Ever lived in a camper and traveled with teens and/or dogs? [Archive]

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surfingbodi

2-11-12, 12:08pm

iris lily

2-11-12, 12:20pm

I created a thread in 'housing' but wanted to check in here as well as I am not just looking at an 'interesting' housing choice, I am also looking at traveling with kids & dogs in a camper. I have tons of experience traveling alternatively, living for months in just a tent and off grid with dogs and small kid, living with the kids i have, but never teens, dogs, camper, and travel all together.

All experience and positive suggestions welcome. No need to point out that my kids are going to suffer terribly socially, etc. I already worked through that judgement somewhere else cow-hi (love these 'new' icons!!!)

ty!
sb

I have no experience with either kids or long hauls in a camper. But I know that that kind of family adventure is incredibly rich in experience. It will always be something your children look back at. I would hope that, difficult though parts may be, they remember that period as a very interesting one. I think they will learn tremendous amounts about
1) themselves
2) getting along in the outside world
3) their family members, things that wil draw you closer forever and ever

I just know that when I look back at my childhood life it is a pleasant blur, not much sticks out. That is a testimony to my parents who were dedicated to providing a stable home. But--I think a year on the road, in a camper, even if I hated it--would be an experience to treasure.

surfingbodi

2-11-12, 12:31pm

Thank you Iris Lily for your kind words of support and so good to see you here! My kids and I spent a month last winter backpacking through Europe and staying in hostels and doing the train, bus, bike thing and while it was challenging at times and for them sometimes scary, they now look back at it and can't wait to go again. They are not shut down to this big adventure as well as my daughter is really trying to get her Spanish more solid and my son his French so the idea of being in Baja and Canada for a few months at a time are appealing and they love the West Coast and we have lots of friends between Cali and Vancouver that are their age but I know I am going to have to come home to NM a few times a year and just rest with them and if we make it a year, I will be forever grateful, and if we don't, that's ok too!

sb

ljevtich

2-11-12, 8:08pm

How old are the kids? Would you be able to home school them? how many kids and how many pets? These will make a difference for your traveling.

surfingbodi

2-11-12, 10:38pm

I already homeschool my kids and feel very comfortable with that as I teach for a living. My kids are 12 and 15. I have 2.5 dogs (one is almost more like a squirrel/hamster thingy). Plan is to have a camper shell in addition to the camper for the dogs when traveling and my hope is to boondock as much as possible.

Thanks Laura :)

bae

2-11-12, 10:50pm

Here's a great book (boat, not camper, but we found it very inspirational on our own travels in our boat):

http://ia600807.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/23/items/olcovers83/olcovers83-L.zip&file=838433-L.jpg

Float On

2-11-12, 11:06pm

http://www.familiesontheroad.com/index.html

Families*Homeschooling*On the road
I 'follow' or 'stalk' (whatever you want to call it) several families on this website. We use to homeschool and traveled about 25-30 weekends a year before our kids chose to give school a try. It is very difficult for me to stay home so much since the kids have been in school for 2.5 years now.

ljevtich

2-12-12, 4:16am

Have you boondocked before? Living in a tent vs living in a camper is different experiences for sure. So three dogs and two teenagers. Same sex as you or different? (the kids, not the pets). You might have to look into separate beds.

Plan is to have a camper shell in addition to the camper for the dogs OK I do not understand this. Camper shell - meaning Truck Camper, pop-up, cover over the truck? and what exactly do you mean by "in addition to the camper for the dogs?" They certainly do not need their own camper!

Which RV forum are you on? RV.net is a good one, so is Escapees.com and while I belong to both, I have not been on them in a while. I also am on the Full-Time RVers on Facebook.

ljevtich

2-12-12, 4:29am

However, one idea that I am exploring is getting a camper(s) and spending 1/2 our year here in NM with friends in the communities we know and on the land of friends and/or nearby and then traveling about 6 months out of the year with my kids between Baja, States, and BC - most specifically to areas I have been to before and know the climate and customs and general community.
I am putting this in here so that I and others can understand as well. Since you know the customs and climate, you also must know that going back and forth between countries (especially here and Canada) will be difficult with the dogs. I do not know all of the exact stuff, but I believe you have to have at least papers for vaccinations and other stuff.

