While taking pictures of a sunset over the Mississippi River I was joined by a couple and we started talking about traveling by motorhome and fulltiming. The woman said she wanted to sell the farm and travel fulltime while the man said he wanted to keep their house and a few acres and travel occasionally. The man said he dislikes being away from home for extended periods because he gets bored and after some more conversation I realized his problem. They did not know where to travel.

They had been selecting a place to camp within a couple of hundred miles of their house, going there for two weeks until he got bored, and then returning home for a month of two before heading back out. I asked what their interests and hobbies where and both immediately said “history” and it was promising they agreed. I mentioned we had studied the Mississippi River and we were spending 2 1/2 months traveling up the Great River Road and that we had done other “history” travels.

After I mentioned we traveled the Lewis and Clark Trail for 99 days in 2004 they got very excited and asked more questions. Before we parted company they had decided to return to their home, re-pack for a long trip and hit the Lewis and Clark Trail for at least two months and possibly stretch it to three months. Wow, was that woman happy.

I have found many people don’t know how or where to travel and they often travel too slow or too fast. An adventurous person easily gets bored sitting in one spot for months at a time or returning to the same places every year. On the other hand, we had fulltiming friends that traveled without a plan and every time we heard from them they were in a different state and all they saw was the USA from interstate highways. In less than two years they were worn out and decided to move back into a house.

We like to pick a theme, an area of the country or a Trail, then after studying the places we will visit we go there and live the history. Some of our trips have been Roaming Florida for two months, spending two months in the Canadian Maritimes, traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail for 99 days and visiting 22 National Parks and Monuments in the southwest, a trip that took several months. We have also traveled parts of the Lincoln Highway and Historic Route 66 after studying the histories of those roads. After traveling hard and heavy a few months we park in a spot for one to three months, then hit the road again to another historic location.

Other interesting places to tour are Civil War sites, lighthouses, professional baseball games, and some people take time to follow their roots researching genealogy. So if you don’t know where to travel just pick one of your interests or hobbies, do some studying and planning, and hit the road to live your adventure.