There was a list about a million miles long of things we needed to do before going on our epic adventure. Here are the stand-out things on the list:
Get an RV
In order to travel full-time for 400 days, we needed some type of RV. We looked at all the options and decided that a large travel trailer would fit our needs the best. If you want to live full-time in a travel trailer with 4 humans, a dog, a digital piano, and a cello, you need to get a big trailer. We did a ton of research and decided that we wanted a 28 foot travel trailer with dual axles. We wanted something that would work well in cold or hot weather and also be capable of spending time away from civilization. This meant we wanted large water tanks, large waste tanks, large propane tanks, solar panels, a generator as well as an inverter. We settled on something in the Northwood / Artic Fox / Outdoors RV family and ultimately purchased an Outdoors RV 28DBS Backcountry Titanium trailer.
We were actually looking at two different models from Outdoors RV: the 28DBS and the 28BKS. We were pretty sure we were going to need to order the 28BKS as they had that available in the “titanium” which is the upgraded version with the nicer cabinets, better mattress, and most importantly, auto leveling. I really wanted the 28DBS as it had the generator and larger tanks, but it did not exist in the Titanium version when we decided last year to plan this trip. But, to our surprise, when we went to place our order with Thompson RV, they were indeed going to be producing a 28DBS Titanium in 2024 and it was going to have the new lighter and brighter interior. We were so excited about this and saw it as a good sign that we were headed in the right direction.
Get a new truck (and sell the old truck)
When planning this trip, we soon realized that my Toyota Tundra didn’t have nearly enough payload and I needed to get a “real” truck. After much research, we decided to get a ford F450 pickup truck with dual rear wheels. The F450 is the biggest pickup truck you can get, but it has a wider front axle than other 1-ton pickups so it has a good turning radius. The problem with F450s is that they are ridiculously expensive and extremely hard to find. When I started looking, all of the F450s for sale new were $10,000-$15,000 above the already obscene MSRP. Since we had a year before we planned to depart, I decided to order a brand new F450 in July of 2023. I actually ordered 2 trucks from 2 different dealers in hopes that at least one of them would get manufactured. I got lucky, and after 7 months of waiting took delivery of my 2024 F450 Lariat Ultimate with 6.7 liter High Output Diesel Engine on January 26, 2024. As of August, 2024, it has been 13 months since I ordered the 2nd truck and it still has not been manufactured. I named my new truck Red Rover and then proceeded to sell my Blaze, my Toyota Tundra.
Prepare truck for full-time travel
Someday I’ll put up a dedicated post for my truck upgrades, but a couple of the most important ones were installing a weight-distribution hitch, a canopy, a bed slide, a Ravelco antitheft system, a DC-DC charger, and a Buckstop front bumper.
Prepare RV for full-time travel
On April 12, 2024, we took delivery of our trailer. I’ll detail the upgrades later, but the biggest upgrade involved upgrading the electrical system with lithium batteries and an inverter / charger and moving the batteries from the tongue of the trailer to a location under the master bed. The other huge upgrade was designing and building shelves and drawers for the cabinets.
Get an SUV for Heidi (and sell old sedan)
Heidi had been driving a Lexus ES300H sedan which is a lovely commuter car, but is not designed for the types of driving we plan on this trip. We researched full-size SUVs that have good milage, are hybrids, perform well off-road and are reliable. We settled on the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and picked up a 2022 model on May 12. After we bought the Highlander we sold Heidi’s Lexus sedan.
Learn how to maintain and repair an RV
RVs are complicated as they have all of the systems of a house (and more) and are subjected to substantial vibration whenever they move. It really is true that they are “rolling earthquakes.” A big barrier to successful RV living is if (when) your RV needs repair. Getting RV repairs taken care of quickly while on the road is extremely challenging. I decided to spend a week in February in Athens, Texas at the National RV Training Academy taking the class that would allow me to be listed as a “Registered RV Maintenance Technician.” I learned how to fix my RV as well as how to keep it in good shape.
Buy a travel Cello
Annalise is an amazing musician and focuses huge amounts of time on her study of the cello. We knew we couldn’t bring her normal cello on this trip as it had a high chance of cracking due to variations in temperature in the RV. We bought her a 2nd cello, made out of carbon fiber which won’t crack if it has a sudden change in temperature.
Sell House
This process started during the huge snow storm we had in April where we lost power for several days and the house got down to 46 degrees inside. The house selling process involved a lot of trips to Goodwill and to a storage unit and selling a lot of furniture. Our house was staged professionally for the listing photos and for showings. We all hated having to keep the house picked up and spotless all day every day as we could get called/texted at any time for showings. Luckily, we accepted an offer about a month after our house went on the market. It’s been a frustrating process, but we’re so glad we’re past it.
Plan Trip
This started happening almost immediately as we needed to start sketching things out in a way that we could make it back to Oregon a few times throughout the year in order for the kids to have orthodontist appointments, in-person music lessons, etc. We settled on a trip plan that involves 3 large loops through the country. Our first loop is from July 8, 2024 until Thanksgiving and puts us from Oregon east all the way to Wisconsin, then South to Tennessee, then west back to California and back to Oregon. Our second loop departs Oregon in mid-December and heads diagonally to Orlando, and then across the Southern border of our country towards San Diego and then back to Portland by the end of March. Our final loop leaves Oregon in Mid-april and focuses on the areas of the Midwest and Northeast not seen on our first 2 loops. If all goes according to plan, we should be in Washington DC on approximately July 4, 2025 after visiting all 48 states in the continental USA.
