The past couple of months have kept us super busy – between getting the boat in storage to get to my mom in Florida for her surgery, then a hurricane evacuation… then deciding to just transition back to RV life for several months since the boat was already hauled.
We love change – that’s part of our draw to a nomadic life.
But it does take attention and focus and time to adapt.
In this quick video, we share a real time update on what this transition has been like:
Just a few quick written thoughts for those less video inclined:
7 knots to 70 mph
Boat life is slow and meandering. We move at about 7 knots in speed and a long driving day will get us about 30-40 nautical miles. It’s mostly a relaxing time – dolphins popping up, an occasional boat that passes us, interesting shore lines to see. There’s time to look around as the driver and truly enjoy the journey.
Sure, there are a few moments of high alert – getting waked, a narrow passage, a bumpy sound crossing or docking.
Getting back on the roadways has been quite frankly an adjustment. Moving at 60-70 mph, trees whizzing by, traffic, rude drivers, construction back-ups, narrow roads without shoulders and poorly maintained roads. It’s constantly being aware and making hundreds of decisions.
I’ve personally never been a great passenger (and I dislike driving vehicles even more) – so it’s been a bit stressful for me.
But the advantage is – in an RV we can still travel with our home, and we can make so many more miles.
It’s mind boggling to me that we’ve moved from Savannah to St. Louis – with several stops on the way – in just a couple weeks.
Whereas this afternoon we’ll meet up with friends Sean & Louise of Our Odyssey who we last saw in Jacksonville in April. They’re traveling in their boat and have been pursuing closing their Loop. They’ve been in pretty much constant motion since then, and have just arrived to St. Louis too (of course, it’s many more miles by boat!).
We love the Van
After our first outing in the van of a couple of days, we thought we had found our perfect vehicle for short trips. But couldn’t fathom longer adventures.
We’ve now been full time in the van for well over a month, and we’re finding it perfectly comfortable for extended trips too. We’ve gotten right back into our rhythm of micro tiny living, and the layout of the Travato 59G is wonderful for giving us two different living areas.
We made a lot of modifications before leaving Savannah which have made things even better – we’ll get caught up one day in sharing those with you.
Van Life Adjustments
We love noting things that are different about one modality of travel than another. So as compared to boat and bus life:
- Nimbleness is great! Being able to park in a regular size space to pick up lunch, stock up on groceries, run errands or take a driving break has been amazing.
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We wouldn’t be able to fit here in the bus or boat! (Stop to visit friends Jen & Deas of Nealy on Wheels in Asheville.) More friends have van parking than boat parking – We love driveway surfing with friends. It’s a great way to visit and hang out, while still being in your own space. It’s been super fun to be able to do this again, and the van tucks nicely into some awesome spots that we would never be able to fit with the bus. And funny thing, we have few friends with boat parking.
- When we’re stopped… we’re stopped – Not having a second vehicle has been an adjustment for sure. In the boat or bus – we generally get the vessel parked/docked, and then we have local transport available to us. Campgrounds just generally aren’t near city centers, and the van does take some setup to get into motion (disconnecting the power, turning the seats, securing items that might fall) – and that inertia just isn’t always there. So we provision while in transit, and then pretty much plan a stop of 2-4 nights without plans to move the van and just be at home/work.
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We’re finding some great sites however! Booking campsites – RVing has continued to get more and more popular since we got our boat. Campgrounds are more frequently full, even after peak seasons. It’s crazy, and necessitates grabbing reservations more often than we prefer. We so miss the days when you could pretty much arrive and get a great site without much planning.
- Less self contained – Our van isn’t quite self contained yet. The generator malfunctioned during our evacuation (we have it back to working), we have only 100w of solar, our batteries are aging and we have smaller tanks only suitable for a few days at most. And with summer temperatures still stalking us, we’re power pole dependent to keep comfortable. Which means driveway surfing or campgrounds for us this trip. And we’re finding we seek out great campsite NEAR the bathhouse again – a habit we got out of once we had the bus.
What From Here?
Anyway, that’s a quick take-a-way from our last month back on the road.
