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Before we get started, let’s address this “Part 1” situation. There are actually two reasons for breaking this blog up into two separate stories: first, as I type this article our Thor Outlaw motorhome is still in the shop with Camping World of Strafford, MO. Since I won’t have a solid conclusion on this “Does Camping World suck?” thing until we pick up the rig, we’ll instead focus today on the ins and outs of Camping World (and Gander RV’s) overwhelmingly poor reputation. And that brings me to the second reason we’ll need two blogs to cover this; there’s a LOT to unpack when it comes to Camping World’s reputation. If you prefer to hear me talk versus reading my typing, check out the related YouTube video here.  The birth of a conglomerate For many decades the RV dealer landscape looked a lot like the restaurant industry did “pre-McDonald’s” - a bunch of mom & pop family-owned joints specializing in certain dishes or ethnicities of cuisine. There were no drive-thrus, no fast food. You walked in, sat down, took your time and chose from a limited menu. Buying an RV just ten or fifteen years ago was quite similar - you first decided if you wanted a travel trailer, 5th wheel or motorhome then visited the family-owned dealer specializing in the RV type you’re looking for. While these family-owned dealerships are still plentiful in the industry, over the past several years a superstore has risen to power and consequently disrupted the market in many ways. The superstore chain in question is of course Camping World. With CEO Marcus Lemonis largely at the helm since the early 2000’s, Camping World’s goal of nationwide RV sales and service domination is well underway. Mergers and acquisitions have been the name of the game and In terms of volume and plain ol’ numbers they are absolutely dominating: 180+ stores in 46 states make Camping World/Gander RV the largest chain by a long shot (by contrast, the largest family-owned RV dealer chain I’m aware of in the US is Campers Inn RV with 30 stores in 12 states). Numbers, as we all know, only tell part of the story.  Quantity over quality It doesn’t take someone with a PhD in business to figure out that the larger the chain and greater the sales volume, the harder it is to establish a culture which puts the customer first and focuses on long-term sales through networking and relationship building. My experience during my 20 years in the automotive industry translates pretty well to RV sales and service: the bigger (and more corporate-structured) the dealer group, the less personal contact employees (and in some cases managers) have with those at the top of the corporate ladder. When the leader doesn’t have a true voice everything below them becomes a rat race. Managers get fixated on the numbers and employees are pressed to hit those numbers via homerun transactions in which they make huge margins on a single sale. It becomes a case of “skinning the sheep” rather than “shearing the sheep”. You can shear a sheep for it’s lifetime but when you skin a sheep, it’s gone. And make no mistake: people are leaving Camping World. If this is the case, how does this company continue to put up big numbers? Simply put, the allure of Camping World lies in convenience and name recognition. Let’s jump back to that restaurant analogy. If you’re a new customer who has never bought an RV from a dealer, Camping World is likely the first name that comes to mind. Thanks to partnerships with NASCAR and other professional sports leagues, billboards, a massive online advertising budget and more, they’ve become a household name. Beyond the name recognition aspect we have convenience. There is a Camping World location almost anywhere you go and they have a plethora of RV models and types ranging from tiny travel trailers to massive fifth wheels and Class A motorhomes. Need supplies? Every location has a well-stocked parts and accessories area with almost anything you’d ever need right there in the store. You can get in and get out without a lot of fuss. This is akin to the McDonald’s fast food chain disrupting mom & pop restaurants with fast food at low prices back in the 1950’s and 60’s. Golden arches began popping up on every corner and suddenly families across the country were quelling their hunger on the most convenient and readily-available food in front of them rather than sitting down at the local diner.  