My Worst Day Full Time RVing…But The Best Night

August 9th, 2011 Eli Sorenti-Burns
bad-hair-day

My day RVing was bad...but maybe not as bad as this kid

I had the worst day so far RVing full time.

The Morning

First thing in the morning the toilet flooded. Somehow toilet paper got stuck in the toilet and it overflowed all over the floor and into my room too!

I know it sounds funny but it is not! Dad was very upset and we had to squeeze the water out of the carpet with all the clean towels. It was not fun!

Then, me and Alex also got into an argument about something. And its not pretty when we argue! I was very upset.

The Afternoon

Then Mom, Alex and I went to Jewel Cave and it was closed!

Meanwhile, Dad was back at the RV working and it started to rain really hard. Then there was a huge flood in the kitchen because the rain was coming down sideways. Dad had to plug the hole in the side of the RV.

It took him an hour to fix it…

After that we went to Wind Cave and had to rush through the tour so we could get to the Allen Ranch in time for our overnight camping with some friends we met while RVing full time.

We had arranged to go horseback riding through a canyon and then to camp out under the stars over night at a real ranch.  We were so excited for this camp out!

When we went got to the ranch, Read more »

Full Time Rving and the Rearview Mirror

August 7th, 2011 Jen


rving full time and the Os money shot

"The O's" all together again in Wisconsin

“The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country I am homesick for the other.”

– Grandfather’s Journey, Written and Illustrated by Allen Say

 

To me, the children’s book Grandfather’s Journey is simply haunting.

It’s about longing for two places at once and the feelings one gets having lived in two countries.  I oftentimes feel this way while full time RVing…

In a nutshell, Grandfather’s Journey is a story of a Japanese man who is fascinated by California and moves there for a long time and then is homesick for his family, friends and the hills of his childhood and moves back to Japan.

However, as time goes by and he is homesick for California.

His heart, it seems is in two places as he loves them both…

My “Nono” (grandfather in Italian) had no such longing for two places. He was solid in his love for his small village of Sagamore in Cape Cod Massachusetts.  He had no desire to travel to Italy, the country of his parents.  It was family and friends that made up the fabric of his life.

As for friends, Nono told me that if you were lucky enough, you may have one or two true friends in your life but it was unlikely that you would ever have more true friends than fingers on one hand…

I believed this wholeheartedly for my entire young adult life and then I moved away from home for several years, made two true friends in college (Karen) and one in graduate school (Annette) and then I settled in Chicago.

uncle andy and karen in the full time rv

My great friends Karen and husband Andy chillaxin in the full time RV in Galena

Amidst the heartbreak that marked my stay in Read more »

How to Plan Your Full Time RV Trip: Mission and Time Frame

August 3rd, 2011 Jen
the full time RV rig

If you want to go RVing full time in the big rig, you gotta know your mission and your time frame!

So, you want to go full time RVing?

In our first post in this series we discussed the importance of being flexible and your mindset for living in an RV full time.

So here we get to the next important step in the process of planning your full time RV trip, mission and time frame.

What’s Your RVing Mission?

It may seem kind of obvious, but without this you’re going to wander around aimlessly as you try to plan your full time RV trip. You full time RV mission could be any number of things, but the most important thing in this step is to figure out what you want to accomplish with your family.

So what do you really want to see? Some ideas to answer this question include:

  • National Parks in every state?
  • Baseball fields across the US?
  • Historical sites?
  • Amusement parks?
  • Antique shows?
  • Museums?
  • Natural wonders?
  • Craft Fairs?
  • Your 72 cousins spread across the country?
  • The 4th grade curriculum of the western movement?
  • All of the restaurants that you’ve seen featured on “ Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”?

It could be any of these goals (or more) or a combination of them all. Whatever Read more »

The Full Tme RV Family Goes to The Herbert Hoover Museum

August 2nd, 2011 Alexander Sorenti-Burns
herbert hoover

Many people thought Herbert Hoover was a failure but I don't think so!

