Words by Elizabeth Hensley
There is always an element of surprise when visiting a new destination. Whether it’s the rugged roads near the Blue Ridge Mountains, the cobblestone streets of rural New England or the lush coastal hills of the Pacific Northwest, each region in the U.S. offers its own charm and natural beauty.
Regardless of how much planning goes into a trip, visiting a new destination means traveling into the unknown. It’s easy to get carried away packing and creating sightseeing lists but no matter how much we pack, it’s all too frequent that we wish we had planned differently.
Richard and I began traveling in our school bus conversion Little House on the HWY in 2018. Since then, we have learned many lessons – some the hard way. But instead of what to wear or a list of things to see in each corner of the country, we realized that no matter how much we planned, we should always have been prepared to face the unexpected.
Elizabeth Hensley and Richard Tilford
Had we navigated more carefully, we could have avoided driving into narrower intersections like this one in Maine.
Terrain and Road Conditions
No matter what type of RV you own, it’s always best to start planning routes by understanding the type of terrain you’ll encounter along the way and at your final destination. You don’t want to wait until you are lumbering down the Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive with a large fifth wheel in tow or going straight up a pass, peddle to the metal on California’s Interstate 8 near a place called Pine Valley, which is not in a valley, and wish you checked the terrain first.
While we were traveling through New England once, we felt like we were driving back in time as everything was getting smaller, including the roads and overpasses. So, it’s important to mention that you should always know the height and width of your RV as we have encountered some low bridges and tight roads – as well as some very close calls.
Once we wised up, we began checking future routes and road conditions by using the terrain setting on Google Maps . It’s free and has been helpful in U.S. States like Washington and Idaho where the terrain would go from flat to mountainous quite quickly at times.
An RV’s thirst for fuel goes hand-in-hand with traveling and needing diesel is always on our list of priorities, especially on long stretches without a fuel station in sight. Gas Buddy helped us find the places around us as we drove. We would also get to best prices too.
The National Guard
Since we mapped our route more cautiously for another trip north, we prevented driving into the serious flooding of Hurricane Florence in North Carolina.
Weather
Our first big trip was traveling up the East Coast from Florida to Maine in the late summer of 2018 with Hurricane Florence developing right before we were planning to leave. We realized it would hit North Carolina the same time we would be passing through and while watching the storm unfold from Florida, we decided to stay put. When it was finally time to head North, we encountered flooding and the National Guard in cities with desperate need of resources. Although our instinct was to stay, we were not affiliated with cleanup efforts. This made it difficult because if we remained where we were, we would drain our resources. Our experience navigating hurricane season just emphasized the need to plan for all kinds of weather based on where we were traveling and the season.
Seasons
This might seem like a no-brainer especially for Canadians, but since we hail from places not known for frosty climates (namely southern California and central Florida), paying attention to changing seasons wasn’t on our radar at first.
As we made our way up the coast into charming New England towns as the leaves began to change and temps began to dip, we were soon engaged in a race against time as our bus began to stall on frosty mornings and we depended more on a portable heater to keep our warm-blooded bodies circulating. By the time we got to Maine in October, the weather plunged down to – 6 ° C (20°F) at night and we knew our time there was limited.
Mroach
Planning for seasonal weather means you might stay clear of unexpected snowfalls in northern regions.
When it gets too cold or hot on the road, something that helped us was finding a safe place where we could plug into shore power for the night. Boondockers Welcome is a membership service that links travelers with property owners all over the U.S. and Canada. Hosts list amenities such as power, water, WiFi and the length of vehicle they can accommodate at a certain location. Another popular membership service is Harvest Hosts, which connects travelers with wineries, breweries and farms to stay at .
After learning from our lesson in the chilly northeast, what we did right was hightail it south again to the desert as winter got underway. We were among packs of snowbirds from all over the northern United States and Canada who nest in the desert sands from roughly November until March.
During that time, we attended the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR) and Skooliepalooza in and around Quartzsite, AZ, (Ed Note – see article ‘Nomad Sands’ SRT Volume 17 Issue 1). Instead of using our memberships, Arizona (and other states) has an abundance of public lands overseen by The Bureau of Land Management, which allows free dispersed camping up to 14 days.
Elizabeth Hensley and Richard Tilford Maine
The authors dressed appropriately for late fall in New England.
Food and Culture
The best experiences we had traveling throughout the country were visiting places through the eyes of locals who knew the history of the area and were delighted to share their local culture. People we met along the way or just before we rumbled into town proved to be greater resources than any book or website we consulted.
We also get insight about regional and local foods by reaching out through our social media account. During one trip, we were pointed to an excellent pasty shop in Butte, MT, near the Berkeley Pit that had authentic recipes and shared the history of this savory baked pastry we otherwise would not have known about.
Since we hit the road full-time, we’ve stayed with family and friends in Long Lake, NY, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Olympia, WA, Charleston, NC, Newtown, CT, Key Largo, FL, San Antonio, TX, to name a few. The amazing folks in these places told us stories, cooked for us and took us to the best restaurants off the beaten path, providing us with truly authentic experiences. Our advice? Don’t be afraid to share your travel plans with people you trust, they just might know someone who can show you an amazing time.
Aside from the philosophy of ‘the plan is, there is no plan,’ it’s often best to find a happy medium between just winging it and overdoing it. Just as we learned many things through trial and error for the sake of adventure, I hope you seek and find balance on your journey as well.