Social media vs. Camping World If there’s one thing Camping World has taught us about huge conglomerates operating in a space which demands excellent customer service, it’s that you can only get away with slacking for so long. Social media has given everyone a voice. Disgruntled customers tend to have loud voices and they sure do make themselves heard! A quick search of Facebook will reveal a number of anti-Camping World groups and hundreds (thousands?) of negative posts. A Google search of Camping World experiences uncovers more of the same: not only are people saying negative things, they are going so far as to create entire websites dedicated to slandering Camping World. Class action lawsuits have been organized by bitter consumers. Some go so far as to hurl physical threats against CEO Marcus Lemonis. Speaking of Mr. Lemonis, he really does seem to be at the center of the vitriol. You may have seen him on his TV show The Profit, in which he visits floundering businesses and offers insight and (in most cases) an injection of capital to help the business get back on its feet. You have the typical reality TV sob stories, occasional feuding siblings, several angry northeasterners and Mr. Lemonis front and center playing to the cameras. Think of it as Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares without the disgusting food and british accent. Naturally Mr. Lemonis is not handing checks to these people out of the kindness of his heart - he’s looking to be an investor and ultimately collect a profit from the business in question. That is, after all, the title of the show. As a small business owner I find The Profit to be an entertaining show. I’ve watched enough episodes of the show to have my own opinion of Mr. Lemonis, and while I won’t go so far as to say that I don’t like him I do feel there is something slightly off-putting about his demeanor and the way he does business. For example, at the start of each dramatic episode of The Profit, Mr. Lemonis says he does what he does because (in part) he cares about people. While I’m sure Marcus has a heart and he does care about people (in the way most humans wouldn’t let another human die in a burning car), the emotional interactions with his potential business partners can feel forced and at times downright awkward. Alas, we’re not here to judge Mr. Lemonis’ character. Indeed he is a businessman first and that means he’s here for the dollar first. While I do respect that, I also genuinely think his played-up “I’m here for the people” approach is part of the reason for Camping World’s woes. When you enter any Camping World store you’ll see Marcus Lemonis’ smiling face plastered all over the doors. They read [paraphrasing]: “If you’re not happy, I’m not happy. Here’s my direct phone line.” Unfortunately, lots of people are leaving these stores unhappy and guess what? They’re calling Marcus. But Marcus isn’t answering. He is also not responding to messages. I can personally attest to this, as I both left a voicemail with and sent a heartfelt email to Mr. Lemonis following a concerning visit at the Wichita, Kansas location. In that email I constructively outlined what I was seeing on the ground level and went so far as to offer my own experience in the automotive industry paired with knowledge of RVs and activity within the RVer community to help his team right the ship. No response. So, speaking from experience, when you have a bad experience and reach out to the guy who says “If you’re not happy contact me directly”, yet he blows you off… you end up more frustrated than you were in the first place. And this really is the core of the problem. Culture starts at the top. When Mr. Lemonis failed to respond to my email, I sent a similar message to the General Manager of the store. No response. My aggravation elevated, I now went directly to the Service Manager. No response. It was at this point I began to realize why there are so many people bashing Marcus Lemonis personally. Frankly, when you consider that he is almost non-responsive to customers who are already upset, he’s sort of making the bed in which he lies. He’s essentially breaking a promise made every time he fails to respond to an upset customer. Breaking promises to customers might be offense #1 in the Book of Bad Business. To summarize, Mr. Lemonis sits at the top of an organization with a widely-perceived culture of “numbers first, people second” while at the same time proclaiming a genuine care for the people and failing to deliver. This empty promise of customer service appears to be filtering down to some of the store management. Maybe he does deserve some of the personal criticism. But I digress. Marcus Lemonis and Wichita branch aside… is Camping World all bad?
My personal experiences Aside from our experience with the Wichita location (which is worthy of it’s own blog) we’ve had dozens of interactions with Camping World locations across the country. Honestly almost all of them have been highly positive! I buy almost all of our parts and accessories from Camping World based simply on - you guessed it - convenience. I know they’ll likely have the item I need, and I know if I have an issue with that item in another state there is a Camping World location right off the highway somewhere to get me taken care of. When I visit a Camping World I can expect a clean, well kept store and in almost every instance I am greeted by a smiling face. The only negative experiences I have had were (again) the Wichita store’s Service Department and a potential purchase at the Oklahoma City location. That experience at the OKC store was particularly odd, as we were very actively looking to purchase a motorhome that day yet no one could be bothered to take our money. While typical negative purchase experiences tend to revolve around an overly-aggressive sales team, our salesperson seemed to want us out of the store. Surprisingly, when we spoke to a Sales Manager he gave us the same impression. We left