We have been on the road for one year! So how was it? Here is our year one review including the good and the bad of traveling and living full time in our motorhome, and what we are looking forward to in year two. Don’t have time to read this now? Pin it for later!

• Number of States: 19

• Number of Miles: 11,141‬

• Best Part: Seeing so many different places! It has been fun to see what our country looks like and how it differs from Southern California. We have seen some beautiful National Parks, ate delicious food and meet some fun people.

• Hardest Part:

  • Penguin: Keeping the outside of the motorhome clean. It takes all day to wash it and most RV parks have washing restrictions. So finding a time and place to wash the motorhome has been a challenge.

  • Jeri: Finding the best route. Not all routes are good for our size motorhome. It is stressful trying to make sure we are going on a route that will work for us, and sometimes I am making my best guess and hoping for the best. This is hard for me as I like to have everything perfectly planned and executed.

• Lessons Learned:

  • Air Flow is Critical: Staying in freezing and raining climates has been a lot harder than we expected. By conserving energy at night and letting the temperatures drop low we have experienced a lot of condensation even though we have a dehumidifier. The condensation has led to mold. If we had to do it all over again we would recommend:

    • Keeping the inside of motorhome as warm as possible. Run your heat pumps when you can.

    • Don't over pack the cabinets and closet or you won't get enough airflow. Leave the cabinets and closet doors opened periodically to get some air flow especially when you are running the heaters.

    • Check the window tracks. This is where we have found the most mold. Keep the window tracks clean.

    • Open the ceiling vents periodically. We use foam blocks in our ceiling vents to keep the warm air in but that means there was no air circulation in those vents. Now we only put the foam blocks up periodically when it is really cold.

    • Make sure there is a slight gap between your bed and the wall.

  • Tire Pressure: Since air expands as it warms up, the opposite happens in winter and your tire pressures decrease so you’ll need to add air. It’s important to have a good air pump because you can wake up on a winter morning ready to leave camp and find your TPMS is telling you to add air. If you have your own air pump, you can do this at a convenient time rather than scrambling to find a place before you hit the road.

  • Energy Management: If you are dry camping it is important to have the right system in place to make sure you are treating your batteries nicely (not running them down too low) ensuring their long life. We were surprised at how much power it takes to boondock, mainly due to the residential fridge. Things like our gaming laptops also consume a lot of power.

  • Love the One You are With: This is more an affirmation instead of a lesson. We already knew this would be critical before we started our adventure and it has been during those stressful times when things aren’t going as expected. Living in such small space and spending all you time together isn’t for everyone but it works for us! We are having a blast, we make a great team, and we haven gotten a lot better at communicating when parking the motorhome :)

• Biggest Headache: The leaky driver’s window. Every time it rained we had to tape a plastic cereal box or cup to the window as shown in the picture. During some storms these would fill up quickly and it was a pain to dump out the water, but the leaky window appears to be fixed after the repairs in Eugene. Fingers crossed! Check out our repairs and maintenance in our RV Repair Log Year 1 and RV Repair Log Year 2 articles.

• Best Site: Crown Villa RV Resort in Bend, Oregon. All of the sites had a small storage shed, huge pad made out of brick pavers, patio table and chairs, and trash and recycling service at your site. There was also complimentary popcorn, coffee and tea.

• Worst Site: Site #14 at Casey's RV Hideaway in Elizabeth, Colorado. This site was extremely unlevel. We had to purchase leveling blocks in order to get level and even then it was a challenge. Luckily there was a Walmart down the road. The campground roads and sites were all dirt and very dusty. The dump station was out of order but no mention of that on the website.

  1. Best Amenities: Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, CA. This RV resort had three pools (all different temperatures), a gym, three hot tubs and daily activities during the peak months.

• Biggest Surprise: All of the Indian Casinos in the Northwest that have cheap or free stays. Some offer utilities for no cost or charge a small fee. Almost all had a players rewards program with free play when you sign up. We often won a little bit of money with the free play. Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, Oregon was the best with the winter special of $9.99/night for full hookups, a hot tub and pool, and a free shuttle to the casino and town (granted town is only two exits). Seven Feathers Casino also had a great Prime Rib special for only $10.99 with the players club card and it was delicious.

• Most Intense Weather: High winds and freezing temperatures outside of Mount Hood, Oregon. We had to sleep with all the slides in, the wind was so loud it kept Jeri up all night even with her sound machine on, and our pipes were frozen in the morning since it was below 20 due to the wind chill. The motorhome rocked all night in the high winds as well.

• Favorite Boondocking: Parked next to a creek in Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho. We definitely want to come back and stay longer next time. Read about our stay in our Boondocking in Sawtooth National Forest article.

• Favorite National Park:

  • Penguin: Grand Canyon. Not surprised? We’ll there is a reason why it’s commonly at the top of people’s list as it’s scale is unlike anything else you will ever see. Next time we want to hike to the bottom and look back up at the rim which I’m sure is equally as awe-inspiring. Read about our Grand Canyon experience in our Grand Canyon Winter Photo Album and Grand Canyon Train & Rim Trail articles.

  • Jeri: Bryce Canyon. Jeri loved all the orange and hiking down into the canyon. It was awesome to be in the canyon and look back at the huge canyon walls. Also the Hoodoos were something else. Read about our trip in our Bryce Canyon National Park article.

• Worst Drive: Leaving the Grand Canyon just as a winter storm hit that would have kept us there another two or three days had we not left right then. We had only been on the road for just over one week so we were still learning when we hit foggy weather and snow. We were racing ahead of the storm, yet still got caught in some of it and leaving Grand Canyon was a pain as ice had frozen to our slide toppers and we needed to air up the tires after the temperature dropped so much vs California.

• Favorite Drive: Driving into Jackson, Wyoming on our way to Grand Teton National Park.

• Favorite Activity:

  • Penguin: Classes at DIYCave in Bend and the VLA. Read about those in Unique Things to Do in Bend Oregon and Visiting Very Large Array (VLA) New Mexico.

  • Jeri: The Ranger talk caravan at Grand Teton National Park and seeing all the wildlife. Read about that in Grand Teton National Park (Camping, Hikes, Photos).

• Favorite Jeep Experience: The drive up to Ringing Rocks in Montana. It was our first time taking the Jeep off roading. Check out our dash cam video in our Climb and Play at Ringing Rocks Montana article.

• Favorite Food: Dungeness crab in Eugene, Oregon. We highly recommend Fisherman’s Market. They had the freshest crab we have ever had (beginning of crab season it was only $7.99/lb), different daily specials, ten different sauces, market counter, and freezer section with lots of options such as a frozen salmon pot pie. Read about our experience in Unbelievably Fresh Dungeness Crab in Eugene.

What are we looking forward to in year two?

• Spring! We are both over winter, rain and snow.

• Taking the top off the Jeep. We haven’t had a chance to drive the Jeep topless.

• Exploring the East Coast. Neither one of us had spent a lot of time on the East Coast.

• Not camping in cold climates in the winter. Let’s do what everybody else does and head south for the winter!

• Penguin: A more relaxed year two pace.

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