My name is Katherine, and together with my husband, Chris, and our two pups, Otis, a dachshund/chihuahua (chiweenie) and Duck, a mini Australian shepherd, we are traveling across the US in our new travel trailer.
Chris and I had been talking about traveling for a while. He's a registered nurse, so it makes traveling an available option for us. Neither of us had ever traveled in a RV before, but we figured we'd learn together---and lord, did we have a lot to learn!
We probably jumped into the RV life quicker than most people. The turn around between our decision to travel to our departure date was a short few months. One day the decision was made, then over the next month, we sold most of our large belongings and stored the rest. While Chris was working his last couple of months, I was our researcher. I had to research trucks, travel trailers, how to operate both, and other items we'd need.
We sold both of our cars and purchased a new Nissan Frontier....only to realize we needed a bigger truck. So 3 days later we purchased a Nissan Titan SV 4x4. We had to add the towing additions such as the hitch, and brake controller. Then after getting the truck ready, we went to purchase our travel trailer. We wanted something under 30 ft, and light. We ended up going with the Cherokee Grey Wolf 23MK. Even after all my research, I realized I didn't know what we really needed until we started living in it. Now I realize, it may have been the wrong choice. But it's ok because we'll make it our own over time. I think travel trailers are a live and learn experience. You won't know what you truly need until you've lived in one. I'll go into more detail in a future blog.
I researched insurance, roadside assistance, and many different additions that we would need for our camper. We purchased our insurance and roadside assistance at the dealership as it was the same as I was viewing online, but we purchased the additions on our own ahead of time. If you are new to travel trailers, you may think you pay for the trailer then you are good to go, but unfortunately, you're not. While you are given an electrical line for power hookups, that is about all you may get (some get a cheap septic hose, but it'll need to be replaced). There are so many extra items needed that they will be in an entirely different blog post.
Once our camper was ready with the essentials, and filled with our belongings, it was time to head out on our cross country journey towards our destination in Oregon, where we'd be for the next 3 months.
Happy Wandering!
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