the store with two business cards and confused faces. I felt like we were pre-judged as tire kickers. One week later we were on a plane headed to Ft. Meyers, Florida to pick up our new motorhome from Palm RV (an experience which was absolutely awesome by the way)! Despite getting the cold shoulder from the sales team, we returned to the OKC location to have our new-to-us rig serviced a few months later. That was a VERY good interaction complete with excellent communication and service from our Service Advisor, Christina and Parts Associate, Brent. We even got a complimentary wash and propane fill! My overall takeaway from all of these visits? Clearly the experience varies based on the associate with which you are working. There are outliers on the extreme ends of the spectrum, good and bad, from store to store and employee to employee. Just as there are terrible and excellent stores within the organization, there can be caring employees working in the same store as those who clock in to simply collect a check. Camping World may be mismanaged at the highest levels but it isn’t all bad. With 180 stores and over 12,000 employees, it can’t be.  Making myself a guinea pig Having both criticised and defended Camping World on social media I can tell you some of the people who hate (and I mean hate!) CW will straight up come at you for saying anything nice about them. I’ve been called a plant, a mole, accused of being a Camping World employee, even labeled an undercover agent sent directly by the Dark Overlord himself, Darth Lemonis. All this simply for saying “Hey, I’ve had mostly good experiences with Camping World”! The haters’ cries for lawsuits and government intervention and physical violence against Mr. Lemonis and his Camping World employees fueled me to take a leap. At some point last year I decided to make myself a guinea pig and jump on a grenade for the greater good. I decided to take our motorhome to Camping World for the next major repair visit and document the entire process. So here we are. As I type this, our Outlaw is hundreds of miles away with a Camping World in another state having a litany of repairs done including one very major item: an entirely new roof membrane. Is Camping World really so bad?? We’re about to have a very good indicator. I’ll dive further into the visit and overall experience in Part 2 of this blog series but you can go to our YouTube channel now and watch the video in which we document the drop off process and initial communication with the service personnel. Please consider subscribing to the channel while you’re there and click the bell icon so you can be notified when Part 2 drops! Keep your fingers crossed for us… the rig should be finished very soon and we’re anxious to get it back hopefully in better shape than ever! I’m pretty optimistic at this point. What’s the worst that could happen, right?  
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Our 2019 Ranger (affectionately named Rango) has been a great little toad for our RV life. It’s comfortable and quiet enough, tough and capable. Part of the reason we opted for the 4x4 (besides the fact that the RWD model is not flat-towable) is because we wanted the freedom to be able to take the truck on some adventures! And we’ve done just that. During said excursions the little truck has performed admirably. The suspension, torque and locking diff have all worked great and powered us over any obstacles we’ve encountered. There was, however, one glaring weak link in the whole package: The original Ford-equipped Hankook Dynapro AT/M tires. Not only did we encounter some slippage on basic obstacles, we also damaged a sidewall and wheel when the flexible sidewall pinched on a rock. Although no tire is immune to damage in rocky situations, this particular instance was during a slow crawl over a rock shelf with pressures at 30 psi. We should also not discount the fact that our optional 18” wheels are less ideal than the standard 17” wheels for off road purposes, as there is less sidewall there to absorb flex and impacts. At any rate, while the truck (and tires) did everything we asked of them, there was certainly room for improvement.  The Hankooks weren’t all bad. Redeeming qualities include light weight compared to a heavier-duty off road tire which result in decent handling and fuel economy, and quiet performance on-road. They just weren’t great either - and that’s typical of OEM tires. Auto manufacturers are always riding the balance of installing a nice name-brand tire with good manners in all types of weather and conditions which is also quiet and fuel efficient. True all-terrain tires simply do not fit into this category. A step up to the Ford Ranger Tremor does get you more rugged (and upsized) Goodyear Wranglers, but all other trims are on Hankook Dynapros. