The grain really is amber when RVing in Kansas…

We really enjoyed RVing to Kansas City and also to Abilene, Kansas.

We rolled into Kansas City starving at 8:30 pm. We were ooo-ing and ahh-ing at the beautiful houses and neighborhoods on our way to a family restaurant called Stroud’s.

Stroud’s Restaurant is known for their  family style fried chicken. The chicken was good but we all agreed that there were two things that really made us want to come back and eat there again.

First was our waitress Elaine. She was terrific!

Second was that they bring you a basket of hot cinnamon buns to your table. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven these cinnamon buns were so delicious!

RVing in Kansas City…Seeing Old Friends

While RVing in Kansas City, we visited with our friends Maddie, Luke and Gretchen. It was wonderful to see our friends who had moved last year from Cape Cod to Kansas City.

Gretchen is a fabulous cook and it was so nice to sit in a kitchen and chat with an old friend.  They are really enjoying Kansas City and we can see why. It is a beautiful, friendly city with tons of fun things to do and lots of parks.

RVing in Kansas and World War 1

We went to the World War I Museum.  We had traveled tot he Somme battle field several years ago when the boys were 5 and 7 so we felt we truly needed a refresher course on the causes  and settings of the “War To End All Wars.”  There were several exhibits on the situation in the U.S., Europe and its various colonies in the decade before the War broke out.

We  learned all about the causes, participants, uniforms, artillery, ships and airplanes used in World War 1.  We also learned that it was never called WWI until after WWII had begun….it was called “The Great War”.

The museum was excellent and we all enjoyed reading the exhibits and viewing the video presentations. We were engrossed in the exhibits  for over three hours but we could easily see spending the day there!

It is very fitting that Truman, a WWI veteran, has a Presidential library less than 30  minutes away!

Rving and Legos…of Course

And then we spent six fun hours at Legoland Discovery Center. Eli says Legoland was amazing, especially miniland as it was a replica of a
miniature Kansas City and also had a full set of miniatures from the Wizard of Oz!We would go there again! It had a soft play area and we
spent hours building a great wall of Lego!

Rving to Harry Truman’s House

We also drove over to Independence Missouri and visited the Harry Truman home and Presidential Library.  The Truman Home was awesome and we all liked it better than the Eisenhower home.

The guide was enthusiastic about the the tour and we  could almost feel the ghosts of Harry and Bess sitting in their kitchen. The Truman Library was fantastic and we learned a lot about Harry Truman’s work ethic,  boyhood and war service as well as the issues he faced ending World War 2 and the Korean Conflict.

Truman was quite a leader on the battlefield and politically.

Rving with Ike

Then we went RVing through beautiful ‘amber waves of grain’ highways to Abilene, boyhood home of five star General, Supreme Commander of the European Allied Forces and President Eisenhower.

Alex especially liked the Eisenhower museum as it had significant detail and exhibits on WWII and the 1950s. We all like Ike!

The drive along route 70 to Colorado was beautiful…long but beautiful.

We are looking forward to exploring more of Kansas next trip.

How about you??

Me using some of my favorite RV supplies

Ever since I started RVing, people have asked me for tips on which  RV supplies I like the best.

I am not an RVing expert, but after RVing full time for nearly three months and being responsible for:

RV maintenance

RV security

RV sewer duty

RV trash duty

RV setup and RV breakdown duty

….and just about any other RVing duty my mom and dad can think of…

I feel I am somewhat qualified to give at least a few good RV supply tips!

When you are RVing full time there are certain RV supplies that you have to get the for the RV to work properly. If the RV doesn’t work properly, your neighbors might think you’re stinky, smelly or loud…but that doesn’t have much to do with this blog post!

After all I am 10 and I get a little bit silly sometimes!

So I have listed 13 absolutely essential RV accessories (my Dad helped me with that word )that you must have when RVing full time like us.

Here they are:

1. Chocks

Good RV chalks are very important so the RV doesn’t start rolling down a hill. If that happens, then your very expensive RV is wrecked and you don’t have a place to sleep.

Wheel Chocks are also used to stabilize the RV so it doesn’t sway when you walk in it. They are important needless to say!

2. Level

To get the RV level, one of the most important things in your tool box is a good level.

Also, if you need to move the RV in a certain spot you use a leveler. If you don’t have one all sorts of bad thing happen. For example your refrigerator many not work right and may get broken.

