The Hall Family Travels Blog

RV Life Isn’t Always An Adventure

Living in an RV full time, constantly traveling to new destinations and having endless adventures, can seem like a full-time vacation. And it definitely does feel like that sometimes. But having endless adventures and new scenery out your front door every month doesn’t mean the rest of life’s responsibilities just stop. We still have bills. We still have maintenance to keep up on. We still have regular life stuff that needs to be taken care of, just like anyone else living in a typical sticks-and-bricks home. It doesn’t take away from the magic of all the places we go, but it is a reminder that this is not a vacation, just a different lifestyle.

After the Black Hills of South Dakota, our plan was to head west toward Yellowstone National Park. Dustin regularly walks around our truck and trailer just to put eyes on everything and make sure nothing needs attention. During his inspection this time, he noticed the sidewalls of our truck tires had begun to show multiple small cracks. We had these tires since we bought the truck and had since put more than 30,000 miles on them, so we knew the time would eventually come to replace them. Seeing those cracks proved that now was that time.

This wasn’t an emergency or a breakdown. Thankfully, Dustin caught the problem before a tire actually failed. But with all the driving we had ahead of us, especially through the mountains and around Yellowstone while towing our 37-foot trailer, we didn’t want to wait until we were sitting on the side of the road with a blown tire to deal with it.

When Maintenance Changes the Plan

Dustin researched and called multiple tire shops in the areas we would be traveling through and eventually found one in Gillette, Wyoming that would price match the tires he wanted at a very reasonable price. Gillette was only about two hours from where we were staying in the Black Hills, so we ordered the tires and reserved two nights at a Harvest Hosts location in Gillette.

This wasn’t meant to be an exciting place. It wasn’t a bucket-list destination. It wasn’t even a town any of us had ever heard of. But we knew this was an important maintenance item that needed to be taken care of so we could continue traveling safely. What could have been viewed as an annoying inconvenience to our travels instead became an opportunity to slow down, explore a little, and make the most of an unexpected stop.

Making the Most of an Unexpected Stop

We stayed for our first time at a Harvest Hosts location. If you’re not familiar, Harvest Hosts is an annual membership that gives RVers the opportunity to stay up to 5 nights at participating farms, wineries, breweries, attractions, and other unique locations. Our host in Gillette happened to be a farm where we were parked next to a cow pen and a large field where we could watch horses running. One morning, we even woke up to a herd of pronghorn antelope running through the field. It felt rustic and serene, and we really enjoyed it.

Not only was our first experience with Harvest Hosts a success, but we also managed to find public pools and water parks in Gillette—one that was free and another that cost just $20 for our whole family. These made great ways to pass the hottest hours of the day. With two days in Gillette, waking up to cows and horses and filling our afternoons with swimming, water slides, and a lazy river, it didn’t feel like an inconvenience at all.

While our truck was in the shop getting its new tires, we took the opportunity to walk to a nearby park and have a picnic. It wasn’t anything spectacular or something we had planned weeks in advance. It was just one of those simple moments that ended up becoming part of the adventure.

We didn’t choose Gillette. We didn’t plan to spend two days there. And if you had asked us before this trip whether Gillette, Wyoming was somewhere we were excited to visit, the answer probably would have been no. But that’s one of the things we’re learning about traveling this way. Not every stop has to be a bucket-list destination. Sometimes the places you never planned to visit become part of the story anyway.

Choosing to Find the Adventure Anyway

It’s easy to see unexpected mishaps or general life responsibilities as a burden or an inconvenience, but it’s also just as easy to choose to turn them into something enjoyable. Life happens. Things break. Maintenance needs to be done. Plans change. That’s the way life goes, whether you live in a house or travel full-time in an RV.

The RV lifestyle doesn’t eliminate the everyday responsibilities of life. It just means sometimes you’re taking care of those responsibilities somewhere completely new.

And maybe that’s part of the adventure, too.