Unscripted Experiences: Volume P7
What We Learned From Our 30-Day Test Run
Welcome to Unscripted Experiences. We are a family of four that has decided to go off script. We sold our house, got rid of most of our possessions, and have decided to travel full time in an RV.
Our launch date is June 3.
In this “Prequel” series, I’ll be taking you through the steps that have led up to this decision and give you some insight into our plan for our first months on the road. Thanks for following along with our adventures.
We are in the final stretch before we go “live.” In these last few prequel episodes, I want to share with you our planning process and our thought process as we developed our plan. Hopefully this will give you some insight into why we have chosen this path and if you are considering something similar, you’ll have an example to follow.
In today’s episode, I want to give you a quick summary of our 2023 test run…
Planning
Before going on the road full time, we wanted to do a “dry run.”
Long enough to give us the sensation of being on the road full time, but not so long that we’d overcommit ourselves.
So we planned out a route that would take us from Virginia up through to Acadia National Park in Maine. On the way up, we wanted to go through New Jersey and Massachusetts. On the way back we planned on stopping in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania.
But before we embarked on this “dry run” we scheduled a 2-night stay in a local campground.
Just to make sure we had all of the essentials.
So we loaded up on what we “thought” we needed and headed out to the first 2-night stay…
We Have Dimmer Switch
Everything was going smoothly.
We got hooked up and had all of the essentials.
But then after we put the kids to bed on the second night, I found a dimmer switch…
Or so I thought.
What the switch really controlled was the Wi-Fi extender…
And because of a dead short, it caused the bedroom lights to dim.
Then finally go out.
For 45 minutes, we tried to troubleshoot and fix the problem.
We Googled, checked forums, and searched YouTube.
But no matter what we tried… every time we replaced the fuse, it proceeded to blow again as soon as we tried to turn the lights on.
We eventually gave up (because who really needs lights when it’s time for bed?)
And thankfully the back half of the RV, including one of our two AC units still had power.
For the next two weeks (back at home) we tried to solve this problem.
Even called in the help of Heather’s brother, who is an electrician.
But no solution.
I finally broke down and called an RV repair shop.
They couldn’t get us in before we were scheduled to leave for our 30-day test run… however he was able to help me troubleshoot a little over the phone.
And we found the issue.
It involved me having to disconnect the WIFI extender from the RV’s power. (In hindsight, I’m annoyed that I didn’t check that first…)
The Hardest Place to Drive An RV
What we didn’t know before setting off on our test run was that the Northeast is one of the most difficult places to try and navigate an RV.
From going around Baltimore (because propane isn’t allowed in the Baltimore tunnel) to going the long way around NYC to avoid a massive bridge toll to dodging all of the low bridges that seem to be peppered all around 95.
It was a crash course in RV navigation.
The longest day was traveling from New Jersey up to Massachusetts.
I misjudged the route and what I thought was going to be our longest day at 7ish hours turned into a 12 hour marathon.
A few things we learned…
One: Always add an extra hour or so to travel estimates
Two: Never travel more than 4 hours on one day
Three: Always arrive before the sun sets.
Massachusetts
We learned a lot driving to and camping in Massachusetts.
One of those lessons was that we have a second gray tank in the back of our RV.
How did we learn this…?
Well, the morning that we were getting ready to leave New Jersey our kitchen sink wouldn’t drain.
We had to leave that morning, so we packed up the best we could and decided that we’d solve the problem at our next stop.
Once we arrived and set up in Massachusetts, we tried a handful of different things to unclog the kitchen sink.
But nothing worked…
Until Heather found a Keystone forum that indicated that we might have a second gray tank.
Sure enough… upon inspection there was another gray tank pull under the kitchen slide.
Even looking for it, I almost missed it.
The gray tank handle was black against the black frame of the RV. (Not sure who thought that was the best idea).
There was also another issue…
When we arrived in Massachusetts, we found out that we couldn’t fit into the site that I had reserved. (There’s a longer story here that involves trying to figure this out at 10:30 pm on a Friday night, in the dark. And a campsite employee being amazed at Heather’s towing abilities)
But to make a long story short, we got moved to a much larger campsite.
However, it did not have a septic hookup. (Meaning we couldn’t drain our gray tank and couldn’t use our kitchen sink)
Fortunately, we were able to jump campsites again on Sunday morning and moved to a site with full hookups.
Acadia
Our 10 days outside of Acadia National Park in Maine were the best 10 days of our trip. (Closely followed by Vermont).
Exploring the park, watching the kids ride bikes around the campground, and getting to experience fresh Maine lobster were just a few of the highlights.
More importantly, it cemented the idea that full time RV living was what we wanted to do.
During the 10 days we spent in Acadia, we were finally able to slow down a little bit.
I was able to get chunks of work done each day while the kids played outside or went on mini excursions with Heather.
As a family, we drove around and explored Acadia and Bar Harbour for a few days.
And it was the first campground where we got to know a few of our neighbors.
The Need for Solid Internet
Through our first few campgrounds, I was able to work without connectivity issues.
Between the campground WIFI and my phone’s hotspot, I didn’t have any problems getting online and getting my work done.
But when we arrived in Vermont… everything changed.
Verizon was nowhere to be found.
And the campground WIFI was horrific.
Unfortunately, this didn’t change when we made it to our campground in New York.
So for almost 10 days I had to be really strategic about how and when I got work done.
All video calls were grouped so that I could have Heather drop me off at a local coffee shop. And I did as much writing as I could offline.
This is still the biggest “issue” that we are trying to solve. There just aren’t enough good, reliable solutions.
Our plan was to go with T-Mobile Home Internet plus Starlink… but with T-Mobile jacking up their monthly prices for another who is a digital nomad, I’m looking elsewhere.
I’m sure I’ll write more about this in the future… but for now I’m planning on using a Verizon Hotspot plus Starlink.
We will see how it works.
End of Chapter Seven
Our 30 days eventually came to an end.
The final stop was a one nighter in Harrisburg, PA. It was a little BBQ joint that we found through Harvest Host.
The kids absolutely loved the experience. Heather and I did as well.
If it wasn’t for Heather’s desire to stay at Sprout for one more year… we could have kept on going.
Next week, I’m going to share the answer to one of the most frequent questions we get.
Are you going to homeschool your kids?
(The answer is more complicated than a simple yes…)
How to Stay In Touch
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If you want to follow along on Instagram, you can find us at unscripted.experiences
And if you want to read more about our 30-Day Test Run, you can find those posts here.