The most asked question I have gotten after we returned from our very first RV trip was, “Would you do it again?” So, I have a few answers to this. Yes, I would totally do it again. I would not go longer than a week with our kids (age 21 & 16), but I could do a longer trip with my husband. The reason I would only do a week with the kids is because of space. I am super OCD and the availability of homes for things is very limited. But, I will say it was only our first time to RV, so I am sure I could figure out a system for stuff if we actually owned the RV, and we used it more often.
We have some really good friends who bought an RV last year and loved the experience so much that they decided to buy a few more and start an RV business. So, if you are interested in renting an RV, give me a shout and I will hook you up. Packing the RV is sort of like moving into an apartment. You need everything to live, plus you pack stuff you don’t need, but you don’t know, because well we were RV virgins. We started the day at about 9:00 AM. We fully intended to leave early afternoon. Granted, our son went to pick up our daughter from camp, and she had been gone for (2) weeks, which meant she had no clean clothes. When she arrived home, we all hugged and got a few stories, and then I had to get the washing machine going. My washing machine and our neighbors all helped get the job done.
The storage situation is pretty well thought out. It does have a closet in the back bedroom so that was nice to be able to just hang up our clothes and then a space below for shoes. Plugs by the beside in the back for all our plug stuff was a good touch for me. The bathroom was plenty big, and I will even tell you that I have officially showered in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Yes, for real! We did not leave our house until about 9:30 PM! I know insane! But, we had to at least get out of the driveway we had spent so much time and energy packing and preparing. We made it about 3 1/2 hours and then I had read that all Was-Mart parking lots allow you to park over night. So, that’s where we landed the first night. Now, I will tell you I was a complete nut worrying about all the millions of things that could happen while sleeping in said parking lot. I even hopped up by my son’s area above the front seats and looked out the window and he and I were convinced we were seeing a drug deal going down. So, the amount of sleep I actually got was very minimal. However, it was super nice to wake up the next morning at the literal crack of dawn to be able to go in Wally World and get some essentials we had figured out we forgot, plus get ice for the cooler. Meanwhile, our son walked to McDonald’s and got us some breakfast and coffee. So, that was Sweet! Also, it was nice to have the refrigerator/freezer stocked with our essentials for all of us.
We got going that day to head towards the cooler air and beautiful mountains in Colorado! Now, I do not recommend or condone what I am about to tell you. It worked for us though! Since, I didn’t get much sleep I headed on to the back bedroom (after I had spent a generous amount of time talking to my sweet hubby as he drove our big bus down the road) and whipped out my kindle and read until I fell asleep and woke up nice and refreshed. Meanwhile, the kids were playing card games and making sure they were not missing anything on social media.
We had checked out the RV parks prior to our trip, because we had heard that these RV parks get booked and they are not the RV parks from when I was a little girl. The RV parks compete with each other in al the areas of amenities, convenience and facilities. We rolled into Pagosa Springs, CO around 4:00 PM, check into the RV park, and then headed Ito town t grab some dinner. After dinner we went back to get all set up for our stay. The guys did al the plugging in and setting up of our camp site, while my girl and I got out all the sheets and pillows for everyone’s beds for the night. We had a spot right by the river, so that was really awesome t look out our windows in the morning to see the river and then when we walked out of our little home we were hit with the most wonderful feeling weather ever! We came from Texas, in August, so yeah we were in heaven. We stayed at Blanco River RV Park and I can’t say enough awesome things about the owners. They have thought of every detail and for us that was a huge bonus since we were new at this RV life. They even let us use their SUV to go around the town so we didn’t need to rent a car. Pagosa Springs is awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed the springs and going hiking and RV ing in the mountains and hiking up to waterfalls! GORGEOUS!
We were in Pagosa Springs for 4 days and we left early on the 4th day to head to Manitou Springs. Manitou Springs is right outside Colorado Springs where Pikes Peak and Garden of the God’s are located. We stayed at Pikes Peak RV Park and would recommend staying at this place too. This park is not as in nature as the other one, but it was located very centrally to town and the facilities were super nice and the laundry facilities were great. If you read my post about laundry, then you know that I am a laundry snob. Manitou Springs was amazing. We were able to walk everywhere we needed too. It is a bit of a walk to get to town, but we are a pretty active family, so we were all fine. (well, except for a certain 16-year-old that was convinced she would die during our walks). We were pretty much pros by this point of how to do everything with the RV, and we each had our own jobs. I will say the #1 rule in our RV, was NO POOPING! Remember, this is not just your car it is also where you sleep, cook ad hang out. We could use the bathroom for “other” necessities, and I actually did a full shower washing my hair and shaving and it was fine. But, it was nice to be able to go to the showers/bathrooms at the RV parks, because of space. Space is the biggest thing that you have to get used to, but it totally works and you don’t really even care. Cooking in the RV is different. As someone who cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner not every day, but I do cook a lot, it took some getting used to. So, you can’t put anything down the drain, because no disposal and no counter space is a challenge and it took a while for me to remember where I had stashed everything. You definitely have room to bring all the things you need, just the location of said things is a trial and error process that you would master if you owned your RV or traveled in an RV often. I brought our crock pot, waffle maker and toaster and had space to store just hard to figure out where everything should be when your cooking. Also, you don’t want to cook a super smelly something inside, because you will be smelling it all day and night. Think bacon, onions or a soup of some kind.
The sleeping arrangements were perfect. Our oldest son had the whole top bed above the front seats ad he had his own TV and too to put all his junk. Our daughter slept on the pull out couch and it was almost a queen size so she had plenty of space too. My hubs and I had the back bed and it was a Queen, but super comfy and we had drawers etc. to have all our necessities back there. We had an outdoor TV that was cool, because we hooked up our google chrome device to it and could get Netflix etc.. We did have a TV and stereo system in the middle of the RV, but we never used it as we were all pretty happy to just be outside. Other than the fact that our stuff was kind of all over the RV, we still had enough room and were never cramped. I mean who can complain when you can go to the back bed take a nap, while your hubby is driving you so very safely down the road.
The people we met at the RV parks were pretty much pros at the RV life. Most of the people we met owned their own RV, and had been doing the RV life for a while. They started their investment with a small quaint RV, but soon realized that the big daddy RV was worth the bucks. It is really fun to talk to these people, because they know a lot about RV’s, RV parks, and living life on the road. If you want to pick my brain about this, feel free to do so. It truly is a cool way to travel the country, because you get to see and do way more than if you were staying at one hotel. The kids enjoyed the trip and we made awesome memories and we all came home full of stories and memories to last a lifetime.
be REAL 