loosechickens

2-12-12, 3:54pm

well, I've lived in a VW Wesfalia camper van with a spouse for several years, but not with kids. That said, in our almost twenty years of nomadic life, we've encountered a number of homeschooling families living in RVs, or traveling the world. In most of the ones we've gotten to know fairly well, the kids seemed happy, had enjoyed a lot of educational and mind opening experiences, and especially when the direction of travel, activities, etc. took their preferences into account (it's actually quite neat for teenagers who may just be able to turn up in a locale where their favorite band is making an appearance), it worked.

I think it has a lot more to do with what kind of relationship you and your kids have together, than where you are engaging in it. Clearly, several people living in a small space have to be able to live closely together and be companionable. If you can do that at home, you can probably do it on the road. There really ARE quite a few like you out there on the road, sailing in sailboats, traveling all over the world, etc.

surfingbodi

2-12-12, 10:26pm

fantastic bae! ty and i will try to get a hold of a copy asap :)

ty float - i am realizing that my kids will probably be ok for a few months to a year but longer than that and i am going to have to probably keep it to a few months a year. it is very hard staying put for so long i agree and so far i have done a really good job for 15 years (not perfect by any means).

ljevtich - i lived in a tiny camper with my mom and stepdad for a year as a kid but we stayed mostly in my grandparents yard so didn't really travel in it though i did travel with them a great deal other years as they drove a rig. i am looking at first for one of those campers that you popup and one with 3 beds which tend to be good size (kings/queens), they are very light to pull and very roomy and beautiful as they are all windows once up. however, they really are only for ideal climates so my next purchase will be a hard sided travel trailer that we can go up north and east with and live in when here in NM during the colder and/or windy months. the shell for the dogs is just that typical shell on the backs of trucks which i like to have anyway because i like to carry gear for lots of stuff we do and it helps to keep it protected when we need to be in town.

the rv forum i have been on is the rvforum.net and the folks are wonderful but most are very traditional RVers so it is hard for them to understand why i would want to do this and certainly why i would want things like solar panels and to boondock but there are some folks giving me some great pointers. i will check out the fb page you mention above and the other forum. my hope on crossing the border with the dogs is to only do it once per year as it does tend to be a big hassle and then there are all the other issues such as insurance, visas if we stay too long, etc. ty!

loosechickens - ty for your encouragement. i am actually very close to my kids as we do not have blood family and i am a single parent. not only are we close but we have lots of fun together. we do get on each other's nerves at times and they love their friends but i would have to say i am probably closer to my kids that anyone we know of except for one single friend of mine who has one daughter and a similar lack of blood family. so good to know others value such an experience with their kids. i find it just as odd when people do not understand what a great thing i am trying to do here as they find it that i would ever want to in the first place. where i live now, i love our community dearly but i have yet to meet anyone who really gets it. of course, everyone thinks it is really weird that i home school as well but i am meeting others now in that community and they seem to get 'me' and i get 'them' :)

jennipurrr

2-13-12, 10:41am

If you give it a try you should keep a blog! I would love to read about your experiences.

A family friend did a 3 month RV trip over the summer out west/national parks, etc, last year with her 2 kids, so not exactly the same thing, but all three of them wrote a journal entry each night and it was great to read.

Edited to add...I was thinking about your dogs and was wondering how folks with dogs in RVs keep the doggy smell at bay? I have a 1400 sq ft house and we generally smell doggy. We give them baths fairly often, but I guess you would have to bathe a lot in the RV, and then an RV isn't particularly condusive to doggy baths. I wonder if the dog smell in general would be overpowering in an RV. I have two labs though, so they are big dogs and then they love to run, get stinky, roll in stuff, yuck. My younger girl came in last night and had the faint smell of poop (I think she rolled in it) but I wiped her down with a damp rag and otherwise just ignored it because it was chilly, and I didn't want to bathe her, but obviously that wouldn't fly in a confined area. Just thinking out loud...