The one that we use is the Stanley FatMax Magnetic Level because you can put it on the back bumper and its magnetic so it sticks there!

3. Sewer Hose 

The sewer hose you get with your new RV really stinks! I guarantee you it will crack and leak as soon as you start using it. And you will step on it and break it just like I did (but I didn’t mean to).

To drain the sewer you don’t want to have a full black water tank spill out on you! To prevent this from happening, you want the hose to reach so you can you don’t bother your neighbors.

I recommend RhinoFLEX 5′ Extension Hose with Swivel Fittings, because it is so tough it won’t break. It is really tough. I have stepped on it many times and it has never broken. My dad has stepped on it too and he is heavier than me and it STILL hasn’t broken.

4. Disposable Gloves 

When you are dumping out the black water it is really gross! So you need really good RV Sanitation Gloves that won’t break but you can throw away after. These gloves are really tight on your hands so they keep out poop and all kinds of gross stuff.

This is what they look like:

The are the best kinds of disposable gloves I have found.

5. Extra Water Hose

You need to get an extra water hose because it really stinks when the town water hookup is too far from your RV. If it doesn’t reach, then you might have to re-park the RV. This is where you could use a garden hose.

To prevent this, always have an extra water hose on board!

6. 30 or 50 Amp Extension Cord

When you arrive at the RV park, set up and then try to plug in your electric cord but the electric box is too far away, this is a pain too. What can you do?

You could re-park the RV. Or you could have and extra extension cord just in case.

If you cannot get the electric into your RV, you would have to use your battery, but this gets drained quickly. So have an extension cord, they come in either 30 or 50 amps.

The one we use because its really tough is the Heavy Duty 30-amp 10 Electrical Cord with Handle.

7. In- line Water Filter

So you don’t spend a fortune on bottled water, you should always have an in-line water filter to get the water clean.

Its easy to hook up, just add it to the end of your water hose at the town water hookup.

We use the TastePURE CX90 Ceramic Water Filter because the filter lasts a long time and the water tastes great!

8. Inside Fan

If you need to dry something inside the RV, its good to have a fan. Also, think of a hot day and you do not have air conditioning, you need a really good fan.

I would recommend the Lasko 42-Inch Wind Curve Fan with Remote because it kept me cool all summer and it helps to dry my clothes sometimes.

9. Good Tool Box

You must have a good toolbox to fix stuff with. Stuff always breaks in an RV. Many people have a tool box back at home, but its good to get a tool box just for your RV.

You need the following tools:

• Wrench

• Hammer

• A really good 18-Volt Li-ion Drill

• A good knife

• Pliers Set

• Hatchet (for chopping up firewood)

• All-in-One Screwdriver

There are probably more tools you need, but those are the most important.

10. Lighter

When you’re RVing full time, you make lots of fires both to cook dinner and to keep away the bugs, so you need a good lighter to light all this with. Sometimes I use my flint, but when its wet it doesn’t work too well. You can also cook s’mores on an open fire too!

Plus you may need a lighter to light the stove in the RV too. I really like the Comfort Grip Lighter, it rocks!

11. Stool

In most RVs, the cabinets in them that are really high. I am almost five feet tall, but I still have a hard time getting stuff down from the higher shelves.

Get a Collapsable Stool to get stuff in cabinets. Also make it folds up so it can be portable and can fit in a closet.

12. RV Spare Tire

If you get a flat in your RV tire, make sure you have an extra wheel just in case! We nearly popped a wheel and were glad we had a spare tire just in case.

13. Jack

If you pop an RV tire, you need a heavy jack so you can lift the RV if you have a flat tire. I would recommend at least a 30 Ton Jack if you have a fifth wheel RV.

It would really stink to be on the side of the road with a flat but no way to fix the flat!

Just check the jack specs to make sure it is powerful enough to lift your RV.

We have the Torin T93007 30 Ton Hydraulic Bottle Jack. We haven’t had to use it yet, but it lifts 30 tons so we’re in good shape!

So that is my list of RV supplies you definitely need. Please feel free to click on any of the links or images on this page to get any of them for yourself.

And when you do click on any of the links or pictures on this page and you buy anything, I make a small amount of money!

Any money I make goes to my college fund…so I can’t spend it on Nerf guns though

Oh well!

Also, please hit the “Share” button on the side of this post and share this with your friends on Facebook. It can help them get good RV supplies too!

