Author Topic: LookBeforeYouLive: RVing Across The Country  (Read 10028 times)

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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LookBeforeYouLive: RVing Across The Country
« on: January 22, 2015, 10:54:26 PM »
A friend of mine has been RVing for the past 12 months with his family all over the western US, Canada, and Alaska.  He's also a professional photographer so he has some nice shots if you are interested in seeing them.  This link takes you to the day or two before they entered Alaska, but day 1 started in Monsey and there's a "Trip Map" page with an interactive google map so you can find any day from that map.

http://lookbeforeyoulive.com/?p=4770

Thanks for the link, for what it's worth, I really enjoyed driving up to Prudhoe Bay and touching the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. See here: http://lookbeforeyoulive.com/?p=4903

Also, realize that depending on which opinion you follow, Alaska either is or is not on the other side of the halachic date line, so Shabbos could start either Thursday night or Friday night, with some poskim suggesting keeping two days of Shabbos.

Happy Travels!

-Ben
« Last Edit: February 08, 2015, 12:31:52 PM by Dan »

Offline whYME

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2015, 02:26:59 AM »
Thanks for the link, for what it's worth, I really enjoyed driving up to Prudhoe Bay and touching the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. See here: http://lookbeforeyoulive.com/?p=4903

Also, realize that depending on which opinion you follow, Alaska either is or is not on the other side of the halachic date line, so Shabbos could start either Thursday night or Friday night, with some poskim suggesting keeping two days of Shabbos.

Happy Travels!

-Ben
Welcome to DDF, Ben!

I gotta admit, I've been following your blog rather religiously (and dare I say, jealously?) ever since seeing that link back in July.

I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking, how much advance planing and research do you do? i.e. When you get to a place do you know exactly how long you're going to spend there and what you'll do there? or do you have the main attractions planned and kinda just wing it? how many steps in advance do you generally have planned?

p.s. I think we were in Rapid City on the same day in August...

Offline AJK

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2015, 11:44:07 AM »
Thanks for the link, for what it's worth, I really enjoyed driving up to Prudhoe Bay and touching the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. See here: http://lookbeforeyoulive.com/?p=4903

Also, realize that depending on which opinion you follow, Alaska either is or is not on the other side of the halachic date line, so Shabbos could start either Thursday night or Friday night, with some poskim suggesting keeping two days of Shabbos.

Happy Travels!

-Ben

Ben,

By the way the quote below, which I love, is famously MISattrbuted to Mark Twain. In fact, it was actually said by H. Jackson Brown's mother.

Quote
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
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Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2015, 02:26:04 PM »
Welcome to DDF, Ben!

I gotta admit, I've been following your blog rather religiously (and dare I say, jealously?) ever since seeing that link back in July.

I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking, how much advance planing and research do you do? i.e. When you get to a place do you know exactly how long you're going to spend there and what you'll do there? or do you have the main attractions planned and kinda just wing it? how many steps in advance do you generally have planned?

p.s. I think we were in Rapid City on the same day in August...

Thanks, it's nice to know that it's not just my parents keeping an eye on us. :)

In terms of finding things to see, I have a google maps pin set that I built up over the years from reading other fulltime RV blogs while I was still in a cubicle.  We also use the Android apps TripAdvisor, AAA TripTik, and Field Trip to find points of interest.

We have seasonal goals, like "let's do the gulf coast to Florida and up the East Coast between now and May".  Then there's more local goals like "we need to be in the Phoenix area in mid-February".  From there, we take a look at what's between here (Borrego Springs, CA as of 1/23/15) and Phoenix, and then plan a route.  We will stay in a particular place until we run out of stuff to see, then move on.

In the last few months, we lingered in the Las Vegas area until a scheduled meet-up with my parents and brother in Death Valley.  We're now staying in the Borrego Springs area until an upcoming Fly-in at Salton Sea in early February where I'll fly my PPG.

I hope that answers your question, please reply if not!

     -Ben

Offline Ergel

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2015, 02:35:24 PM »
Amazing. How long do you plan on doing this for?
(Mods, can we fork off the look before you live discussion?)
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline 12HRS

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2015, 02:44:21 PM »
Have been trying to convince my wife we should do this ever since I read your blog!

Offline alpicone

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2015, 03:21:25 PM »
Wow! Been reading the blog for the last 30 minutes and already I am thinking about how I can pull off something like this...

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2015, 03:23:15 PM »
Ben,

By the way the quote below, which I love, is famously MISattrbuted to Mark Twain. In fact, it was actually said by H. Jackson Brown's mother.

Thanks, fixed!

     -Ben

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2015, 03:24:53 PM »
Amazing. How long do you plan on doing this for?
(Mods, can we fork off the look before you live discussion?)

Until my wife gets sick of it. :)

      -Ben

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2015, 03:33:33 PM »
Have been trying to convince my wife we should do this ever since I read your blog!

The scariest part is deciding to do it, but we haven't looked back since we left.
 
Technology is letting people work remotely and stay in touch with families, removing most of the obstacles to doing something like this.  We primarily live for free on public land (see the clickable Camping Type Chart), so our primary costs are food and fuel.  Solar provides free electricity, and when you only have 400 square feet to play with, there's no urge to buy garbage you don't need.