We have lots to catch up on – we’ve haven’t time for much content creation lately with all of the transition. And we’re backlogged on work too.
We just arrived to the St. Louis area where Chris’ folks are wrapping up their summer here. Our next destination is Austin to get Zephyr out of storage. But looks like autumn hasn’t quite caught up there, so we’ll hang back and get caught up on things. We have comfy guest quarters to spread out in.. so, why not?
Hopefully that means in the month ahead we can get the travelogue caught up.
Exciting!
Some time back Drivin’ and Vibin’ did a video on remote control of temperature to help pets comfortable while you’re out.
Monitoring temperature is no problem.. we can do that easily. But controlling the temp remotely is much more difficult and requires the AC and generator be setup for that.
I’m so glad you’re back on the road, but I do understand what you’re saying here. I hope this doesn’t mean that slowly you’ll bring your days on the road to an end, or at least a very infrequent mode of travel and living.
We pray your Mother is recovering well and the three of you are also well and excited !
Marvin and Collette
Hi guys was watching one of yr vids and you mention how much you loved yr mattress tbat you paid 400 bucks i in the market for a new one do remember where you bought it thanks keep up good work
Type ‘mattress’ over there in the search bar, and you’ll find our post on it 🙂
Um, I did comment on your Blog before the necklace question, but apparently it didn’t post…
I like following your travels and thought proccess when you have decisions to make. The van sounds wonderful, but I would tire of the small holding tanks also. The picture of Kiki on the picnic table is so sweet, almost looks like she’s off leash!
you guys Have great fall travels, and I’ll follow along – Thank You!
7 to 70! Warp speed. Lol
I SO relate to the comment about when you’re stopped, you’re stopped. After years of towing a vehicle it’s really taken us a while to get used to that concept, but we do enjoy the added mobility of a small main ride. But yeah…roads, traffic, ugh! I feel you. Hope the road gets smoother from here on out.
Nina
Thank you for being so open and candid. Driving in heavy traffic is certainly challenging and quite a contrast and very different from driving the boat. I can imagine whizzing along at 70 MPH is quite a change. Wondering if Kiki has any reaction to moving so fast again?
Staying longer in one place does have its advantages. Gives one time to get to know the area and have some downtime.
I just finished driving a car from Missoula to Omaha to deliver a car to my niece (long story). I loved the open highways of Montana and Wyoming. Even western Nebraska, but Omaha was challenging. Fast traffic, trying to anticipate which exit at 70 MPH…Oy.
I do like driving (for the most part) but I am always happy to have someone else drive.
Loved your update. I like hearing about your everyday experiences and routine.
Be well and take care.
Excellent Video—A lot of insight as to how to travel day to day in a small space — Safe travels as you GO WEST!!
Cherie, I’ve been admiring your pendant necklace for some time now, could I have some info on where you got it? Or was it custom made? Thanks.
Thanks.. it’s become my favorite for sure. I bought it from a small independent jewelry designer while we were on a cruise in Canada a few years back. I don’t have any info on it.
Thanks for keeping us posted on your continually interesting Journey. I look forward to your blog posts and also to your videos.
Sounds like this change is harder than what you might have expected. But, so glad that you have that nimble Travato. We are fulltiming in a 35 foot fifth wheel, and I am trying hard to be more flexible with our stays by not booking as many reservations. But, I agree totally with you, so many more people are out there camping, in so many different forms. It is getting pretty crowded. And, we are planning to go to east and spend a whole year (hopefully two) wandering around and doing some volunteer work. Your postings give me lots of good information, so your travelogues are super valuable to us other campers out there. I know it is hard work doing what you do (I gave up on trying to do a blog, it was too much work). So thank you, thank you, thank you for doing what you do. We will be following in some of your travel routes knowing we can fit our RV in since Zephyr did it. And, may peace and tranquility come to you soon. For us we found it in Jemez National Recreation area in NM. We are going to Balloon Fiesta (which we expect to be the opposite of tranquil), but we go out to Jemez Springs for a hot spring soak and massage to celebrate our birthdays, we are camped in a beautiful mixed conifer forest, and we have seen two badgers in the course of two weeks!!