How we Plan Out the Next Adventure(s) – Part III – Guest Writer: The RV Husband

In Part II, I wanted to give a little perspective of what the road schedule looked like as someone who works remotely 5 days per week. For us, the pandemic played out perfectly for us to get on the road. Not only did my work schedule adjust to 5 days remote, but my MBA program which originally met once a week turned remote as well. In Part I, I discussed my pillars that lead to the determination of where our pit stops are, as well as how I choose an appropriate place for a family to stay.

With a family of *5 people, 2 adults, a  9-year old ,a 5-year old, soon to be one-year old (this is prior to baby #4 arrival, but was well planned for), to say it can be a **** show, is an understatement 😉. I know there are parents out there that understand the mornings, afternoons and evenings that can suddenly become these special shows… The worst day that these special shows can randomly interject for us is a travel day. We try and avoid major disruptions when packing up as there are quite a few steps in play.

In Part III, I want to give some perspective on what our trailer looks like to explain the layout in which we live. This plays into a factor of how we pack-up and break-down the RV on travel days. There are activities both on the inside as well as outside of the trailer that play a factor to getting on and back off the road in a decent timeframe on travel days.

In the rear interior of the RV we have a bunkhouse style trailer that traditionally has 3 bunks as well as a sofa in the lower half of the rear slide-out. For us though, we pulled the sofa out and it is now a space for a bookshelf, some storage and then a place for the port-a-crib sleep space for our daughter. The upper bunk of the slide out is my desk and also serves as storage for home-school supplies. Both of these spaces have to be secured prior to getting on the road. We use the port-a-crib to act as a contained storage space for all of the containers that are inserted in the bookshelf on travel days. I disconnect monitors and lay them flat while securing belongings that could fly off the top shelf while in motion.

In the living room we have a TV mounted that must be removed due to its size to allow the front slide to have space to close. In our home, our TV was a 60’’. Well this is our home on wheels, so the TV is the 60’’. If you’re wondering if that is a little overboard, it is. But it’s an at-home feel that also turns our living room into a theater space for movie nights. We installed a swivel bracket that has a simple 3-screw system for setup and takedown, and we place the TV flat on our bed while we are in motion. There are also the counter-tops in the kitchen as well as bathroom. We use the sinks and tub as mobile storage spaces which creates an efficient way to secure belongings.

Outside the hitch needs to be connected to the vehicle, all hoses disconnected, bikes and chairs put up, exterior storage secured, and camping spot cleaned up. We normally try and do a significant amount of work the evening before we are set to leave town. We will secure the back area and lay out kid’s clothes for the morning, that way once everyone was up all we have to do is put the slide and secure bedding. We take down the TV so that we can put it on the bed first thing when we get up. I’ll empty tanks the night before just to get 99% for the morning to facilitate quick take-down. I’ll attach the hitch to the car and also if the space allows, back the car up and align it so in the morning Sarah can focus on the inside without distraction.

By doing a lot of our work up front the night before we travel, we make our mornings as seamless as possible. I want to be able to wake-up, get dressed and be able to immediately step outside to work on getting hooked up and everything completely stowed away for travel while Sarah will get the kids up, dressed, and fed. I’ll then work on getting the kids loaded up, while finalizing the interior is set to go. When we are rockin’ and rollin’, we can get up and be road ready in about 45 minutes with everyone loaded up and doing our final checks. Pretty good in my opinion!

Have you ever been set to leave on a trip and everything goes awry?! We’d love to hear of some funny stories of when **** hits the fan. It happens to everybody, right?

In Part IV (don’t worry Sarah will be back next week), I wanted to give an idea of what to expect when you’re on the road. Things, as someone who had never pulled a 36’ trailer, nor any large trailers for that matter, I didn’t expect but have come to know are very important while on the road.

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The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife’s Husband

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