I just recently watched the movie An Inconvenient Truth by former Vice President Al Gore and it made a big impact on me because I saw many of the things Mr. Gore talks about in this movie while I was RVing full time this past summer.

Global warming is important to stop because there is no other place to go to live. It effects many people, wildlife, and habitats. There are also cleaner ways to make energy.  Global warming must be stopped.

RVing in Mitchell south dakota KOA, those guys recycled!

Recycling at RVing Parks

One of the things I noticed was that not a lot of RV parks recycle their trash. Many of the KOAs we went to ll across the country did not recycle at all. On my trip back home, I want to change this and talk to the RVing parks about recycling. I think this will help alot.

However, the KOA in Mitchell South Dakota had recycling. Those guys were cool!

Climate Changes while RVing

When we were RVing in the West this past summer, it was over 103 degrees in some places that have never been that hot before. This is a sure sign of global warming.

Global Warming Effects on Wildlife

Global warming effects wildlife in so many ways. It melts the ice that polar bears live on. It warms the water and as a result it is killing fish like Trout and Salmon. Global warming causes drouts and that kills plants.

When I was in Glacier National Park, I saw that many glaciers had melted because of global warming

I Saw Glaciers Melting While RVing

When we visited Glacier National Park, we saw that global warming had taken its toll. In 1910, there were over 150 glaciers there, now there are only 25. Many scientist think that all of them will be melted in the next 30 years. I am glad I saw them, but sad that they may disappear soon.

RVing and Pollution in Salt Lake City

Also, pollution is ruining the environment. People throw litter in the water and that is bad for the environment. This kills fish and coral. When I was in Salt Lake City, Utah RVing, the smell was awful because of the chemical plants around the city polluting. Also, there was lots of trash in the lake which is bad for birds and fish.

Other Effects of Global Warming

Global warming also ruins habitats like rain forests. The rainforests are over-populated by people. They are cutting down trees and that shrinks the rainforest.

Also, global warming effects the wetlands. We are draining all the water so we can build. We saw this in some lakes we saw in the West that are lower now than they were years ago. I saw this in Nevada and Utah. When this happens, the ground gets hard and animals that lived there can’t survive. Trees are also dying which creates less air and it effects the weather, the environment and us.

We Need to Use Cleaner Sources of Energy

We need to use cleaner sources to get energy; like using solar panels or wind turbines. We must do little things too like turning off the lights or car pooling and using hybrid cars. Plus pick up garbage when you see a piece.

These simple things will help save our environment. We can educate people to stop cutting down trees and stop littering. This is important to do because we can save our earth.

How Rving Full Time May Help Global Warming

When we are RVing in our truck, we use alot of diesel gas but we use cruise control to conserve gas. We don’t speed either. By Rving and not living in our house, we may actually be reducing our energy usage because we don’t use electricity which comes from power plants fired by coal. Coal is very dirty and creates alot of CO2 emissions and pollution.

I think I am helping the environment by RVing full time, but I am not sure. I will study this further. What do you think?

There are some people that still think that global warming does not exist. I don’t understand how this can be because I saw evidence of it RVing this past summer.

So please Share this post with your friends on Facebook by clicking the Share button to the left,  so that other people can learn more about global warming.

Thank you. Alex

Before you hit the road and go rving to cool places like Chicago, its good to folow our 4 tips on how to pick a good RV campsite first!

So you’ve decided to go rving full time and you’ve already decided on your RV itinerary.

Your next step is to now start booking your RV campsites.

So get out the pen and paper or bookmark this post for later use because we’re going to give you 4 things you must know when picking out your RV campsites when full time RVing.

1. Know Your RV Specs

It seems kind of obvious, but you do need to know the dimensions of your RV. In our case its a 37 foot Chapparal Fifth Wheel. This means a lot of RV campsites are way too small for us; a good thing to know before calling around or looking online. Making sure the RV campsite will fit your RV is always a good thing.

Make sure you have the specifications of your RV you haven’t already bought, borrowed, or rented your travel rig, do it prior to making reservations. When booking your RV campsite you may need to know: type, length, number of pullouts, and the type of hookups that your vehicle requires.

2. Know What Amenities You’ll Need

A major thing to consider is whether you’ll require an RV park with certain amenities. We already told you about the importance of WI-FI when RVing full time or just plain RVing. Since my wife and I work from the road, this is absolutely essential for us.

