Back on the Road – Let the Van Adventures Begin!

We got the boat all buttoned up and the van loaded – and pulled out of Sanford on a sunny day with the wide open road ahead of us.

And it’s already hard to believe we’re 2.5 weeks into this trip and already have had so many new experiences to share!

The pace of life on the road certainly is much different than being homebased in one spot for a few months.

The first segment of our trip was already fairly well planned out with a destination of the Escapade in Lebanon, TN and then meeting up with dear friends afterwards.

Stop 1: Paynes Prairie State Park

Our first stop was not too far away, just about 2.5 hours northward at Paynes Prairie State Park, one we had not been to yet.

It’s a lovely park and we got in early enough to get the bikes out and explore the trails.

That evening we had two video events to take part in – and interview for the upcoming VanLife Virtual Summit, and hosting our own monthly Q&A for our members over at the Mobile Internet Resource Center.

Since this was a super shady campground, we didn’t even bother setting up our Starlink satellite but were thankful that we had rocking fast speeds on T-Mobile and AT&T to deliver smooth video broadcasting.

A great first evening on the road, we both went for a run in the morning and then got started early for a very long driving day ahead. We don’t normally do 8+ hour driving days, but we really wanted to knock out some miles.

Stop 2: Near Chattanooga

Neal & Ginger have been long time followers who have regularly reached out to make sure we know we have a shaded full hook-up parking place at their home near Chattanooga.

This trip we finally got to accept the gift and enjoyed two wonderful evenings getting to know each other with an amazing sunset view.

It was a great stop to get caught up on some work and take advantage of the full hook-ups to get our tanks ready for Escapade. Thanks for the hospitality guys, see you down the road and maybe we share a little less bourbon next time?

Stop 3: Fall Creek Falls State Park

We left out on Friday with our early entry pass to the Escapees Escapade.

But we had yet to really have a moment of down time between boat storage preps, loading up the van, a long driving day, a super hectic work day and social time.

So as we were passing Fall Creek Falls State Park we decided to stop in and see if there was any chance of snagging a last minute site on a Friday.

And score! Had a lovely day hiking, running, biking, catching up and napping. What a lovely park!

Just what we needed to arrive recharged and ready for the week ahead!

Love the flexibility of having plans written in jello.

Stop 4: Escapade – Lebanon, TN

When we learned earlier this year that the next Escapade would be held on the eastern side of the US (a rare thing), we set intentions to try to make it. Especially since our education & action partner and dear friend Erik, MobileMustHave, would be sponsoring and vending there.

As we do these days, we signed up as just ourselves – not as presenters or vendors. With COVID still a concern and a forecast of high temps, we left ourselves the flexibility to leave when we felt so called.

We lasted all of 3 nights, including early entry on Saturday. Between the heat, our introversion and just not being comfortable around large indoor unmasked crowds – the event was just too much for us.

These days, we find it difficult to be at these events and just be ourselves – we don’t handle having to be ‘on’ every time we step out our door. We much prefer a trickle of meeting up with new friends on the road than a firehose where we have no chance of remembering anyone.

But it was good to connect with friends. And Peplink (the router manufacturers we have standardized on in our mobile internet setup) sent their photographer Wen-Han out to snap some pics for a project, which was cool. I think he really just wanted to meet Kiki.

It turns out to be a good thing we left early on in the event – as we heard from a good number of folks who ended up with COVID by the end of the week.

Stop 5: Defeated Creek Campground

On Monday evening at Escapade we were feeling the call to head out the next day. So we poked online to see what might be available at nearby Army Corp of Engineer Parks, which are plentiful in the surrounding lakes.

When we saw a waterfront site available at top rated Defeated Creek Campground, we snagged it.

We just love Army Corp of Engineer (ACOE) parks, some of the nicest parks out there – but then again, we have a thing for water views.

Gorgeous relaxing view, power to run the AC, shade to help and a swimming beach. And lots of hiking and biking trails.

The only thing missing? Reliable Internet. We could get enough T-Mobile to survive, but AT&T and Verizon were barely usable even with all our tricks.

We tried Starlink, but the trees (which are providing the beloved shade – so pointless to curse them) caused 6-20 second drop outs every few minutes that was super annoying. But it was usable enough to get done what we needed, and Netflix buffers incredibly well that it can handle these drop outs like a champ.

The stay was exactly what we needed to start our cooling down and recharging post major event.

Stop 6: Yarberry Campground

What kind of berries do pirates like?

Yarberry, of course!

Ok. Bad joke. But awesome campground in Lenoir City, TN. Yarberry Campground is run by the TVA and is impeccably maintained.

We were able to book a ‘non-waterfront’ site for two nights rather last minute. Their definition might differ a bit more than ours – as we felt we had an amazing waterfront view!

And lots of shade to endure the heat wave.

A perfect spot to recharge and catch up on some work. Including filming a first look video on our new router – the dual 5G Peplink MAX BR2 Pro that our friends at MobileMustHave handed off to us at Escapade to put into testing.

Had a great stay, great cell signal (400 Mbps down on T-Mobile!!), swam at their beach and just chilled.

Stop 7: Marie’s Lavender Farm

Next stop – an amazing Lavender Farm near Robbinsville, NC we found via our Harvest Hosts membership. From Yarberry we took the Cheerohala Parkway, a beautiful drive over many mountain passes with frequent overlooks. Sorta like the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Susan and Ken are the epitome of a host – albeit being new to the program (we were only their 9th visitor). Passionate about what they do and excited to share it with others.

We discovered they also used to live on a boat before moving to NC, so we had lots to talk about!

We had a lovely overnight along their babbling spring fed creek under the shade of trees.

Their property is smack dab in a cellular dead zone. Thankfully Starlink worked ‘good enough’ with lots of drop outs to research and reserve our next stop (barely) and to stream some Netflix.

What’s Next?

Whew.. that’s a lot of stops, and we’re not even caught up! I might have to get back to more frequent blogging at this pace.

We are sharing in more real time on our Facebook Page. However, we’re really not taking much video footage, so it’s unlikely there will be YouTube travelogues – we just found it exhausting last year to try to produce them while moving this rapidly.

While we aren’t planning exact stops more than a few days in advance, we do now have an idea of the general intentions we’re setting for the months ahead.

In our 15 years on the road together, we have never RV’d in Canada – and we think it’s due time.

So we’re aiming for crossing the border later this summer, visiting some friends and then ducking back into Michigan before we head south to see Zephyr in Arizona this fall. And then returning back to Y-Not in Sanford by end of the year.

That’s the general plan anyway, always subject to change.