(Heaven On Wheels, our little RV! Photo ©2022, Steven and Barbara Sande)
Soon we’ll be heading out on a two-week RV trip in the Thor Compass 23TW RV that we purchased in 2022. Our little RV has the same name as our devotional website — Heaven On Wheels — and is a lot of fun to hang out in. We basically have all of the comforts of home in a manageably-sized RV, which makes camping at both improved and rather unimproved campsites quite nice.
However, preparing for a camping trip sometimes reminds me of what scientists and engineers have to do before launching people into space. We can’t just hop into the RV and go; there’s a lot of prep work and planning that goes into each “mission” we go on.
Well before we ever leave on a trip, we start creating an itinerary — this is something that Barb excels at doing. She starts with a general idea of where we want to go, then works in sights to see and places to visit. In order to not be exhausted by the time we return from a trip, she follows the 3-3-3 rule: in any day, we try to drive no more than 300 miles, take a break at least once every 3 hours, and try to be at or near our destination for the night before 3 PM.
Once the itinerary is somewhat set, we start scheduling. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a huge boost in camping as a way to travel, so we book campgrounds as far in advance as we can. That ends up being an interesting exercise in itself! Some campgrounds can be booked years in advance, while others open for bookings a year, six months, three months, two months, or a month in advance. Some are “first-come, first-served,” which we try to avoid at all cost as we really like to know that we have a place to stay for the night.
(Our 2021 Little Guy Max travel trailer, which served us well for one season. This is at the beautiful Fruita campground at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Photo © 2021, Steven and Barbara Sande.)
When we’re down to a few weeks before the trip, other details fall into place. What do we need to take with us? There are perishable foods that we might need to buy along the way, but we try to pack a lot of our meal preparations into the RV and figure out where we might be able to try local restaurants. We already have pots, pans and utensils that are stored in the RV. There’s a microwave/convection oven that we can use when we have an electric hookup, a propane stovetop for other cooking, and we now have a combo propane fire pit / grill that we can use outside when the weather is amenable.
Weather brings even more variables into play. If it’s going to be cold (as this upcoming trip could be), we may not be able to turn on the water system until we’re assured of warmer weather further south. Colder weather means heavier clothing or layers, more propane for heating, and the possibility of needing to re-winterize (draining water and waste tanks) multiple times. We’ve kept an eye on each location we’re camping at to see what the weather should be like, but reliable forecasts only go out about ten days or so… If there’s snow, we have all wheel drive to keep us going.
And then there’s all the tech! For those of you who have followed our trips in the past on Facebook, you know that we love taking photos — most of that is done with our iPhones, which have great cameras. Last fall we purchased a smart telescope on sale (Unistellar eVscope eQuinox) to take advantage of the dark skies we encounter on our RV trips, so that will come with us. For wildlife photography, there’s a Nikon Coolpix P1000 “super zoom” camera with a whopping 3,000mm telephoto lens.
(Heaven On Wheels with a bit of bug splatter in Yellowstone National Park. That’s a Starlink satellite internet antenna in front. Photo © 2022, Steven and Barbara Sande)
We always want to be in touch and keep publishing our blogs, so we use Wi-Fi when it’s available or Starlink satellite internet with an RV plan. That could also be useful in an emergency if we’re in a location with no cell phone coverage.
Checklists… there are always checklists. We have checklists for checklists (just kidding). Seriously, we can’t remember all of the stuff we need to take along, so checklists are a necessity. I have one checklist that will go into play on Sunday, March 19 when we drive the RV home from our storage space. That list has all of the RV maintenance I need to perform before we leave… cleaning stuff, placing our newly made Heaven On Wheels bumper sticker on the back of our cargo carrier, getting gas and propane for the vehicle, changing some batteries, installing a replacement end cap on the awning (we keep losing them, so this time black duct tape will be my secret weapon), repairing a cabinet latch, etc…
Inventories of stuff… tools to pack in case we need them, remembering to have enough RV toilet paper (yes, that is a thing), clothes to pack, even books and games to keep us occupied at night if it’s too cold or cloudy to do any astronomy. Oh, and there’s also the trick of trying to remember where everything was packed once we start our trip!
(The two of us in 2021 at White Sands National Park. Photo © 2021 Steven and Barbara Sande)
While all of this sounds like a lot of work, I actually find it to be relaxing and rewarding! Once we get going on a trip, both of us tend to sleep better than we do at home since the cats aren’t waking us up. We meet new people, we get to try new restaurants and foods, and there’s always the thrill of discovering the beauty of more parts of our great country.
Of course, we’ll be thinking of all of you while we’re out “working hard” at having fun on this trip! Feel free to share any of our posts with friends who might also be afflicted with wanderlust by hitting that “share” button.