Another trip is behind us, and we have returned to our previous trip's location. What has happened, and what have we learned from this?
First off, not all the equipment survived. High winds not even worthy of a special weather statement took out the canopy AND the tent we brought. The tent barely fit the air mattress we were using as it was so it's not a complete disappointment, but those cheap setups from major outdoor retailers are incredibly flimsy and don't hold to anything other than calm desert sunshine. At least the grill and air mattress survived, as we still have use for those with our primary RV setup. So the first lesson learned: Find better quality materials.
Secondly, we've certainly found that we are destination-bound travelers. What we mean by this is that we aren't simply cruising along, looking at every little thing, nor doing that ridiculous 2-2-2 or 3-3-3 that some RVers seem to love. No, we go for aggressive travel days, and we may have over-compensated on scheduling this time around. Looking to do over 1500 miles in a day and a half, mostly because of an appointment, proved tiresome. It's not the first time we've done a long travel day, as we've been known to do over 600 in a day while pulling the RV, and cross-country in four days. However once we did the return in about two days and a couple hours, mostly around a desire to get back to our home, that tells us what we look to do on travel days. Don't get us wrong: The open road is probably one of the most peaceful places you can ever be, and we absolutely love being there, with him behind the wheel and her riding along. However, lesson learned: 750 miles per day while light is comfortable, 1000 is aggressive but doable if we must, but under no circumstances do we drive through the night unless we're forced to do so.
Speaking of that, let's take a look at accommodations. Motels are way too expensive, so we don't use them. Campgrounds close early and we usually don't know where we're going to make for a particular day, as much as we can make a guess. So that leaves rest areas and truck stops. Yes, states crack down on these, but there's some wiggle room for if you're not fit to drive. Even when heavy, we try to let the truckers settle as much as they can since long-vehicle parking is at a premium and we don't have time limiters electronically forced on us. Needless to say, a pickup truck is not a SUV. We can't exactly stick a futon mattress in the back and sleep there. And when you're in the wild, not exactly good to use the truck bed. Switching off may have worked if we were adjusted for it, but we couldn't exactly do that because of what happened before and during the travels. Couple with filling the cab with all of the necessary items meant the seats had to effectively stay where they were.
At the end of the day, what we've figured out is that we'll need to bring the RV when we travel longer distances. We're already bringing half of what's in there anyway, and it'll make for better accommodations where we are. Unfortunately only one of us is comfortable driving it so we're stuck with 500-600 miles per day, but we can make it work if need be. Long story short, we can travel with the truck in a pinch, but only up to the one day limit. Anything beyond that, we take the RV.
So until the next time we look to get on the road again, be sure to Follow Your Internal Compass.
In the immortal words of Willie Nelson, "I can't wait to get on the road again." That sounds like a good idea, so we'll do it.
Trip 27 is going to be taking us to the destination state of South Dakota. Yes, for the fifth trip, that's where we're headed. However, this one is going to be a little different in that we won't be bringing the heart with us. This is not only to save on fuel costs, but also because of a bit of a time crunch in scheduling what we intend to do when out there. You're probably wondering why we'd make this a trip, and some of our other truck-only adventures to not be as such. We had a couple "strictly business" travels during trip 18 and the lead-in to trip 19, so that's not going to qualify. There are a few times we've crossed one or two borders to go visit something, and clearly those aren't going to count as separate trips, either.
So how are we going to pull this off if we're not in the RV? It's time to give the old tent a chance and see if this will still work in a pinch, or if we're getting too old for it. This isn't the first time that we've tried such as thing, as before we had the RV, there were a few tent excursions that we've previously mentioned. Let's dust off the cobwebs and see what's possible in our traveling lives. Worse comes to worst, we return to the truck and use that, as it wouldn't be the first time.
As we embark on our next trip across this land, we remind you to Follow Your Internal Compass wherever life leads you.
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