Take Two: Hitting the Road with More Wisdom and Better Furniture

Second Time Around—And Still Learning As We Go

We’ve done it before; we can do it again—but better this time. I think. Everything we learned from 15 months on the road in our first 5^th wheel will come into play: what to pack, what to leave behind, and what we’ll never buy again no matter how many YouTubers recommend it.

First time around, we devoured YouTube videos of full-time RVers, bought a bunch of gear—some of which turned out to be vital and some of which was just too clunky to deal with—and learned what works for us in real-time. Life on the road was fun, sometimes boring, often exhilarating, sometimes anxiety-producing, and sometimes so wonderful we just couldn’t believe we got to be the ones doing it.

So What Will Be Different This Time?

First off, our 5^th wheel is only a year old. We’ve taken it on short trips and love its enhanced features: an app to put out the slides and awning as well as check our battery levels; a kitchen island with more storage and counter space; furniture that doesn’t flake fake leather; and auto-hitch—no more up, down, up, down, up—you get the picture.

Second, we splurged on a new truck. If you followed our Facebook threads during our first journey back in 2022-23, you know the multi-dollar saga of repairing our 2002 Ford F-350 when we didn’t really know what the problem was. In spite of that elongated episode, it was a great truck (still is), but a new Ram 2500 with four-wheel drive, CarPlay, and other comforts was just too enticing.

Instead of starting out in summer, we’re hitting the road in late fall. I'll be posting in real time if you want to see how it's going and where we are in the world (https://www.facebook.com/jgreenwalt2/). I've been asked where we're going and the best I can say right now is we might initially head south towards the Gulf Coast, then across to Louisiana, then north to visit family in Oklahoma. After that…well, your guess is as good as mine, which is part of the fun.

What Will We Do on the Road?

We've always said, "You gotta retire to something." So both of us have ideas for our "something." Roger plans to pull together all his discipleship notes, add his favorite stories and illustrations, and create a book with a cohesive discipleship path anyone can follow. After more than 40 years of discipling men as individuals and in small groups, I'm excited for him to share this invaluable, tried-and-true resource.

As for me, I’m working on a companion study guide that can be used for small groups with my book Turning Your Inner Bullies Into Allies So You Can Love Like Jesus, which will be published in early 2026. I wrote the book to help you discover and tame whatever inner bullies might be obstacles to your spiritual growth, something I have personal experience with. If you sign up at https://www.juliergreenwalt.com/contact, you'll be the first to know when the book, and later the study guide, is available.

Best “It Seemed Like a Good Idea” We’re About to Try

One word: exoskeleton. What’s that? Glad you asked. Roger often experiences back pain while walking even short distances (a major contributor to his re-retirement decision). So we studied the hype on this incredible product: https://hypershell.tech/en-us/pages/hypershell-x-exoskeleton and put in our order. It arrived last week and I'll be posting our in-depth review soon on this potentially revolutionary walking aid. (There might be giggling involved.)

What Will Be the Same?

Some things don't need to change. Here's a few.

The 3/3/3 rule: drive no more than 300 miles a day, arrive at your destination by 3 p.m., and stay a minimum of three nights (find out why that’s such a good idea as well as more RV life hacks we endorse: https://www.juliergreenwalt.com/post/why-rvers-celebrate-pull-throughs).

Visiting old and new friends and family wherever we can is definitely on our agenda—what joy to see precious people we don’t see often enough.

Searching for great deals. We just can't help looking for "a better deal," whether it's a campground, a meal, an excursion, or just shopping. We'll re-join Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome to find unique overnight low-cost camping (https://www.harvesthosts.com/), as well as tap Army Core of Engineers campgrounds whenever possible. In addition, we purchased a one-year camping pass from Thousand Trails, just as we did back in 2022. You'll find our reviews on these programs in future blog posts: the good, the not-so-good, and answers to the "was it worth it?" question.

One State To Go

Roger and I have visited 49 of the 50 states in the U.S.A.—we're pretty proud of that! So which one is left? Michigan. Our Google map has lots of pins in Michigan—we're hoping to spend extended time exploring the state next summer. Friends gave us a stick-on map of the U.S. for our 5^th wheel, but we’ve only added stickers for the states we’ve been to in the past year. We're looking forward to filling in more of the map as we go this time.

The Beauty of Hitting the Road—Round 2

Last time we hit the road, it was about adventure. This time, it feels more like gratitude—the kind that grows when you’ve already tested the dream once and believe it’s worth doing again.

For me, one of the benefits of round two is knowing from the start that things don’t have to be perfect for us to enjoy the journey. We’ll still make mistakes, have breakdowns, and (hopefully) be able to laugh about it later. God uses all our experiences to remind us we’re still learning, still growing, and always held by grace. And we’ll share our stories with you along the way.

PS: Don’t worry, we’re taking our trusty miniature Louisville Sluggers again for “safety.” (Read the backstory here: https://www.juliergreenwalt.com/post/how-to-survive-rv-life-without-a-tomahawk).

Got any suggestions for us or lessons learned from your own travels? I’d love to hear from you—share in the comments below.