01/09/2020-4/29/2020: Our job in Alliance, OH was for a woman who owns several businesses on Main Street, a historic part of the town. Her goal was to open multiple family-friendly tourist attractions to accompany her already-famous Troll Hole Museum, home of the world’s largest troll doll collection. It was freezing the entire time that we were there and because of how far north we were, the days were very short. We ended up getting our sleep cycles reversed and worked…
12/26/2019-01/02/2020: We were finally able to make it to the family vacation for the first time in seven years. Previously, we had work we couldn’t take days off from, pets we could not leave in the care of another person, or financial limitations keeping us from joining the family for the annual trip to the cabins in North Carolina. Now that we live in the bus and on the road full time, we are able to travel when we want…
11/28 – 12/1 After weeks of traveling South down the coast, we finally arrived to my mother’s house on Thanksgiving day. It had been 13 months since I had last seen her or my family and it would be the first time they were seeing the bus. We parked in her driveway and were able to fit the whole bus on the pavement thanks to Jake’s parking skills. We got ready for Thanksgiving dinner which was hosted at my stepsister’s…
11/22-11/24 Our next stop was in Orlando, FL. We have a very dear friend who lives there and we wanted to visit and spend some time. We stopped in a parking lot in Orlando in front of a Planet Fitness. We planned to go int the gym to shower, but I decided to get some groceries first because they would be closing soon and the gym is open 24 hours. When I came back from the grocery store, a security…
After leaving Charleston, SC, we stayed in Savannah, GA, for one night. We added some new locks on our door and did our grocery shopping while we were there. The next day we drove to St. Augustine, FL and spent the night at a Planet Fitness parking lot. We arrived late in the day and decided we would spend the next day sightseeing. There was a free RV parking lot near the attractions where we parked the bus while we…
11/12-11/19 We arrived in Myrtle Beach from Jacksonville, NC. Myrtle Beach feels very much like Orlando, FL. There are fun tourist attractions all over the area including a Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Go Kart Racing, a giant ferris wheel and amusement park, and a Dave and Buster’s. We parked at Target and stayed for 3 or 4 nights in their parking lot with no issues. The weather was cold, dark, and rainy for the time that we were there,…
11/8-11/11 After Virginia Beach, we drove down the coast to a random little town called New Bern, NC. We did not know when we chose this destination that the town of New Bern would be so interesting. We arrived in the early evening and parked at a public boat launch and park. The boat trailer parking is usually just as long as an RV spot and because of the cold weather, the park was empty. We played frisbee with Jono,…
11/5 – 11/7 From Washington D.C., we drove straight down the coast to Virginia Beach. We made a plan to drive by 2 or 3 locations where we might be able to park the bus. We ended up staying overnight in a shopping center parking lot. There was a Planet Fitness in this shopping center and they typically stay open 24 hrs. There are always cars in the lot when something is open 24 hours, making us being there look…
On the second day of our visit to Washington, D.C., we drove back to the National Mall with a plan and a packed lunch. We had time limits set for each location and a backup list of sights to see if we had extra time at the end of the day. We started the day at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian. The Air and Space museum contains the Apollo 11 command module, the Friendship 7 capsule, Charles Lindbergh’s…
We arrived in Washington, D.C. with Jono and Maria and parked 4 miles from the National Mall. This street parking was free and was right next to a park with public restrooms and recreational fields. When we got there, we explored the park and let Maria’s dog, Lucy, run around and play with her soccer ball. When we visited the National Mall the following day, we didn’t really have a plan and didn’t realize how much walking would be involved….