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

August 15th, 2011 Ralph
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

August 14th, 2011 Ralph
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

August 13th, 2011 Alexander Sorenti-Burns

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 »

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 »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
Privacy Policy | Sitemap