Our TRIP took an UNEXPECTED turn | Reality of RV travel

If this isn't RVing, I don't know what is. Change in travel plans, that seems to be the theme of this trip for us. The beauty of traveling in a motorhome is that it's a house on wheels, so if you want to get up and pick up and move somewhere new and change the location, you can do that at any time. Ready for a new adventure that was unplanned until about three hours ago. You know what I realized just now? I think I'm addicted to the driving experience of the RV. You can't see anything out here. It is pitch black. Scary driving a 45-foot rig when you can't see anything. So the plan for today, we're driving from here to Buena Vista. RV life, man. It's always something. We just found out two of our good friends and honestly kind of RV celebrities are staying here. Okay, no, that sounds great. Well, thank you so much for letting us make such a last-minute reservation. We really appreciate it. Yeah, no, that sounds good. Okay, yeah. We'll see you guys tomorrow, probably early in the afternoon. All right, great. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. So are we good to go? We're good. We're able to get us last-minute reservations for tomorrow, so yeah. If this isn't RVing, I don't know what is. Change in travel plans, that seems to be the theme of this trip for us. So we were supposed to be in this spot for about another week. We're currently in St. Petersburg, Florida. We're going to stay here another week, two weeks total, and we got some news this morning that kind of changed our plans. So we just decided we're going to go ahead and roll out of here and go somewhere new. That's what RVing is all about, right? It's like flexibility. So one of the things that changed with our plans, we were supposed to be heading to Pensacola next weekend. My older brother had his pinning ceremony. He's being promoted to a commander in the U.S. Navy. So my whole family was going to be gathering in Pensacola to go to his pinning ceremony and to get to be there for this important milestone in his career. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing government shutdown, they just canceled the whole event. So although he'll still be getting the promotion, which is great, they just won't be doing the pinning ceremony, which is kind of a bummer. So since we are no longer having to go to Pensacola and my family canceled their plans to travel to Pensacola, we're no longer going to go there and we're just going to start heading west to head back to our lot in Southern California a few days earlier than we were anticipating. That's right. The sooner we can get there, the better because we want to head west. Yeah. Plus, I guess the second, well, we have two other reasons, I suppose. One is that apparently we've got some new neighbors this weekend. And I say a new neighbor, what I really mean are plural neighbors. There's a motorcycle rally here in our in our campground, which we weren't aware of. And while I like motorcycles and I love loud noises, I like them on a limited basis. And so we've got motorcycles here from Thursday until Sunday. And when I say motorcycles, it's about hundreds. Yeah, I'd say there's at least 300 or 400 motorcycles. So someone drove by the other day on a golf cart. I think they named it appropriately. They said it was like KOA Sturgis here and it kind of feels like that. And they're not doing anything wrong at all. You know, they're allowed to be here and they're fine. It's just noisy for us. Yeah, it's totally fine. And I do like it, but I like it in a limited, limited quantity. So this is going to be a good opportunity for us to get out of here a little bit early. Plus it's hot. And although we're not going somewhere colder, let's just pretend that we are because it makes it feel like it's going to be better. But we're not used to the humidity and I can't stop sweating. I really can't. We have been out of the heat and humidity for so long since we've started living in an RV. Like we just don't stay in these climates anymore. So we're so not acclimated to it. And also probably the third reason Chris is getting eaten alive by mosquitoes here. And anytime he gets eaten by bugs, he's like, I'm out. That was very nice. So that's the fourth reason. But yeah, that is the fourth reason. And maybe if we did this over again, it would be the primary reason. Maybe. Because I am getting eaten alive by something. But the beauty of traveling in a motor home is that it's a house on wheels. So if you want to get up and pick up and move somewhere new and change the location, you can do that at any time. So that's what we're doing today. I was able to call a motor coach resort and make a reservation last minute today. We're going to be heading to Buena Vista in Gulf Shores, Alabama, which is about eight hours away total. So we're going to break up the drive actually and go about three hours today. It's like two 30 in the afternoon. So we're going to drive a couple hours, hopefully get ahead of traffic, get out of here before Friday afternoon rush hour. And then we'll make the rest of the trip tomorrow, which is a Saturday and be able to get there, you know, kind of early in the afternoon and really enjoy our stay. So we'll be staying there for a week and we're excited. We've been there before. It's a great place. We know the person that owns this RV lot that we're going to be staying at and it's a beautiful place. So we're excited. I have a great pool and a great lazy river and it's right on the beach. So excited. Yeah, that'll be fun. So we're pretty much all packed up and ready to go here. I think all we got to do is unplug the electric and pull out of our spot and we'll be good to go. We are ready to go. Yeah. So ready for a new adventure that was unplanned until about three hours ago. Okay. I think this is the last of everything that I need to put away. Ready? We ready? Stuff that in there and shut the door. It fits pretty well. Axel's ready to go. Should we get your bed up, man? We'll put your bed in between the front