RV Adventures #1 – On The Road

“Hitting the open road” in a recreational vehicle was never even on our radar.  Travel?  Always.  Camping?  Never.  Hotels with soft beds and hot showers just sounded much better.  Enter 2020 … a year like no other.  In the last twenty years – whether for work, family or fun – we had rarely been home longer than a month at a time.  I grew up as an army brat and moving every year made me a wanderer for life.  So in the uncertain times of 2020 – the isolation, the lockdowns, the lack of family, every major milestone event cancelled and the delay of a needed surgery – spring dragged on forever.  In July we needed to travel on a short business trip (driving) and the hotel and restaurant experiences were a nightmare.  All of our plans for the year had cancelled; hotels held no allure and the “distance” of wide open spaces was calling.  Suddenly the idea of hitting the road with our own traveling “hotel room/restaurant” sounded fantastic!

The Search

We thought we would rent an RV and just try it out.  Well, we were late to that party – every website we checked was rented out until October.  We started searching on websites like www.rvtrader.com and www.rvt.com to look at different models and floorplans.  I knew it would need to be small enough that I would be OK driving it.  We liked the 24 foot length on the Mercedes sprinter chassis.  Across the different manufacturers the 24’ floorplans were all very similar.  We drove to a large RV dealer and walked a dozen new and used models, also comparing the shorter and longer lengths.  Just like the rentals, RV sales were booming as well. Most of the used models we walked were already sold and new RVs were on backorder.  Hedging our bets, we decided that a used RV in good shape would be better for resale … you know… just in case.  With the booming sales there were bound to be several coming on the market in the winter from those summer impulse buys that didn’t take, and we were ready to wait for a deal.  Early in our research we found a great option in Indiana, but it was too early to make an offer.  A few weeks later, with it still being the best choice, we made the call… only to discover it had just sold four hours earlier.  Over the next month there were a few more false starts.  Then we got the call that the original RV sale had fallen through and it was available again – in Warsaw, Indiana.  We were scheduled to fly for the first time in six months for our nephews wedding in Maryland, so we added a hopper flight to Indiana to do the pick-up and the trek back across the country on our maiden RV adventure.

The Moment of Truth

We flew to Indianapolis and drove a rental car up to the small town of Warsaw.  We had only seen this RV though photos and a remote video tour.  We had never even taken an RV – any RV – for a test drive.  We pulled into the dealer lot and saw it for the first time… it was the only RV on the lot. The dealer was really a custom “Trailer and Cart” company that had taken this particular RV in on trade for a large custom coach order. As the rep started taking us through, it was the exact same information he had given us on the short video walkthrough months earlier. We realized that they did not know very much about this model.  Scott had done a ton of research and asked lots of questions which they could not answer.  It became clear that we were going to have to figure it out on the road.  After an eye-opening test drive (and a new appreciation for “shake, rattle and roll”), the moment of truth was here.  Scott looked at me and said “Are you sure?”  We stared for a moment … both of us thinking … “it’s not too late, we can still walk away”.  We also knew that if we didn’t do this, at a deal we felt really good about, we would likely never do this.  It was 51% excitement and 49% trepidation … would we rue the day?  Time will tell.  We nodded at each other and I turned to walk into the office to seal the deal while Scott continued to figure out the vehicle.

Outfitting the RV

Because we flew across country, we only had one suitcase of supplies and the few items that we had drop shipped to the dealer.  After over an hour in the hotel parking lot figuring out how to level the RV while parked (using two phones with leveling apps, a physical level, yellow ramps and red tire stops) it was about 4:00 pm and we were ready to eat our first meal of the day.  We found an open restaurant in Warsaw – Mad Anthony Brewing Company and started with drinks to toast our new adventure.  The second round of drinks arrived before our food.  It turns out that drinking on an empty stomach before a big shopping trip to Walmart to outfit an entire RV may not be the best idea.  Who knew?  Or perhaps it was just the thing… we laughed all the way through the store!  Two shopping carts full – and several negotiations later – we emerged thinking that one stop tomorrow at a Camping World on our route and our shopping would be complete.  Wow… were we ever wrong!

On The Road – Day 1 – Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin & Iowa

At 8:00 am we turned in our rental car and set out on our cross country trek back home.  Day 1 we had breakfast in Indiana, went shopping in Illinois, had dinner in Wisconsin and arrived at our first campground in Iowa.  If you find yourself in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, a meal at “The Barn Restaurant” is worth a stop.  We pulled into our reserved spot at Pikes Peak State Park , looking over the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, at twilight.  Our name was on the post, the leveling process went smoothly, and despite having electrical hookups (and for reasons known only to our pilot) we dry camped for the night.  We christened the RV “Indy” in honor of where it was built and where it was acquired.  It’s official now … #IndyRidesAgain!

