RV Show

 A couple of weeks ago, Camping World held an RV show in my town. I'm looking for something I can use to make this trip comfortable, so we went. It was amazing. I didn't take as many notes as I thought I did, and I didn't get them coordinated as soon as I probably should have. But I have pictures, and I have some ideas of what I thought of each one.

Because my dh had some very specific ideas of what he wanted, we stuck to the smaller RVs, looking at trailers less than 21 feet long. I absolutely agreed with him on that. They even had camper vans, and a couple of conversion vans, all of which I was interested in seeing.

I think the best part of the whole experience was that I could see, physically, what was available, what the size of each one was, and how they were set up, things I couldn't really see on the computer. I also had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people who were looking like I was, and got to hear their input and ideas and experiences. It was obvious, probably to everyone, that I was a complete newbie, but I didn't mind. Getting to soak up people's experiences and thoughts and opinions helped me to form my own.

Here's what I discovered in spending three hours touring various trailers and other RVs:

1. I originally went into this thinking I wanted a conversion van. That's going to be too small. Sadly. The idea is just so cool, but it's not for me.

2. I want a dry bathroom, and a shower. No having a shower with the toilet in it. That wasn't a surprise.

3. If I have to choose between a bathroom/shower and a kitchen, I'll take the bathroom/shower. That surprised me. But seriously, I'm camping. I can cook over the fire. And with practice, I'll get better.

4. If we get a trailer, rather than a motorhome, it won't be longer than 21 feet. DH was adamant about that. I didn't mind, I don't need a lot of room (I have so many ideas!).

5. Some of the campers had Murphy beds. I didn't know about that! I don't want one of those, either, but that's still preferable to putting the table down and making a bed. I'd never do it. I want a bed that can be down all the time. I know myself. It'd be bad.

6. I didn't think about this until I read an article, but I have to have a night stand. or at least a headboard (there was one that was really cute). I have a CPAP machine. And a place to hang clothes.

7. Storage was key, too. I don't think I took down all the notes on that. A couple had a small fridge outside, with a grill (or at least a griddle). One man said it was for drinks; I suggested it might be for bait and fish. He'd never thought of that. That, too, would be nice but is not necessary.

I took pictures as well, although not of anything inside, just the outside and the paper with information on it. I'll look them up and find out more details. I plan to add them into the Notion database, collect everything in one place, and see about doing a comparison. Especially if I can find stats and stuff so I know everything I need to know about it.

So that's the next on a long list of things I need to get ready for this trip. I have about four activities I want to do, and I still have information I need to gather. I'm having so much fun with this!

The reason for the Blog: The trip around the United States

I want to explain why I even started this blog. Some time ago - I'm not even sure when, I ran across an article about The Ultimate US Road Trip. It was probably on my Google page, I don't know. Anyway, I looked it up, and it looked so amazing, that I decided I wanted to do it. It's a trip through the lower 48 states, with 50 attractions to visit.

I started by charting where to go, and where I might be able to stay, and then realized it wouldn't help if I did it on paper. I had a notebook devoted to ideas that I put it in originally, but this... needed more research. More flexibility. So I started by putting it into Notion. It has a sort of rudimentary database set up, and I was able to connect everything together, which is what I wanted. I started collecting data on some of the costs, like what it would take to visit the attractions. I checked into AAA, and AARP, and a few other things, just to give me a look at how much it would be to do this with the most comfort.

I know there's going to be more to costs because of gas, and groceries, and all of that. But I got as much as I could figure out. I'm currently working through the schedule, to see how long it will take.

This blog is about my journey toward getting prepped for this trip and then going on the trip, I hope. There are a lot of things I have to think about, things I need to change about me in order to make this work better, to make sure I can enjoy it. Some of it will be that I want to rent a couple of different RV/trailers in order to see how it will work, to see what happens.

I'm not only using Notion, but also the Dayzero Project, a site that allows one to make to-do lists. I found it because of something I ran across over 10 years ago, the 101 goals in 1001 days. I can't remember at all where I found it. I wish I could. I haven't done that particular goal list in a long time - the last time I tried, I realized it wasn't something I was interested in doing. I might try again another time, but for now, it's off. Still, I have a couple of lists focused on this trip: one is on the things I think I need to do to get ready for it, and the other is the list of things I want to see around each attraction. Options, anyway. I still have a lot to work on.