Search Results for (383)

Our 'Tru' Friends and Lost Dutchman State Park

Jonathan Longnecker / April 24, 2016

After we met the Trujillo's and realized they weren’t crazy axe murderers, we made plans for Jonathan and the kids to stay at their house for a few nights. The RV was headed to the shop to get some repairs that should just take a few days...they said.

We drove to the RV shop and actually spent the night there so that Jonathan wouldn’t have to drop it off without me. I had a crazy early flight to Knoxville the next morning which meant leaving the house at 5am! 

I got to the airport with time to spare so I grabbed some breakfast and caught my first flight...and my second flight and then I had 15 minutes to get off my second plane, run to the next gate and board my next flight. Shew! Bad day to wear flip flops! I made it just in time for them to say, “your flight has been delayed”. Fifteen minutes later we boarded the plane! Great! Let’s get to Knoxville! We sat on the run way for an hour and a half waiting on a storm that was in the area -  by then we had sat in the plane too long with the engine running that we had to go back to the gate and refuel. Ok, 30 minutes to wait on them to refuel and we were back on the runway! Sweet! Let’s get to Knoxville! AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER...”THE FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELED...You’ll need to talk with the agents at the gate and get another flight to Knoxville.” Seriously??? Thanks a lot American Airlines.

After trying to find flights out that night, the only option was that I get the next flight at 5am in the morning to Charlotte, then get another flight from Charlotte to Knoxville. Fine! I’ll take it. They did let me know they would pay HALF of my hotel bill if I wanted to get a room for the night. And how much did it cost? $400 a night! Say what? No thank you! I ended up staying up all night in the airport with 2 other people who were on the same plane. A very long night. And to make matters worse, my parents drove all the way from Indiana to Knoxville that night (because I was supposed to be there by 9pm) to help me go through my storage. They ended up picking me up at the airport at 10:30 the next morning. We had a few hours to get through some of our storage unit and let my dad help me get the heavy stuff out of the way before they needed to head back to Indiana. Why did we keep all of this??

Saguaro National Park and New Friends

Ashley Longnecker / April 16, 2016

While boondocking for the weekend to visit Tombstone and Bisbee, we had a thought! What if one of us flies back to Knoxville and gets rid of our storage unit?? We know we are going to be living on the road for awhile (despite it’s constant challenges) so why are we paying $60/month to store stuff that we aren’t even using? 

We quickly looked up ticket prices and we had enough frequent flyer miles that I could go back to Knoxville for real cheap. So, we made plans for me to fly out of Phoenix but first, we wanted to go explore Saguaro National Park which is on the way.

We camped at Catalina State Park in Tuscon, AZ, and snagged a great spot.

Going Broke in Tombstone, AZ

Ashley Longnecker / April 15, 2016

After our time at White Sands, I was really disappointed that we couldn’t explore more of northern New Mexico. We will have to make a trip back and spend lots of time there. Just something about that state that felt good. We need to see more of it.

We continued west and grabbed a free campsite (thanks Campendium) that was 30 minutes from Tombstone, AZ. We wanted to take the kids there. We figured they would love it. We were also just 30 minutes from Bisbee so why not do both for the weekend?

We set up camp at Whitewater Draw in McNeal, AZ.

Oliver Lee State Park/White Sands National Monument

Ashley Longnecker / April 12, 2016

After Carlsbad, NM we were super excited to get over to White Sands National Monument. Several friends we know have been out there and the pictures looked so amazing so we were so ready to get over and play in the sand!

We choose to go to Oliver Lee State Park in Alamogordo, due to it's proximiity to White Sands. What a cool state park! It’s at the base of the Sacramento Mountains and amazing views all around. They have around 44 sites, some with water and electric and some just dry camping sites. They only take reservations online for 7 of the sites and those were booked so we took our chances with driving in and looking for a site that we could fit into and hopes that we would get an electric site. 

We found one! And what a great one at that! We loved our site and if we had any larger RV, I’m not so sure we would have found a place to fit. Just look at our view! 

Carlsbad Caverns

Ashley Longnecker / April 05, 2016

After our quick overnight in Pecos, TX, we took off early to make it the rest of the way to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We love caves. I think this is our 3rd since we started traveling full-time. But, when we looked for places to stay that were close to the caverns, we just were not willing to pay $35/night for a site.

We jumped on Campendium’s website (like usual) and found a great boondocking spot that was close enough to the caverns and had great reviews so...on to Dark Canyon Road we go, in Carlsbad, New Mexico! NEW STATE!