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| Everywhere we go, we are always home in our RV. |
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When we bought our first camper, I don't think I fully understood how much RV life would change the way our family travels.
Camping started as a fun way to get away together. Over time, though, it became so much more. Our RV has allowed us to travel farther, stay longer, experience places differently, and create family traditions that I hope we'll remember for the rest of our lives.
We camp between 50 and 60 nights a year, and when I think about why we continue to choose RV travel year after year, it really comes down to something pretty simple.
And I wouldn't trade that for anything.
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| The beach is one of our favorite places to go! |
RV Life Makes More Travel Possible for Our Family
The practical answer to why we love RV life is probably the easiest one: we can afford to travel more often.
Hotels, restaurant meals, and other expenses can add up quickly on a traditional family vacation, especially when you want to travel several times throughout the year.
With our RV, we already have our bed, kitchen, bathroom, and many of the comforts of home traveling right along with us.
We cook most of our meals, choose campgrounds that fit our budget, and mix inexpensive camping trips with occasional stays at fun RV resorts.
That flexibility allows us to spend 50 to 60 nights a year camping—something we probably wouldn't do if every trip required hotels and restaurant meals.
It also means we can stay away longer, and that has completely changed the way we travel.
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| Wherever we go, so do our dogs! |
We Take Our Dogs—and Now I Can Take My Work
One of the biggest advantages of RV travel for our family is being able to take our dogs with us.
Longer trips are much easier when we aren't worrying about boarding them or arranging care at home. They simply come along for the adventure.
And in recent years, another piece of technology has made our travels even more flexible: Starlink.
Because I can work remotely, reliable internet means I don't always have to choose between work and travel. I can work from the campground while we're away, which opens up opportunities for longer trips and travel dates that wouldn't have been practical before.
We use Starlink while traveling, and it has made staying connected from the campground so much easier. I've gathered our Starlink setup along with some other wireless and connectivity options in my Amazon Storefront if you're looking for ways to stay connected while RVing.
See Our Starlink & RV Internet Setup
For our family, staying connected doesn't mean spending our camping trip staring at screens. It gives us the flexibility to stay longer, work when necessary, and still enjoy being on the road together.
And that has been a game changer for the way we travel.
We've Learned That Adventure Doesn't Always Go According to Plan
If you travel enough, eventually something is going to go wrong.
We've been snowed in at Marfa, Texas, and we've been stranded in Odessa when our tow vehicle broke down.
Those probably weren't the adventures we would have chosen when we were planning the trip, but they're part of our family's story now.
RV travel has taught us how to solve problems together, adjust our plans, and keep moving forward. When we're on the road, we're a team.
We look out for each other. We help each other. And we've learned that sometimes the unexpected parts of a trip become the stories you tell for years afterward.
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| Hiking has become a family favorite in the fall and winter. |
RV Life Has Taken Us to So Many Different Places
One of my favorite things about RV travel is how different every trip can be.
We've camped at the beach and in the desert. We've stayed at beautiful state parks and fun RV resorts. We've traveled long distances across Texas and spent weekends closer to home.
We've attended a festival at a friend's farm, explored small towns, and spent days doing absolutely nothing except enjoying the campground.
We've hiked into Santa Elena Canyon at Big Bend National Park and climbed to the top of Enchanted Rock in the Texas Hill Country.
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| One of our favorite excursions this year was taking the train to New Orleans for the day! |
And sometimes we've hopped on a train and spent the day in New Orleans.
That's what I love about this lifestyle. There isn't one right way to do it.
If you'd like to see where our RV has taken us, I've created a Southern Glamper camping map featuring many of the places we've camped along the way. Maybe you'll even discover a campground for your next adventure!
We've Created Family Traditions on the Road
Some of my favorite family traditions weren't traditions we intentionally set out to create. They just happened.
We often travel over New Year's, and somewhere along the way we started having an Italian dinner on New Year's Eve followed by games together.
It doesn't matter where we're camping.
Sometimes we're dining outside under the stars. Sometimes we're huddled inside the camper because it's freezing outside.
