Where did you go first

[Madpeep]

I'm really curious where everyone went first once they started living out of their vehicles.

Did you have a special place that you just had to visit first?
How about stopping at a bunch of random places on the way to your special place?
Did you just pick a road and follow it until you found something interesting?
Head out to a RTR or other meetup first?

I'm not really looking for "I went to the nearest Walmart", but feel free to post that too. I'm more interested in, "I've always dreamed of visiting glacier NP, so I slowly made my way there stopping at other parks and forests".

 

[Almost There]

I just picked any one of the thousands of places that were on my list.

Actually, when I left the S&B behind last fall, other than stopping at a friends place while I got my US phone service in place, I headed to Nashville to start the Natchez Trace Parkway.

It was a wonderful place to start - took me 10 days to do 440 miles of scenic parkway, history and geology lessons, free National Park campgrounds, a couple of days of sitting out the rain. I'd travelled slow before but never THAT slow so it was a learning experience.

I had another scenic route planned out for after that one. I did it, cruised along the Gulf coast in to Texas, headed inland to see a couple of places that sounded interesting and then in a bit of a snit, I hit the interstate and didn't stop until I got to Ehrenberg. The RTR was written in ink but I had 6 weeks to get there.

This year when I head out of Ontario I think I'm headed east to do the Blue Ridge Parkway before I head southwest again. It's either that or west to Chicago to do Route 66. I'm still cogitating on it!!

 

[wagoneer]

in the late 60's it was Big Sur a dramatic west coast remote area in my station wagon usually stayed 3-4 days if the ladies did't get bored lol

 

[rvwandering]

We left Pennsylvania a few days after the big snow storm of March 1993. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Storm_of_the_Century  We almost slid off of our driveway but once we hit the pavement everything was fine. The roads had been cleared enough to get through but there were abandoned tractor trailers and cars along some of the interstates so only one lane was opened. We headed straight to Florida!

 

[Cheli]

Interesting that you ask this because I was wondering the same thing. I was having a conversation over the weekend with a friend and she ask where I was going to go and I said I didn't know. I plan on being on the road in time to attend the Winter RTR but I have know idea what route I'll take to get there and it depends on how much time I have to get there.

Sorry I can't directly answer your questions but I am interested to see what others say.

 

[Madpeep]

That's exactly the reason I'm asking. My mother asked me where I wanted to go first. I replied, "I don't know. Doesn't really matter". I'm not doing this to get away from anything. So I don't feel I need to immediately start traveling all over the place to see things. I'm probably going to head to Kentucky first to work for Amazon as part of their camperforce program. i havent had to punch a time clock in about 8 years, so it'll be interesting. There are definitely things I really want to see, but I'm patient. I'll wait until I'm close to several NP's to see them. Not drive all the way out there so that I can see them *now*.

On Dec. 23rd I'll finish with Amazon and head.....somewhere. Probably slowly make my way over to Quartzsite to meet/learn from some of you as I'll still be a newbie in many things

 

[Suanne]

One observation I've made about myself and many others is that we begin this lifestyle by traveling and exploring a lot, then eventually settle down and stay in places longer and longer.  That's been true for me even though I'm just a part-timer. 

My initial test run to see if I could travel and live out of my Prius was to Yosemite in the fall of 2009.  When I really hit the road in the Spring of 2010 I had a route planned to visit most of the National Parks.  Also, I made it a point to visit a few of the people from the Vandweller Yahoo Group (pre-CRVL forum) with whom I had befriended online, or from whom I learned much from my research about this lifestyle.

So, early on in my 2010 travels, just after exploring Death Valley NP, I was fortunate to meet up with several vandwellers in Pahrump.  Looking back, sharing a camp for a few days with these like-minded folks was a great way to begin this journey, both literally and figuratively.  Here's my 2010 blog post from that initial meet up.  I would highly recommend that those beginning this lifestyle go to an RTR or similar gathering to make connections and to learn a bit.

For my first 6 months on the road, this was my planned route (from this blog post):
[img=640x346]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...kuytQY9j4x6MQk-OgCCo/s912/west2east.png[/img]

This was my actual route during the first 4 months (from this blog post):
[img=640x366]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...SPo6Rt0wCCo/s800/ActualRouteApr2Jul.jpg[/img]

In contrast, this last winter 2016 I traveled from the PNW to attend the RTR in Quartzsite, hung around AZ and NV for 3 months, then returned to the PNW.  In the future, however, I plan to travel cross country again, as well as go north to Alaska.  For me, all travel plans are made of jello -- sometimes set firm yet jiggly, but mostly unset and fluid.

 

[Wanderer]

I'm really curious where everyone went first once they started living out of their vehicles.

Did you have a special place that you just had to visit first?
How about stopping at a bunch of random places on the way to your special place?
Did you just pick a road and follow it until you found something interesting?
Head out to a RTR or other meetup first?

I'm not really looking for "I went to the nearest Walmart", but feel free to post that too. I'm more interested in, "I've always dreamed of visiting glacier NP, so I slowly made my way there stopping at other parks and forests".

I simply went to work and stayed at a rest stop or Walmart till I found the place I have now....I am not retired.....yet.

 

[Stargazer]

Maine in the fall because I had never been there and the timing just happened that way.  Where else do you go in late September?  It was my first and test trip in the van.  No plans in advance, just looked at the maps each morning and decided that day, but often took roads that just looked interesting instead.

Saw some places I never knew existed.  And learned that what I had done in the van wasn't gonna work so ended up gutting it and starting over.  More importantly, I also learned that I can do anything, if I just tried hard enough, or sometimes just ignored that fearful little voice and went for it.

Best wishes!

 

[akrvbob]

I'd lived in a van in Alaska while I waited for my kids to turn 18 and to be old enough to retire. In 2006 that happened so I drove out of Alaska to my new life in December, it was -30 on the Alcan. I was on my way to Asheville NC to get my ex-wife settled in her new life. So, my first stop in the lower 48 was in Arches NP. Mountains don't get much better than Alaska so that wasn't of much interest at first, but there is nothing that can prepare you for the Red Rock country of Utah.

The 5 National Parks in Utah have owned my heart ever since, if you haven't been there, that's my recommendation.
Bob

 

[IGBT]

I'll play, since we just moved into our homebuilt RV a tad over a month ago.

We went from western Washington state to eastern Washington state, then lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, Dunn creek in Montana, Flathead lake in Montana, Bighorn mountains in Wyoming, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, and now are near Deadwood in South Dakota.   Making our way to the Florida Keys by December.

 

[highdesertranger]

IGBT if you are at the keys in December how will you make RTR in January? highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

IGBT if you are at the keys in December how will you make RTR in January?  highdesertranger

I'll send you guys a postcard and drink a margarita toast to you.

Hint though, make sure you get a permit this time!  

 

[Iggy]

I went from Oregon to Utah to visit my ex-girlfriend and drop off some things she had left behind. Wanted to see if there was any magic left (there wasn't). This was two and half years ago.
It was still winter and rather chilly so I returned to Oregon without exploring much. But it was a good shakedown cruise to find out what worked and what didn't with the van layout. I'm continuing to make changes, including doing some colorful painting inside lately.

Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

 

[TrainChaser]

My first trip living onboard was from SoCal to western Oregon, 1972. I had been working for a few years, and had a few thousand in savings, so I packed some recently-acquired camping gear and the dog into the (unsafe at any speed) Corvair, and headed north. Never got away from the coast until I absolutely had to leave (not a kindred soul to Bob, apparently).

HOOKED!