Allison Gagnon - choicelunch.com

A Taste of RV Living: Part 1

For the last year or so, our family has been considering a summer-long road trip to visit the National Parks in the Western half of the US. But, wait for it…we’ve been contemplating taking this journey in an RV.

Neither Justin nor I have ever gone on an RV trip before though, and before committing to over a month rolling around in one, we figured we should probably “test out” this way of life. We marked down Spring Break this year as our test run, and booked an RV for a week-long journey up the Northern California Coast. It would be the perfect opportunity to test out driving and living out of an RV, figure out what we liked and didn’t like about the amenities (most importantly how much room we’d need for the 6 of us on our next trip), and give us a good gut-check as to whether or not RV life was for the Gagnon family.

The trip started off on a high, as most vacations do. I had spent a week packing, rounding up all of the things we needed for the RV, and cooking some meals to bring along that would make life easier. Turns out, when you rent an RV, they come pretty bare-bones, so we had to make sure we had clean sheets, towels, kitchen utensils, cleaning products, and everything we would need for daily life in our traveling home. After all, this was no Four Seasons.

We loaded up the RV with all of our stuff and the kids found their seats at the table, reveling in being able to play games and draw while strapped into the car. I have even brought along our newly-caught tadpoles for the journey. We pulled out of our driveway to squeals of joy and our road trip music bumping.

 

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About five minutes into our drive, it became clear that our tadpoles, which we had caught only the day before, were not going to survive the trip. Turns out even paved roads are quite bumpy in an RV, and water was sloshing around in the tank as we turned every corner. I tried to reassure the kids as Hayden voiced his concern that the choppy seas inside the tank were the polar opposite of the calm pond from which we had collected our biology experiment. And then there was the fact that I hadn’t considered how to secure the observation tank to the countertop during transportation. We pulled an audible on the tadpoles and called my sister-in-law to see if she would care for our pets for the week, and after a quick stop to unload the now-traumatized creatures, we were really on our way.

 

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It was a gorgeous drive, first through the Sonoma and Alexander Valley Wine Country with the sun shining, the greenest hillsides, and rushing rivers. We rolled the windows down, played Yahtzee in the back of the RV, and had fun with some workbooks. This was the jam.

 

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About two hours into our venture, we started on the windy, twisty roads toward the Mendocino coast, and Grace began to get carsick. Before we knew it, she had puked twice into a gallon ziploc bag, but then emerged “better than ever,” rallying for the final miles of our journey on that leg. We arrived at our lodging for the night, an RV Park in Mendocino, as the sun went down, and cooked dinner in our RV. Outfit with headlamps to stave off the dark, the kids threw the football while Justin hooked up our rig to power and water. We all snuggled into our beds that night, grateful for the fresh air, our cozy beds, and the chance for new adventures tomorrow.

 

Allison Gagnon - choicelunch.com

Hello There!

My name is Allison! Nurturer Of 4 Remarkable Littles / Married To My Own Modern Day Prince Charming / California Born And Raised / Adventure Seeker / Nature Enthusiast / Memory Maker / Food / Wine / Fashion / Sleep

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