Either way, we're together.
We've also made it a tradition to do something active on New Year's Day. One year that might mean hiking. Another year it might be exploring somewhere new.
Last year, we started the year hiking into Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend.
That's a pretty amazing way to begin January.
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| Our New Year's Day Hike to start of 2026! |
The Campground Has Become Part of Our Holidays
We've celebrated birthdays and holidays at campgrounds, and we've been camping for Thanksgiving for years.
In recent years, I've started cooking our Thanksgiving turkey breast in a Dutch oven at the campground. It's become one of those little traditions I look forward to each year.
I love that our traditions can travel with us.
Thanksgiving doesn't have to happen around the same dining room table every year. New Year's Eve doesn't require a party. A birthday doesn't have to happen at home.
We Don't Just Visit Places—We Try to Live There for a Little While
One of my favorite parts of RV travel is settling into the places we visit.
I don't want every trip to feel like we're checking attractions off a list. I want to know what it feels like to actually be there.
We find local churches and attend services. We've gone to a Friday night fish fry at a local Catholic church during Lent and attended local Halloween carnivals.
We try local restaurants, but we also shop at neighborhood grocery stores and look for regional ingredients to incorporate into our meals at the campground.
We do laundry. We cook dinner. We go for walks.
We live our normal lives—just somewhere different.
I love blending into a community for a few days and discovering the little things that make each place unique.
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| Even our dogs are right at home! |
We Take a Little Bit of Home With Us
There is something comforting about pulling into a campground after a long travel day and stepping into your own space.
Our things are there. Our dogs are there. Our bed is there. I know where everything belongs, and it doesn't take long before we've settled in.
Over the years, I've found plenty of camping and glamping gear that makes our little RV more comfortable, organized, and functional. I love finding things that make camping easier without filling every inch of our camper with stuff we don't need.
If you're looking for some of the things that make RV life a little more comfortable, I've gathered some of my favorite finds in my Amazon Storefront.
Shop My Favorite Glamping Gear
RV Travel Gives Us Permission to Slow Down
Not every camping day needs an itinerary.
Some of our best days are the ones where we wake up and decide what we feel like doing.
Maybe we hike. Maybe we ride bikes. Maybe we explore a town. Maybe we cook outside and spend the afternoon at the campground.
Or maybe we don't do much of anything.
RV travel gives us an opportunity to slow down, choose our own adventure, and simply be.
That's increasingly rare in everyday life.
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| The Windows Trail at Big Bend was a favorite last winter! |
Most of All, RV Life Gives Us Time Together
When I think about all the places we've traveled, I certainly remember the beautiful views and big adventures.
But that's not really what makes RV life special to me.
It's the three of us figuring things out together.
It's cooking dinner at the campground.
It's playing games on New Year's Eve.
It's hiking somewhere we've never been.
It's laughing when something doesn't go according to plan.
It's solving problems when we're hundreds of miles from home.
And it's realizing that when we're on the road, we are what we have.
We've learned to work together, look out for each other, and protect the life we've built.
No matter where we are, we're together.
And that is enough.
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| Bay St. Louis, MS is such a fun town. You should put it on your list! |
Our Home Travels With Us
We start anticipating our trips long before we pull out of the driveway. We plan campground stays months in advance, talk about where we want to go, and imagine what we'll do when we get there.
RV life has opened an entirely new world for our family.
It has taught us to travel fearlessly.
It has given us the freedom to choose our own destinations—and sometimes change them along the way.
And it has shown us that adventure doesn't always have to be elaborate or expensive.
Sometimes it's a Dutch oven dinner at the campground.
Sometimes it's hiking into a canyon on New Year's Day.
Sometimes it's getting snowed in somewhere you never expected.
And sometimes it's simply sitting outside your camper with the people you love, knowing that for tonight, this little patch of earth is home.
We've taken our home with us to beaches, deserts, festivals, holidays, and ordinary weekends.
And we're nowhere near finished.
I can't wait to see where the next year of adventures takes us.
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