surfingbodi

2-18-12, 10:32am

Spartana

2-18-12, 4:40pm

jennipurr, this is a great and hysterical question! my house now smells like dogs and i am constantly lighting incense and candles to help offset it for my own piece of mind. i have 2 very large dogs and one small one. my 'idea' with the dogs is to keep them primarily in the back of the truck in the camper shell when they must be confined and will probably bring them in some nights to sleep on the floor of the camper on their own beds just so they can be with us and protect us. i have to say as a single woman who is adventurous and doesn't like to have to constantly be vigilant about locking doors and who is about, having dogs is most of the time worth the trouble. however, i imagine honestly that between the kids and dogs, the camper will lose it's value in a huge way over the time we have it but still, to be able to travel and live, it will be worth it in my opinion. now i am playing with the idea of putting up a yurt here in NM for our 'down' time as i know where i can get some very cheap land (have done it before) to set it up on near taos. so much to think about . . .

I've travelled with dogs - 2 big ones and now just a small (is it a gopher or is it a rat?) sized dog. I'm also a single woman travelling alone (no kids or spouse though) and love the dog protection factor. Even if the 20 lb rat-dog can't protect me, she can wake me... and I'm armed to the teeth :-)! But yes, "doggie smell from hell" is the only way to discribe it when travelling long term with dogs. Especially tent camping when they are wet and muddy and stinky and rolled in God-knows-what. And it's raining - all day and all night and they need to be walked in the rain...and the mud... all the time!! I actually gave up tent camping with dogs because of that smell - and the constant dirt and mud. Started staying at motels or just renting a vacation house because it was so much easier to get them cleaned up before sleeping with me.

I think the same thing could be said of your proposed set-up of a truck with a shell on the back for the dogs (when driving and when dirty/wet/stinky) and with a seperate pop up tent trailer you pull behind. You'd be able to let the dogs dry out and get them cleaned up BEFORE allowing them to come in the trailer to sleep with you. I have a Ford Ranger extra cab truck with a shell on the back for the dogs. Very useful when I had big dogs but now with just the little rat-dog she rides up front with me since she's easy to clean (bring lots of wet wipes!!) before coming into the truck. I have also thought of getting a small pop up tent trailer to tow since I have a V-6 engine, but with gas what it is now (over $4.15/gal here for regular) - and already getting terrible gas mileage of approx. 18 mpg even when I take the shell off - I am considering just getting rid of the truck and getting a compact car instead and staying at budget motels and tent camping. It would be cheaper for me to do that then to buy a trailer, and then pay for gas to tow a trailer as well as nightly campground fees.

ETA: Most campgrounds and RV parks do not allow dogs to be left alone in the trailer or campsite. So travelling with them can be fairly restrictive if you have to take them with you everywhere you go. Also many state and almost all Nat parks do not allow dogs on trails or anywhere outside the campground area. That can be a HUGE disadvantage when taking dogs along. One of the disadvantages of a tent trailer is the many windows and soft side as your dogs may bark at near by campers - or, if you try leaving them in the trailer unattended - the park ranger may see them or hear them and fine you. Getting a hard sided travel trailer - even a light weight pop up one like a "Hi-Low" - would make that easier but they are less roomy for you and the kids. And make sure you add up all the costs involved with buy, towing and camping with a trailer. As I said above, when I did the math, it was cheapewr for me just to sell my truck, get a inexpensive compact car for the same price and stay in motels or an off season vacation house rental. Although if you are staying put a month or more in one place, thgen you can usually get a low monthly rate at an RV Park and that often includes utilities. Of course you can also boondock - Simply Gib, Humbolt Gurl, Loose Chickens and others here have all done that extensively and know more than I do.

iris lily

2-18-12, 5:14pm

flowerseverywhere

2-18-12, 9:12pm

surfingbodi

2-18-12, 10:59pm

i would have to use the weather to determine where we stay because of the dogs but it to me is also one of the joys of being nomadic, staying where the climate requires no utilities. ultimately i want to be able to do cold weather camping for a few months out of the year but plan to do that when i can save up for a hard sided camper or may set up with a yurt and insulate it. i lived in insulated teepees as a kid in a canyon at about 11,000 feet with standing snow all winter and we were fine, even toasty at times. the dogs do make things more complicated hence boondocking will be my plan 85% of the time and i will allow some money for kennels when we go into a city and want to sight see and have a break from checking on the dogs constantly. don't plan to leave them in my popup tent alone every as my dogs will literally go right through it. my two biggest are 110 lb and 140 lb and together they are huge! no soft sided camper will hold them if they decide it is time to get out! :)

