E

edweeks

Member
My wife and I have a plan ? or rather an unplan?for this summer. Our intent in to take two or three weeks and start out from Oregon in our RV-7 with no real destination in mind. We?ll pack lightly, bring a credit card, and just start heading generally east until we start heading back west, wandering about as our mood and inspiration strikes us. We?ll have no real itinerary but a tentative collection of places that look interesting.

Has anyone done something like this or pondered doing something like this and decided against it? I wondering if I?m overlooking something that might make this a not-so-great idea. And I?m wondering if there are some suggestions (this group seems always to have great ideas) that might make this ?unplan? an even more excellent adventure. Either way, your comments are appreciated.

Ed
 
Sounds great

It is just a series of flight/trip planning.

Personally I am a big nature guy. Utah has so much to see with beaucoup national parks, I would try that.

There is Devils Tower in WY and Mt Rushmore in SD

Antelope Canyon in page AZ www.antelopecanyon.com

Monument Valley www.gouldings.com

Grand Canyon (get the special map for a flyover)

Death Valley, CA http://www.airnav.com/airport/L06

Leadville CO http://www.airnav.com/airport/KLXV

Read this report for some of these:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=25729

Another link to peruse:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=24383&highlight=bahamas
 
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DO IT!!!

Yes, do it Ed. We have been doing this every summer since I retired, and love it. But we do not pack lite, we load up with camping stuff and do some camping, some hotel/motel, some family or friends and are vagabonds. There are lots of places to visit. Have fun.
 
One of the trips that I have taken was two summers ago. My friend and I left Victoria BC. with a tent etc and flew the perimeter of the continental USA, camping all the way. It was a great trip. Saw a lot of great sites and met a lot of great people. We camped mostly right on the airport proper. On another trip we even pitched our tent under a Connie between the oil drips in Santa Fe.
Another great site seeing trip is to go east of Oregon to Salt Lake and then south to the four corners, down the grand canyon to Tucson then east to the Gulf to New Orleans then up the Mississippi to the Missouri into Montana then back to Oregon. Go for it you will never look back there is a lot to see and the RV will get you there.
 
Boy, would I like to have three weeks to just wander with an airplane.

You lucky dog! Do it.
 
Thanks for the encouragement and advice

Well, not a discouraging word offered. OK then, I think we're going to do this vagabond thing. My wife was intrigued about the camping notion so we'll pursue that idea some (personally, I'm a soft bed, hot shower kind of guy). I recall seeing some threads about RV camping.

I'll practice on the technology and try to post a running account of our adventure.

Ed
 
I've always wanted to head out to the airport, pull out the plane, see which way the tails winds are best and go. Sounds like a great time to me. Do it while you can, too often we wait until we can't.
 
Oceano

edweeks said:
Well, not a discouraging word offered. OK then, I think we're going to do this vagabond thing. My wife was intrigued about the camping notion so we'll pursue that idea some (personally, I'm a soft bed, hot shower kind of guy). I recall seeing some threads about RV camping.

I'll practice on the technology and try to post a running account of our adventure.

Ed
Click to expand...

Its been a few years, but I camped at Oceano Airport. Right next to Pismo Beach. Other campsites were packed, but only 2 people at the airport campground.
 
RV Vagabond

Ed, we only camp where hot showers are available and go buy a Coleman full size air mattress and good light weight sleeping bags and you are good to go. The full size air mattress is about 8 lbs and the queen is about 12 lbs.

If you have a wife that is willing to try camping out of the plane, you are ahead of most guys, go for it.

________________

Well, not a discouraging word offered. OK then, I think we're going to do this vagabond thing. My wife was intrigued about the camping notion so we'll pursue that idea some (personally, I'm a soft bed, hot shower kind of guy). I recall seeing some threads about RV camping.
 
camping contribution

I'd recommend taking a look at the Thermarest product instead of air matresses. Self-inflating so you don't have to bother blowing or pumping them up. From experience, air matresses can get real cold, but Thermarests are fantastic. They look really thin, but are actually quite comfortable. They roll down to a compact package. We did a big 4WD trip through Central Australia a few years back, and even my wife was comfortable, and she's a "I like my own bed and pillow" kind of girl.

DAZ
 
Wow what a great idea.
I have a map in my hangar of all these sites I'd like to visit someday.
Maybe I should string some of these together and do my own RV vagabond journey.

How do you manage the camping?
Renal car to the state or national parks?
 
Hi ED
If you find yourself anywhere near Lancaster, Pa give a shout we can offer a warm bed and hot shower and a good meal. We can even fit your RV in our hangar, Have Fun
Blue Skies
 
You will find most small airports have a car that you can borrow. Some will let you take it overnight to a camp ground. Many airports have areas that you can camp and showers. Some even have a pilots room with beds. You are going to have a blast. I have been doing this sort of camping at airports etc now for 36 years and haven't had a bad experience yet.
 
Different concepts

There seem to be two concepts being discussed. One is the old TV show "Route 66" idea taking what comes and the other involves planning to fly to predetermined locations and camp out. We plan multiple trips each year to specific points of interest and each trip is both educational and an adventure. We do not camp but camping would not change the basic "travel to pre-planned specific points and experience them" concept. Now, the idea of taking off each morning with a direction but no specific destination in mind is interesting - not efficient but interesting. If you could sustain it for a period of time posts each day might be interesting - maybe not. Camping would not have to be a requirement - perhaps it would even be an unnecessary constriction.

We lived on the west coast for 26 years before I retired and moved to the heartland. One of the drawbacks of living at the southwest corner of the country was, it was a major trip to visit places in the east. A trip that combined the general idea of a planned trip without hard point-to-point plans and schedules would enhance the experience and give you a chance to cover the east. Say you wanted to visit the Kennedy Space Center, Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Dayton, Chicago and Oshkosh as "tall poles" in your tent like flight boundary, you would have a sense of requirements and direction without stifling your short term flight creativity. That would help me sustain interest. I always sense a great deal of satisfaction landing back at Drake Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas, pushing our RV-6A back into the hangar, updating my log and returning to our home.

Bob Axsom
 
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