On The Road – Day 2 – Iowa & Minnesota

We survived the first night as RV rookies!  Success!  Pikes Peak State Park campground was peaceful and scenic.  The restrooms were clean and the sites had easy access.  My rating is 4 on a scale of 5 – losing one point as it had no option for full hookups.  While Scott continued to focus on his crash course of the inner workings of Indy, I went for a morning walk through Deer Ridge to the river overlooks.  With a hint of fall in the air the park and the rivers were gorgeous.  We closed up the RV, filled up the fresh water tanks and were on our way.  Our next campground is Lake Shetek State Park in Minnesota.   The growing list of supplies we still needed meant mapping our route to a second Walmart haul – again two carts full.  Not quite ready to break in the kitchen, we stopped for a late lunch at Beantown Grill (website).  It was tasty (TripAdvisor for the win again) and per Scott, if you find yourself in Fairmont, Minnesota the “Half Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae” is the best sundae ever (and yes, Scott is an ice cream connoisseur.)  After all of our stops we pulled into Lake Shetek State Park shortly before twilight.  We had a reserved spot at the Sunrise Campground with full hookups (electrical, water and sewer).  This campground was more of an open space/field and impeccably maintained.  Our spot was very spacious and backed into great foliage.  We walked over to the host campground and purchased firewood to enjoy our first campfire of the trip.  We didn’t have any fire starting tools however, so we tried to get some “kindling” from the foliage behind our RV.  It took a while, but the campfire was the perfect way to end to our second night.

On the Road – Day 3 – Minnesota & South Dakota

We woke up to a bevy of deer grazing around our RV.  All three of us (Buster included) enjoyed a morning walk down to the lake.  The Oak Wood Campground, next to the lake, was scenic and private – it was in the trees and had lake access – but it was only electrical hook ups.  We were alternating campgrounds with full hook ups, and since our next stop in the Badlands was just electrical we needed to “refresh” everything first.  There were also little “dry” cottages for rent.  My rating for the Lake Shetek Sunrise Campgound is a 4/5.  It was really well maintained, clean and had full hookups, but lost a point for having less privacy.  (If we were traveling that way again we would probably stay in the Oak Wood Campground.) Today our route would take us the rest of the way across Minnesota and most of South Dakota to the Cedar Pass Campground in Badlands National Park.  We also had to make Walmart trip number three and Camping World trip number two to make sure we were ready to camp inside the national park.  Let’s just say that fully outfitting an RV to be self-sufficient while you are on the road was a lot more than we bargained for.

RV Rookies Top Ten Lessons Learned

10) Supplies.  If you have to outfit an RV on the road, be sure to make your shopping list before you start drinking.  Even when your lists get smaller, every Walmart is set up differently, so finding the items takes longer as the list gets shorter.

9) Storage. The over cab bunk is an invaluable storage area for a 24 foot RV. There are not very many cabinets inside the smaller RVs and most of them are small.  The 24 foot length works great for us as long as we have that extra area for storage.

8) The Rough Riders.  Just know that an RV rides like a truck.  We figured out how to pack the cabinets to eliminate as much of the internal rattling as possible – but a house on wheels will never be a completely smooth ride.

7)  Campgrounds. The most scenic and private campgrounds frequently don’t have all of the services, so planning is a balance of nature/ privacy and hookups/conveniences.  We liked the state parks better than most of the commercial campgrounds that often try to fit in too many spaces, but they didn’t have full hook ups.  When planning your trip be sure to check the campground ratings and reviews on websites like www.campgroundreviews.com, www.dyrt.com, and www.goodsam.com.

6)  Firewood.  Several states prohibit bringing in firewood from out of state, so most campgrounds will sell firewood bundles.  Save any extra papers you have to use as kindling and always have a backup “fire starter” kit on hand to help get your campfire going.

5)  Satellite.  Test out your satellite, blue tooth and radio connections before starting your trip.  (Trying to get a satellite up and running in the middle of Badlands National Park may not work too well … just sayin’.)

4)  Levelling. If you are in the market for a new or used RV, we strongly recommend finding one with an automatic levelling system.  (We will be adding it to Indy after market next summer.)

3)  The People.  The campers you meet are some of the friendliest and most helpful people you will find.  We needed a drill to fix a defect on the propane grill we had purchased, and while the campground didn’t have one a fellow camper heard our plight and had us bring our grill over to lend us his drill from his extensive tool collection.

2)  Schedule. There is amazing freedom in not having to map your trip around bathroom and restaurant stops as you travel.  It took several days for us to break the old habits and then – wow – was it awesome to just pull over and enjoy the view while we made lunch.  We also found ourselves driving a little slower and enjoying the scenery.

1)  Freedom.  The freedom and access of exploring the US in our own traveling hotel on wheels is even more amazing than we hoped.  The verdict is in … we love it!

Stay tuned for our next installment of our #IndyRidesAgain RV adventures as we head into the Black Hills of South Dakota and explore Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park.

Happy Trails!    Jaimi & Scott

P.S. Before this trek is over we will also visit Custer’s Last Stand Battlefield, visit friends in Emigrant, Montana, explore Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and hike the Flaming Gorge area in Utah.