Simplygib

2-19-12, 1:10pm

i find it just as odd when people do not understand what a great thing i am trying to do here as they find it that i would ever want to in the first place. where i live now, i love our community dearly but i have yet to meet anyone who really gets it. of course, everyone thinks it is really weird that i home school as well but i am meeting others now in that community and they seem to get 'me' and i get 'them' :)

You'll run into a lot of that on the road as well. And for most of those folks I doubt there's anything you could say that would change their minds. Just have to get used to it. I knew of a family (from another forum) who rode their bicycles from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to the southern tip of South America, home schooling their two young sons along the way. I couldn't think of a more amazing experience for a couple of kids and often wished my own parents would have been that adventurous. But in following their blog it was obvious that many, many people didn't share my view of their journey. At times it seemed like they were constantly defending their decisions. Here's their blog if you're interested: http://www.familyonbikes.org (http://www.familyonbikes.org/) Besides the actual journey they also talk a lot about overcoming fears to achieve your dreams. I have not read all of it but it looks like a worthwhile read for someone making plans as you are.

I live in a 5th wheel now and lived on a boat for 8 years, but both of those are stationary. Also have done quite a bit of boondocking in my solar-powered truck camper but never fulltime, never with kids, and for a time with just one small dog. So I can't provide much help on those aspects of your plans. But I would like to say that I admire your desire to give your kids some amazing real-world experiences outside of the 'norm' that they'll likely look back on with gratitude for the rest of their lives. Best of luck with your plans.

surfingbodi

2-19-12, 3:40pm

Thank you so much Simplygib as your words mean a great deal to me. I thought I would get more 'normal' as I got older but other than trying to while my kids were young, my heart is not in it at all. I don't mind that others do crave stability and possessions but I just don't, not in a way that I live my life just to have them. You are right that I do need to get over what other people say and that there will always be folks who don't agree though it is more than I anticipated initially. So funny that I feel I have lived my whole life doing what I thought was best and still I get worked up when people can't share my wonderful take on life! Enough already :) I am making notes on all things shared as the voices that can relate to my experience are few. I am putting this blog on my list and will begin to read through it. If you or anyone else has additional links/resources/etc. that you think would be helpful, please know I will be checking in!

sb/gari

iris lily

2-19-12, 5:50pm

What I think is so cool about providing children adventures like the ones described here that it gives them a grounding lesson in life, that there are choices other than the ones you see most places in the U.S. Flexibility and creativity learned when on a road adventure, especially in another country, gives kids livelong skills, especially in developing independence. Just the philosophical lesson is huge: that not everyone has to take the path of house/kids/job until you die.

So what if they decide that, after they are grown, they are homebodies who want to always live in one place. There is nothing wrong with that and they can do that, the easier path. Their parents have shown them how to take a road less traveled and that is invaluable experience.

JaneV2.0

2-19-12, 7:07pm

Hey, I don't know from dogs or kids, plus I hate the traveling part of travel. And it sounds like a boffo idea to me. I agree with Iris Lily that your children can only benefit from such a family adventure, given what you've told us.

Miss Cellane

2-19-12, 7:56pm

surfingbodi, the year my father retired from the military he packed up the whole family (Mom, Dad, and seven children ranging in age from 22 (just graduated from college) to 8 (just finished 2nd grade) and took us camping across the US for two months. We had a nine-passenger station wagon, a very old pop-up tent trailer and one of the original, very small Honda Civics. (The Honda was purchased after a trial run where it was discovered that nine-passenger station wagons aren't suitable when 4 of the 9 are very tall teen-aged to early 20's young men. And we needed to carry more supplies than originally thought.) The trip was timed so that we could leave Dad's old duty station right when school got out, spend two months on the road and get back in time to find a place to live and enroll most of us in school. It's been over 30 years and I still remember that trip.

