In the winter of 2018, for at least a year or so, our family had been considering a summer-long road trip to visit the National Parks in the Western half of the United States.
Neither Justin nor I had ever been on an RV trip before, nor had we even driven one for that matter. So, before committing to over TWO MONTHS rolling around HALF OF THE COUNTRY in one, we figured we should probably “test drive” this way of life. We marked Spring Break of 2018 on our calendars for our test run, and booked an RV for a week-long journey up the Northern California Coast. It would be the perfect opportunity to test out driving and living out of an RV, to figure out what we liked and didn’t like about the amenities (most importantly how much room we’d need for the 6 of us on our next trip), and to give us a good gut-check as to whether or not RV life was really for the Gagnon family.
The trip started off on a high, as most vacations do. I had spent a week packing, rounding up all of the things we needed for the RV, and cooking some meals to bring along that would make life easier. Turns out, when you rent an RV, they come pretty bare-bones, so we had to make sure we had clean sheets, towels, kitchen utensils, cleaning products, and everything we would need for daily life in our traveling home. After all, this was no Four Seasons.
We loaded up the RV with all of our stuff and the kids found their seats at the table, reveling in being able to play games and draw while strapped into the car. I had even brought along our newly-caught tadpoles for the journey. We pulled out of our driveway to squeals of joy and our road trip music bumping.
About five minutes into our drive, it became clear that our tadpoles, which we had caught only the day before, were not going to survive the trip. I guess even paved roads are quite bumpy in an RV, and water was sloshing around in the tank as we turned every corner. I tried to reassure the kids as Hayden voiced his concern that the choppy seas inside the tank were the polar opposite of the calm pond from which we had collected our biology experiment.
And then there was the fact that I hadn’t considered how to secure the observation tank to the countertop during transportation… We pulled an audible on the tadpoles and called my sister-in-law to see if she would care for our pets for the week, and after a quick stop to unload the now-traumatized creatures, we were really on our way.
It was a gorgeous drive, first through the Sonoma and Alexander Valley Wine Country with the sun shining, the greenest hillsides, and rushing rivers. We rolled the windows down, played Yahtzee in the back of the RV, and had fun with some workbooks.
We loaded up the RV with all of our stuff and the kids found their seats at the table, reveling in being able to play games and draw while strapped into the car. I had even brought along our newly-caught tadpoles for the journey. We pulled out of our driveway to squeals of joy and our road trip music bumping.
About five minutes into our drive, it became clear that our tadpoles, which we had caught only the day before, were not going to survive the trip. I guess even paved roads are quite bumpy in an RV, and water was sloshing around in the tank as we turned every corner. I tried to reassure the kids as Hayden voiced his concern that the choppy seas inside the tank were the polar opposite of the calm pond from which we had collected our biology experiment.
And then there was the fact that I hadn’t considered how to secure the observation tank to the countertop during transportation… We pulled an audible on the tadpoles and called my sister-in-law to see if she would care for our pets for the week, and after a quick stop to unload the now-traumatized creatures, we were really on our way.
It was a gorgeous drive, first through the Sonoma and Alexander Valley Wine Country with the sun shining, the greenest hillsides, and rushing rivers. We rolled the windows down, played Yahtzee in the back of the RV, and had fun with some workbooks.
About two hours into our venture, we started on the windy, twisty roads toward the Mendocino coast, and Grace began to get carsick. Before we knew it, she had puked twice into a gallon ziploc bag, but then emerged “better than ever,” rallying for the final miles of our journey on that leg. We arrived at our lodging for the night, an RV Park in Mendocino, as the sun went down, and cooked dinner in our RV. Outfit with headlamps to stave off the dark, the kids threw the football while Justin hooked up our rig to power and water. We all snuggled into our beds that night, grateful for the fresh air, our cozy beds, and the chance for new adventures tomorrow.
Day 2 of our epic RV road trip adventure dawned bright and early. We now know that sleeping in an RV, while a much better sleep than camping outdoors, still means that you can wake up pretty early. We realized that we had forgotten to shut some of the blinds before bed, and would make sure to do that the next evening.
We were given a crash course in RV living really quickly. Living the RV life, the day always begins with “stowing.” I had never really thought much about this term or process prior to our trip, but quickly became engaged with the practice. One of our beds in the RV, where at least one of our children slept each night, also doubled as our dining table. Upon waking each morning we had to collapse the bed, reset the table, and also undo the upper bunk above the driver cab, where the remainder of our kids slept. After cooking breakfast, all items taken out had to be stowed and secured in cabinets, containers, or other storage areas.
We spent a few days in Mendocino, hiking a great deal each day. We explored the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, Caspar Beach Area, downtown Mendocino, and also Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. Hiking for our family always involves a great spectrum of attitudes, ranging from complaining (“Mom, you always lie to us and say that the hike is going to be really short, and it is never really short!”), to sheer and utter joy that shows up in skipping and singing along the trail. Usually it’s the same kids that seem to fall into the same categories on this spectrum, but I won’t name names. Our eyes beheld such beauty along the coast during these few days. Our hearts reveled in the time away from our normal routines, taking each step as an adventure, unplanned and welcoming the unknown.
