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 »

How RVing Full Time Turned Me Into a Baseball Fan!

July 16th, 2011 Eli Sorenti-Burns
full time rv family sees the arch

We saw the St. Louis Arch in St. Louis but the best was yet to come...

I really like traveling in an RV full time.

However, one of the things my brother and my Dad really like is baseball. We have gone to lots of baseball games while RVing full time.

I just don’t like baseball that much.

That all changed in Read more »

Why Albert Pujols is the #1 Reason to Visit St. Louis When RVing Full Time

July 15th, 2011 Ralph

Albert PujolsFull time RVing allows you see things you have always wanted to see. Seeing every major league ballpark is one of the things that are my RVing full time “bucket list” of things to do before I die.

So when we went to Springfield, Illinois, we found ourselves only an hour away from Busch Stadium, the home of the St. Louis Cardinals and the home of the greatest player in major league baseball not to have been found Read more »

The Dark Side of Living In an RV Full Time

July 13th, 2011 Ralph

darth vader Its not always great RVing full time.

So many RV blogs talk about how great it is to spend “quality time” with family, reconnect with your kids and be at one with the great outdoors.

This all makes living in an RV full time sound like its so easy, its so much fun…so…completely unrealistic.

Let’s not kid ourselves, four people living in less than 300 square feet of space are gonna tick each other off.

You just can’t help that.

So don’t believe the polyanna bloggers. Read more »

Why Full Time RVing (And Eating) in Chicago Is So Awesome!

July 11th, 2011 Eli Sorenti-Burns

hot saucesRVing full time is fun. You get to see a lot of cool sights, even if you’re a kid.

But what I like most is the food.

My mom and I really like to talk about what kinds of main dishes we want to order when we go to nice restaurants.

When we went to Elements in Pittsburgh, I let her pick for and I loved the meal.

However, when we went to Heaven on Seven in Chicago to celebrate our friend Dalia’s birthday (Karen’s Mom),  I was way over on the other side of the table, so I went my own way. Read more »

THE Top Reason to RV Full Time

July 10th, 2011 Ralph

RVing freedomWhen we first started to RV full time it was a bit rough.

It was tough to get used to the tiny living quarters, the bathroom smaller than a telephone booth, long drives on boring interstates, figuring out how the cable TV works at every campground, oh-so much fun black water drainings, extremely chatty “RV” neighbors, missing friends and family back at home….

But despite all that after the first week or so, we started to realize how well RVing fit our lifestyles, how comfortable it actually is and how the small space actually improves your life and how liberating the travel really is.

But by far, the best part of living in an RV full time is the Read more »

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