seats. Yeah. All we got to do is the electric, put the slides in and we're good. Start it up. Axel, are you ready for a road trip? Are you ready to go somewhere new? Huh? Are you excited? We actually had a pretty nice site here at the KOA in St. Pete, so we were able to move to this site, which is right along the mangroves and on the water. It's a pretty big spot for our 45 footer. It's a great spot. Site DW31. Got this really pretty oak tree over here that gives us a lot of good afternoon shade. Okay, you ready to do the electric? Ready. Ready as I'll ever be. You already undid, or sorry, you already emptied out the tanks and everything? I undid them. You undid them. We have the water view. This spot really did have a nice water view. It's a great spot. It was a really nice quiet spot until all the neighbors. It was quiet until the motorcycle showed up, which right now they're on a break or something because it's nice and quiet. I think they all went out for a ride this afternoon. It's funny, we saw about a hundred bikes drive by. They were all going for some afternoon ride. Chris is just finishing hooking up the Lincoln so that way we can flat tow it and we'll be ready to hit the road. You can kind of see behind me a little bit maybe the event that's going on for the motorcycle club here. Like we said, it's really not too bad. It's not that noisy. It's just a lot of bikes and they make a lot of noise when they drive and they have events that are going on kind of all hours of the night with bands and stuff. So I'm sure if you're there for the club, it would be really fun, but we just weren't able to get a lot of sleep last night. It'll be nice to go somewhere a little bit quieter tonight where we can just kind of relax and then get to Buena Vista tomorrow. Babe, that was impressive maneuvering. Honestly, that was a tight turn. It was tighter than I thought it was. I didn't think it was going to be that tight, but it was fine. You did great, as always. I love this thing. I need to channel them tonight. Yeah, I saw them in the rearview mirror. It looked like they were a side mirror. It looked like they were panicking on their jeep a little bit, but we had lots of room. The lady kept asking. She was really nice. She was like, you need me to move it? I said, no. And she goes, he sure looks like he's going to hit it. I said, he won't. I promise. We're not close to it, and I said, I promise I will not let him hit your car. I love you. Promise on my behalf. Well, I know you're skillless, babe, and I know you would never do that. No. You'd never come close. You were about two feet away from it, but she was definitely nervous. Understandably so. It does look a lot closer, especially with the way you have to turn. Right. People don't understand the pivot points on the bus, and it always looks like I turn too late, and then it will. Thank you. Thank you. The motorcycle club guy with help guiding us out, because it's a bit tight here with all the bikes and cars. It is pretty tight. He's still back there waving at us. Oh, is he? They're all so nervous you're gonna hit them. You good in the back? Yeah. Okay. Now we're good. There you go. We did it. All right. It's a tight campground. It is a tight campground. It's not really made for big rigs. You can tell it's an older KOA that's a bit tight. Well, it's not bad, but right now it's just so busy. Yeah, true. I got it. This guy seems to think he can just pull right up next to me. All right. Now I feel like we can sing your song on the road again. On the road again. Can't wait to get on the road again. We got our RV safe GPS, which we use RV life turned on just to make sure that as we're navigating through the city, we make sure we go a route that is safe for our motorhome specifically. It's been three quarters of a mile. We're gonna go left. It's about eight and a half hours total to Buena Vista. Like I said earlier, we're gonna split it up though. So we're gonna drive however long we feel like it today. I don't know what, like three, four hours maybe? It's only eight hours. We can probably make it by 1 a.m. Yeah, but we don't have reservations tonight. The reservations start tomorrow. That's fair. It's fine. It's true. No, we'll see how far we get. That means I need to find an RV park along the highway, so I'll do that next as soon as we get on the highway and get going. You know what I realized just now? What? I think I'm addicted to the driving experience of the RV. Really? Yeah. I'm gonna go left at the light, baby. Okay. You're addicted to the driving. We're not going anywhere fun right now, right? We're going to be somewhere fun, but not necessarily tonight. But it's just fun to be back on the road again. It's fun to be driving the coach. Well, and you love this because we don't even know where we're staying tonight, and I swear you love it. Maybe that's what it is. We don't know what we're doing, so that has me excited. Who knows? We could be stranded in a Walmart parking lot tonight. We could. I hope it's a 24-hour Walmart, so we can go shopping. But the cool thing about being in an RV is that even if we stay in a Walmart parking lot, it's still the exact same inside. We have our entire house with us. It's pretty cool. It is true. It is very true. The only thing you have to ever worry about is if we're in a semi-safe location, right? Yeah, you don't want to be somewhere sketchy. The other thing too is because it's so hot out, we do want to have at least electric hookups because otherwise we'd have to run the generator all night to have the AC on, which we could do, but it just is noisy. Yeah. It's a lot easier if we could just have the hookups. Yeah. So I'll probably try to find an RV park that has full hookups and just make it easy. One of the challenges that comes with not planning ahead and trying to do things last minute is we're having a hard time finding an RV park for tonight. So originally we were thinking about staying near Tallahassee, which is about a four, four and a half hour drive from where we are right now. I called a couple of different