All I can think about is camping.

Gracie Rides Again is winterized and buttoned up for the season (minus the access panel we usually have rolled up so that we can still get inside) and she can’t really go anywhere right now, but I have camping on the brain.

I drive past state park campgrounds and look at the RVs parked in their spaces and I’m overcome with jealousy. I want to be right there, in that moment, right alongside those brave souls.

I’ve made long lists of all the supplies we need and have slowly been checking them off.  Most of the gifts I received for Hanukkah were for the rig, including an adorable dish set and coffee mugs from my mom. While stocking the rig is nearly complete, I need to use the off-season to organize her so that everything is easy to access and there’s still room to spare for clothes, toiletries, and food. Our RV bathroom even has its own set of dedicated towels and washcloths!

I’ve become addicted to watching YouTubers who live full-time in their RVs.  My favorite one is Carolyn’s RV Life.  I’ve been powering through her videos and I find her shared adventures with her pup, Capone, to be inspiring. I get why she walked away from her settled life to be more nomadic.  She’s brave and fierce to travel the country alone, and I admire her chutzpah.

I joined Sisters on the Fly (SOTF) and have already gone to several of the off-season, non-camping events so that I can meet the ladies. I’m signed up for a camping event later this year –  three nights in a campground in the mountains with other SOTF ladies. I can’t wait.

I’ve been researching dispersed camping at US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. We are surrounded by federal lands here in the West, especially in western Washington, so the possibilities of off-grid, quiet camping are very real. And where there are places to camp, I will find them!

So now it’s January 3rd and there’s no camping in sight for the time being.  So I prep and I wait and I research. By the time camping season comes around, I should be an expert!