I am Back! RV Living One State at a Time...

[UtahBolt]

I am back! As some of you know, in June my wife, two daughters and I left on a year-long RV trip across the country. Yup, we gave up all the comforts of our beautiful home to hit the road for a year. We live out of our motorhome nicknamed "The Wave", travelling America to teach our kids about this country of ours, how to live with less and experience life first hand. Not a vacation but life on the road. So far we have gone over 4,000 miles and been through eight states. Some of the areas we have experienced include the Bay Area, Oregon Coast, the Puget Sound, B.C, the Tetons, the Montana and Idaho wilderness and the Black Hills as well as a few visits with both family and friends. We are about seven weeks in now and all is going well, as I write this I am sitting in a KOA in Mitchell, SD, trying to stay cool while the kids are watching Netflix. It's a down day, we need one of these every once in a while!

Anyway, I will be doing my best to follow the Bolts all season as we move across the country (might even get to the Giants game if it works out) and will hopefully be a regular again here at the Powder Blues. Just wanted to you let you all know I am still around and I am now back in your Charger lives!

If there is anyone that would like to check in or follow our journey, my wife runs a blog (on FB and Instagram too): www.boondocksandbliss.com.

Go Bolts!
"I'll ride the wave, where it takes me...."

[Rugger05]

Sounds like an amazing trip

Welcome back UtahBolt!

[UtahBolt]

Thanks Rugger!

[captaind]

Cool. A few of my wife's relatives retired, sold their home & bought an RV and have been on the road ever since. They're up in Alaska right now. Freaking amazing pictures. They're hitting 49 of the states.

[UtahBolt]

We have come across quite a few full timers in our travels so far. I am jealous about Alaska, we had to actually skip Alaska because it would mean we not get back East until the in winter and miss the fall in New England. Maybe at the end of our year or sometime in the future, it is quite the commitment time wise as Vancouver to Anchorage alone is like 3000 miles!

[Formula 21]

Ongrats on a great life choice

[Geezbolt]

Great to hear from you Utah. Will you be somewhere in the path of the total eclipse on August 21st? We're prepping for it here. Town is fully booked and we are expecting a madhouse.

[QSmokey]

I am going to be in the Boise area, Geez, ostensibly for the eclipse, but also visiting my daughter/granddaughter/son-in-law, who live in Kuna. Sadly, even though I intended to be in the path of totality, I've decided to skip trying to brave the 'madhouse'. There are towns, not 40-50 miles north of Boise, with regular populations of 5000, that are expecting 60,000!! And those small towns are serviced by 2-lane roads. So we've decided to find a nice, quiet place, outside the totality path, and enjoy a partial eclipse instead.

By the way, we're moving up there next summer, and after I settle in, I am going to take you up on your invitation to do a hike in that area. Redfish Lake looks amazing; but I'm sure you know less popular, but equally beautiful, peaks to scale.

Jim

[UtahBolt]

Geez, we will not be in the Totality zone on the 21st, more likely somewhere along the the coast of Lake Erie or Ontario. We were just in the Tetons for the Targhee music fest (we go every year and planned the first part of our trip around it) and they are bracing for the flux of people there in the Teton Valley. Gonna be insane.

Q, we were just at Redfish Lake about three weeks ago and had a great time. Beautiful, you can see pics of it on the blog (paddle boarding and kayaking).

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

It's the same here in St Joseph. Plus we have a big music festival that weekend. Trails West. It's going to be a zoo! Safe travels Utahbolt!

[SDFan]

Very cool Brian. The memories will be priceless, and your kids lives and perspective will be richer for the experience. We bought our current RV in 2004 and travelled all over the West looking for a new place to settle and retire to a simpler life. Found it 7 years ago and finally moved 4th of July weekend. Our RV now has 82,000 miles on it and we've gone full circle- living in it temporarily back in SD while prepping our house for sale and the final CA exit. I'll follow your website adventures. Safe Travels and Happy Trails!

[UtahBolt]

Thanks Paul! I remember our conversations when you were searching for the right place. Glad you found it old friend, maybe we will see you down the road!

[SDFan]

yes I remember it well. Turns out our new home is just 1 state away from you -in Cortez, Colorado-. Right next to Mesa Verde National park, and 1 hour from each of Durango and Telluride + 2 hours from Moab, UT. We'll be full time in Cortez by end of September after the house sells in SD. Not sure what your plans are, but if you decide to see Mesa Verde (highly recommend it!) on your way home at the end of the year- look me up.

[KYBoltsFan]

Great choice! <applause>

[Heatmiser]

I know a guy who bought a used RV and used it as a meth lab, and then he shaved his head and wore a pork pie hat....hey wait a minute. That was Breaking Bad.

I admire you Utah. Not an easy thing to do and takes guts but I believe it will be worth it for your family. Good luck.

TG

[Formula 21]

How old are your kids?

[UtahBolt]

Thanks everyone, we have been planning this for over three years and are still learning something new every day. Whether it be about the history of our country, cross-country travel, the art of living in small spaces or something new about each other, there is something to digest every day. One of my biggest personal goals on the trip has been to engage with strangers we meet from all over and although RVers are a different breed, we have met some really cool people from all over the spectrum politically, religions, race, ideology, etc, That has been my favorite part so far and has led to some really cool adventures for the kiddos.

Our kids are 13 and 8 and they will be attending online school starting at the end of August. So far they are doing great but it will be interesting to see when school starts in August and they are not actually heading off to the bus with all of their friends.

[Big Dog]

You been traveling for a year and you only been to 8 states so far ??

Damn, you drive slow!

Sounds like an awesome trip and 8 & 13 is a good age to do it.

Tip for you, don't do the family vote thing on what to watch on Netflix ... not going to go well for you, bro ...

[UtahBolt]

Haha...thanks for the tip. We already had a "disagreement" on watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind last night. I thought it would be fun to watch because we had recently been to Devil's Tower and the kids could relate to it but they did not agree!

Anyway, we left in June so eight states in seven weeks....we are actually talking about slowing it down a little!