It's a little housekeeping that's worth doing after involved vacations... it's just that I don't, we don't always formally write it down.
Basically, it's what worked and what didn't work.
For starters, for example, propane worked. Propane worked to the degree that we lit it up every morning and every evening without blowing up the van... or ourselves.
Which is definitely a shot of confidence. Not, you know, blowing up like that.
The big win, though, is the WiFi hotspot we purchased on the road last year. "Franklin" we call it. And Franklin was exquisitely indispensable. Even while we were staying at places with declared WiFi, Franklin was more reliable. There was simply more available cell service than available (and reliable) WiFi.
So yeah. Both validation of our purchase and a huge freakin deal.
I can't emphasize that enough.
One thing we didn't have that we really should've had... was backup maps. Either physical paper maps or offline Google maps. Because even though we had more cell service than I would've guessed, sometimes we didn't have any.
Not a problem so long as I wasn't using Google Maps online. Which, whoops...
I was always using it online.
Fortunately for me, we were usually on a no-end-in-sight straight road in the middle of nowhere whenever cell service dropped out.
So I didn't need the help.
But.
It got me thinking about how screwed we'd be if cell service ran out in the middle of me needing some direction.
So yeah.
Bring paper maps. Or figure out how to make the Google Maps I need available offline.
Realistically, though, it's gonna be paper maps, like the old AAA Trip Tickets, 'cause in the absence of someone religiously telling me my lefts and rights... I have to be able to visualize the route. Internalize it to a degree before driving it.
The old school way. 😁
That's really the only major thing I'd have us do differently. Other than that, everything else—
Whoops.
Maybe one even bigger change we need to make if we do this specific trip again...
Don't stay at the KOA near the airport in Salt Lake City. Or... at least make sure we have a spot much, much further inside the property.
Why?
Because it's an urban location. A campground out by the airport. Not close enough for the planes to be a bother. But definitely close enough for the street life to occasionally intrude right there on the property in unsafe ways.
Other than those two things, then, everything else went perfectly.
Like figuring out how to snake our extension chord from the shore power outlet at each campground through the seam of the driver's door to a three-way splitter inside the campervan.
Worked like a charm.
Along with the USB chargers we purchased that fit into an abundance of lighter outlets we could always use while the van was underway...
We were never without power.
And that's a big deal for us because a long time ago we drove an RV down to California that had electrical problems. So there was not an abundance of lighter outlets to use save for the one in the dashboard. Plus, we weren't staying in campgrounds with shore power... so there was no overnight charging for us.
It was definitely a mess.
So we are thankful thankful thankful...
To finally have this part of our travels under control.
Huge success for us. And pretty much the reason we were able to enjoy ourselves so much...
On the road.
And it definitely makes me more receptive to the t-shirt message I saw one day that read
Not lost. Exploring.
Okay yes.
I get it.
😊
