Because Keli and I are weirdos, we like to sit down and talk after each trip (no matter what the travel method) about what went right, what went wrong, our packing strategies, what we’d do differently, etc… I know that sounds incredibly boring to you readers out there but it has honestly been one of the best things we’ve ever done as travelers. The next two articles are sort of a reflection of the 10 day RV trip we just took and our thoughts on a few different aspects of that trip. I hope they help!
They Sell That Sh*t There
One of our concerns was whether or not we brought the right clothing for this trip. Since we are newbies, we really didn’t know what to expect…and not really knowing where we might end up was part of the challenge (and a lot of the fun)!
I view our RV as a big backpack when I think about packing clothing, I only want to bring what is extremely functional, lightweight and versatile but covers a lot of scenarios. Since we knew we’d be heading to warmer climes (hopefully), we didn’t need much in the way of warm clothing so we pretty much kept that to a base layer system, a fleece sweater and a down jacket. I brought along 3 pairs of “outdoor” pants…2 of which have the zip off legs (aka: dad-pants), and a couple pairs of shorts. Keli’s lineup was pretty much identical in this area except maybe she had a couple more sweaters. Also, it IS possible to wear pants and shorts more than once without washing them. I’ve done it. Nothing bad happened.
Non-negotiable: socks, underwear and (mostly) t-shirts can only be worn once unless you’re on a thru-hike or stranded on a desert island…and we weren’t. If you disagree, I don’t care. I have limits. We just lasted for 10 days in our RV and never had to do laundry. However, since I only own 7 pairs of my favorite socks, compromises had to be made and other socks had to be brought into the game. I survived.
Keli actually packs lighter than I do but I blame that on me being practically twice her size so it doesn’t count…and I don’t want her to be better than me. She does, however have some dedicated RV clothing which includes socks that permanently live in the RV and athletic clothing that is made to be worn repeatedly without washing…so I guess she is better than me…
Footwear is a challenge for me personally and I don’t know why. Flip-flops, running shoes, hiking shoes, hiking boots and “water shoes” were all in my inventory. That seems ridiculous. I’m pretty sure the hiking boots will be left behind on the next trip to beachy places…and the water shoes seemed pointless until we needed them and then they were great! So I need to possibly find a way to combine the flip-flops and water shoes into one item… Keli’s loadout was similar except she left the hiking boots at home, so she wins again.
Keli’s uncle laid some truth on us when we were visiting recently and we were reminded again just before we hit the road:
“They sell that sh*t there”
Keep that phrase in mind the next time you’re packing for a trip and the stress of forgetting things is getting to you.
Paper maps are cool
If you’re opposed to things printed on paper and want to rely solely on digital stuff, I think you’re doing yourself a disservice. A road atlas should be one of the first things you acquire if you want to do any traveling at all… and if you’re over 40 you probably want to pick up a magnifying glass to go along with it.
Most, if not all, of our travel decisions on this trip began with looking at the road atlas. We have one that was given to us and it’s the giant, spiral bound monstrosity with the entire country in it, state by state with magnified insets of larger cities. You can’t pinch to zoom and please don’t ask how I know that. There is something far different about looking at a big paper map than looking at a 7 inch screen to plan a general route. It just works better and I’m pretty sure it can also be used as a leveling block for your RV. I’m kidding.
Individual state road maps are good if you really need to see ALL of the little roads that can’t be printed on the map we have. But…that’s what we use the GPS and Google Maps for. So far we feel like we have a great navigational toolbox at our disposal and I would not recommend leaving the paper maps nor the electronic versions out of the equation. And speaking of electronical stuff, we use the Garmin RV 770-LMT-S GPS unit and for the most part we are very satisfied with it. We may like it more or less if/when we ever really learn how to use more of the features offered so we’ll keep you posted. We bought it because it is specifically made to keep your RV’s specs (height, width, length, etc) in it’s little brain and prevent you from doing stupid things in your RV without at least some notification that you’re on your own with the decision you’re about to make.
200 miles per day is the magic number
We picked the 200 mile travel day number somewhat arbitrarily but not without some educated (and decidedly inexperienced) thought processes. The reality of this is probably something more along the lines of aiming for about 4 hours of driving per day. Let me explain…
Driving our RV (even though it is pretty small) is tiring…mostly mentally. If we’re on a major highway, I’m trying to keep up with traffic and not get blown into another lane by passing semis. If we’re not on a primary road I’m always looking for low-hanging branches, wires, etc. as well as watching my lane position. Since our goal with purchasing a smaller RV was to explore places we couldn’t access in a larger RV, this happens quite a lot. It wears me out. I’ve heard other RVers talk about a 330 rule…driving no more than 330 miles per day or being finished driving by 3:30 in the afternoon. I totally understand that now. By 3:30, I’m mentally shot.
The other great thing about our 200 mile per day goal is that it gives us a lot of flexibility for how the day can unfold. We aren’t rushed to get breakfast going or break camp, we know we can stop at whatever sign/attraction/beach strikes our fancy and we can usually be at whatever camping spot we end up in by 5:00 pm, which is apparently when most of them really WANT you to be there.
Naturally this could change in the future or depending on the nature of the trip, but for our 10 day excursion into Florida, it worked beautifully for us.