RV parks and found out that there is a football game happening this weekend. So all the RV parks are totally booked in the area. So now I'm trying to find another place that looks like a decent place to stay for the night, but so far not having much luck. So hopefully we can find something that's along the route and easy. We really like to find a pull through spot so that way we don't have to disconnect. But right now at this point, we'll just take anything we can find that has hookups and that will fit us. Okay. So typically this is how we find RV parks whenever we're planning our trips. So I basically just go into Google maps and I kind of look along our route to figure out a place nearby where we want to stay. So we're going to be going up I-75 from Tampa heading towards Tallahassee. So I just search for RV parks in the area and then I kind of just look at the location and see where they're at. We try to find ones that are not right on the interstate because those tend to be really loud. So we try to find ones that are within a couple miles and aren't too far off. That way we can get a good night's sleep, but it's also easy on and off the highway. I found this place, which is about six miles off the highway. It's a little bit further than we would usually stay, but it's might be the only one given a lot of the other RV parks are already booked for the night in Tallahassee. So let's try to give them a call and see what they say. Yeah. Hi. I was calling to see if you guys happen to have any last-minute availability for a pull-through spot tonight for just one night. Yeah, you're looking right there at your tax. It's about eight dollars for the night. Okay. Okay. And we're in a 45-foot motorhome towing a car. Would we be able to fit without having to unhook? Yeah. Okay. Awesome. I saw that you guys, it looks like you have online booking. So am I, if I book it, can I book it for tonight online or do you have to do that over the phone? You can do that online. I just try to get it done before four o'clock so we can get the check-ins back, the check-in bag made up for you. Okay. Perfect. And we're coming from Tampa. It looks like we'll be there probably about three and a half, four hours with traffic. Is that okay to arrive around like 8 p.m.? Yeah. Yeah. It'll be a late check-in. So what we do for those is we'll have a, like I said, I would say make sure you make your reservation before four o'clock. Okay. Yeah. I'll do it right now. It'll be like a black tote bag with the map into it. Okay. Directions on how to get over to your spot and everything. Perfect. Okay. That sounds good. Well, I'll go ahead and book that online right now. All right. Sounds good. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right. Bye-bye. Awesome news. I was able to find us an RV spot, so I'm going to go online and book that really quick and then we can head there for the night. So we're currently driving in some traffic trying to get through downtown Tampa right now, so I thought I would take the time to give you guys a quick update of our travel plans in general. So we mentioned earlier that we're not going to Pensacola anymore since my brother's pinning ceremony was canceled. We're heading to Gulf Shores, or actually I think it's an orange beach, technically, Buena Vista. We'll be staying there for a week. Then we're going to head to the New Orleans area, which is where I'm from originally, to see my childhood best friend who's about to have a baby. And then we're also going to get to see some of my relatives that Chris has never met. So that'll be really cool to just get to reconnect with people that I haven't seen in a long time. And then we're going to be heading to Crystal Beach, Texas for the AIM Club Rally. This is our first time attending one of these rallies and we're really excited. AIM Club stands for All-Inclusive Motorhome Club and it's put on by National Indoor RV Centers. Essentially, this is a big gathering of all the AIM Club members that are going to this event. It's going to be pretty cool. We're staying at the Camp Margaritaville RV Park, which looks like a pretty nice place. We've never been to that one in Crystal Beach. But it's really cool because you just get to connect with a lot of other like-minded RVers. Sometimes people feel like they can get a bit lonely living this lifestyle or traveling this way. So this is a really great way to connect with people that have a similar interest to you, to make new friends, and just meet up on the road. So we're pretty excited. We're actually going to do a full video from the rally, just showing what it's like because it's actually our first time attending an RV rally like this. So we're excited for that. And speaking of NIRVC, they are going to be putting on their third annual Music City Motorhome Expo next year from May 30th through June 3rd, 2026, taking place in Lebanon, Tennessee. If you've watched some of our videos before, you'll know that we are big fans of this event. This is an exclusive VIP shopping experience for anyone serious about buying an RV. And honestly, Chris and I can say this after going to a lot of different RV shows, it is hands down the best RV show we have ever been to. They only sell a limited number of tickets, so it's not overcrowded. And it's a really hands-on experience. So that way you can look at all the latest models from all the different manufacturers. They have class A, B, and C models available. What makes it really unique is that you can test drive any model you want. So it's the only RV show like it where you can actually go and compare all the different types of motorhomes side by side. You can meet with the manufacturers, meet with the engineers that actually design these, get all your questions answered, and then ultimately be able to test drive them to see what is going to fit you and your needs the best. Right now they have early bird pricing of $1,200 for anyone that signs up for the event. That includes two tickets and RV camping. The price is less if you don't need RV camping. It includes all