Road Warriors Live

I really hope everyone’s having a great summer.

High gas prices have come with a mixed blessing for us. As most of you know, we had planned a trip down Route 66 that would take a couple months this summer. As it turns out $5.00 a gallon for gas put those plans on the back burner pre-quickly.

As we revise plans and scouting locations a couple of things have come up. If you are around last year you know on a not for driving long distances. I guess it comes from years of traveling with my grandparents and even as an adult I would make the trip to from Chicago to Florida in one.shot without stopping.

Our last trip took almost 3 days, but we took a couple detours to miss in bad weather. I still managed to drive 10-12 hours a day. When we got the RV we had originally planned to stop and smell the roses but old habits die hard and when I planned the driving parts of the trip we would leave early in the morning, get in after it was dark, set up watch a little TV, and go to bed. Then we get up early the next morning and start the routine all over again. it was definitely more about the destination than the journey getting there.

Over the past couple months, just like everyone else. We have been taking our trips and staying closer to home in order to save a little gas. Over the Fourth of July weekend we had actually planned to take a longer trip down south. With our schedules and the current price of gas we decided to take a shorter trips to spend a little bit more time at a campgrounds closer to home.

Instead of an 8-10 hour drive we decided to hit a campground that we’ve spent time at before. The best part was we are able to leave a day later than we’d planned and stay a day longer at the end of the trip. We pulled into our campsite Friday afternoon after everyone had already got there. We were set up within 20 minutes. There was an added bonus of staying the extra day. As you can imagine the campground was packed all weekend and I don’t think they had one extra spot available. By Sunday night almost everyone in the campground had gone home so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was the perfect end to a great weekend.

Over the Fourth of July weekend I had one of the biggest treats a dad could possibly have. Both my four year old girl and my five year old boy caught their first fish. They have these tiny rods and reels that they practice casting with on almost every trip. We never seem to find a easy fishing spot at our destination campgrounds, and we’re in and out so fast at campgrounds along the way that we were never able to really stop. Since we slowed everything down this trip we are actually able to fish for a couple days.

I let the kids go with their own pace and quit when they were tired so they didn’t get burned out. They also got to do a little swimming and some crafts so all in all we had a great weekend and spent a minimal amount on gas.

I know most of you that have RVs are already aware of the pluses when staying close to home it just took a little while to get through my thick skull.

I guess even if you can drive all over the country with your vacation home and all of your stuff you just don’t have to. Check out some of the places closer to home and you might be surprised.

Steve