     -Ben

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2015, 03:41:23 PM »
Wow! Been reading the blog for the last 30 minutes and already I am thinking about how I can pull off something like this...

I think it's easier without kids, but it can be done!

      -Ben

Offline alpicone

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2015, 03:43:24 PM »
I think it's easier without kids, but it can be done!

      -Ben

Up to day 20... Do you detail anywhere on your blog what your average daily/monthly costs are?

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2015, 03:49:01 PM »
Up to day 20... Do you detail anywhere on your blog what your average daily/monthly costs are?

No, I don't have that anywhere.  It's on my "get to it someday" list.  The folks at RV-Dreams have put together a great resource for that here.

Offline alpicone

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2015, 01:49:41 PM »
No, I don't have that anywhere.  It's on my "get to it someday" list.  The folks at RV-Dreams have put together a great resource for that here.

What are you using to build your trip map?

Offline henche

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #14 on: January 31, 2015, 10:18:11 PM »
Thanks for the link, for what it's worth, I really enjoyed driving up to Prudhoe Bay and touching the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. See here: http://lookbeforeyoulive.com/?p=4903

Also, realize that depending on which opinion you follow, Alaska either is or is not on the other side of the halachic date line, so Shabbos could start either Thursday night or Friday night, with some poskim suggesting keeping two days of Shabbos.

Happy Travels!

-Ben

I thought they don't let you go to the water when you get there?

ETA: Oh, I see you did that on the official tour.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2015, 11:08:27 PM by henche »

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #15 on: January 31, 2015, 10:25:31 PM »
What are you using to build your trip map?

I use the Google Maps Engine.

Offline whYME

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #16 on: January 31, 2015, 11:28:47 PM »
I hope that answers your question, please reply if not!
Yes, it does, thank you!
It sounds fairly similar to my type of planning, though mine is on a MUCH smaller scale (and probably not quite as organized.) While you're planning around seasons, I'm usually planning around shabbosim. :)
I usually decide where we're gonna spend Shabbos, pick the main attractions we want to see/do along the way then build a general itinerary based on that. So far all my trips have been by car, but as soon as I saw your blog I pretty much decided that next trip needs to be with a trailer, and not with the kind of crazy rushed itineraries I've been doing lately...
(you can see a couple here and here.)

One thing I've been wondering for a while, don't you --or probably more importantly your kids-- get lonely/bored being out on your own all this time? I know you meet up with family and friends from time to time and make friends along the way, but I can't imagine that compares to regularly being around kids your age. I know I can't see myself (well, more like the rest of my family) doing something like this for more than a month, maybe two months max. That's probably the biggest thing stopping me from picking up right now and doing what you're doing.

Offline whYME

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #17 on: January 31, 2015, 11:33:35 PM »
I thought they don't let you go to the water when you get there?

ETA: Oh, I see you did that on the official tour.
To clarify, IINM, the problem is not that "they don't let you in the water," rather the only to get close enough to get in the water is by taking an official tour.

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #18 on: February 01, 2015, 02:16:25 PM »
To clarify, IINM, the problem is not that "they don't let you in the water," rather the only to get close enough to get in the water is by taking an official tour.

Right, the strip of land from the "beach" inland for a few miles leased by the oil companies, so it is in a sense private property. Allow a few days for them to run their security check before your tour.

I was irritated to have to pay to get to the Arctic, but our tour guide was very knowledgeable about wildlife, the function of the various oil facilities and machinery we passed, local native hunting techniques, etc., so that made the expense less painful.

Offline LookBeforeYouLive

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Re: Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #19 on: February 02, 2015, 04:25:47 PM »
Yes, it does, thank you!
It sounds fairly similar to my type of planning, though mine is on a MUCH smaller scale (and probably not quite as organized.) While you're planning around seasons, I'm usually planning around shabbosim. :)
I usually decide where we're gonna spend Shabbos, pick the main attractions we want to see/do along the way then build a general itinerary based on that. So far all my trips have been by car, but as soon as I saw your blog I pretty much decided that next trip needs to be with a trailer, and not with the kind of crazy rushed itineraries I've been doing lately...
(you can see a couple here and here.)


Those car trips do sounds grueling. The nice thing about having an RV is that you can do Shabbos on your own, so you don't necessarily always have to be in a town.

Quote
One thing I've been wondering for a while, don't you --or probably more importantly your kids-- get lonely/bored being out on your own all this time? I know you meet up with family and friends from time to time and make friends along the way, but I can't imagine that compares to regularly being around kids your age. I know I can't see myself (well, more like the rest of my family) doing something like this for more than a month, maybe two months max. That's probably the biggest thing stopping me from picking up right now and doing what you're doing.

Well we do a good bit of home school, so there isn't really time to be bored. When not it in class, they ride their bikes or scooters, or read or build structures in the desert out of rocks.

My son sometimes misses his friends, so he will call them or do a video conference with them. Neither me nor my wife are particularly social, so it's OK for us too.

You could always try it and see how it goes, just go back home if the family gets sick of it.