two months, I really like it a lot.

I think there are a lot of kids out there who may think that RVing isn’t that fun for kids, but it is! Some kids think they might miss home (I do), they would miss their friends (they will) so they don’t want to go RVing.

Well, that is not true, there are many things that make RVing fun for kids.

So I thought I would put together a list of all the reasons why its so much fun to RV full time when you are a kid.

This even works if you are an adult too!

So here it is:

1. Swimming Pools

We have gone swimming in so many pools its hard to count them all!

I don’t have a pool at home so this is a big deal for me. We have the ocean near us, but I really like pools.

Most RV campgrounds have pools so this is a big bonus!

pool while rving

Me and Eli playing in the pool at the Mitchell South Dakota KOA pool

2. Playing Sports

You get to play sports whenever you want, including mini golf. And most of the campgrounds have mini golf courses!

mini golf

Me and Eli mini golfing!

3. Cool Parks

You also get to see lots of cool parks like Glacier National Park, Custer State Park and all the cool stuff there.

Where do you get to see Read more »

How to Write A Blog Post While RVing Full Time

blog post writing

Here I am writing in my ledger for a new blog post

Since we started living in an RV full time, I have written many blog posts about RVing full time.

Because I have been doing this for about two months, I thought it would be fun to show people how to do it.

So I am writing a blog post and I am teaching you how to write a blog post…which is kind of funny I think.

1. Think of a Good Idea

The first thing you need to do when writing a  blog post is to think of an idea for your blog post.

In the case of this blog post, I wanted other people to know how to write a blog post, so I wrote this one.

Another way to get ideas for blog posts are to write about things or experiences that are related to your website. Foods, sports, attractions, museums, and sites are all good blog post ideas.

For an example: the Grand Canyon is an attraction as is Busch Stadium.

Busch Stadium

When we went RVing to Busch Stadium I got a good idea for a blog post there

2. Write Your Ideas Down

After you decide what to write about, the second thing you need to do is get your ideas for your blog post down on paper or in your computer.

In my case I use my Mom or Dad’s iPad and go to the app called “Notes”.

Using the Apple iPad is very helpful because I can blog while we are driving somewhere, then upload it to our blog when we get to the RV camp site. If I wrote it on paper, it would take a longer time.

writing a blog post while rving

Me writing my blog post in my Dad's iPad

When you are full time RVing you have to save time!

3. Re-arrange Your Ideas Into An Outline

An outline is like the Read more »

The Best…and Worst Runs I’ve Had While RVing Full Time

waterton national park, canada mountains

The spectacular views while running in Waterton National Park, Canada

I really hate running…all the panting, the aching knees, the back pain, the burning chest, the inevitable stitch in the side. I really want to love it, but I am just not a big fan of running.

However, one thing that I do at every RV park we go to is take at least one run. I’ve done it at every RV park from New York to Montana…in every RV park we’ve stayed at so far.

As I’ve written before, I am a tad obsessive when it comes to working out in the RV, so running is just a part of managing that obsession. After all, when you live in a cramped tin box RVing full time, you gotta get the hell out of that thing every now and then or you WILL go insane.

Doctors have proven this to be true…

Not one to ignore a doctor’s advice, this is exactly what I do.

The Worst Run I Ever Had Full Time RVing

The worst run I did was in Mitchell, South Dakota. I really wanted to run at mid day, but it was nearly 105 degrees, so I figured I’d wait till it cooled down at night. As soon as it turned a balmy 102 degrees at 5 o’clock at night, I went for it.

I ran on a road that was so long, so straight, so boilingly hot, as I was running I couldn’t see the end of the road clearly because it had those heat waves that blur your vision. I eventually deduced that the road actually disappeared at the horizon. Needless to say, I didn’t run to the horizon…that would have been in Wisconsin somewhere.

Instead I ran to a parked corn harvester I figured was probably Read more »

How to Work Out Like Bruce Lee When RVing Full Time

weight lifting

I sure as heck dont look like this guy....I wonder if he's ever full time Rved?

OK, I have a confession to make…I am totally addicted to exercise, I admit it.

I go INSANE when I don’t exercise every day. When I don’t exercise, I turn into a cross between a rabid grizzly bear and one of those nasty ogres from the Harry Potter movies.

And when you live in less than 300 square feet of space, this has a tendency to put a damper on your quality of life…

To put it mildly, its been a bit of a challenge while we’ve been RVing full time to exercise regularly. And when you live in a small space and your exercise of choice is lifting weights, how the hell do you bring a weight bench and weights in a full time RV?

I don’t think Lee Haney or Arnold ever had these issues.

It’s not like I don’t have other vices as well (do I have to mention them all here?)….but if push came to shove, I think I could give em all up except one: exercise.

Exercising in an RV Full Time

My wife thinks I’m totally obsessive compulsive on this exercise thing but I don’t think so. I gotta give her credit though, she knows when I need to exercise…its like she has a sixth sense and encourages me to do it. She even makes sure I have TIME to do it.

God bless her.

I kind of equate exercise to brushing your teeth. Exercise, like brushing your teeth, is something that I have to Read more »

RVing Full Time | My Most Favorite Thing to Do In South Dakota

We went to South Dakota in our full time RV and we did a lot of fun things, including seeing Mount Rushmore:

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore in the day...

 

Mount Rushmore at night

...and Mount Rushmore at night!

We even got to touch the flag at the night time ceremony at Mount Rushmore:

flag ceremony mount rushmore

Me, Eli and the flag lady at Mount Rushmore

While RVing full time, we also saw the Crazy Horse Monument:

Crazy Horse Memorial

The Crazy Horse Memorial

We saw Jewel Cave:

Jewel Cave

Me and Eli in Jewel Cave

The full time RV family even saw the Badlands:

the full time RV family in the Badlands

The full time RV family in the Badlands

We even saw Read more »

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