15 States and (4 Provinces x 2) in two months - Part 1

We started our full time RV journey right in the middle of Winter 2015/2016, when we moved into our (new to us) Majestic Ford E450 motorhome. It was February 1st  of 2016. Lisa's stepfather was very kind to let us park the RV in his driveway, while we lived in it, until our departure to Edmonton in the first week of March. Finding a spot in a campground at that time of the year would be a very hard task. That was a very interesting test of our ability to adapt to a very small space in a very short time, and to the harsh winter conditions that we were having in Ontario.
Since we were already off season, we were going to spend the month of March in Edmonton and then in April drive south to Nevada for a couple of months to get a taste of what snowbirding will be in the next season, which starts in October.
Turns out that there was a huge snow storm coming from the Michigan area and we decided to leave 5 days earlier, at the end of February. The drive through Ontario was very pleasant and although it was winter, the scenery was very beautiful.

The storm finally caught on to us in Saskatchewan with a dump of snow, needless to say that we had to wait out the storm and continued our journey into Alberta the next day when the roads were getting better.

In Edmonton, my son Paulo and his in-laws were exceptional in the way they received us and we accepted their offer to spend one month in their driveway. This gave us an opportunity to interact with our grandchildren and spend a marvellous time with them. When April came, it was time to leave and start our southwestern adventure.

Beautiful Spring weather made for a very relaxed and wonderful drive through Montana, Idaho and Utah and when we arrived to Nevada it was nice and hot. Throughout the trip we did not stay at any campground. There were several boondocking locations, truck stops, gas stations and even Walmarts, in most cities and towns in every one of those states. To make sure we did not run into any trouble, we asked the managers if we could stay the night. Unlike our drive though Canada, where we were told in a few locations that we could not stay the night, no one ever said no in the USA. Shout out only to the Wawa motel in Ontario for letting us stay in their parking lot and, although we offered to pay, they did not charge us anything.

Anyway, we arrived in Las Vegas and went to check out the campground at the Circus Circus Hotel. If you want the ultimate in urban camping, this is it. You are right on the Strip, the facilities are excellent and the price is very reasonable. We ended up spending six days there and we found out that it is a KOA campground, so we got our 10% discount.
A couple of other RV'ers had mentioned in their vlogs that the town of Laughlin is a great place to camp in Nevada, so we wanted to go and check it out. The town is very small, with a population of less than 8 thousand, but very nice and it is nestled down in a wonderful valley with the Colorado river separating it from Bullhead City, Arizona.

We stayed at the Riverside Casino Campground and spent one week there. Laughlin, although very small, it is home to 10 casinos and tons of entertainment, we had a lot of fun there but it was starting to get really hot and we decided to head back to Las Vegas where we spent two more weeks, staying at two different campgrounds, the first was Road Runner and the second was King's Row, both at Bolder Highway. These two campgrounds are very affordable and are in our list for future long term stays when we are in Las Vegas.

When May arrived, we decided we would get back to Canada and to Ontario to finish downsizing our possessions we had left at Lisa's parents. Since we had about one month to make it back, and we had promised my family in Florida, we figured that we would miss out if we did not do the drive to Orlando, Florida. So, we left Las Vegas on our way to the next state to the east, Arizona...
Stay tuned for part 2 of our journey through the south of the United States coming up soon!

Why the RV life

Lisa has an extensive background of traveling, camping and RVing, she has done it for many years before we met and had traveled to most of the fifty states in the USA, on the back of a bike and truck campers.

I, on the other hand, had never been in an RV and only camped a few times in my life (I can count them on my fingers), in Portugal and in Canada but I always enjoyed driving long distances and actually did it for work for a few years as a computer technician.

We went on several road trips down to the Southwest of the United States and across Canada to Ontario from the beginning of our relationship, we had the travel bug in us and slept in the back of the van in many of those trips to keep it under the budget. Then one day in 2012 we thought it would be nice to have an RV, even if it was a very small one, it would probably be a lot better and more comfortable than sleeping in the back of a van, so we began researching online.

During that time I came across full-time RV living and brought it up with Lisa. We found that we  both had similar interests in that lifestyle. The fact that we did not own a house and the possibility of becoming snowbirds was really appealing. We spent the next two years doing online research, and the weekends or days off going to RV dealerships around southern Ontario. We could not afford anything new on the market but we were looking at them as well to see what options were available for layouts, compared to the older units. We found that there is an insane variety of brands and models, used and new, but our budget only allowed us two options. It was either a very small 16 foot to be pulled by our Kia Sedona van or a class C motorhome with the possibility of towing a small vehicle. We opted for the class C 30 foot motorhome for the space and comfort.

Our friends and family had two types of reaction when we told them  that we were selling everything (which was not much) and living in the RV we had just purchased. Some thought we were crazy while others thought we were brave and cool and wished they could do the same.

Our first long trip, over 18.000 KMs in two and a half months, took us from Ontario to Alberta, down to Nevada, all the way to Florida, back to Ontario and finally back to Alberta, where we are settled now. At the time of writing this post we still don't have a tow car but Lisa drove the van we own, while I drove the motorhome, all the way across from Woodstock to Edmonton. The van is too heavy for our class C to tow so we are still looking into a replacement.

I will update when we have news on that.

Welcome to RV Travels Of Eduardo And Lisa

Hello!

I am really excited to announce the launch of our RV blog, "RV Travels Of Eduardo And Lisa".

My wife MaryLisa (I call her Lisa since most of her friends do) and I decided to jump into the full-time RV living and traveling on November of 2015, when we purchased our first RV.

We call our rig "Majestic Boomerang" and have been living in it since February of 2016. It has been a rollercoaster, with ups and downs, but we are loving every minute.

Our first trip was across Canada, at the end of February, on the way to Edmonton, Alberta from Toronto, Ontario and then all the way from Edmonton to Las Vegas, Nevada at the beginning of March, and then at the beginning of May we left Las Vegas on a trip across the South of the United States all the way to Orlando, Florida to visit family and then all the way back to Ontario, Canada, and finally we traveled back to Edmonton, Alberta where we are currently.

Stay tuned for future posts about all those trips!

We think this blog is a great way for our family and friends to find out what is happening in our adventures as a full-time RV couple and we hope that our experiences might help other beginner RVers wanting to experiment this wonderful lifestyle.

Join us in our current and future adventures as a snowbird couple, living full-time in their 30 foot RV, with a couple of furry kids (Rocky and Rusty).