During short weekend camping trips, not having a phone or internet connection can actually be part of the pleasure of getting away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. However, for longer trips staying connected is essential for communications, navigation, planning, etc. For our travels, I researched various options (WiFi, cellular & satellite). In this post I’ll tell you what we chose and why.
We’ve started our next “test trip” with the girls in our new camping rig, “Wobbles” the Airstream and “Dimes” the van (which has recently been given this name by our 4-year-old). We’re exploring the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National park for 2+ weeks. Since our girls don’t make driving long distances particularly easy or pleasant, we’re trying to break up the drives as much as possible. Therefore, we reserved the last available campsite at Dosewallips State Park, part way up the peninsula, in order break up our drive up to the North-Eastern corner of the peninsula.
The electrical system that our 2018 Airstream Sport 22′ camping trailer came from the factory with was pretty basic. It had a single open cell lead-acid battery capable of powering the lights, the furnace blower, water pump, stereo, and a few USB outlets. However, it didn’t come with an inverter, needed to run any AC appliances (microwave, toaster, blender, etc) while off grid. It also came with only a very basic voltage-based battery monitor that doesn’t give much information about how much battery capacity is being used or is remaining. In this post, I’ll describe the first set of electrical system upgrades we’ve installed in the trailer.
Before setting off on our longer RV adventures, we took an airplane trip to New England to visit family and friends. We had a great time catching up with old friends and seeing family, but the trip was also a good reminder of how stressful travel with young kids can be, especially when they are sick.
Today was the last day at my job that I’ve held for 8 years. The decision to quit wasn’t easy– it’s was a great job, working with great people, on problems that make a difference in people’s lives. However, weighing what I am giving up against the opportunity of exploring the country together as a family has made the decision a whole lot easier.
After completing a weekend trip in the Airstream, we bought some things that we realized we were missing, re-packed, and then headed off on a one week trip to the coast.
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Our first trip in Wobbles was a one night weekend trip to Champoeg State Park, just to try things out. The trip was great, we found a few warranty issues with the trailer, and we learned a lot.
We had a number of areas where we wanted to try things out on the first trip:
When I first proposed to Sarah that I quit my job to travel by RV for 6+ months, she was naturally a bit nervous. It didn’t take long, however, for her to come around and realize the opportunity we had. From the day that Sarah said “ok, let’s do this”, it was only a few weeks later that we found ourselves towing home a new Airstream camping trailer. Let me tell you about how we made the decision.
When Sarah and I got married, for our honeymoon we did a 3 week road trip to many of the western national parks. We considered tent camping, but since it was our honeymoon we splurged and bought a camper van. The van was a 2001 Ford Econoline cargo van that had been lovingly converted to a camper by its former owner, a man named Vince who we met when we responded to his Craigslist ad. On the outside the van looked like a generic plain white cargo van. On the inside was a simple yet very functional camper.
Here’s the rough adventure plan.
