Empty Nesting, Life, RV Life, Tips and Hints, Travel

4 Must Have Items For Your RV Life

Welcome to “RV There Yet?” where I’m sharing stories, tips, tricks, and fun adventures of two wandering souls setting out on the second half of our lives traveling the U.S. and the world together.

When we bought our first RV 6 months ago, we read blog after article after post on must have items to make our RV life easier. The list we made was long, and boy does Amazon love us, so I wanted to take some time to share the items that have made our new adventures even better.

As I mentioned in our last blog “So, you want to buy an RV do you?“, you will make lists and more lists of what you will need, so let’s take a look at some of the must have items that we can’t live without. In no particular order…..

  • 1. We have a beautiful 83lb Golden Retriever named Teddy, so the first thing be bought was a fencing system to give him a play yard at each campsite. We chose this OFIKA Heavy Duty Metal Dog Playpen system because of the number of panels giving us many configuration options to choose from. Not only does this set come in two different heights (2ft tall to go along the body of the RV, and 40″ tall for the outside perimeter), it’s super easy to assemble and has multiple entrances to position where you would like.

    • 2. Next is quite possibly my husband’s favorite find, a smokeless firepit. Our Onlyfire Smokeless Firepit is amazing! Fire-starting with wood or charcoal is super easy, and it’s light enough that I can easily lift it into our truck. We’ve cooked over it and spent hours enjoying our campfires no matter which way the wind was blowing.

    • 3. Now, let’s talk about some fun. Check out our PEXMOR Electric Bikes. Talk about taking it all in. These bikes are powerful, the fat tires handle every terrain you can imagine, and they are tough. You can pedal on your own or cruise up to 30mph to get the most out of your destination. We’ve gone up the side of a mountain, climbed hills in the desert, rode along the loose sand and shoreline of the ocean, and over and along beautiful rivers. Hands down we get the absolute most out of our trips by being able to spend the day exploring on our bikes. Add to all of that they also have horns, lights, digital speedometer/readouts, and a phone holder/charger.

    • 4. And lastly for today don’t forget this super duty bike rack for your bikes. These electric bikes weigh roughly 70lbs each, so be sure to get a bike rack that can handle that much weight. Although our bikes are foldable, we decided to store them on this rack using the receiver hitch on the back of our RV.

    As always, I’m eternally thankful for other RVers who share items that have made their time on the road more enjoyable. I hope that while you are making YOUR lists that we can help you in the same way that others helped us. We are NOT Amazon affiliates and would love to hear if you try any of these items and what you think.

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    Do you feel restless or caught up checking off those boxes of life that someone said we are supposed to? Come along with us as we begin the process of LIVING our lives, and not just the same day over and over again.

    Be on the lookout for our next blog posts discussing MORE of the coolest, and most practical things we bought for our RV adventures, and an overview of our first RV road trip to West Texas.

    Adventure awaits, let’s go find it.

    Empty Nesting, RV Life, Travel

    RV There Yet?

    Welcome to our new blog “RV There Yet?” where I’m sharing stories, tips, tricks, and fun adventures of two wandering souls setting out on the second half of our lives together traveling the U.S. and the world. Our newest adventures start right here in our home state of Texas.

    At what point in your life is it okay to ask yourself if you are where you want to be? Are you living the life that feeds your soul, or are you doing what you are supposed to do according to some list of boxes you have been checking off for 30 years? Enter our dear friend epiphany…….

    While traveling with friends to Alaska in September 2022 my husband (Mr. Sexy Pants(right side, aka MSP) and I (2nd from right) were reminded of just how beautiful the world is, and all of the adventures it holds. That is if you can tear yourselves away from life, responsibilities, your home, your animals, and your office to experience it. Alaska was once our home many moons ago, and to our 18 and 19-year-old souls, it was the most transformative years of our lives. Fast forward 30+ years to finally going back to Alaska, and the one million fireworks that went off in our heads, there it was… this feeling of adventure and exploration that we’ve been suppressing…. for three decades.

    NOMADIC BY NATURE

    MSP and I have lived in 17 (we counted them) homes in the past 33 years. That’s almost 2 years per home on average. From Texas to Alaska, to New Mexico, to Wyoming, and back to Texas we have bought and rented more homes than most do in a lifetime. In those years we’ve travelled, explored, and sought out adventure when the time allowed. The problem is that there was never enough time. Enough time to really see all that we yearned to; to take in every mountain and ocean view we could find. We’ve always been pulled by invisible strings to just…… move. Staying in one place for too long seemed unbearable.

    At 50-ish years old we’ve been told that we have 11-15 years until retirement is an option for us. At least on paper. By sticking to the current progress of retirement savings (the market and cost of living being what it is) we have to wait almost 20 years to reach our goal of retirement. But, by making life changes NOW with the goal of being 100% focused on early retirement, our countdown became much smaller. So, we did. 

    POPCORN

    Popcorn has always been our joking “Bug Out” word. Hurricane coming- Popcorn! Head to higher ground. Zombie apocalypse- Popcorn! So, this year when we bought our first RV, and we named her Popcorn. We are new RV owners and did 13 months of research before we decided on the perfect rig for us. Important things to us were: not too big or small, a couples only rig with room for us, an 82lb Golden Retriever, 4 grumpy cats, and the ability to go off grid for days using no hook-ups. Here’s what we decided on.

    Popcorn is a 2024 Forest River Flagstaff Micro Lite. https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/flagstaff-micro-lite/25FBLS/8005 She’s absolutely perfect for what we need and is the first step to the life we want moving forward. We already have Popcorn’s first trip planned out and are excited to share new places, lessons we learn, and exciting escapades with you. 

    Adventure awaits, let’s go find it.

    Do you feel restless or caught up checking off those boxes of life that someone said we are supposed to? Come along with us as we begin the process of LIVING our lives, and not just the same day over and over again.

    Be on the lookout for our next blog post discussing choosing our RV, and things you should consider when buying your own RV.