As we discussed in that post, we do use and highly recommend getting either a laptop wireless stick like the AT&T GSM USB aircard or the Verizon USB AirCard. In addition to that, having the WI-FI at the RV campsite is a big plus as well.

We have really started to use the Samsung 4G Mobile Hotspot through Verizon and it works super well.

As far as other amenitities go, if you need cable tv and dont have a DISH or DirecTV, then cable hookup is definitely something to ask for.

Although in most new RVs, the antennae gets surprisingly good local TV signals. Its all high definition now so its high quality.

We actually watched the entire Bruins Canucks Stanley Cup final using local, air antennae signal, so for a guy who insists on a good picture when watching sports, that should give you an idea as to how good the signal is!

3. To Pull Through or Not To Pull Through

If you have a massive RV like us and are don’t have a background in 18-wheeler trucking, then “pull-throughs” at RV parks are a big plus.

A “pull through” is exactly what it sounds like; they enable you to “pull through” the RV parking space so you don’t have back in and risk taking out your neighbors brand new Ford Explorer that was parked just a bit too close to your full time rving campsite.

If the question is to pull through or not to pull through, take the pull through any day of the week. Even if it costs you $10 more per day, its worth it.

4. Check Out The RV Campsite Photos

Many campgrounds have photo sections on their websites. We found this a huge benefit when scouting out campsites on the web. Check out the RV campsite photos, or even better if they have a live web cam, this will give you a really good feel for RV campground in no time flat.

With photos or webcams, you can instantly see if the RV spots are spacious or cramped, if the site has is shaded by trees or if its clear cut or if the RV campsite just looks nice or dumpy.

You can also tell if there is a general store, maybe even a restaurant, along with essential RV amenities like laundry facilities or even a pool.

Photos will tell you a lot about the RV campsite very quickly…after all a picture IS worth a thousand words when RVing.

Before you go pick your next RV campsite, make sure you consider all these four factors first.

In future posts we’ll tell you even more secrets to getting the best deals on RV campsites all throughout the United States.

In the meantime, please Share this post with your friends on Facebook so more people can learn how to RV full time.

If only picking an RV was as easy as picking your horse...

April 2011.

Full time RV family…almost ready to pull the trigger.

Palms…sweating.

Checkbook…present but still in its fuscia-colored, pocketbook holster.

Dad…feeling like he’s gonna hurl.

Mom..supremely confident.

Kids…somewhere in the RV showroom hurting each other.

There we were, standing on the precipice of the largest rolling tin-can homestead decision of our lives…

How to Buy an RV if You’ve Never Gone RVing

Did I tell you we have never really RV’ed before? But there we were in the RV showroom about to put a big wad of cash (actually just a big check with zeros at the end of it) down for a brand new Chapparal 330 FBH Fifth Wheel..

We went RVing once up to Maine in a “Class B” rental RV.

It’s called “Class B” because that is what it actually is. Have you ever seen a “B” movie? It’s kind of the same thing.

We really hated it. Too small, too bouncy, too cramped. We were miserable.

Well, actually Jen and I were miserable…the kids thought it was like a big playhouse on wheels.

Having said all that, deciding to RVing full time is a curious way to see the country, especially if you consider our less than stellar track record of success.

Extended stay hotels were considered. Camping was considered.

In the end, RVing won out.

How to Go RVing When You’re Not Really Sure If You Want to Go RVing

When we made the decision to go RVing to realize our ethereal dream of “location independence” (inspired by Timmy Ferris and his memorable book The 4-Hour Workweek), we knew we wanted to travel, to be free, to be released from the chains of location….

Sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it?

By traveling in the Class F, we had kinda figured out what we didn’t want.

That was good.

Sometimes, its better to know what you don’t want before you know what you do want…

So we got the huge Chevy 2500 Diesel behemoth truck and the bigger behemoth Chapparal fifth wheel instead because no other RV fit our style, plain and simple.

And this is what you need to know when you buy and RV:

Know what you want.

How to Pick The Right RV For You

Close your eyes.

Come on, close your eyes.

Are they closed?

Ok, now imagine yourself in an RV.

You have been traveling for 11,000+ miles.

Every ten or so miles the kids start shouting “Are we there yet” or “I’m staaaaaaaarving, when are we eating?” or “Can we got to McDonalds?” or “I gotta go to the bathroom!”

