1,825 days
43,800 hours
2,628,000 minutes
157,680,000 seconds
equals 5 years
Every time we write the once a year blog post on the day we left for our RV adventure, we are always in shock. How can time have moved that quickly? It feels like yesterday we just started planning, had the house emptied of furniture, the living room filled with RV supplies that we had no idea how to use (and what we really needed or not needed but got because someone recommended it) and a 36 foot RV and truck sitting in our driveway overstuffed with items and as disorganized as we felt.
I listen to an upbeat podcast every morning and one time they talked about destiny moments. A destiny moment is an important once in a lifetime opportunity that if taken, will change the course of your life for the better. It’s a little spark of a desire placed in your heart, just sitting there waiting to get awakened and acknowledged. The destiny moment is not going to be something easy but something that is going to challenge you, make you step out of your comfort zone and make you grow as a person. It might not make sense to some people but it makes sense to you as it just feels right, like it’s what you are meant to do.
I feel that the decision to live in the RV life was a destiny moment for us. We were ready for a change with our jobs and though we loved Washington State and the friends we made, we knew a change was needed (the little spark). When I look back at that time, I see the set up of the right people and circumstances that lead Brad to come up with the RV idea. The idea wasn’t the destiny moment, the taking of the idea and going for it was.
Where we have traveled the last year:
We worked at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last summer and left there at the end of September. We helped out a friend in Idaho for a few weeks before Brad got a job in Northern California, right outside of Sacramento. We left Idaho in October, taking a few days to drive to California, exploring Reno and Lake Tahoe along the way. Since October when we got to Cali, we have been to many places (most of them new): Bodega Bay, Calaveras Big Tree State Park, Death Valley National Park, Monetary Bay, Napa, San Fran, Santa Cruz, all over the Sierra Nevadas, Redwood forests, Sequoia National Park and Yosemite.
Our top activities:
Both: Car camping for our first time, seeing the Sequoias and exploring Yosemite.
Brad: Having a boat on Jackson Lake at Grand Teton National Park and going to Reno.
Jen: Taking a Jeep out to see the sailing stones at Death Valley and seeing my sister and her family when they visited Cali in December.
RV/truck fixes and maintenance:
*The normal truck maintenance with an added twist of having to drain the DEF due to not driving the truck often. Apparently DEF goes bad after awhile and old DEF can cause engine problems.
*Normal RV maintenance (cleaning the roof, sealing rubber on slides, ect) along with applying roof tape to a small puncture on the roof.
*New bathroom fan along with a new fitting for the bathroom window.
*One of the slides got a rubber seal update.
Our future plans:
Guess you will just have to wait and see. ☺️
Roaming Free In An RV 
W0W! Five years ! Time has flown by.
I enjoy reading your blog & have learned
many interesting facts!
Always be careful & safe
Love & Miss you so much❤️🥰
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Thanks Mom!! Love you and miss you too!! 💕😘
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Wow, time really is flying, and you’re so right about those moments that come together and change everything.
You went to some really cool places this year. I am intrigued by the car camping idea. There are so many spots we don’t visit because we can’t get the motorhome there – because the campgrounds have no sites available, or because the sites are too small for us to begin with. Car camping certainly seems appealing for stuff like that. We’ll definitely have to give it some thought.
Beautiful photos as always. Congrats on five years! Stay well!
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Time is flying, which is exciting and scary all at once! We are grateful to be in an area where we can see so much, hence the car camping. The RV just cannot go everywhere due to its large size. Car camping is great for those quick sites you want to see. Two nights is our max car camping and we are still figuring it all out but so far we like it. Easy set up and take down is the big appeal and everything you need is right there. Sort of like the RV, lol! Someone suggested I write a blog post about car camping, I should get on that!
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You should definitely write one. I’d be interested to learn what you do for food specifically – one night is easy, two gets more complicated if you’re trying to keep anything cold. Plus, just information on what you bring and what you leave behind. It’s been a long time since we tent camped and we’ve gotten pretty used to this cushy RV stuff. I’d definitely be interested to hear what you’ve learned.
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