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to wear out the Hankooks and replace them with something bigger, better, and cooler. At 27,000 miles (plus about 15k towed behind our RV), the Hankooks were clearly on their way out. I’d plugged one of the tires roadside and still had the big sidewall gash in another, plus the tread was down to the wear bars on the shoulders. So I began shopping. The Candidates Going into the process my top choice was by far the BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2. I’ve always felt that the BFG is the quintessential off road tire, and apparently many others share my opinion! The BFG KO2 is one of the most popular all terrain tires on the market. I got to spend some time with these tires during a week of aggressive buggy driving in Baja Mexico with Wide Open Excursions where the grip and durability of these tires shined through as we put them through the wringer over rocks, sand and gravel at high speeds. At the conclusion of that event I knew I had to have some BFG KO2’s! But wait… what else is out there? I’d be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t shop my options before pulling the trigger right? There are several tires that compare to the BFG KO2 and I found very quickly that while the differences were trivial, prices varied greatly. In other reviews I found it became apparent that the General Grabber ATX, Falken Wildpeak, Goodyear Wrangler, Toyo Open Country and Cooper Discoverer series have really closed the gap on BFG in terms of overall performance and in many cases represent a better value. My priorities Everyone has their own order of priorities when it comes to buying all terrain tires. For me personally, this was my order:
Narrowing it down In looking over my priority list it may come as no surprise that the BFG All-Terrain KO2 took a couple steps down the ladder almost immediately. Several times I placed the BFGs in my online cart and stepped away to give it some thought. Every time I returned to my computer, I opened the cart and looked at the total purchase price… then deleted them from my cart. The more I did this, the more I realized these may not be the tires for me. I then started to look more and more at the competition. After several hours of comparing tires on various websites and reading review after review, I found myself gravitating towards the General Grabber ATX. I like the looks of the tire, from the tread to the white letter sidewalls. In addition they were quite a bit less expensive than the BFG. Again I added the Grabbers to my cart… let it sit… then came back and did one last search. That’s when I stumbled across the Cooper Discoverer ATP II. Not only were these Coopers great looking tires, they were offered at a much lower price point (made sweeter by a Black Friday deal!). Most importantly, they appeared to have many of the same features and capabilities as the more expensive tires. What I found interesting (and marginally concerning) was that there were no really good reviews of the ATP II tire online. It seems since this tire is quite new (it replaces the outgoing ATP model) and exclusive to Discount Tire, maybe it isn’t getting much attention. After giving it some thought and considering budget more and more, I opted to give these relatively-unproven tires a shot on our Ranger. The purchase and install experience I originally planned on purchasing online through Tire Rack, but since the Cooper Discoverer ATP II is only available through Discount Tire I was sort of forced to go that route. I’ve heard great things about Discount but I’ve never used them, so I was interested to see if they could seamlessly translate my online order to the in-store experience. I ordered on the Discount Tire website and scheduled to have the tires delivered to a local store where they would be installed on my Ranger in two days’ time. Before driving to the store I stopped by an empty lot and did some “before testing” with my old Hankook Dynapro tires. Twice I got stuck in the sandy terrain and had to switch to 4WD and/or locking rear diff. I then drove on to the store with my tires filthy and coated in goathead stickers (which I massively apologized for to the technicians). Upon arrival I was greeted immediately by a friendly consultant and they immediately checked me in. All my information was in the system and ready to go from my online order, so there was no paperwork to fill out or hoops to jump through. The consultant brought one of the new Cooper tires out for me to inspect, and once I gave them the thumbs up they got right to work! Since I was going up in size quite a bit the technicians first mounted a front tire and installed it on the truck to ensure we had good clearance all around the steering and front suspension components. That was a nice touch. All-in-all I was only in the store for about 15 minutes! My consultant handed me a pamphlet with my printed paperwork and warranty information, then he explained my Discount Tire benefits such as free flat repairs and tire rotations & balances nationwide. That was a pleasant bonus that I did not take into consideration when I made the decision to buy the Coopers and it adds even more value to the purchase. I backed the truck out of the bay, stood back and admired the new shoes, and hit the road!  