How We Roll...

Streaming Day!

Full-time travelers like us often have to remind ourselves we are not on vacation. Living at tourist speed would be exhausting. We don't have to see everything now, we have the advantage of time. If we don't get around to that must see attraction we can enjoy it the next time we visit. Well at least as long the weather is good. For us that thinking also includes how far we drive in a day and how long we stay at each location. 

We call the days we relocate "Streaming Days". We have a few guidelines about streaming days; maximum distance is about 250 miles with driving time limited to about four hours. We avoid travelling in the dark and we don't drive through severe weather. We usually try to fill up with gas the day before to avoid refueling while towing. If we drive for more than two hours, we normally stop for a lunch break, if less, we'll have a sandwich on the go. We make sure to have water with us before setting off, to keep hydrated in the truck during the journey. We enjoy listening to our favorite podcasts to make the time pass more quickly as we travel.  

Making the most of one of overnight stops in Idaho.

When planning our route we use Google Maps and our inbuilt GPS in the truck. We study the route together to determine if there are potentially challenging parts of the journey like steep grades and narrow or winding roads. We also look for RV dump stations and places to fill with fresh water along our route if our destination doesn't have facilities. We still keep an old school paper map in the truck. I like to have the big picture view that an only and atlas provides.  

When we get to a place we stay on average four or five nights. But it can be as little as 1 night and as many as 14. The longest we have stayed in any one location is a month. It all depends on what there is to do in the area or the time of year.

Just last week we relocated from Lake Tahoe on the California/ Nevada state line to the Jackson, Wyoming area.  It's just under 800 miles and there was nowhere in particular we wanted to see on the journey, so for the first time since we hit the road we traveled in "Relocation Mode". While many people would drive that distance in a day, we stuck to our philosophy and split the journey into four parts. After all, we were in no rush. We researched great one night stops along the way. We stayed in a range of camping spots from a scenic free BLM campground to a State Park and an RV park. We chose these overnight stops within five miles of the main route to avoid massive detours along the way to Jackson.  

Four days after leaving the clear blue water of Tahoe we arrived at Grand Teton National Park. With the slow and steady pace we maintained we will have enough energy to make the most of our time here.