Now, think of you.

• Are you claustrophobic and anger-prone?

• Are you mild-mannered and calm?

• Are you on Xanax and Percocet and just don’t care?

If you’re the first one, then a Class B (or less) is not so good for you. If you’re the second one, then a Class B may be good for you.

If you’re the third one then you may need to seek some counseling…

However, if you’re like us and have businesses, two kids and a short fuse, then you need more space.

If so, a fifth wheel RV is the way to go. No question.

Plus you have a truck to travel to the local Starbucks with too…(don’t haul the fifth wheel there…parking is a bitch!)

Don’t Try to Be Perfect Along The Way to Full Time RVing

What we found out in or Maine debacle is that the Class B just didn’t fit our style.

We absolutely hated being in the same unit we were driving as when we were living. For most full timers, this may sound crazy. But for us, it was essential.

If you are looking to buy an RV, you need to know this for sure.

We also work from home, so we needed space away from the kids to get some semblance of peace so we could work uninterrupted.

Without realizing it, we had actually made our first RV buying decision. We knew we couldn’t go with a Class A or a Class B.

So despite a painful disaster in Maine, some wisdom rose from the ashes of that first fateful trip. If we were going to go, we needed a trailer…and a big one to haul all our stuff.

And boy do we have a lot of stuff. We have books, computers, a guitar, toys, a practice drum set…the list goes on and on.

So when we decide full time RV cross country, we knew we had to get a fifth wheel and a big truck.

First big RVing full time decision…made.

So before you make the big decision on which RV to buy before you go full time RVing, do what we did. Make some mistakes. Go on a tleats one trip in a rented RV. Figure out what you don’t want.

In doing all that, you’ll figure out quickly what RV you do want.

He wasn't singin' about a city when he wrote this classic schmaltz...but this full time RV guy is.

I keep singing that Barry Manilow song over and over in my head…

“Looks like we made it,
Left each other on the way,
To another love…”

For a guy whose  idea of soft rock is Metallica’s Black Album, this is quite a departure, needless to say…

My usual songs that wake me up in the morning are more along the lines of Alice in Chains, Van Halen, Staind and most recently thanks to my axe man buddy, Rich Sossone…Ozzy Ozbourne.

But since we arrived in San Francisco after RVing full time across the U.S. coast to coast for the past four months, I can’t get that song out of my head…

And I also can’t help but thinking about the last four months on the road as the most influential four months of my life.

And now that we’ve made it to California, I can’t stop thinking about the two opposite ends of this country and how I love them both almost equally.

The Full Time RVing Goal Realized?

I always thought of the end goal of our full time RV trip as “making it” to California and San Francisco specifically…hence the silly Manilow song rattling around in my head all week long.

We did make it to California.

Holy crap! We did actually make it to California!

And we did it driving a full time RV I honestly have no right in the world to be legally operating with my drivers license.

It was the last 250 miles that I thought we may actually not “make it” white-knuckling it up one side and down the other of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in a eight ton behemoth teetering from one side to another, tipping ever so slightly on the 7-10 percent grades…yikes.

Thank God I had Tom Brady and the Patriots on XM to keep my mind off the impending doom.

Total tally of 11,000 miles RVing full time across this great country of ours.

And so many memories and stories to tell.

Full Time RVing and Barry Manilow

The second half of the Manilow song really tells the story though…

“Left each other on the way to another love”…he croons.

The “other love” is not another woman (I think it was for ol’ Barry…although not sure on that one either…if you know what where I’m going here). But for me, it’s the city of San Francisco and the “left each other on the way” is our wonderful home back in Sagamore Beach.

I’m sure the old king of 70’s schlock, now Las Vegas strutting Barry wasn’t singing about being pulled between two places 3,000 miles from each other when he sang his ode back in the mid-70’s, but I am when I sing it…

(Don’t worry Jen, there’s no “other TRUE love” here aside from you baby!)

The "real love" RVing full time in the Bonneville Salt Flats

I could have titled this post “The Tale of Two Cities” but I think someone else had already thought of that one.

The point is that San Francisco is a city I have always wanted to live in for a long time. Its the most beautiful, culturally diverse, varied, majestic, just plain cool city in the United States (sorry fans of Boston and Chicago).

Jen and I were fortunate enough to live in the city of Boston for nearly three years and when we knew we wanted kids, we decided to sell the ultra cool downtown South end condo for the quiet, family-friendly confines of Sagamore Beach.

