Travel Day Number 2

It's travel day again, and we're off to Nebraska, Omaha specifically. This travel day had a lot of learning opportunities. It's on the longer side of travel time, with GPS saying it'll take 11 1/2 hours. 

We are getting better about learning how to efficiently pack up the camper, but it still takes us about 2 hours to get everything ready to hit the road. We're hoping as we do it more, we'll be able to pack up more quickly on the morning of travel. 

Like our first travel day, it takes longer than the GPS says. By the evening, we learned that 12 hour road trips are not ideal. Between needing breaks for the dogs and ourselves, we ended up getting to our campground well after midnight. At least it's Labor Day weekend, so we have the time to catch up on sleep.

Grand Ole Opry

We coundn't visit Nashville without going to the Grand Ole Opry, even if Josh isn't much of a country music fan. Because of our tight schedule, we need to go to a weeknight show. All the weeknight shows listed 4-5 singers, and to be honest, I didn't recognize most of the names. But one night did feature Crystal Gayle, who was a singer I not only grew up listening to, but she was also the first concert I went to. Mind you, I was only 8 years old, but at least it was an artist I knew.

The line up for tonight was The Gatlin Brothers, Mandy Barnett, Lee Roy Parnell, and Charlie McCoy with the spotlight artist Crystal Gayle.

When we headed out, we didn't realize that it was located 20 minutes east of downtown, making the commute longer than we thought. Then we hit another obstacle once we got there because the parking lot is quite confusing. We eventually realized we had turned into the wrong lot. Once we were in the correct parking lot, we found the signs directing us where to park for the concert and made our way to the venue.

Unfortunately, we were running late due to the parking lot debacle, causing us to miss the first two singers. So we headed in right away, took our seats, and enjoyed the rest of the performances. I even saw Josh tapping his toes by the end of the concert. I guess music is always better live.

Nashville on a Budget

Since we're only staying near Nashville for a week and we work during the day, today is really the only time we could spend in town. 

Most of the tourist sites start to get quite expensive, and we have to keep in mind that we are not on vacation. While we do want to visit and see as much as possible of the places we visit, we can't sustain our full-time RV lifestyle with vacation-style spending. So after a bit of research, we decided to visit the Johnny Cash Museum and then walk around Broadway Street.

Finding parking was probably the worst part of the day. We had read about being able to park in one of the lots for Nissan Stadium, but once we got there, it was clearly marked as needing some kind of pass. So we pretty much had to drive around downtown until we found street parking, which is no easy task with a dually. 

The Johnny Cash Museum was interesting, but small. It only took about an hour to walk around and read the displays. We both were familiar with his music, so it was fun learning about the man behind the music. 

Broadway Street was full of cowboy boots and hats, a memo we seemed to have miss. There were horse-drawn carriages for hire as well as party bikes with countless bachelorette parties.

After walking around Broadway Street for a bit, we found John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge. It was a pleasant walk that provide wonderful views of the city, which was the perfect way to end our day.

First Travel Day

Today is our first official travel day. The dogs are buckled in, the camper is packed, and we're heading to Tennessee! 

We're hoping to make the most of our first travel day by taking a route through the Smokey Mountains. 

Travel with 2 dogs and a camper is definitely a learning experience. When we put the route in GPS, it was supposed to be a 10 hour drive. But with taking numerous stops for the dogs and gas as well as some construction along the way, it ended up taking 14 hours. 

Even though it was a long day, the views were worth it! It was a great way to start this journey, to remind us of why we're doing this.

The First Week as Full-Timers

The first week living in our RV is no glamorous thing. Honestly, it was mostly logistical. Since we decided to rent our house instead of selling it, we spent much of our time this week making sure everything around the transition from our living in the house to the new tenants went smoothly, putting any last final touches on the house before leaving. 

Of course, there were also a lot of personal errands: doctor appointments, hair cuts, returning items, etc. And then there was a lot of organizing of our RV. We had never had this much stuff in our RV at once. Plus, it had gotten a little chaotic at the end and we had just thrown things into the RV to make sure the house was ready in time. Not to mention that RVs have weight limits, so we need to make sure we didn't have too much. So organizing and downsizing was a priority that week.

And last but not least, we made sure to get in time with the family. For the last 4 years, we had been living in the same town as my family. And while traveling on the road, we don't know the next time we'll see them yet. 

But between the moving and organizing, I managed to walk away with only one wasp sting and a few bruises. 

And So It Begins...

After a 2-hour delay due to moving complication, we finally left our rental property at 9:00 p.m. Sunday night. The hardship didn't stop there as we pulled into the weighting station right as a thunderstorm with heavy rain hit. Luckily, the rain lighten up just long enough for us to weigh ourselves.

After weighting our camper, we leave the gas station, chasing the breath-taking lightning storm as we head to our campsite for our first night as campers full time. Although I was a little stressed following Josh in Granddaddy's Honda with the worn windshield wipers and tires, my spirits did not waver; we are finally starting our life on the road.