RV living continued to have a learning curve for us though. As first-timers, there were so many moments that offered the perfect mix of frustration and hilarity. Like Justin emptying the “black and grey water tanks” for the first time, as he loudly critiqued my angle of holding the tube – “We need more slope! More slope! We need gravity on our side, Al!”
Like trying to get the kids used to stowing before we moved each day, as game pieces, headlamps, and various stuffed animals went flying every time we turned a sharp corner. Like Grace and I taking our first shower together in a shower no larger than a half of a hall closet (“This was not a good idea, Mom.”). Like Justin fixing a broken shower door with only the screwdriver he packed last minute and a bottle opener. Like a Tupperware container of ground beef falling out of the refrigerator on a bumpy road and spilling all over the inside of the RV. And like our family returning from a hike to find our entire RV site flooded in a pool of muddy water because our the threads on the city water connection we stripped and the hose had come detached. There were so many times when Justin and I looked at each other, almost doubling over from laughing so hard, and said, “If one or the other of us was not ALL IN on this adventure, this just wouldn’t work.”
Our final destination on our Spring Break RV Trip was Redwood National Park. Like I have mentioned, our family has a thing for National Parks, and, now just four years later, we are well on our way to visiting ALL 63 of the United States National Parks. At that time, none of us had ever been to Redwood National Park, so this trip was the perfect opportunity.
The drive from Mendocino to Trinidad, a town situated right next to both Redwood State Parks and Redwood National Park, took a little over three hours. It was a gorgeous drive from start to finish, up the untouched jagged California coast. We stopped many times on our journey to get out of the RV and take in the sights up close. Justin was especially enthralled with the scenery, often sticking his head out the window “family dog style,” mouth wide-open, soaking in the sights. Our journey wound through Humboldt County and into the mountains, as we watched both the topography change from coast to mountain and back to coast, and the vegetation from farmland to forest.
The drive from Mendocino to Trinidad, a town situated right next to both Redwood State Parks and Redwood National Park, took a little over three hours. It was a gorgeous drive from start to finish, up the untouched jagged California coast. We stopped many times on our journey to get out of the RV and take in the sights up close. Justin was especially enthralled with the scenery, often sticking his head out the window “family dog style,” mouth wide-open, soaking in the sights. Our journey wound through Humboldt County and into the mountains, as we watched both the topography change from coast to mountain and back to coast, and the vegetation from farmland to forest.
As our journey progressed, so too did our learning curve with RV life. We got quicker and more adept at the hooking up and detaching process, Justin became a pro at fire prep and water tank dumping, and I became an incredibly efficient small-space cook and dishwasher, managing all in a sink no bigger than our guest bathroom sink at home. We hit an especially bumpy road on one venture, sending three cabinets worth of water bottles, cooking supplies, and tableware sprawling all over the kids and the floor (luckily, no one was injured). We also experienced a torrential rainstorm one night, with rain pooling on the redwood branches far above and plummeting onto our RV roof below in droplets several times larger than typical raindrops, exploding like gunfire overhead ALL. Night. Long. We didn’t sleep well, if at all, that night. There were other challenges with cooking, bathing, and cleaning, but we worked through them. There is never a dull moment when traveling in the RV.
Despite the “bumps in the road,” we found more goodness than we could have imagined. We explored the National Park (mostly in the rain) over those few days, climbing into the trunks of giant Redwood trees, sprinting through groves towering above our heads, and spotting deer, elk, and giant banana slugs. In typical fashion, the kids loved to complain prior to heading out on our journey for the day, but emerged happy and even joyful once on the trail. We loved to give Quinn a hard time on our hikes when he got tired, telling him “you’re in training” (for the big National Park Road Trip we were then dreaming up for the next summer), and hoped to put off the piggy back ride for another few turns of our journey. Justin was squarely in Quinn’s pocket at that time, though, and could usually only make it a couple minutes before succumbing to his charm and hiking the majority of the time with Quinn on his shoulders, his back, or in his arms. The kids also loved giving me a hard time for my love for hiking, jesting with an impersonation of me skipping along the trail, arms flailing, gleefully shrieking, “Let’s go hiking! Let’s go hiking!”
I loved catching my kids, two at a time, arms around each other as they took in the beauty around them while in conversation. I loved waking up to the four of them, snuggled together in the loft above the cab, whispering with their headlamps on. I loved snuggling with them by the hot campfire. I loved doing puzzles while listening to the rain fall outside. I loved talking to Justin and laughing with him at all the fun, crazy, and ridiculous moments of our journey. And I loved really being with my family, fresh air giving us life, and beauty opening our eyes.
There was clearly a good amount of craziness living in a 25-foot RV for a week with a family of six. That could never be denied. But what we truly underestimated is just how much we would LOVE this lifestyle, and the way it afforded our young family the perfect way to explore the country’s most gorgeous natural treasures. On this first RV “test drive,” we found so much goodness in the adventure of it all, the goodness ALWAY easily trumping the crazy. The Gagnons were hooked, and we then had no doubt that we would keep coming back to these road trip adventures for years to come.