First impressions I’ll be honest, my past experience with adding larger off-road tires to my vehicles has not been overly pleasant. As I mentioned earlier, the added weight of these types of tires can really affect ride, acceleration, handling, fuel economy, even braking. Aggressive tread patterns and big tread blocks typically mean increased tire noise especially when on the highway. You certainly have to be prepared to sacrifice some on-road manners for off-road capability. When I left the Discount Tire shop I jaunted right across the road to Sedgwick County Park, which has some bumpy and unkept areas as well as nicely paved roads with sweeping curves. It was a good place to quickly get a feel for my truck’s new road manners. I found rather quickly that the tires did indeed change the way the Ranger drove, however the difference was not nearly as drastic as I’ve felt with other tires (such as the Toyo Open Country on our last SUV). Acceleration is slightly more sluggish and I can feel the truck wallowing more when making corners. I feel that the ride is only slightly harsher than with the OEM tires, although it may not be much different at all. It’s hard to tell really. Leaving the park, I immediately merged onto the highway to head back to the sandlot for a follow-up test to compare off-road grip against the old Dynapros. This is where I fully expected some road noise and ride harshness thanks to these tires’ much more pronounced and aggressive tread pattern as well as stiffer sidewalls. Instead I found myself pleasantly surprised! Tire noise was not discernibly louder than with the OEM tires and the ride was just the same as with the Hankooks (which, by the way, is quite poor in a stock Ranger). Because we do a lot of highway travelling, this was a very welcome discovery. The off-road test My completely unscientific off-road test of the Discoverer ATP II was to drive the Ranger over a series of berms at low speeds on a very low-traction surface. My theory here was that while the Ranger would make it through any of these obstacles pretty easily in 4WD and with some momentum, lower speeds would force the tires to do the work. Before I get too far into the findings I think it’s important for me to explain that this is not intended to be a direct comparison between the Hankook Dynapro AT/M and Cooper Discoverer ATP II. Not only are these tires fundamentally different, the Hankook also had 27k miles of wear on them. Think of the Dynapro results simply as a “Brand X” baseline.
1,000 mile thoughts I’ve now had some time to live with the Discoverers and try them in all sorts of different day-to-day scenarios: dry, wet, gravel, highway, residential, etc. I believe most people are going to purchase this tire for use in the same manner as me, that is to say lots of daily driver street use with the occasional off-road excursion for work or play. With that in mind I will continue to test these tires in various off-road conditions and report back later in the life of the tire. Today let’s focus on the everyday practicality of upgrading from an OEM all purpose tire to an upsized Cooper Discoverer ATP II. First and foremost I have to say that I am really enjoying the new look of our Ranger with these new tires. Whereas the OEM tires always looked one size too small and a little bit too subdued, these 275/65/18 Coopers fill the wheel wells much nicer while raising the truck slightly and showing off those blocky sidewalls with off-road intent. The optional raised white letters are a personal preference and I’ve found that people tend to love them or hate them - there’s not much in between. As a child of the 80’s who adored his Tonka and Nylint toy trucks, the white letters really speak to me. Most of our driving has been highway miles and there haven’t been any real complaints from Tosha nor I. As I mentioned earlier, tire noise is no issue and road manners are essentially just the same as they were before (that is to say, not great). One comment was made from our son Carter as he sat in the backseat - he felt that when Tosha was driving she was darting back and forth in the lane a little bit more frequently and it was bothering him. Tosha agreed that she might have been giving more steering input and pointed to the tires as the cause. I can certainly see how this might be the case, as those thick tread blocks wallowing and flexing under the carcass could cause one to correct left and right constantly. The biggest drawback however comes as no surprise: fuel economy. I must say first that we have been traveling almost exclusively north and south on I-35 and we’ve had some horrible luck with headwinds. During one trip from Oklahoma City to Wichita we charged headlong into almost constant 40-mph winds. When we headed back south to Dallas, wind had shifted out of the south and again we found ourselves pushing the Ranger’s little 4-banger to punch through the gusts. We’ve truly seldom had the wind at our back since getting these tires installed! All that being said, our economy went from an average of 19.5 mpg over the last 5000 miles of driving with the OEM tires (as calculated by the Ranger’s MFI), to just 16.0 with the upsized Coopers! While I do feel that our numbers have been quite skewed given our luck with these recent winds, it can’t be denied that there was some sort of considerable loss in fuel economy here.  