Expanding Our World With RV Roadtrips - Guest Post
Sharon Seithel of the Substack newsletter RV Travel With the Gallivanter reflects on RV travel the mid-Southern United States
In Mission: Wanderlust, I write and podcast about our family’s travel adventures and the things that we have learned along the way.
I’ve enjoyed following of for a while now. I asked her to write a guest post about her adventures doing what Jeff and I hope to do someday: take to the road for months and explore the United States. Please subscribe to her newsletter if you are interested in all kinds of RV travel.
I did a lot of travel in 2019 as though I had a sixth sense that 2020 would be quite different. So, when the world changed in March 2020, my travel goals changed too. I was already an RV owner but most of the trips in earlier years had been reconnecting with nature and relaxing. That is still important but so is seeing and understanding the place where I live. Above all, I feel driven to deeply understand the people, places, and history of my own region of the country. Plus, I love a good list, goals that I can check off as I go.
You can see on the map below; we have made quite a dent in covering all of Missouri and we hope to finish off the SW section in 2023.
In 2022, we wanted to venture a little further and visit family in nearby Arkansas. I returned home, impressed with the kindness of so many people in this southern state. We had to evacuate our campsite at an Arkansas State Park due to flooding and found a nearby private campground that could accommodate our RV. The owner knocked on our door that evening, bearing two pieces of strawberry shortcake. He knew we were a bit flustered due to the change of plans and wanted us to feel welcome to his park. The town was hosting its HS homecoming, which includes a strawberry festival. Traffic was unusually dense for such a small town, and he wanted to be sure we got to taste the famous dessert. I have learned that if you stay away from the polarizing topics of our political world, there is a deeply shared humanity everywhere you go.
This fall, we embarked on a journey that would take us through southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and southern Indiana. Time spent at Giant City State Park in the Shawnee Forest of Southern Illinois presented to us the majesty of nature. A hike on the Giant City Nature Trail meanders through boulders that form the “giant city streets,” reminiscent of a walkway in an old European town.
In Kentucky, we visited and stayed at an Alpaca Farm near Bowling Green. At the farm, we once again found hospitality and a farm owner making a difference in the lives of her community. She offers a 4H program with area kids, most of whom live in the suburbs of Bowling Green. They get a chance to spend time with and learn about the alpacas.
An often forgotten National Park is historic Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world with just over 400 miles of surveyed passages. Explorers recently found six additional miles. Think of what else we might discover right below the bourbon distilleries of Kentucky. The limestone that makes distilling bourbon in this area so optimal, is also what forms the cave.
The best part of southern Indiana was the week we spent at the Horseshoe Bend RV Park, on the Ohio River. This week exemplifies everything I love about our kind of slow travel. The park was full of many RVers who leave their rigs in place for the entire season and some even live there full-time. They were welcoming and each day, someone would stop by to chat. They even invited us to come back for their big Fourth of July celebration. For a brief moment in time, we felt like locals, like we could see, if only at the most surface level, the world they saw. The best part was the poor cell service we had at this park. Yes, you heard that correctly. Disconnecting, even if only for one week, is a gift to mind, body, and soul. Watching campfire flames dancing before a river backdrop is simply priceless.
On this journey, we stayed at 12 different campgrounds and drove about 900 miles. We spent an average of $30 per night for camping and $10 per day for gas. Of course, when it comes to RV travel, the big expense is the initial purchase, storage, maintenance, taxes, and insurance. Yet there are experiences and moments that simply cannot happen any other way. It is a chance to find a life that is slower in pace and an opportunity to savor all that each small corner of America provides. The natural world is real and so the divisions and stories we fabricate for ourselves in our virtual worlds fall away when you are feeling the breeze off of a river, the sun on your face, and even in the darkness of a cave.
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"The best part was the poor cell service we had at this park. Yes, you heard that correctly. Disconnecting, even if only for one week, is a gift to mind, body, and soul."
YES!!! My favourite trip this year was an off-grid campsite in the UK Lake District! Most of our trips are for my husband's work, and he needs a decent connection to submit his pictures, but it's a whole different kettle of fish when we're off-grid! Very different, and it makes a great change! Lovely post, thanks Sarah and Sharon.
Thank-you so much for this opportunity! So glad for our connection on Substack!!