This summer time has been packed filled with adventures, but our RV hasn’t left our home-base campsite in any respect! We’ve been out exploring our native space on day journeys, tent tenting within the woods, and making essentially the most out of our work journey for Delight month. This has been quite a bit totally different than the best way we used to journey, however it isn’t any much less thrilling or rewarding for us.
Day Journeys
Day journeys are positively one in all our favourite methods to get out and see the world we dwell in. We regularly joke that we might spend without end simply touring round Oregon and by no means get sick of the sights right here. We’ve fallen in love with the PNW and are head-over-heels for the luxurious forests, raging waters, and snow capped mountains that encompass us. Considered one of our favourite issues to do has been deciding on totally different cities inside Mt. Hood Territory to spend a half or full day in. A latest vacation spot consists of Oregon Metropolis. Willamette Falls might be considered from above after taking North America’s solely vertical road up by way of the municipal elevator. We additionally visited a working farm in West Linn, a riverfront state park in Canby, and a suspension bridge in Marmot. The hidden gems sprinkled close to us are so enjoyable to find . After we really feel somewhat extra adventurous, we hit the highway early and go additional out of city. Inside solely two hours we might be in Bend, Seaside or Vancouver, WA for a full day of enjoyable! After so a few years on the highway, we’ve discovered that native exploration beats out vacationer traps any day. There’s one thing to be stated about avoiding crowds and studying from the locals for suggestions!
Tent Tenting
After we settled into RV Life, we by no means imagined we’d ever wish to downgrade to tent tenting! Why sleep on the bottom after we might sleep on our reminiscence foam king mattress? Why use a tiny camp range and cooler when we have now a full kitchen in our dwelling on wheels? As a result of life is an journey and we wish to expertise all of it! Because it seems, tent tenting will get us nearer to nature and one another. Slowing down, simplifying and stepping away from our routines creates a relaxing mindfulness and appreciation for the way we’ve been capable of dwell our lives.
We love our excessive finish glamping arrange in our 42-foot fifth-wheel. Having a home-base campground and adaptability to take longer journeys with a assured full-hook-ups spot (bonus factors for an enormous rig pleasant pull through website). However we additionally love sleeping subsequent to a river and waking as much as a good looking blue sky above our tent! Tent tenting has all the time been one thing we daydream of, however we by no means felt fully referred to as to the country expertise that it’s typically portrayed as. We aren’t eager on bugs, we have now hips and backs that get pleasure from a snug sleeping floor, and we love a scorching bathe within the morning. What we have now discovered is that tent tenting might be as versatile and adaptable as RV dwelling!
After borrowing and renting choices to strive issues out final yr we lastly acquired ourselves our personal gear. We scored a steal on REIs 6-person Wonderland Tent, acquired our Magma 15 sleeping luggage on a latest REI marketing campaign we did, and located ourselves equipment that basically work for us, together with Rumpl blankets and pillows, Barebones lanterns, and a Stanley pour-over for morning espresso. We’ve managed to make even tent tenting very comfy.
We sleep on blow up air mattresses with buoy in air pumps. These are powered by our Anker Battery, which recharges with our 100 watt photo voltaic panel. These purchases got here with lots of thought and determination making, alongside an honest price. We waited till we knew that we’d be frequent tent campers earlier than deciding on and buying gear. We additionally shopped used choices from REIs Resupply shops each regionally and on-line.
We had our first tent tenting expertise at Tollgate Campground in Mt. Hood Nationwide Forest early in the summertime and knew we had made lots of proper decisions for ourselves and the merchandise we selected! We slept soundly, loved sluggish mornings fueled with camp espresso, breakfast and the trickling sounds of the Salmon River simply toes away. We have been capable of have lots of issues discovered, however nonetheless took away two large suggestions for future journeys:
- Plan Much less. We thought we’d wish to stand up from camp, go on a hike after which eat out, however each time we have now camped we discover ourselves simply eager to be at camp. To take a noon nap, get pleasure from writing or studying exterior, and decelerate our normal quick paced every day lives.
- Be Uncomfortable. It’s okay to fall out of our every day routines after we are tenting. We often stand up, bathe and do our RV chores very first thing each morning earlier than attending to work on our small biz. After we are tenting, we lean into altering issues up, however it isn’t all the time comfy. We didn’t bathe throughout our two nights at Tollgate. We had no cell service, so work was out of the query, and it was chilly within the mornings, which meant we stayed tucked into our sleeping luggage hours previous our regular get up instances. It’s okay to let go and loosen up a bit after we’re tenting.
Delight Occasions
Past our day journeys and tent tenting experiences, we have now been touring weekly for LGBTQ+ Delight occasions all through the PNW. We started our Delight Month in Bend, traveled to Vancouver, WA and wrapped up in Seattle. That is all the time a busy time of yr for us, however we like to take the time to understand all of the totally different locations we get to go to. In Bend, we completed our weekend with a neighborhood hike round a glacial lake. In Vancouver, we perused the Saturday Farmer’s Market earlier than our occasion began, and in Seattle we ate at scrumptious native eating places. Though we’re busy busy busy after we are merchandising at Delight occasions, we additionally see this sort of work as our most enjoyable and it fills our hearts with queer pleasure to fulfill and be part of Delight!
After we stopped touring full-time within the RV, we felt a little bit of an vacancy. We regularly ask one another, “what now?” What we’re coming to comprehend is that we have now hearts of exploration. We are going to all the time exit and discover some enjoyable new locations to go to, new trails to hike, and new cities to skip by means of. It wasn’t RV life that made us vacationers, we have now all the time been vacationers. We’re uncertain if we’ll hit the highway full time once more, however for now we’ve discovered methods to diversify our adventures!
Be taught extra from Wander Free and Queer:
Journey Planning Classes from Wander Free and Queer
Stationary RV Life vs. Touring RV Life with Wander Free and Queer
Operating a Small Enterprise from the Street with Wander Free and Queer