It’s been just over three months since Mike & I started living nomadically in our RV full-time. We have stayed in Oregon the entire summer due to family get togethers and events. It was a fun summer but we were ready to move on past Oregon to look for new scenery.
The most challenging part of the summer was staying connected with internet access. Though we prepared months ago and bought a Verizon Mifi Jetpack for our internet, we found that in some areas of our travels, AT&T had better coverage. So we now have an AT&T pay as you go plan on a older iPhone and are using it as a personal hotspot if needed. In September, we didn’t need it so we didn’t renew for that month and now in October, we still haven’t activated it. We also have another Verizon unlimited plan we discovered last month through the Technomadia blog. We have also learned to utilize free wifi at coffee shops and public libraries.
Some of our favorite camp spots have had little or no cell coverage so we bought a wifi booster. The booster has improved one cell bar up to two or three bars. With two bars we could download our email. With three bars I can work online easily. Full bars is always the best though! I’m so glad I purchased the booster as it’s been a good investment so far.
Finding places to stay in Oregon in the summer was challenging. Some great locations like state parks are very popular. If you didn’t make a reservation months ahead, you could forget about staying there. Because of this we are learning of places to stay for free near our desired destinations. This is called “Boondocking” in RV lingo. For example, in the Mt. Hood area we wanted to stay at Trillium Lake but the campground was full even though we dropped in during the middle of the week. We looked at most of the campgrounds in the Government Camp area and still no luck. So we checked out some places nearby and found a great site to stay for free close to Trillium. We ended up staying there six days and had a great time.
In September, we left Oregon to visit family in California and Nevada. It was hot in both places! After leaving Nevada we traveled to Utah and Colorado. These two states are gorgeous!
One of the interesting things that happened to me while visiting back in Coos Bay, is that two good friends said I looked different. When I asked in what way, they both said I looked more relaxed. Even though I enjoyed my job as the college’s web developer, I know it took a toll on my health. I put on a lot of weight during that last year and a half because I worked sometimes 10-12 hours a day trying to launch a new website before I retired. Also, we were trying to save money so I didn’t go on any trips or do the hiking that I was used to doing prior to deciding to do this lifestyle change. During our first two months on the road, I dropped about ten pounds. I know the rest will come off more easily now that I’m more active again and not sitting on my butt all day!
Now that winter is coming soon, we are planning areas to visit in the Southwest where we can have warmer temperatures. I’m looking forward to exploring Arizona and New Mexico!
Both Mike and I are enjoying the journey so far. I can’t image going back to a stationary home at this point. There is a big world out there and I can’t wait to see more of it!
It is good to hear that your first three months have gone well. The data access is definitely the hardest part of our RV travels (or the being motivated to work while visiting amazing places, maybe…). I look forward to hearing about Arizona and New Mexico (and hope our paths cross in the desert this winter).
Thanks so much Sarah! I appreciated the information about Colorado as well ;) I hope we meet again down the road!
some of our best adventures were exploring the 4 corners area and going around Lake powell.
Our RV was a slide in camper with a port-a-potty but we loved the ‘Open Road’ and finding new places around every corner. Happy travels to you and Mike. Dan& Dawn….
How cool! Thanks so much Daniel!
Kudo’s to you both! I am really wanting to spend 2 months in Utah alone, but not in the cards right away, so I will count on your beautiful photography to fill me in! Did you ever see this web site:loveyourrv.com? It is the travel web site for Ray and Anne McKinnell (pro photographer) who are doing the RV thing also. Ray write on his blog about a lot of neat RV set-up things for their internet and batteries and all of that. Might be interesting. Here is the RV link: http://www.loveyourrv.com/ and here is Anne’s site:http://annemckinnell.com/. Ray has some really good articles and you should recognize some of Anne’s photography. Have fun and keep these newsletters coming!
Thank you so much Joe! We do follow Ray’s blog and Anne’s. Both are really good. Maybe we’ll see you again next year when we are in your neck of the woods ;)