Did you know that Herbert Hoover gave millions of tons of food to Europe after World War One which helped save millions of people’s lives?

Did you know that in the early 1900s, he was called “The Great Humanitarian”?

When we were full time RVing in Iowa, we went to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa and I learned much about this controversial President.

Lots of people think Hoover was a failure and was to blame for The Great Depression….but I don’t think so.

I learned a lot at The Herbert Hoover Museum. Going to obscure museums like this one is one of the benefits of living in an RV full time for a year. I never would have learned any of this if I was home going to camp instead of RVing full time!

Anyway, there are lots of interesting things people may not know about Herbert Hoover such as:

  • He was an orphaned from both his parents at age nine and went to live with his uncle in Oregon. There he learned to Read more »

Full Time RVing in Galena, Illinois and Dubuque, Iowa

July 26th, 2011 Alexander Sorenti-Burns
U.S. Grant home

Me in front of the Ulysses S. Grant home in Galena. My middle name is Ulysses!

We went RVing full time to Galena, Illinois and then went to Dubuque, Iowa. I have never been to either place before but I had a lot of fun.

We have gone to may places while we full time RV cross country, but Galena was special for me. I will tell you why here.

U.S Grant House

Ulysses S.  Grant was a President after the Civil War. He was also a great General who helped defeat the South to win the Civil War.

He  lived at this house in Galena after the war and got it for free from seven businessmen as a gesture of appreciation for his services in the Civil War. Ulysses had  lots of parties at his house and celebrated his election to the Presidency there.

Also I liked the design of the house. It was very beautiful with nice colors.

One interesting thing about Ulysses is that he never swore or ate chicken.

Another interesting thing I also learned about Ulysses S. Grant is even though he led thousands of men to battle, he hated the sight of blood so much that when he ate beef it had to be cooked so it was as hard and tasteless as the sole of a shoe.

Plus I like him because my middle name is Ulysses!

Downtown Galena

I thought downtown Galena was great, my dad thought it was very quaint and beautiful. We went to a hot sauce shop and he ate a hot sauce that burned his mouth so bad he couldn’t talk for an hour!

the hottest hot sauce ever

The hottest hot sauce ever!

We also had dinner in the old tannery that Ulysses worked when he was called into duty for the Civil War.  The restaurant was Read more »

Full Time RVing in Springfield, Illinois!

July 26th, 2011 Eli Sorenti-Burns
full time rv family in front of Lincolns house

Here we are, the full time rv family in front of Lincolns house!

We went to Springfield, Illinois in our full time RVing trip, here I will tell you about what we saw there.

New Salem Village

The first thing that we saw in Springfield was a Lincoln’s New Salem Village.  Even though the temperatures were hovering above 95 degrees, I learned a lot about Lincoln’s life before he became a lawyer, politician and President of the USA.

He owned a store with a partner in New Salem and it failed.  It was after that failure when he decided to study law and become a lawyer. Also, he was elected a captain in the army in The Black Hawk War.

He enjoyed being a leader of men so he decided to go into politics.

The Lincoln Museum

We also toured his homes at The Lincoln Museum which was awesome. The museum had a replica of his log cabin. Wow, was it small. It was even smaller than our full time RV. I’ll bet Abe even got a little claustrophobic!

I learned that his mother, Nancy died when he was 9. Then he had a stepmother, Sarah, who encouraged him to read and be smart. He only had one year of formal education.

Young Abe read books all on his own to get smarter and smarter. Sometimes, he would walk 3 miles to borrow a book which he would have to read by firelight after everyone else was asleep in the cabin.

At the museum, there was even a replica of the White House with wax figures of the President, Mrs Lincoln and their sons along with Generals Grant and General McClellan as well as  Frederick Douglas and Sojouner Truth outside.  It was really lifelike!

