My American Sightseeing Blog
Just the Basics
May 2022
Living in a 300 square foot RV requires a person to be satisfied and content with just the basics. We have one room consisting of a kitchen sink, a stove/oven, a small refrigerator, a couch, and a chair. It is plenty for the two of us…three (almost forgot about Forest), but we do miss our recliners. Some days my feet and lower calves swell when they hang down all the time and I need to elevate them regularly. That will happen when you break bones all the time. Yes, I am the clumsy one. We have been throwing around the idea of someday exchanging out the couch that folds into a bed, for two separate recliners.
The chair off to the side glides but does not swivel. We do like to watch television when the weather is not nice enough to be outside, so this tends to kink up our necks. A swivel glider may be a future purchase. The RV came with a television, but we exchanged it out for a 24″ smart tv. We don’t always have an internet connection in some of the places we stay, so hooking up to a hotspot on the cell phones is a nice alternative.
The bathroom is very small and thank goodness I am not a fanatic about hair and makeup. In fact, I got my hair cut extremely short to begin our adventure because I didn’t know how showering or washing it would go and I just wanted to be able to not worry about it for a while. It was too short at first, but hey, guess what…hair grows back.
The cupboards are extremely deep and high and hold tons of canned and boxed food. When we left I filled them to the brim. The problem is that I can’t remember what is clear in the back on the bottom. Yes, I have had to completely empty them to see what I had. More than once. The more times we empty a cupboard, the more we remember what we have and where it is.
I am so thankful for the queen size bed. We are sleeping just as good as we did in our previous bed. It is comfortable and we have plenty of room. There isn’t a lot of room to get around the other side of the bed, but Rich is skinny enough that he fits. Maybe someday I will be too.
Plates, cups, glasses, and silverware – pots, pans, and skillets – we are discovering that we only need two of everything. We left our house with much more and have donated a few things along the way to minimize even more. After all, we don’t need much. Just the basics.
Check back tomorrow and I will tell you about our first few days on the road. What a learning experience that was.
Next is Day One and Two – Ohio to Missouri.
AMERICAN SIGHTSEEING BLOG – Living Fulltime in an RV
America is Beautiful
The RV
Just the Basics
Day One and Two – Ohio to Missouri
Having a Plan?
The Olympic Peninsula & Olympic National Park – State of Washington
Olympic National Park – Day 2
Port of Allyn – Allyn Waterfront Park
Rich and I have done a lot of traveling in our lives. I wish I would have always written about each adventure, but sometimes life just gets too busy. We began full time RVing in April 2022, but I didn’t start writing about it regularly until December 2022. That’s when I started blogging regularly on Medium. Following is a list of the travel articles I have written on Medium.
You are allowed to read three articles per month for free. Or for $4.99 per month you can become a member of Medium through my referral link and read unlimited articles by all the writers on Medium. Membership also gives you the right to like an article by clapping and leaving comments.
December 26, 2022 – Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins
December 26, 2022 – The Chassahowitzka Salt Marsh Trails in Florida
December 29, 2022 – Visiting Manatee Springs State Park in Florida
December 29, 2022 – Must See Fort Fanning Historical Park
December 29, 2022 – Visiting Fanning Springs State Park in Florida
January 4, 2023 – Visiting the USS Lexington WWII Aircraft Carrier
January 4, 2023 – Collecting Shells at Indian Point Park and Pier
January 6, 2023 – Visiting Padre Island National Seashore
January 6, 2023 – Visiting Mustang Island State Park
January 6, 2023 – Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture
January 7, 2023 – Visiting the Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine
January 8, 2023 – South to Palo Alto Battlefield
January 8, 2023 – Drifts on South Padre Island
January 8, 2023 – Visiting Port Isabel Lighthouse
January 9, 2023 – We Went Parking Today!
January 11, 2023 – The Last Land Battle of the Civil War
January 11, 2023 – What is STARBASE?