meals, nightly live entertainment, snacks, beverages, everything. You basically show up to the event and you don't have to worry about a thing. The price is going to go up come January 1st, so it's going to go up to about $1,500 and then it's going to go up again after that. They're over halfway sold out already and this event will sell out. It sold out last year, so you want to make sure you get your tickets while they're still discounted and before it sells out. We'll be attending the event next year and we would love to meet you there. So if you're interested in learning more about the event or signing up, click the link below down in the video description and you can get signed up at the discounted price. Woohoo! That was a big yawn. Getting tired? Yeah, just the yawn. We're going to stop for our first fuel stop along the way. We're going to go into a TA center. We're going to get off at this next exit, babe. One mile. Okay. Axel always gets so excited when we're stopping. Going to the TA right here. Woohoo, Axel! No line. We have to pull right in. Okay, I'm going to feed Axel really quick and then I'll take him out to go potty while you're getting fuel. I'll get fuel and wash the window. Okay. Thank you. You hungry, buddy? You ready for some dinner, man? Come on, let's get you some food. Found an almond that you dropped. Okay, buddy. You're such a good dog. Alright, come on. Go ahead. You can eat. Go ahead, buddy. You ready, buddy? You ready to go potty real quick? Unfortunately, most of the TAs don't have dog parks. They usually just have a small patch of grass somewhere. But at least it's a place where Axel can go potty real quick. No, Axel! Not on the sign! Axel, where's dad? Where is he? There he is! Cleaning the window. The worst squeegees in the world. Really? Why? They're just shitty. Look at how shitty they are. Not just the fact that we're so covered in bugs they don't work? Yeah, I don't know what it is, but I miss the Bucky squeegees. Well, Axel didn't like the patch of grass they had either. Well, they were even. Yeah, that does look like a pretty bad squeegee. It's falling apart! I've used three of them and they're all falling apart. How much gas do we need today? Like half tank? Yeah, about half tank. 75 gallons. So what were the damages? 73 and a half. Gallons or dollars? Gallons. $73 seemed really cheap to me. $264 a gallon. $264 got me all confused. It's not our worst by far. No, it's almost exactly half a tank. I hate standing on all this diesel. You know, some truck stops are better than others. That's for sure. This is why I never want you to wear your shoes inside for the record. You know, I got gloves on for diesel. I need some diesel shoes. You need some diesel booties. Like you put on in a doctor's office or a nuclear power plant. You can see Axel here thinks he's going to take over as the new driver. Hi, buddy. You're being a good puppy. Alright, I think I'm just going to go inside the RV and use the bathroom. Alright, I'm going to go wash my hands. The bathrooms here are going to be really nice. I'll just use the one here. Are you going to pull it up first? I'll pull it up. Then I'm going to go wash my hands. Sorry, Axel. You had to give up the driver's seat, man. Dad's got to pull it forward. I'd let you drive, but you can't reach the pedals. That's the only reason you won't let him drive? It's the only reason. I'm going to use the bathroom in here while you go wash your hands. Are you sure you don't want to just wash your hands in here? No, I don't want to wash. I thought it wasn't too bad of a fuel stop. That took us, what, 20 minutes, maybe? Yeah, if it even took that. Axel got his dinner, so he's happy now, huh, buddy? You're such a good puppy. We did not have our dinner yet, so we're going to have to wait until we get in at about 8 o'clock tonight to eat. I'm hungry. I'm just getting kind of hungry too, but there's nowhere here to get anything. Since we weren't planning on having a travel day today, I didn't prep any kind of quick meals or anything to eat on the road. We'll survive. We'll just have to wait until 8 o'clock or later tonight. We'll survive. According to the GPS, we have 2 hours and 13 minutes to go. We should be arriving about 7.45pm, which means by the time we roll in to our RV spot, it'll probably be about 8 o'clock. Perfect. Not bad. Not too bad. The sun here sets about 7, so it might be dark by the time we pull in. Hopefully we still have a little bit of daylight. We don't. When do we cross the border of the time zone? Not... It's in the Panhandle, isn't it? It might be Tallahassee, actually. I gotta look. I don't think it's tonight, though. Oh, good. I can't remember if it's in the Panhandle or it's on the border of Alabama and Florida. It could be on the border. We just got off I-10 West. We're finally going west for the first time since we went out west this summer, so I guess now we're officially on our way back to California, which is exciting. We just got off the highway for our overnight stay, which is in Madison, and we've got about five miles to go off the highway, so it should be a nice quiet spot for the night, but I'm starting to get a little bit tired. It's about 7.45 right now, and it's pretty much pitch black out here. There's no streetlights or anything. Not really ideal driving this big of a rain, getting in after dark, because it's just a little bit harder to set up in the dark and to see where you're going, but otherwise it's been a smooth travel day, so we're just gonna get there. Hopefully they have an after-hours packet that I can just easily pick up and get in our spot pretty quickly, but Chris has been doing a great job driving, so we're just pretty tired at this point, but we're ready to get there. How you feeling driving at night? It's been a while since we've done it. It's been a long time. I like driving at night. It's quieter on the road, which is nice, but it's definitely harder to see. We saw a bunch of deer on the side of the highway and we were kind of afraid they might jump out. That's true. Yeah, I know