RV TRIPPING WITH TODDLERS, A TEEN, AND A COUPLE IN BETWEEN.

Whenever I thought about an RV trip I always pictured the West Coast with its famous National Parks, mountains, & other well known activities. This summer, due to COVID-19, things worked out a bit differently. We decided to do a Southeast RV trip, leaving directly from our home in Miami.

An RV trip is a lot of work! Lots of cooking, cleaning, and being on top of each other. There are not enough moments you can actually wipe, vacuum, or cook for that matter- and all that happens with absolutely not enough thank yous from anybody. No matter how much you clean up after every meal, the messy piles seem to just get bigger.

An RV trip means lots of things accidentally flying everywhere, having your sink and toilet overflow (at separate times), and forgetting your baby carrier somewhere along the way. It means constantly organizing and reorganizing again and again, with someone right next to you, who will accidentally mess it up.

Having said all that I wouldn’t change it for the world. Everyone seems to figure it out: how to hang out, how to do activities together, find ways to entertain each other, talk about new topics, learn to help clean and make everything more manageable (even if they aren’t good at it). Everyone has a chore, something they must do, or a sibling they must watch for a few minutes.

All this while driving through the open roads, with new scenery everyday, and a new experience to look forward to- just endless amounts of adventure. Even with all of the extra work, I hope to do many many more trips like this with my family in the future.

Many people I know road trip to North Carolina, and they do it in one 14 hours straight shot. Since I have 5 kids, (one under the age of 1, and a toddler) I knew that wasn't an option for us.

I wanted to do 6 hours of driving per day maximum.

Unlike my last RV trip to Mount Rushmore, this trip had no main destination. It was an open ended chance to get to know the Southeast a bit better. The journey was more important than the destination(s).

We stopped over by Silver Springs State Park near Ocala, to check out the Glass Bottom Boat- and guess what? That’s actually where the Glass Bottom Boat concept first started. It was spectacular- the water springs were so clear, and we saw so many fish- it was a huge highlight for the kids.

Our first night was at a campground on the border with Georgia- who knew the Florida-Georgia border was only 6 hours from Miami?!?!

Georgia truly surprised me. It is beyond beautiful and very different from Florida. Georgia had many parks to choose from so we didn’t have time for them all. I would have loved to spend more time in each.

Tennessee was also packed with tons of adventures & one of a kind views. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park really stood out in my mind--it’s just vast, lush, and seemingly endless. I didn’t know it would be that beautiful! You can spend days there & it wouldn't be enough.

After Tennessee we spent a nice quiet weekend in North Carolina, just on the other side of the National Park. We stayed in a nice campground, just a short hike away from Mingo Falls.

At this point in our trip we were all a bit sad, knowing our trip was starting to come to an end.

Then we started heading down back through Georgia, where we saw two State Parks, and stopped at a farm to pick berries.

Heading back into Florida, we chose the path less traveled. We stopped by some of the hundreds of beautiful crystal clear springs. As a native Miami girl, I still can’t believe it took me 35 years to see these Florida gems.

All the campgrounds we picked were spectacular- one of the people in our group even saw Harrison Ford on a hike from our campground! We visited numerous canyons, rivers, lakes, mountains, hills, valleys, waterfalls, State Parks, National Parks and more. We zip-lined rode horses, went tubing and white water rafting.

For the kids, knowing that they were crossing into a new state every few days was very exciting.

Almost every night ended with s’mores by the campfire and backdrops of incredible sunsets.

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TO MY 2020 CARAVAN CREW

OF 4 FAMILIES, 8 ADULTS, 17 KIDS:

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, ADVENTURES, MISHAPS, LAUGHS AND S'MORES. TO MANY MORE LIKE THIS ONE!

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We drove 2000 miles, visited 4 states, and still feel like we have so much more to see. We can do the same states and stop at completely different places along the way- the U.S. really is incredible.

If you’re ready to plan an epic summer RV trip and don’t know where to start, reach out and let us know how Camp Lisa Travels can get you venturing outside the box again!