January 11, 2023 – I Think We Drove Too Far South
January 13, 2023 – Exploring the Not So Famous Beaches of Central Florida
January 13, 2023 – Another Tragic End to a Beautiful Life
January 14, 2023 – The Hans & Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge
January 15, 2023 – The Killer Bee Capital of the World
January 16, 2023 – Visiting the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse Nature Park
January 18, 2023 – A Trek to La Sal del Rey
January 18, 2023 – The Wildlife of Kings
January 18, 2023 – A Memorial Garden
January 19, 2023 – The Chachalaca Trail
January 19, 2023 – Visiting Port Mansfield, Texas
January 20, 2023 – Living on Baffin Bay
January 22, 2023 – The Largest Rattlesnake in the World
January 22, 2023 – The Ruins of Casa Blanca
January 27, 2023 – Abandoned and Left to Rot
January 27, 2023 – Estero Llano Grande State Park
January 28, 2023 – Crossing the Border
January 31, 2023 – A Testy Traveling Day
February 1, 2023 – We Found Judge Roy Bean’s Grave
February 2, 2023 – Traveling Day #2
February 3, 2023 – Amistad National Recreation Area in Del Rio, Texas
February 3, 2023 – Seminole Canyon Texas State Historic Park
February 3, 2023- Black Gap Wildlife Management Area
February 3, 2023 – The Pink Brinkley Mansion
February 4, 2023 – Who Was Nina Seawell Hannold
February 4, 2023 – The Fossil Discovery Exhibit at Big Bend National Park
February 4, 2023 – Panther Junction Visitor Center
February 4, 2023 – A Big Dark Sky at Big Bend
February 6, 2023 – Hiking the Trail to the Famous Healing Hot Springs of Big Bend
February 7, 2023 – The Ghost Towns of Big Bend
February 7, 2023 – Fort Leaton State Historic Site
February 7, 2023 – Visiting the Contrabando Movie Set Site
February 8, 2023 – The Many Terrains of Big Bend National Park
February 8, 2023 – Driving the Texas Mountain Trail
February 11, 2023 – Exploring Five Types of Mountains
February 12, 2023 – Visiting Niagara Falls State Park
February 13, 2023 – Visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty
February 14, 2023 – New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
February 15, 2023 – Welcome to Alpine, Texas
February 15, 2023 – Visiting the Historic Town of Fort Stockton, Texas
February 16, 2023 – Hiking 3 Short Trails
February 16, 2023 – Abandoned Automobiles at Big Bend
February 17, 2023 – Visiting Fort Pulaski National Monument and Cockspur Island Lighthouse
February 17, 2023 – Visiting the Gateway Arch National Park
February 19, 2023 – Living on the Lake of the Ozarks
February 21, 2023 – Trekking Up the Stairs of Watkins Glen State Park
February 23, 2023 – A Day at Fort Davis and Davis Mountain State Park
February 28, 2023 – Seeing Some of the World’s Largest Things
March 1, 2023 – What a Dirty, Ugly, Trashy Road
March 4, 2023 – Touring the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park
March 5, 2023 – Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area
March 5, 2023 – Carlsbad Caverns National Park
March 7, 2023 – Exploring the Caverns of Carlsbad
March 8, 2023 – Abandoned Apache Canyon Trading Post
March 8, 2023 – Rattlesnake Springs
March 10, 2023 – Guadalupe Mountains National Park
March 10, 2023 – Visiting the Bataan Recreation Area & Veterans Memorial Park
March 11, 2023 – Getting Lost in the Backcountry Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains
March 14, 2023 – The Largest Piistachio in the World
March 14, 2023 – Visiting White Sands National Park
March 17, 2023 – Top 10 Places to See When Visiting Carlsbad, New Mexico
March 21, 2023 – Driving the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway
March 21, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 1
March 22, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 2
March 25, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 3
March 27, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 4
March 27, 2023 – The Tallest Waterfall in Oklahoma
March 27, 2023 – A Cement Igloo & a Magnetic Hill
March 28, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 5
March 29, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 6 and 7 and Home
March 29, 2023 – Chickasaw National Recreation Area Day 1
March 29, 2023 – Chickasaw National Recreation Area Day 2
April 1, 2023 – Home Sweet Home
April 7, 2023 – Exploring Van Wert, Ohio
This blog is a work in progress as we travel across the United States in our RV, so stay tuned and come back often. I may not have the time to write about every single place we visit, but I will try. Be sure to refresh the page regularly so the new updates come through.