it is. It's just quiet, but it is hard to see, like you say. It's a nice, fancy place. It sure looks fancy. Got a couple tree branches. Gate looks open. That's nice. They did give us the code, but I guess it's open. Alright, Axel. We're almost here, buddy. That's not creepy at all. What? Look at the deers. Oh, look at that. Look at the deers. Did you see? That's what I was afraid of driving. You can't see anything out here. It is pitch black. We're coming in at night. It's kind of scary driving a 45-foot rig when you can't see anything. Yeah. Scary or fun? With you driving, it's fun, I should say. It is pretty fun. I don't even see any RVs out here. Where are the RVs? I don't know. We might have another two miles to go for all of them. This is bizarre. Walking up to what I'm assuming or hoping is the clubhouse. Supposedly, they have some kind of a welcome packet for me. I brought a flashlight. That looks like it might be it right here. Excellent. Well, that was actually pretty nice. This is the first time I think I've ever gotten a tote bag at check-in from an RV park. Now we just have to find our site in the dark. Seriously, there's hardly any lights here. Might be kind of a challenge. Okay, I got a bag with our site number on it. Let me look at the map and see if I can figure out where we're going. Gotta go forward. So that was the first one. This is the second one. Third one and then the fourth one. Yeah, so we want to turn right onto this one. And we're looking. We go all the way down. So there's one more. We go all the way down and we're the last site on the right. The full-on site to the right. Number 88. This might be the hardest we've ever had getting into a site. We just can't see anything. I think that's good. We're on the concrete pad fully. The Lincoln, it's not in the road, but it's not on the concrete. But there's not room for it to be. Is it pretty level right here? It is? Okay. Let's just go ahead and set it up here. Okay. I think it's fine. Okay. Come on, buddy. Gonna go for a quick walk. Good job getting us here in the dark, babe. That was no easy feat. Wasn't that bad. You did a good job finding this place. It's pretty nice. It's a nice place. I'd love to see it in the daylight. Okay, let's take Axel for a quick little walk and then I'm gonna make you some dinner. I'm hungry. I know, me too. It's 815. It's pretty late for dinner. Come on, buddy. Not if we're in Europe. That's true. Since Chris does all the driving, the least I can do is make him a good home-cooked dinner. Well, you do all the navigating. True. That's not nearly as stressful as the driving. I don't know how you do it, especially in the dark like this. That was impressive. I think the driving is more fun and the navigation is more stressful. Could be. I'm sorry this is all I have to make you tonight, but I'm gonna have to make do with some salmon and rice. I'm sure it will be perfect. Sorry, bud. You don't get any. You don't get any, man. A little parmesan on top because Chris likes parmesan. It adds to the salmon just a little bit. Looks good to me. Bon appétit. A little roadside meal in our one-night place. Good morning. Good morning. We had a really nice overnight stay. I have to say, this was a delightful place. This is Madison RV Park and Golf Resort. This is actually really nice. It's about 6 miles off the highway off I-10, so it's not super quick to get to, but it only took us an extra 10 minutes, maybe. It was funny. Getting here last night in the dark, we couldn't see anything. We had no idea where we were going. There were no lights around or anything. Now, seeing it in the daylight, we have so much space. This was such an easy pull-through spot to get into. This is really nice because they've got a concrete pad here that's completely level. We had room for the Lincoln, so we didn't have to disconnect. They have the world's largest dog park that I swear I've ever seen at any RV park. You can kind of see it here behind me. This is only a portion of it back here. Axel, come over here, buddy. It is this massive dog park back here. It's really cool. This place is on a golf resort, so if you like to golf, this would be a really nice place to come and golf. Shout out to Madison RV Park because this was a nice spot. It was actually cheaper than most KOAs, so score for that. I think we're pretty much ready to go. All we've got to do is unhook the electric, put the slides in, put the jacks up, and we're ready. Five minutes, we'll be out of here. The plan for today, we're driving from here to Buena Vista, which is about four and a half hours total, but we have to make a pit stop. We have to make a pit stop to deal with Costco. Deal with Costco? I mean, we're taking advantage of actually stopping by Costco because it's on the way, and it's close to where we're stopped today. Plus, one of the challenges of living in an RV is that we're always having to deal with things like prescriptions and doctors and trying to manage all of that. One of the prescriptions that I have on a regular basis, we're going to be able to pick up from Costco, which you can't always get. It's difficult to get from some of the locations, so we happened to have it in this Costco, so we're going to get it. Luckily, nationwide pharmacies are nice to use because we can just transfer the prescription, but it's one of those things a lot of people don't think about when you live full-time in an RV is things like prescriptions and doctor's appointments. It's all just a little bit more difficult. It's one of those things you take for granted until you live in an RV and you realize that this stuff has to transfer all the time, and sometimes it doesn't transfer across states. What's funny is that we always get this from the pharmacist, like, well, I see your address is out of state. Why are you filling this here? We have to go through the whole spiel. Well, we live in an RV and we have property here and there, but we're registered in Texas. They're always like, where do you live? I'm like, well, we live in the RV. Well, but your address is