It was a great trip. Dad and Mom visited a lot of old military buddies on the way. We went down to Mexico and up into Canada. We saw every single relative we had who didn't live in New England (our family's from New England.) We saw the glitz of Hollywood (Mom's relations) and detassled corn in South Dakota (Dad's relations). We saw the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Park and Niagra Falls and the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Alamo. We drove the Blue Ridge Skyline Drive and through the desert and across Texas, which seemed to take forever. Thanks to a friend who got us all free passes, we got to go to Disneyland, much though my parents didn't want to. (My uncle announced in front of all of us that he had the passes. Try telling seven kids they can't go after that.)

We were all allowed to pick a few places we wanted to see and even if no one else wanted to see them, we went there. I was the only one who wanted to go to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but everyone ended up enjoying them.

We all had assigned chores for setting up camp and taking it down. We all had to take turns helping Mom cook and washing dishes and doing laundry. While my parents did try to plan things so that we weren't in the cars all day long, there was a significant amount of time spent just driving. We all read a lot in the car--all the older kids were reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy and getting impatient with the slower readers who were holding up the passing of the books down the line. We mostly stayed at campgrounds because the family as a whole had little experience camping--I'd done some in Girl Scouts, but that was about it.

Every two weeks or so, we'd stay with friends or check into a motel--some of my brothers had severe TV withdrawal. Getting back to "civilization" every so often helped those who hated the idea of camping deal with an entire summer of it. And once a week, we'd eat out. This was so that a) there'd be one meal where Mom didn't have to cook and b) everyone could get exactly what they wanted, so there were no complaints about the food.

On the down side, I was the only teen-aged girl--my only sister was 10. Having absolutely no privacy and 4 teen-aged brothers was hard. It was a good thing at times that we had two cars, because being in the other car was the only way to avoid someone who was pestering you. And my brothers pestered a lot.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to make sure that each kid gets to do something/go someplace that they really want to. I got to ride a mule down the Grand Canyon, something I never in a million years thought I'd get a chance to do. Make sure that everyone has some responsibility so that they take ownership of part of the trip. Make sure that people have opportunities to get away from each other--I'm an introvert in a family that's largely extroverts and there were times I'd go and hide out in the campground bathrooms just to get away from everyone and have a couple of minutes to myself.

Mrs-M

2-19-12, 10:23pm

I don't have any advice or experiences to share, but it sure is enjoyable reading everyone's entries.

Spartana

2-22-12, 1:59pm

Surfingbodie - You might like this guys website www.manvsdebt.com/about. His trip is a little too pricey for me - high fuel costs - but he does deal with alot of interesting full time travel in an RV with a kid things. In any case, it's an interesting read for anyone who wants to downsize their life and follow a dream of any kind.

Spartana

2-22-12, 2:11pm

I always wonder what you do with dogs when it is hot as hell. You can't keep them in the RV unless an air conditioner is running. The kind of dogs I have are very sensitive to heat so it's of real concern. I've thought about renting an RV and taking a vacation, but what to do with the dog when you want to go off and away, and not take dog?

You can board them for the day in many places. It can be expensive and hard on the dogs sometimes, but I think that's what most people do. Like SB, I try to travel to cooler places during the off season and usually will stay put somewhere (have owned or rented a regular house between travels) for the hot months. In some states - like Calif. - it's illegal to leave you dog unattended in your car even for a short period of time. Don't know if that's enforced or not but something to look into when deciding to leave the critters alone in the vehicle. Since I have a shell on the back of my truck with big windows and screens, I can leave them back there and they get lots of air. However, if I had big dogs again, I would weld on a few bars across the window so they couldn't break thru the screen. I had also thought I could do something similair if I got a pop up tent trailer - get some of those plastic trellises (light weight but sturdy) to put over the tent's windows when I was camped. The dogs would still get the air flow and view, but they couldn't break out easily. But I'm not comfortable leaving the dog(s) alone in any kind of vehicle unattended anyways, so usually just brought them with me or boarded them. Much easier now with just one small dog for sure!