The day we sold that condo though, something died in me.

My love of the city has always been there ever since that day. And I vowed some day I would live in my favorite city in the world and that city is San Francisco. So here we are…

The "other love" on the West Coast....

Looks like we made it….

Please comment below or better yet….Share this post with your friends on Facebook…we make it easy, just hit the “Share” button just to the left of this post.

Most of the time you have a lot of fun RVing full time (like here in South Dakota), but sometimes there are bad things too

If you are RVing full time cross country, you may want to think about some bad things, but some of these problems are fixed by money. I will tell you here what those bad things are about living in an RV full time.

1. Hitting Stuff in Your Full Time RV

Some times, if you are not careful, you can smash up the RV. In our case, we crashed into a gas tank.

That happened to us in Billings, Montana. My Dad was going forward and the rear of it smashed the gas tank. Then we had to pay the man who owned the store and gas station. That was no fun.

2. RVing Full Time Can Be Expensive

Lots of times, if you are not careful, money can be a problem, especially when paying for gas. Some times gas costs over $150 to fill up the gas tank and you use gas a lot!

Our truck uses diesel and that is even more expensive.

Campgrounds can cost a lot too. Some cost 50 dollars + a day. So if you are full time RVing, save your money!

3. Stuff Breaks in an RV

If something breaks in your RV that is a problem. One time our awning broke in a wind storm in Wisconsin, so we got another person to fix it but it cost money. It cost over five hundred dollars to fix it.

Our insurance covered most of it but we had to pay some money anyway, which really stunk!

So my Mom and Dad recommend if you go RVing full time, make sure you get insurance for your RV.

So RVing is lots of fun for sure, and I really like it a lot, so much I may actually like it more than being at home at times. But if you are thinking about going cross country in an RV, its important for you to know that there are bad things that happen too.

Please try to make the best of these problems and just deal with them as best as you can.

Please Share this with your friends on Facebook – there is a button on the left of this post you can do that with. Your friends may want to know about what bad stuff can happen when RVing full time too!

If you share this post with them, then they will know too!

This whitewater trip down the Snake River was just one of the memories that will always last with our children

“We all have a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”.

-Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

There are two things I have always wanted to do in my life along with having a happy family life and a solid career in the satellite business.

I have always yearned to travel, uninterrupted across the world with a backpack (and no reservations) and I have always wanted to do a full time RVing trip across the United States.

Truth be told, it was our family friend, Mrs. Chapin who first inspired me to do the full time Rving trip.

My Inspiration to RV Full Time

In the mid 1970’s Mrs Chapin took a pop-up trailer and drove with her two boys, twelve and fourteen, across the northern US  to reach Seattle to visit her cousins. They were gone almost the entire summer.

Mr. Chapin flew out to Seattle to meet them and drive home with them. It was a trip they would never forget and apparently I never did either.

The Chapins had two children and I am the eighth child from a family of nine. There was no way we could not travel as a family in that way. In fact, I can’t imagine a camper that would fit us all or imagine my self-employed parents ever able to leave their business concerns for more than two days.

I always marveled at the Chapin’s freedom, the interesting sights they saw and what they learned about our country.

RVing Full Time and Me

For years, I yearned to see what ‘purple mountains majesty’ really meant and what the heck was a ‘fruited plan?’  I longed see cowboys, railroads, the land of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the rivers of Mark Twain..all things we have seen on this full time RV trip.

I read incessantly, mostly children’s biographies, carried encyclopedias to the dinner table and was bascially a pest to my older siblings and parents in my quest to know about everything.

Knowing my thirst for travel, my parents took me on my first real road trip during the summer when I was 12.

Just my parents and I flew to North Carolina to pick up a school bus and my dad drove it home. We still talk about that trip and all its wonderful details!

To this day, we still reminisce about the hot dogs we ate, the nice man at the service station, seeing Washington, DC for the very first time (me) and then Pennsylvania and ending with the aquarium in Mystic Connecticut.

I will always treasure that quality time with my parents.

It inspired in me a love for travel, boosted my interest in history and national landmarks and inspired me to later live in Washington, DC.  It was a huge thing for my parents to take this trip, this time away from their business and other children and a very large expense for them at the time.