Texas. Well, that's our domicile, so we do live in Texas. They never quite seem to believe our story. I'm like, do you want the quick 30-second version or do you want the whole spiel? Those are two different stories. It would be much easier if we just didn't have any health care ever and didn't ever have to do anything like that. That would be nice. Axel doesn't want to leave. He's enjoying the sunshine. You like it here. You know, we left wherever we were at in St. Petersburg, and it was hot and sticky and muggy and we get up here, it's nice and cool and all we did was drive for four hours and it's so much different. Still in the same state. Chris was just asking, he's like, are we in the mountains in Florida? I'm like, babe, they don't have mountains. It felt like it this morning, but it's starting to warm up now. It did. It felt pretty nice. Alright, let me go turn the AC off and then we can unplug the electric and get out of here. Alright. Sorry, bud. You can lay in the sun as soon as we get there today, okay? I promise. All day. Hey, buddy. Are you gonna be co-pilot today? You're gonna just sit in my seat all day, man? You should let him navigate. I should let him navigate. Aw, buddy. Alright, we'll bark once for left and twice for right. He's so sad to be leaving the sunshine, but we're going to the beach, buddy. I promise there'll be lots more sunshine. We are cleared for liftoff. Or is it cleared for takeoff? Takeoff. It's locked. Oh, you already locked it? Yeah, but you just locked it twice. Why'd you hit it twice? Because it didn't sound like it locked, but that's because I guess it was already locked. Yeah, it was already locked. This is a really nice place, I have to say. The spots are really nice and big. Lots of privacy. Not many people here. And it was so quiet compared to the motorcycle rally that we were at. Yeah, I mean, there's no amenities, really. If you want a swimming pool or things like that, that's not here. But it's really nice spots, big spots. And if you like to golf. And if you have a dog. The biggest dog park I've truly ever seen at an RV park. I'm not exaggerating. It was massive. It's an acre, at least. We kept thinking it wasn't really a dog park. It was just a fenced off area. And then we realized, nope, that's a dog park. Plus, I love this tree on the way in. Right in the middle of the road. It was just funny how dark it was last night. I mean, we didn't get in that late, but 8.30 or 8 o'clock, I can't remember. It was pitch black out here. I don't think they get a lot of overnight guests. We're officially back on the highway. So we're heading in I-10 West towards Tallahassee. We've got about a 50 minute drive to get to our first stop, which is the Costco, like we mentioned. Pick up Chris's prescription. And I'm sure we're gonna do some shopping around at the Costco. We're old and we love Costco. It's nice because we can leave Axel in the RV while we stop too. We just turn on the generator. We can kick on the AC and leave him safe and sanitized in the RV. So it's okay to leave him for like 30 minutes or so while we do that. But it should be a pretty easy drive there. And then once we leave Costco, we'll have about 3.5 hours or so to get to Buena Vista. So overall, it should be a pretty easy travel day. We'll get going a little later than we usually do just because the pharmacy didn't open until later. So we just decided if we would sleep in, take our time. It's nice to get a good night rest. I think we're both feeling pretty rested after that. Yeah. I was gonna say Costco is good for people of all ages. It's not just for old people. That's true. Costco is good for people of all ages. I think we're good. Be good, Axel. You might be able to hear but we have the generator running and we have the AC units on. But Axel's just sitting in the front seat while we go run into Costco. He's gonna watch us walk away. Let's go look at boats when we're at Costco. No, we're not gonna want to look at boats. Okay, so you are gonna go get your prescription and I'm gonna go run and get a couple things from the grocery area. Yup, and then I'm gonna go over to the automotive area and stroll around and wait for you. No, uh-uh. Okay, I'll go to the candy area, get some M&M's. We do not have time for dilly-dallying in Costco today. We still have another four hours to go. And a hot dog. If the line's not long. Yes, you can get a hot dog. Alright, cool. We need a cart. No. We do not need a cart today. We're not getting that much. Famous last words. Really hard to not get distracted in Costco, but I'm trying to stay focused. Chris went to get his prescription, so I'm just gonna go to the grocery section and try to get a couple things real quick. Start with some tomatoes. We're gonna get some romaine. This is so much cheaper than getting it at the grocery store, so I like to stock up on this here at Costco. We were planning to do a seafood boil one night when we're in Alabama, so we're looking at the fresh seafood options here. We'll probably get some lobster tails and maybe some fresh shrimp. Those look pretty good. Get this guy. Then we'll get a pack of fresh shrimp too. Let's see, Chris. Do they have your prescription ready? Mm-mm. What are you waiting for? Pharmacy. You gotta talk to them? Put it on hold until you get there. Oh, when will they be here? They stepped out for a minute. I'm not sure. Okay. Please begin scanning. Gotta love the self-checkout so you can skip the long line. Four. Fifty-nine. Sixty-five. Eighty-six. That's expensive, those lobster tails. Are they? Yeah. They were $65. They'll be good. It's a lot cheaper than getting it at a restaurant, but still expensive. Okay. Oh, we didn't get a hot dog. Do you want a hot dog? Nah. Line's too long. Not too long. Okay. So we got a hot dog for Chris. I got a slice of pizza. We're just gonna wrap this up really quick so that way we can take it back to the RV and eat with Axel. And all of this was $3. Not bad. $3.75 actually, but that's pretty cheap for lunch. Costco was a success. We got the prescription. We got a few