Boondocking / Dry Camping, RV Tips, Tricks & Lessons

One Year of RV Travel

Happy New Year

2021 Update – Though we’re entering into our 5th year of full-time RV travel, this was a great blog to look back on and share our travel ideas and also our map. If you are thinking of venturing out into the RV life, we have a lot of great information for you!

WOW! Just WOW! What a year! 2018 was amazing. I know 2019 will be even better. We started 2018 in Corpus Christy, TX where we were just finishing up our volunteering over the holidays and helping out with the Hurricane Harvey devastation in Port Aransas. That was a really rewarding thing for us. We ended this year with our daughters in PA, and in-between we put 19,291 miles of pavement, dirt, and gravel under our tires. We learned so much this year. Spending only $48 in camping fees, helping build a movie studio, and made so many amazing new friends. Thank you all for being part of our journey. Each and every one of you is part of us even if we haven’t met. Each of you gets us through with your positive comments, inspiring words, and your own tips and tricks to help us along the way. And you are part of our community .. our tribe. Thank you! Happy New Year everyone! Be safe out there and be your own kind of Opting Out of Normal!

In 2018 We surprised Stacy’s baby sister who we hadn’t seen in way too many years, on her 40th birthday with a visit to Arizona. We were also invited to help in the RV Nomads documentary that premiered in October of 2018. We saw so much of our country in 2018, but 2019 will be even better. Some of our plans include driving the US part of the Great Continental Divide which starts in New Mexico at the base of Mexico and goes all the way up through Montana to the border of Canada. We’ll be driving through 5 states which include New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. That’s 3,100 miles! We have tried to get to Glacier National Park the last 2 Summer’s and it’s not worked out due to weather, fires, and other commitments. So 2019 is the year! We are determined to get there. 

As we stated earlier, we ended 2018 in Pennsylvania which was very cold, very wet, and very un-normal for a full-time RV’er. We definitely live our name Opting Out of Normal. Our three daughters live on the East Coast so they will always trump warm weather. Christmas was beautiful with them. Very low-key, as we enjoyed board games, movies, and a roaring fire in the fireplace. We have some amazing kids!!

Laurel Creek AR 1wm

A little more about our big news for 2018!! Ok, so maybe some of you won’t think this is such big news. But we challenged ourselves to spend less than $100 for the year in camping fees for 2018. Now not just Wal-Mart lot docking or rest areas. We challenged ourselves to find the most spectacular areas. We remind you, we are traveling in a 39′ 5th wheel. We were met with raised eyebrows so many times and we are here to say YES YOU CAN boondock in a big rig, in beautiful, amazing areas. Don’t be afraid of those dirt roads! Sometimes you have to travel over some rough terrain to get to these spots, but even in a large 5th wheel, if we can do it, you can too! We wrote a blog about it, and how we did it. You can see that below!

Travel Map

Check out our 2018 travel map below! We look forward to sharing our 2019 with you, and we thank each and every one of you for following us. Thank you never seems like enough, but we truly are honored you are here! We have been lucky enough to meet some of you out on the road, and hope to meet more in the coming year. Live Simply, Give More, Expect Less! 

Here are some more blogs we’re sure you’ll love!

So – You’re shopping on Amazon? I mean who doesn’t, right? Please consider using our link. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it gives us a few extra pennies. Click below to use our link and then just shop like normal. Don’t forget ~ check out within 24 hours so we get credit! Thank you!! It really means a lot to us!

Thank you for stopping by our little corner of the internet! We truly appreciate each and every person who takes the time to read our blogs. We’re honored you spent the last few minutes with us!  If you aren’t signed up to follow us, please do! You’ll be notified of our new blogs when they go up. 

2 thoughts on “One Year of RV Travel”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *