Week One
We have been planning for just over and year and researching everything we would and wouldn’t need for this massive adventure of ours. After all of the decluttering, selling, donating, and storing, we finally said ‘au revoir’ to our family and friends and headed out for the long trip cross country.
This is the end of our first week and we wanted to share how it’s been going.
It’s been a week! Some good and some not so good. The good has been sightseeing, meeting up with other nomad friends, and the feeling of freedom that traveling always gives us. The not-so-good has mostly been emotional. Even though this is something we’ve always wanted to do, it’s new and totally alien to our usual routine. Kev is adjusting to retirement after 37 years with the same family-owned company and I’m getting used to working on the road and having far less living space.
Our first stop was approximately an hour south of Phoenix, Arizona to meet up with our friends and solar installers Cross Country RV Tech and Solar. Derek and Lacey have become such good friends since they installed our amazing solar system, last October. It was comforting to spend our first couple of days of full-time life hanging out with friends. We also met new friends, John and Rebecca.
Before we headed out full-time, we set some ground rules. We would not…
- Drive more than 300 miles in one day.
- Drive past 3 p.m.
- Arrive at a campsite in the dark
- Camp somewhere we hadn’t personally researched
On our first day on the road, we broke every single one of those rules LOL. We left home later than we planned, drove almost 500 miles, arrived around 9 p.m. on dirt roads, to nothing more than GPS coordinates which Derek had sent us. It was necessary but also exhausting. Thankfully, the last rule was taken care of by Derek who found an amazing boondocking spot, in the Ironwood Forest National Monument.
We had some upgrades done to our solar system and met new nomad friends, Paul and Rebecca who were having a whole new solar system fitted.
I spent my first day officially working in the rig editing our final video from Death Valley while Kev worked on some projects around the rig.
We had fun chatting around the campfire, and Lilly and Bailey were living their best lives with their friends Olive and Coda who belong to Derek and Lacey, and made a new friend in Dusty, Paul, and Rebecca’s Husky.
Saying goodbye to our full-time friends was tough, but we know we’ll be seeing them again. We’re beginning to understand that this is something we’ll have to get used to with nomadic friends
Our next travel day went a great deal smoother. The road through the mountains was steep, up to 7,500’ but our Tundra handled it like a champ. It was shocking to get out of the truck at the summit to be met with snow.
We arrived at the Homolovi State Park in Arizona around 4pm. Homolovi is a beautiful state park with great facilities; bathrooms (with showers), some sites also have water and electricity. We chose this park as it is just minutes from Winslow, AZ.
Even though we were a little tired, we headed out to explore downtown Winslow and hit the famous corner on Route 66 at golden hour. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people waiting to take photos with the statues of Glen Fry and Don Henley of The Eagles and the immaculately restored ‘flatbed Ford’. The city of Winslow has put an enormous amount of effort into this area, and it feels welcoming and fun.
We decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the Olde Town Grill just half a block from the statues. Wow! This place was fab. Great service and scrumptious food – we highly recommend this restaurant when you’re in Winslow.
The following day, we toured the La Posada Hotel which was a fascinating look back into Western History. Closed for many years, the hotel was bought by Allan Affeldt in 1994 and carefully restored to its former glory. It has so much history it was difficult to take it all in; from the famous people who had stayed at the hotel, to the Harvey House which reopened during WWII, and the train depot it once served. Another must-see when you’re here. We heard great things about the Turquoise Room Restaurant from our neighbors in the park.
We’re unsure why Winslow was gifted two parts of the metal beams from the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, but they sit just outside the city, in a garden of remembrance, a flag from the Pentagon proudly flying above them. We visited at dusk, and it was emotional and visually stunning.
The Meteor Crater was a fascinating look at the first crater officially confirmed to have been made by a meteor. There is a space and meteor exhibit and a couple of platforms from which to take photographs. The crater is so huge though it pretty much looks the same from every platform. The land is privately owned, and the facilities and gift shops were modern and pleasant. As well presented as it was spending over $24 per person to see it felt a little expensive – especially if you’re considering taking your family.
Homolovi was once home to the Hopi People and on our final day in the park, we explored the ruins that are moments from the campground. The Hopi People built enormous structures, (some with 40-50 rooms) in the 13th century. Thousands of people lived and worshiped in these villages. There are four sites of ruins within the park, but we only had time to see one.
One of the tough parts for us so far has been readying the rig for travel every few days (we do plan to slow down once on the east coast) but we’re getting into the swing of it and it’s getting a little easier each time. Our main focus is to not rush as this is when errors happen.
We had planned to spend one night at the Petrified Forest National Park, just 50 miles from Winslow, and then head to New Mexico. However, when we checked the weather for our trip (wind advisory all day with freezing temperatures in New Mexico) and researched how much time we’d need to truly see the park, we decided to make it two nights.
The Petrified Forest Gift Shop is just moments from the park entrance and has two different options for camping – the museum parking lot is free, and the gift shop lot is $15 per night with electricity available. Be warned, the gift shop is supposed to be open until 6 pm to unlock the electricity. We arrived early and were helped by the owner, but people who arrived after us (but before 6 pm) weren’t so lucky as the store had already closed.
Day four was a tough one for me as I felt overwhelmed with the changes. The weather didn’t help with winds gusting up to 50 mph. We tried to tour some of the parks, but the wind picked up so much dust and sand, we didn’t have a good experience. In fact, at one look-out I was sandblasted trying to experience the view. I stopped at once and got right back in the truck – not happy.
Thankfully, the next day was far better, and we managed three hikes and took photos that we can’t wait to share. The petrified wood, Blue Mesa and Painted Canyon were incredible, and we are excited to show you the footage of our first National Park on the road in our second episode on the road.
So far this week we’ve met a few other full-timers, weekend travelers, and the locals and all have been so friendly. Kevin and I both agree the best part of this life (so far) is the people.
Don’t forget to leave us a comment below.
Wow what a fantastic trip!
Thanks honey
I left on April 5th from the Verde Valley in AZ. It was super windy for a few days. I get that terrible wind.
I have similar rules. Only 300 miles a day, no driving or arriving at dark but I find those 300 miles takes so much longer when hauling a rig that I am never done before 3pm. I have also found that doing this myself prep time to go takes a couple hours. I spend about an hour inside preparing and an hour outside. And then I’m already tired. Lol. But I think the more I do it the easier it will get.
Eva, so sorry we haven’t replied – sometimes keeping up with everything is tough. LOL.
We’ve experienced some horrific weather too, but thankfully we’ve been in camp. Just left Yellowstone and the thunder a couple of nights ago was freakishly loud. Stay safe on the road and maybe we’ll meet up one day.