goodies, including lobster tails, which might be one of the most random things to go and buy is lobster tails, romaine, and tomatoes. And then we got a hot dog and a slice of pizza. They're a good price for five lobster tails. Axel's gonna be pretty excited for a treat. Some hot dog. Looks like the RV was safe and sound while we were gone. Still in one piece. No new scratches. Hey, baby. Hi. We got you a treat. Axel, come on. You want some hot dog? Come on. Let's go get some hot dog. He's gonna be so excited. Okay, we brought you a treat. I promise. You're gonna get to have some. You want to try some pizza? That's a greasy looking slice of pizza. My goodness. Axel doesn't like pepperoni. No? No. I'm pretty sure Axel will eat anything. He'd prefer a sausage. He probably does. I'm gonna give him a little bite of your hot dog. You're gonna have mustard, right? Yeah. I think so. I don't see why not. Was that good? Was that good, buddy? Let's try this pepperoni and see how it is. It's about what you would expect for a $1.50 slice of pizza. I think Axel wants a bite. I think so, too. How is it? You want some? Well, I'd love to say it's great. Not as good as it used to be? No. The bottom bun is hard and the top bun is soggy. Did it used to be better or were your standards just lower? I don't know. Maybe that's how they get away without raising the price is that the quality had to go down. Yeah. That's true. Can't complain. Can't complain. It was only $1.50. For a soda and a hot dog. For that and a big slice of pizza, it was only $3.75 with tax and everything. That's really not bad. I'm sure you can make that turn. It's pretty tight. Yeah, I can make it. Pretty good cost to get in and out of. Yeah, it wasn't bad at all. It's really nice with the Bass Pro parking lot. It's all about the big parking lot, isn't it? Am I going left here? That's where we came in. It's on the left. Went to Lanyap Way. I haven't seen the word lanyap in a long time. That's a Louisiana word. Is it? Do you know what lanyap means? Is it a dog? No. It's a French word. It means a little bit extra. Oh, really? Louisiana lanyap. It's like we're a bit extra. Interesting. Yeah, I had no idea. I've never heard that word in my life. Really? I would have thought it was just a name or something. Not a thing. You could be on this highway for like five days straight, I think. We're going to take this highway all the way back to Palm Springs, aren't we? Yeah, I was literally thinking from coast to coast 3,000 miles. Five, six days. That's true. We'll be getting very familiar with I-10 again on this trip. It's a pretty boring highway, but at least it's easy to drive. It's fun to go through Louisiana on I-10 because they're on that little bridge along the way. Isn't that the one up the bridge? Yeah, and Texas is just really boring. You just basically watch one of those tumbleweed things roll across the highway. There's nothing out there. Those tumbleweed things are actually called tumbleweed. Yeah. That's what I meant. Tumbleweed things. Tumbleweed. Yeah, West Texas is a bit boring. There's just nothing out there. We've been driving for a couple hours, so we're going to stop for a quick fuel break. We have about half a tank we need to get of diesel, and we also have about half a tank of DEF, so we're going to fill up on DEF as well. It's been a pretty easy driving day. It's starting to get a little warm out, but it's honestly just been a really boring driving day. There's just nothing to look at along this stretch of I-10. Chris and I have been playing one of my favorite games, which is just ask each other really random questions. I don't even know why we play this game, but we'll play things like, would you rather, and I'll say things like, would you rather be a Formula 1 race car driver or be a famous musician? And we just banter back and forth with super random questions, so that's how we stay entertained on a long driving day. All right, we're here. All right, Axle, you want to get out and take a little break? We'll go try to see if they have a dog park somewhere. Good job, buddy. Chris always does a great job washing the windows. What's the damages today? Almost exactly the same as yesterday. 73 gallons. Wow, that is almost exactly the same. About the same price. Should be, yeah. What is it, 268 before our discount? Not too bad. No. Axle, you ready to go back inside, man? Come on. Good dog, buddy. Good boy. You getting the driver's seat, man? Now Chris has got to pull it forward to get death, because there's two different places we fill up, one for diesel, one for death. So we got to move it twice to fill it up. Also one of the most annoying things in life. I have to pull it forward to get death. I know. I don't understand why they can't make it near the same tank. They could. Let's see. Our death tank is way back here, versus the diesel tank is way in the front. All right, I'm going to go get Axle some water. Okay, babe. Thank you. Axle decided to steal my spot. Hey, man, you love that co-pilot chair, huh? You'd love it if I just went and sat in the back and you could sit up front with dad, wouldn't you? You would. Chris went inside to go use the bathroom real quick, and then we're going to get back on our way. Okay, just kidding. I thought we were about to pull out, and then Chris just realized that one of our locks on one of our bins underneath is about to come falling off, so he had to get the duct tape out. Or is that the gorilla tape? This is gorilla tape. That's the serious stuff. That's right. So we're just going to put that tape over it until we get to our place tonight, so that way he can take a better look at it. Yeah, I mean, it's not going to open, but I don't want to lose that lock. Yeah, that tape is on there good? Yeah, it's good. Good catch, babe. Wouldn't want to lose that. What do you have to do to it, like just re-screw it in or something? It's probably coming loose from the backside. RV life, man, it's always something. They say anytime we drive, three things break, so that was number one. That's pretty good. That's