How We Fell in Love With RV Travel

We are currently snow-birding in our RV in Georgia and Florida for February! Now seems the perfect time to tell our story of how we fell in love with RV travel.

You Must be Campers

Actually, no.

We’ve never considered ourselves “campers.” If you would have told us ten years ago we’d own an RV and enjoy camping, we would have called you crazy.

Prior to purchasing our RV, the extent of my camping experience was limited. I went camping once with my dad and brother on our family farm when I was younger. We slept in the back of a covered pickup truck. It was hot, there were bugs, and no showers. Not a pleasant experience.

Fast forward to dating my now husband. I’ll never forget the time he asked me, to my horror, to go tent camping with him and a big group of his friends. Of course I said yes because I didn’t want to sound high maintenance. My only consolation was the fact the outing was planned when it was cooler out, so I figured I could survive for one night. We did have a great time sitting around the campfire, but sleeping on the ground in a lumpy sleeping bag inside a tent was still not enjoyable.

And to be honest, while he wasn’t opposed to the occasional tent camping outing with friends, he didn’t love sleeping on the ground in a tent either. Glad we agreed there!

Eventually we got married and traveled more together. We’d usually drive or fly places, and quickly realized how much we loved exploring and road trips. I literally geeked out over trip planning, and loved the challenge of figuring out where to stay and what to do. For example, only a select few of us understand the “high” you feel after you’ve booked lodging less than a year out inside Glacier National Park, checking daily for hotel cancellations and finally your dates are available! Your persistence has paid off. IYKYK!

I digress…

Discovering Our Kind of Camping

As we met people through our careers, we became good friends with a couple who had a RV and mostly camped on the weekends at local campgrounds. They invited us to hang out with them one evening. Their camping set up included a small travel trailer with a queen size bed, a small kitchen, a small dinette, and a bathroom, complete with a toilet and a full shower. And, they had air conditioning. Hallelujah!

This was the type of camping I could get into!

Not long after this outing he made the comment about one day traveling in a RV. At the time I didn’t think much of it.

But Will We Even Like It?

His comments and our discussions around the benefits of a RV became more frequent, especially since we loved road trips and adventures (see Magic Travel Hack Question). At this point I was still skeptical.

He discovered it was possible to rent an RV, and suggested renting could be a great way to experiment to see if we liked it. Sounded reasonable.

We coordinated a weekend with our camping friends, and rented a Class C (basically a drivable RV). We had a great time. I admit it felt oddly intriguing and exciting. But, we weren’t sold on the Class C. Having to unhook everything and stow belongings to be able to explore once we arrived at our destination didn’t feel right. We could tow a vehicle, but that didn’t feel right to us either.

After we rented the Class C, he introduced me to Keep Your Daydream. Their YouTube channel chronicled the story of life on the road in an RV with three kids for 6-months. However, they ended up staying on the road in their RV because they loved it so much. The KYD episodes helped me visualize what traveling in a RV could be like. I began to see the appeal, and felt the urge to be out on the road traveling!

We began evaluating our situation. Neither of us had vehicles that could tow an RV if we were ruling out drivable options. If we truly wanted to venture down this path, we needed a vehicle capable of towing.

Over the next year, he came to terms with needing to swap out his (sports) car for a truck capable of towing. Buying a truck would allow us to rent towable options to further explore our options. In July 2020 we pulled the trigger and got a Ford F150. We were making things happen!

A couple months later, we towed a 32 foot travel trailer rental to Mammoth Cave National Park. After this trip we knew a travel trailer was the right option for us and I was fully onboard, with some caveats… We needed a taller shower (he is 6’3), and a more comfortable bed (the rental felt like sleeping on plywood).

Years Down the Road, Right?

Despite buying the truck and deciding a travel trailer was our best option, we truly thought we were years away from purchasing our own RV. We still had some “big ticket” trips high on our list where an RV didn’t make sense, including Hawaii and Europe. If we were going to invest in an RV, we wanted to prioritize that type of travel.

However, 2021 rolled around and we were still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January many travel restrictions were still in place. I asked the question, “Why not now?” since it appeared for the near future things were not going back to “normal.” We discussed and decided maybe now was the right time to buy.

He had researched a couple travel trailer options for us, and we arranged to go to our local RV dealer to walk through the ones on the lot. We went on a Saturday and saw the ones on our list. There was one perfect for us that met our criteria, including a tall shower, separate sleeping area, dinette, separate sitting area, and storage. However, we weren’t fully sold on the brand.

The dealer recommended we check out a different RV brand with a similar floor plan to the one they had on the lot. Unfortunately we couldn’t see it that day because they didn’t have it on the lot.

He scoured the internet and drove to a dealer in Louisville two days later to check out the model our local dealer had recommended. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go, but after viewing he felt it was the right one for us.

On Monday afternoon we called our local dealer as he drove back from Louisville, and had them order a Grand Design 2600rb. We paid the deposit and were on cloud nine. Pick up day couldn’t come soon enough!

That was our bold move for 2021.

Our First Year as RV Owners

We brought home our RV on March 19, 2021. As adults, neither of us had been that excited in a loooong time. I guess that’s how you know when you’re on the right path!

As RV newbies we camped in our driveway a few times, and went out for long-weekends to local places. It took some time to become familiar with our trailer and set up. In the beginning everything was nerve-wracking, especially towing. Luckily he had experience towing trailers, but it was still frightening driving down the road with your mini-house of belongings.

In late July/August we took our longest RV trip of 2021 to Traverse City and Petoskey, MI. We spent 10-days on the road and loved every minute of it. Btw, Michigan in the summertime was flippin’ amazing! Great weather to be outside, tons to explore, beautiful lakes, bike trails galore. Just wow!

We closed out the 2021 RV season by spending my 38th birthday camping at Lake Powhatan near Asheville, NC, and were sad to put our RV in storage over the winter.

We were definitely in love with RV travel!

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