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The Week Before an RV Trip: When Time Stands Still

| Updated Nov 6, 2021

Want time to pass slower? Plan an RV trip.

It seems forever away. We're scheduled to leave for a quick two-week visit to Florida on Thursday morning.

I've been ready for a week. Make that two weeks. While the Roadtrek is not yet packed physically, I'm already gone.

I started checking weather forecasts a week ago. I have a rough idea of where we'll spend the first couple of nights. I even have that awesome barbeque spot in Sweetwater, Tenn. (Bradley's, if you're wondering) picked out for lunch on the way down. We've laundered the summer clothes (who am I kidding with this “we” stuff… Jennifer did that). I've charged up all the camera batteries, added those little customizations to our new Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL so everything has a place (we'll do a video on it next week) and written the list of instructions out for the housesitter who will stay in our sticks-and-bricks while we're traveling.

We've planned out our fix-in-the-Roadtrek meals. Loaded up a storage compartment with shoes. Cleaned and vacuumed the Roadtrek. Packed the clothes and set them out to be loaded in the RV, right next to the case of bottled water.

My only decision left is whether I take the full sized mountain bikes on a rack at the back or bring the folding Bike Friday's, which, surprise, fit quite nicely in the back of our Roadtrek, inside the rear doors in that expanded length cargo area of our the XL Sprinter chassis.

Tomorrow, I take the Roadtrek in for its first oil change, will fill it up with fuel and spend a sleepless night waiting to take off. Sometimes, we've been known to leave in the middle of the night. I tell Jennifer it's so we can beat the morning traffic jams and “get a good start” on our trip. Truth is, I just want to get going. I never make up any real time when I do that. Sure, we get a few hours down the road. Then I get sleepy and have to pull over and sleep in a Walmart lot or rest area for a few hours. But, hey, I'm on the way

I'm so ready. I feel like a kid waiting for school to get out for summer.

I am like this with every trip. I bet many of you are, too.

What is it about the lure of the open road that grabs us so?

Mike Wendland

Published on 2015-03-10

Mike Wendland is a multiple Emmy-award-winning Journalist, Podcaster, YouTuber, and Blogger, who has traveled with his wife, Jennifer, all over North America in an RV, sharing adventures and reviewing RV, Camping, Outdoor, Travel and Tech Gear for the past 12 years. They are leading industry experts in RV living and have written 18 travel books.

2 Responses to “The Week Before an RV Trip: When Time Stands Still”

March 15, 2015at11:34 am, Sue Glace said:

Love the blog and podcasts. Could you please mention camping etiquette, especially since we are at the beginning of the season. As an RVer and campground host, we enjoy campers; however, rules are there for reasons. Example- no rig washing, the water supply is limited, and yes, the 5 gallons used counts; hearing unattended pets barking is never good; dumping gray water into anything other than the dump station is a big deal.
Have a great season, enjoy your new RoadTrek.

March 10, 2015at7:43 pm, Lynne said:

Oh Mike, you just told my pre-trip story!!! :-0

Comments are closed.

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