pretty good so far. We are T-10 minutes away from getting to Buena Vista. All in all, not too bad of a drive, although I'm starting to get a little bit tired. It's 3.30 Central Time, which means it's really 4.30 our time since we were in Eastern Time Zone, so at least it's still nice and bright outside. We don't have to set up in the dark, but definitely will be ready to get there and relax for the next week or so. How are you feeling, babe? Good. Tires driving you? No, it was not a bad drive today. Went five hours or so with a break or two. Pretty straightforward. It's getting exciting now that we're close to the beach. We can actually see the beach. This place is right across the street from the beach, which is really nice. We'll just be able to hop across the street, get to the beach for the week. It'll be pretty nice and relaxing. There's some massive houses and condos down here. All there is. All these beach houses out here. Pretty nice. We turn right into Buena Vista in 0.2 miles, so be on the lookout. It should be right here on the right. All right, we'll get checked in here. Hi! Just checking in, Hillary. Okay, I got us all checked in. I got the code, so I'll go ahead of you. I'll do the code, and then you just follow me in. Okay, it'll stay open? It should. We're in site 7, which is a back end. We're in site 7, so we're just going to go straight through the gate here, and then we go to the left, but it's a back end. Okay. We just arrived to our spot here at Buena Vista. We're in site number 7, which is owned by our friend Anthony. He let us graciously stay at one of his properties here the last time we were here, what, two years ago? Now we're back. We're staying on another one of the lots that he owns, so we're about to go into the coach house and check it out, but this is really nice because we're right here on kind of the lake. It's a back end site. We've got full hookups. Then we've got the coach house on the other side. It's pretty shady right here on this side, too. It is. It's much cooler over here. And you know what's special about number 7? That's your number. That's one of my numbers. You can see our coach parked here. Like we said, it's a back end, and this is the really nice-looking coach house. Looks like they've got a garage for a golf cart. Back up to the pond here. Plenty of space for the RV. And we've even got this really nice outdoor kitchen back here, so I have a feeling we're going to be grilling up something out here, maybe doing a seafood boil. We've got a little pen for Axel. Look at that. He's going to love roasting in the sun out here. What do you think, buddy? Well, that's right. You can't go swimming, though, because there's alligators. There's alligators down here. Definitely not a place where you can go swimming. Oh, this is really nice. Once the sun sets. I hope we get to see an alligator. Maybe. You don't want to see one? No. I've seen enough in my childhood. I haven't seen them. Look, they even have an outdoor shower. You can take a shower out here. I think that's made for swimsuits, not naked outdoor showers. Ever since we went to Costa Rica and they had an outdoor shower. Chris is obsessed with taking showers outside, but I don't think that's one that's made for that. I don't think so. Okay, let's go inside and see the house. That's really nice to have laundry, bikes, and beach chairs. This place is fully stocked. We just got in and settled. The place is as nice as we remember, but we just found out two of our good friends and honestly kind of RV celebrities are staying here, and we had no idea that they were actually here. We just heard about this at check-in, and so I texted her and was like, oh my gosh, are you guys actually staying here? Unfortunately, they check out tomorrow, so we're only going to get to stop by and see them for the night, but we're heading over to their site right now to go say hello, so stay tuned to see who it is. There's a lot more buildings here than there were the last time. A lot of people have built up their lots. It has been built up a lot. It looks really nice. I remember when we stayed here two years ago, the lot we stayed on was one of the few that actually had a coach house. Now almost every single one of them does. There they are! She said we can walk through this lot to go get to their spot. We heard there are some famous YouTubers staying here. I can't believe you guys are actually here and we're overlapping. It's so random. In case you can't tell who it is, Izzy and MJ with Endless RVing! It's so good to see you guys! Well, that was really awesome getting to see Izzy and MJ. They are great people. If you don't follow their channel, be sure to go over and subscribe to their channel, Endless RVing. They've got lots of really great travel content and RV tips. We actually got started RVing in part due to their channel. They are one of the groups that we followed from the beginning. We owe them a lot. Now that we're done saying hi to them, we're going to go head back over to the RV. I think we should go to the Lazy River. Yeah, we could go to the Lazy River. This place has an awesome pool. I think we're going to go hit the grocery store really quick and get some stuff that we can make a seafood boil for dinner. Izzy and MJ just told us there's a shrimp fest going on here this weekend, which is really cool. We're going to go to shrimp fest tomorrow and probably go lay out on the beach. We'll probably go see the sunset on the beach tonight, actually. I like that idea. We're going to go enjoy the next week here. I'm looking forward to it. It is nice. It is really nice. This will be a fun week. We've got lots more travels ahead. We'll be going through Louisiana next to see my friends and family, hitting up the Galveston area for the NIRVC AIM Rally, and then we'll be making our way to California. That I'm excited about. That will be really exciting. If you haven't already subscribed to our channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button so that way you can stay up to date on all of our latest videos.