Roaming Free In An RV

July 30th marked three years on the road and we cannot believe how fast the time has gone by! We first left Seattle for our RV adventure, not knowing what to expect but just knowing we were going to give it a try for a year. We have enjoyed these last three years, seeing and exploring the country, trying new things, meeting new friends and seeing old friends and family, and we are not looking to stop anytime soon!

This year has been a good year and a sad year too. We paid off debt, Brad’s job is going great, we reconnected with friends, and we went to a few new places and saw some really awesome sights. The sad part is I (Jen) lost a dear pediatric nursing patient and that has been really hard. Everyday I wake up wanting to live the best life and live each day to its fullest because that sweet girl showed me that life it too short to put anything on hold and she helped put life into perspective. Be grateful for each day and all the positive things that happen during the day, try new things because one doesn’t know if that chance will arise again, love others, forgive others, be patient, and go live.

Where we traveled the past year:

This past year after leaving Provo, Utah in October, we went to Moab and Monument Valley, two new places for us, and then back for a second time to Mesa, Arizona, where we saw old friends and stayed at the campground resort we stayed at the year prior. We headed to a new state for the winter, California, where we met another fun full-time RV couple our age and we have enjoyed many hiking adventures with them since. While heading back to Provo, Utah for the month of April till the middle of the summer, we stopped in Vegas and Mesquite.

 

Our top activities:

Both: Going to Death Valley and seeing the diverse nature of the park, meeting up with friends in Vegas and St. George, making new friends in California, visiting San Diego

 

Jen: Going to Canyonland to get a photo of the Mesa Arch at sunrise, hiking the “Y” in Provo on the 4th of July to watch over 100 different firework shows

 

Brad: Going on the cave tour at Timp Caves National Monument in Utah

RV/truck fixes and maintenance:

• Normal RV maintenance of the slides, checking the brakes, tires, and the once a year roof cleaning.
• Normal hitch maintenance
• The truck had normal maintenance of an oil change, fuel filter and air filter change. Added this year was a transmission flush and transfer case flush
• When it rains, we get rainwater in the one of the storage areas by the tank controls. We have re-sealed the area and it’s better but not 100%
• Awning screws needed to be replaced so we replaced most of them
• Axles/brakes repacked on the RV
• Replaced fireplace light

Future plans:

• To keep adding videos to our YouTube channel
• To keep up with this wonderful lifestyle
• Almost done gathering data to post how much it cost to live the RV lifestyle

Where are we now:

In Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming till the end of September. We traveled up here with our RV to visit friends and ended up staying as Jen got a job as a work camper-blog post to follow soon on how that happened!