RV Tour! (+ what a typical day looks like)
We bought our current camper in 2018 two weeks after our first camper was totaled in an accident.
I may earn a percentage on purchases made using an affiliate link.
Parked at NLBC!
The layout of the camper (Keystone 240urs) is what sold us. We spend quite a lot of time in truck stops and the side slide out on the first camper was…inconvenient. Especially as a pregnant woman making frequent midnight trips to the bathroom. I can’t tell you how many times I walked into a sharp corner of our dinette or kitchen counter.
I think the idea of living in a camper is foreign to a lot of people, and I know that those who live in campers have different lifestyles. I know some families who move their campers every one to two years and I know of some who travel like we do in the summer, waking up in a new place every week. That means that we can’t or don’t book an RV spot at a park. Which means that we spend many nights with our rig not “set up,” as putting out slides and putting down jacks is frowned upon in most urban camping locations.
This model slides out the back, and even with the slide in the kitchen and bathroom are usable. On long driving days, we never really know how far we’re going to be able to make it, especially traveling with small children. Knowing that we’ll be able to sleep comfortably no matter where we park takes a lot of stress off my plate.
When we bought it, we didn’t love the design in terms of color-scheme, but we also felt like it would be a waste to immediately redecorate it. And I couldn’t paint at 20 weeks pregnant, and I’m our painter. We did what we could, however, to make it feel like it was our space. Since the space is so small, we didn’t need to use much to get a personal touch. Although the before & after pictures might look drastic here, it actually took over three years (+ we still aren’t done yet!).
RVs are only designed for so many uses, and we wear stuff out quickly. Sometimes residential parts can be used to replace RV parts, but many times they can’t and we have to come up with a solution. So I don’t know if we’ll ever be done fitting out our rig for our family, especially as our family keeps changing.
Our first project was to take out the dinette that was built in. We wanted more living room space for Nettie to be able to crawl around and play on the floor. This was the spring of 2019, so Nettie was around nine months. Plus, we were looking at a pretty full summer of traveling at the time and the bunkhouse would be storage most of the summer. But we could easily stick the slide out, even when parked between semis, so Nettie could still have her own space on long travel days. This was completely free, and a very drastic change. It opened the space up so much!
Now that we’ve lived with the camper like this for a little over two years, it’s hard to remember what it was like to have the dinette in. We recently put in a new rug, and what a difference just a little touch can make! Keep scrolling for those pics below.
One way I’ve seen a lot of RVers make a big change is by repainting their rig. Seth and I talked about doing it for a long time, and decided on a white to make the space feel a bit bigger, and a fun color for the cabinets. I wanted to go with a dark green, but thought that might be too bold.
You can see the dark color in the pictures above. The floor, walls, and cabinets were all dark grey or brown (to hide dirt, probably). It made the space feel so small and crowded. So in the spring of 2020, we parked at my parents’ house in SD and they watched Nettie while Seth and I prepped and painted. We also redid the flooring in the main part of the camper.
It took way longer than we expected, but the results were so worth it!
What a difference just a few (well, five) coats of paint made!
We ended up staying in our in-progress camper for a few weeks, but then with the lock-down we stayed with Seth’s parents until the water was turned on at the camp and then we were at New Life for most of the summer. We actually stayed in the trailer house there (we thought we would be able to live in it year-round) but had the camper parked next to it. It was so weird not being in the camper.
This spring (2021) was the first time we’ve been back in the camper after almost a year. You can see the in-progress pics below.
We’ve been able to add a few finishing touches, like the lights (I have wanted Edison bulb string lights since we bought our first camper!), rug, and new curtains. It is so cozy, and we have enjoyed family time in our little space while our summer schedule has been packed. The plan this fall is to stay in our camper on our land (for the first time ever!) while we finish our house, but we do have a safe place to stay if winter hits before our house is move-in ready.
You can scroll through the slideshow below to see more pictures of our almost finished camper. Maybe this fall or next year we can finish the kid’s room/toy-hauler, but for now we’re just enjoying our fresh, cozy living room.
A typical day starts when the sun comes through the widows (which was 5:30am a few weeks ago!) Seth (@eoministries) is fantastic and makes coffee for us. The kids actually sleep really well in the camper and so they might not wake up until 8:30-10am. Which means that Seth and I get some time to talk and either read or work on a project. In under 200 square feet of living space, there’s really only room for one project at a time.
We don’t always eat breakfast, sometimes it’s just coffee and fruit. Nettie doesn’t reliably eat at mealtimes, so we keep plenty of snacks on hand. Once the kids get up we do a round of diaper changes and then either Seth takes them for a walk or they watch a show so that I can work.
Then it’s lunch time and naps. Even if Nettie doesn’t sleep, she lays down in her bunk with some books so that I can clean. In the afternoon, we might have an activity that takes us out of the camper or we might play inside. The kids and I still travel with Seth and I try to bring them in to his events.
After supper, it’s bath time as Elwood is just starting solid food and is a messy eater and Nettie is a typical toddler who loves to get dirty. Then we read books and they are generally both asleep at around 9:30pm.
Travel days are more or less the same, depending on how long we have to get where we are going. We’ve had to make it from Northern MN to CO in about a day before (and audio books are a lifesaver for days like this!), but we prefer taking our time driving so that we can keep the kids on a close to normal schedule. When our schedule allows, we try to plan at least one fun “outing” to stretch our legs and tire the kids out on driving days.
If you are interested in more of the emotional/psychological aspect of RV living, you can read my book of poetry, Already Almost Home, inspired by our life on the road. It’s available in both print and eBook formats, and I’ve linked the print version below.
I hope you enjoyed our camper tour! I can’t wait until we can really get to work on our house and show you those pictures as well! You can subscribe to my email list to be notified when new posts are up here.
Until next time!