It begins....

 Welcome to my journey of adventure, discovery and reacquainting myself with... myself. 

It began one dark and stormy night, no wait... that's a different story. This one begins with an itch to travel and an impending milestone birthday (50, but shh, don't tell anyone.) I decided if I wanted to travel, see this country and all the great adventures it holds I better get on the road and do it.

Cue the purchase. I bought a slightly used 2022 Forest River Forester built on an impressive E450 Ford chassis. The interior was everything I wanted and more. A large slide to open the RV up for living space, a nice back bedroom, and solar prepped. Because, who doesn't decide to start their adventures with a large vehicle they've never driven and a power-source completely dependent on the weather? Me! Oh, and it had all the bells and whistles as well, including power leveling, heating pads on the water tanks, all the cameras outside, towing package and more. I went into this with my eyes open and my research done. I know me, and crawling around under the RV in the dark and mud to deal with levelers isn't something I'm going to want to do.

The RV was just the beginning. I've learned so much in the last two months in preparation for our kick off day. I learned about 12V power, solar power, inverters, converters, winterizing, dewinterizing... you name it and I've Youtubed it. See, it's going to be me and the spawn (Clay) on the road. I need to know how to do or who to call. Exciting? YES! Overwhelming? A little, but I'm nothing if I'm not persistent.

What does that mean for work? School? Well, I'll tell you. I'm a remote worker. All I need is internet and I'm good to work. Even bought a chargeable second screen because I just can't work on a single one. And Clay? Well, they attend an online school, so internet and a laptop are their school rooms. If you're wondering what school he's attending it's called Acellus Academy. The curriculum is based in math and science with really great teachers recording instructions to be watched and reviewed at the most opportune time for your student. Clay tends to like to do school either late at night, he is 16, or in the middle of the day. Acellus allows for that because there aren't live classes to attend. It's worked out really well for us over the last couple of years. It's also at the student's pace, so if you have an over-achiever they can finish early each year, or if your student is like mine... it's turned into a year-round schooling to ensure we're progressing as needed to the next grade.

Along with all the purchases, learning and testing I've decided to take on boondocking as well. Because I don't want to drive to some distant land and park for a week. No, I want to drive to different places, see different things and experience all I can in each location every single day. If you don't know what boondocking is, here's the quick explanation and I'll do a more thorough job in days to come. Basically you stay someplace for free and dry camp, meaning no water, electric or sewer hook ups. You're primitive camping in an RV. Now, don't panic. This doesn't mean there won't be places I am staying with those amenities. But for the most part we'll be driving every day and staying someplace remote.

There are options out there that have done the work for you. HarvestHosts is a great way to boondock but not have to be in the middle of a dark and scary forest. This group has found over 9000 homes, churches, museums, farms, distilleries, vineyards and brewhaus' that you can camp for a night or two. It's an amazing way to see the country without being so remote that you're worried about squatch attacks. Campendium is another great resource that has mapped all the sewage dump sites around the country and has a lot of state and national locations you could camp for free. And lastly, because we're using all three our first trip, is HipCamp. This is similar to HarvestHost but you actually book nightly through their site and usually get at least electric hookups.  

I'm inviting you to come along on our trips, learn along side me as I figure things out, make discoveries and have disasters. I'll share must haves if you are going to start the same kind of adventure, new places you might not have even known existed, my planning process and plans, and anything else that comes to mind.