One day a friend of ours commented on our blog and how he liked the photos and the stories we share, but then asked, how exactly do we 'live' while traveling in our van? So, we thought we'd start this trip out by sharing a bit of our daily life of how we travel...
As other previous photos indicate, we head on down the road in our 2008 Sprinter Pleasure-Way diesel RV, which we call 'the PW'. We bought her in Jan 2011 with 4,000 miles--she came from an 80-ish year old couple who traded it in for something a bit bigger. We thought she'd be perfect for us, and so far, she has been. We have put over 40K miles on her and she is running like a top.
An average day might go like this:
We wake up whatever time we wake up, usually between 6-7am depending on how cold and dark it is, or how hot and sunny it might be...we both usually try do a bit of ab exercises to get our muscles lubricated. Buddy has his morning coffee and we take Gravy out for a morning walk. We try to get in at least 30 minutes of walking, sometimes more. We return to the PW for breakfast. We are creatures of habit, even at home, and usually have the same thing almost every day, splurging usually once a week with something different (like oatmeal pancakes). Our normal PW breakfast is a heated up veggie burger with sliced dill pickle, fresh tomato and fresh raw spinach over a 1/4 c of cottage cheese OR sauteed mushrooms, onions, tomato and fresh spinach over our farm fresh eggs or cottage cheese. We use glass corning ware dishes (they stack and travel nicely) and we use real cutlery, wine glasses and pots and pans.
Packing up our rig takes all but about 10 minutes...we usually unplug and take off. We 'dump' our gray and black tanks every 2-3 days, depending on the convenience of the dump site and how much we've used her. She is equipped with all the necessities one would need, including a shower, but since most of the campgrounds we stay in (St Parks, private RV parks, Army Corps of Engineer Parks, KOA's, to name a few) are equipped with their own facilities, we usually shower in theirs (the PW's shower is rather small and so is the holding tank). We do use our toilet and have a fresh water storage tank so Aly can use it while heading down the road if need be--Buddy likes this as it cuts down on pee stops!
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our head (like in a boat)--toilet, sink and shower
We have a queen sized bed (which automatically folds down from the couch), a fully stocked frig and freezer, (we carry an extra cooler for cold drinks), a tv where we can watch movies if we get 'rained in' or stay up late at night watching, a toilet for those mid-night potty stops and cookies and milk if the urge arises! We have a 2-burner cook-top and a sink with hot/cold running water--all the comforts of home really. Most days consist of doing about 200 miles, on average meandering down 2 lane roads whenever possible. We try to avoid large cities, interstates and busy highways. |
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| queen size bed |
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| fully stocked frig |
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| view from the front to the back with the bed up in couch form |
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| our 2-burner cook top and small sink |
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| view from bed to front with tv |
Lunch is usually had somewhere along the road...either we stop at a rest stop or a park or a nice place to pull over and eat cold cooked foods that Aly has prepared in advance like bean salads, cucumber salad, grilled chicken, carrots and hummus, cheese sticks, nuts, fresh fruit, etc. or we snack on any of the above while driving down the road. We like our bigger meal in the mid day instead of in the evening--kinda crazy but that works for us.
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| Buddy with lunch of homemade salads, cold grilled chicken and raw veggies |
When we get to our camp sight we hook up our water and electricity, put out the awning and our outdoor chair, and take Gravy on another walk. We try to do at least another 30 minutes or longer.
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| outside with the awning out |
Evenings are spent relaxing...after our walk, we shower and have a drink, a bowl of popcorn and play one of our favorite traveling games.
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| Aly, playing 'the game' |
After evening has set in, complete with mosquito's and darkness or one or the other or both, we hang out inside, either reading, knitting, watching a movie or connecting to the internet (which isn't often). That has been a good day. Camping fees are anywhere from free to $25/night (Buddy is on the senior rate) and diesel costs about $3.70/gal at this point in time (we average 18-22 mpg). We stop at grocery stores or farmers markets when needing to stock up and rarely go out to a restaurant while on the road. While visiting friends in various cities and states, things change a bit. We try to find bike paths along our journeys, museums or various sights of interest to visit. This journey so far as been 4+ days of slow going and beautiful back roads with this being our 1st internet connection since we left home. As I type this we are in north eastern Alabama heading to a bike path to ride for the next 2 days before the BIG reunion in northern Georgia starts this Friday...
The next few photos are just a few of the beautiful sights we've come upon in the southern states of Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.
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| camping in east Texas |
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| Lake O' The Pines, TX |
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| Ouachita River, AR |
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| an out of service Ferry along the Ouachita River |
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| prices of transport in the the 1800s across that Ferry |
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| yard art! |
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| ripe tomatoes on the vine in central AR |
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| crossing the Mississippi River outside of Greenville, MS |
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| on a hike in Legion State Park, Louisville, MS |
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| the trail while hiking in Legion St Park |
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| Gravy and her new pal, a campground kitty |
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| a sign we saw in AL |
We hope you enjoyed this entry. Our next will be spent with old friends from days gone by...
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