Yet, I remember this trip much more keenly and recall it more than any event of my youth…

The Real Influence of RVing Full Time

Now as we take our own children RVing full time on a cross country trip, I wonder what they will remember most in 30 years and what parts of this trip they will latch onto and how it will shape their lives. What experiences from this trip will inspire them and possibly even alter the course of their lives?

How will their lives be changed?

It will be interesting to see exactly what they remember most, what they learn, what they will take away from it all.

My hope is that they will remember it as one of the great adventures of their lives and that it inspires them to do great things as a result of at least some of the things they learned along the way.

Only time will tell…

What things have inspired you and have altered the course of your life?

Please Share this with your friends on Facebook by clicking on the “Share” button to the left of this post. Thanks!

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 increased by nearly 25 percent! And since then National Parks have become even more popular places for RVing full time families and tourists to visit.

With good reason too..

They offer incredible scenery, lots of history and tons of opportunities for outdoor activities like hiking, biking and sightseeing. You may even see some really cool wildlife like buffaloes, elk, moose, bald eagles and so much more.

The next full time RV Christmas card shot?

The best part is that while most national parks charge entrance fees to enter, on many occasions during the year they waive those entrance fees. This offers full time RVing families excellent opportunities to see the parks gratis…on Uncle Sam. These kinds of deal usually occurs after the busiest seasons in the summer time, so they are worth it to look for because these times of year are often the best times to see the parks as well.

If you visit an area that contains many National Parks, like the southern Utah / northern Arizona area, which contain no less than seven national parks and monuments in a 500 square mile radius, you can get the most bang for your buck and see some incredible sites in the process.

Before we started RVing full time, we visited that area and saw the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Canyon De Chelly, Vermillion Cliffs, The Petrified Forest, Monument National Park and Zion National Parks all in just over a week’s time.

The best part about it was that we just so happen to hit it just right as it was National Park Week – and all our entrance fees were totally free, saving us nearly two hundred dollars!

So check out the U.S. National Park Service website and look for weeks in which they offer this awesome deal. For example, this coming Veteran’s Day weekend on November 11-13 is 100% free. Quite a deal.

Take this great opportunity to see these beautiful destinations and save a few bucks in the process. So if you’re living in an RV full time or you are just planning a trip and want to see the awesome beauty of our country’s National Parks, take advantage of the savings and see some amazing sights in the process.

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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 will affect all others in planning your full time RV trip. It will affect where you go, what you can see and what RV parks you can stay in, just to name a few.

2. RV Campsite Length of Stay

Once you decide how long you’re full time RVing, then consider how long you want to stay at each spot.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you like to set up, do a quick tour of the local area and get out within a couple of days?

• Do you like to unpack, stay a while and call it home for a week or two and get to know the area as a local?

3. RV Accessories

Time frame will also determine which RV accessories you’ll need as well.

Do you need to get your RV supplies along the way in each location or do you need to pack them ahead of time?

4. RV Driving Time

A major factor many full time RV families don’t think of is driving time between destinations. For us, we decided that we didn’t want to have to drive more than 5 hours driving per day. We stuck to that in all our planning and we’re glad we did.

5. Special Events

Next, factor in any special events that you have to get to at a certain time and day. This will seriously affect your schedule. Perhaps Uncle Ed’s 90th birthday in Dubuque is a must be at event you cannot miss. If so, factor it into the time frame and schedule.

For us, whad a U2 concert in Chicago we had to get to by the first week in July. We had to rush our way through the Eastern U.S. to make sure got there in time.

6. Trips Back Home

Maybe you need to plan a trip home for a “visit” in the middle of your trip. Before our full time RV trip, we planned a return home for November for business meetings and a family function.

Also, plan on unplanned events in your schedule. We needed to come home in September because my father became ill. This was an unplanned return home, but a vitally important one.

7. Fluff Time

Lastly, think of any unplanned “off the itinerary’ stops you may want to make. For example, we were in upstate New York and saw the Fuller Glass Museum, but couldn’t stop because our RV schedule wouldn’t allow it. We regret that we couldn’t hit this museum due to the fact that the schedule was so tight. This is a big mistake many full timers make.

So make sure you build in some “fluff time’ into the itinerary and always plan on unexpected stops to enhance your full time RV experience.

Doing this will keep the family fresh and make your full time RV trip so much more enjoyable.

So learn from our mistakes and a few of our good decisions when you’re planning your full time RV trip.

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So are you ready to go full time RVing? Post your comments below!