General Grant, me and my brother Alex

General Grant, me and my brother Alex

There were also so many copies of cartoons making fun of and criticizing President Lincoln and his policies.  It made me feel badly and I realized that Abraham Lincoln went through a worse time than even President Washington. Read more »

What’s the Monthly Cost of RVing Full Time?

July 25th, 2011 Eli Sorenti-Burns
rv full time kids alex and eli with the lincoln family

Alex and Eli full time RVing in Springfield, IL...spending money at museums instead of camp!

Its been just over a month since we started RVing full time. I can’t believe how fast that first month has gone…

I can’t believe how fast the money has gone as well…

In our first month, we have spent time and money in 10 U.S. states, dozens of small towns and cities, as well as one Canadian Province. In that month, we have spent our fair share of American dollars and Canadian loonies.

To be fair, we have splurged a bit in our first month. We’ve spent a lot of time with old friends, seen historical sites and museums we have always wanted to go to, bought perhaps a few too many rally monkeys, been to multiple baseball games in ball parks we always wanted to go to and most of all….ate at some really fabulous restaurants!

And all this full time RVing fun does come with a cost of course.

So the question is:

How much does it cost to RV full time?

So in this first edition of “Eli’s Ledger” we attempt to answer that question. Read more »

RVing Full Time | How to Plan Your Full Time RV Trip

July 24th, 2011 Jen

rocky moutnains rvingSo, you want to plan a full time RV trip?

In this series, we will be sharing some guidelines so that you can envision, plan and then implement your own full time RVing trip.

But before we get to the RV full time guidelines, here is the most crucial rule:

Be flexible…it’s for your own good!

At every turn in your full time RV adventure, you will have obstacles, but the key is to be flexible and roll with the punches.

How we started turning our full time RV dream into reality is by using one big map and over the dinner table, and methodically planning a geographically wishful route from the east coast to the west coast and back again. This was just the first step of course, but an important one to get the creative juices flowing.

We then looked at RVing books and all sorts of Internet resources to the places within the United States and Canada that we wanted to go to. Read more »

How to Set Up An RV When RVing Full Time

July 21st, 2011 Alexander Sorenti-Burns
fellows

This is me and Eli in our old baseball uniforms before we went RVing full time

One of the things my Mom and Dad really wanted when we first started RVing full time is some kind of checklist that listed all the steps you need to do when you set up your RV at the RV campsite.

We went online and we couldn’t find a good RV setup checklist anywhere!

So Eli and I decided to make one of our own. We made this checklist for anyone who is RVing for the first time, wants to RV full time or is just thinking about RVing full time.

It will let you know that although we are not RV experts, anyone can set up an RV, so don’t be afraid of RVing full time. It’s not that hard.

In fact, if we can do it then you can do it too!

Keep in mind that this checklist is for our RV which is a Chaparral fifth wheel RV and your setup Read more »

The Bent RV Trailer Hitch and Other Full Time RVing Tales of Woe

July 18th, 2011 Ralph

bent RV hitch railsSometimes when you’re living in an RV full time, things break.

And sometimes, very important things break in the middle of nowhere.

Yesterday, I bent both of our RV trailer hitch rails trying to back into a tight spot at our RV park. I was trying to loosen the RV hitch from the “tow” position into the “maneuver” position and the darn thing bent in the bed of the truck.

The RV trailer hitch is the very important piece of equipment used to tow the 5th wheel RV. If it’s broken, you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

And if the rails are bent (even lightly like in the picture), you can’t risk it and start driving with it.

Does it need to be said that if you are RVing full time across the country with a wife and two kids, you don’t want the 5th wheel RV to fall of the back of the pickup truck? Read more »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

  • Who We Are














    No, we're not "professional RVers" but we are rving full time across the U.S. for a whole year.
    We're here to show you how we're doing it.

  • Where We Are

  • Partners

    Antares Enterprises

  • Categories

  • Recent Posts

Privacy Policy | Sitemap