Would I buy them again? It may be just a little too soon to tell yet. The overall purchase experience from Discount Tire was amazing and just as I was writing this blog Discount Tire has announced they’ve acquired Tire Rack and are merging operations. This is no doubt going to be an incredible pairing as they now represent two of my favorite options for tire purchases. It makes the choice that much simpler. I would absolutely purchase from Discount Tire again and I highly recommend purchasing and scheduling online! I’ve never experienced such a friendly and efficient tire install experience. While I am quite happy with the tires thus far, I am keen on trying them off-road alongside similar trucks and SUVs with the competitor’s tires. That will be the true test. Has this latest iteration of the budget(ish) Cooper Discoverer line truly closed the gap between them and the big boys? In terms of off-road capability I’m unsure of that until I can see it for myself. The on-road manners are quite good and I truly do not see any of the competition feeling any better or offering a quieter ride. For the price, I won’t be complaining either way. If you’re interested in watching our YouTube video showing how the tires performed off road, you can do that here! Please consider subscribing to our channel while you’re there. I hope you found this blog and video helpful! See you in the next one! When we started this full-time journey over two years ago, we did what any family looking to go full-time would do. We started scouring the internet for resources. We read countless articles, joined every Facebook group we could find that had full-time RV in the title and we started interacting with those “like us”. Here we are two years (and three months), 31,802 RV miles and 44 states later and I’ve come to the realization that we aren’t like most full-time RV families. We don’t fit the mold and here’s why. I love reading people’s stories - why did they choose (or not choose) to start living full-time in an RV? I recently posed this question in a Facebook group and got the spectrum of responses. Some people went full-time to slow down, some to create new life experiences, others to rid themselves of stuff. And of course there were also the stories of people who didn’t choose this lifestyle but were forced into it due to a lost job, change in housing, or a multitude of other personal challenges. One thing was certain - we were not the norm. Did we consider all of those advantages (and disadvantages) when making the decision to go full-time? Absolutely. Were we living many of them as our primary objective? Nope.  So why did we decide to go full-time? It’s kind of a long story (that happened in a relatively short time frame) but what it boiled down to was that we were doing it for our business. We started a custom motorcycle gear business in September 2018 as a side hustle. We wanted to make a buck while spending time with our motorcycle community trackside. We also saw a need for high quality, inexpensive custom motorcycle suits at a reasonable price point. By early 2019, it was clear that our business was growing quickly and we would need to hire someone to help run the business (while we kept our busy, corporate executive-level day jobs). When both of our jobs took sort of dramatic turns in the summer of 2019, we decided it might be time for one of us to focus full-time on the business. We started downsizing our monthly expenses to make this transition - the first of which was buying the RV and selling the house (although we ended up keeping and renting the house for the first year and a half before finally deciding to sell it in April 2021). After a couple of unexpected turns of events, both myself and Rob found ourselves unemployed and focusing full-time on the business by September 2019. During our strategic planning session for the 2020 season, we realized the RV life lended well to growing our business geographically by being trackside at as many tracks as possible in as many states as possible. The vision for what we’re doing today was born.  When I started reflecting on our first two years on the road, it was clear to me that we were blazing a very different path than the rest of the community. We started traveling to build our business. We were arriving at the race track on Thursday or Friday, spending all weekend networking with riders and growing our business, and packing up on Sunday evening or Monday morning and starting the trek to the next race track. Sometimes that was a two hour drive and sometimes that was a twelve hour drive (or, in the case of our west coast road trip, 20+ hours for a couple of the events). Depending on the length of the travel in between weekends, we may or may not have time to do anything fun in between. Before we knew it, we would be set up at our next race track and ready to work through the weekend. While our community counterparts were set up at nice RV parks, we were either boondocking trackside or in a Planet Fitness or Cracker Barrel parking lot or set up trackside with only power (or maybe generator power only for the weekend). Only one race track we attended in 2021 had full hookups - boy were we spoiled!  On the rare weekend off or week without two or three days of travel, we would find an RV park to set up at. However, we often found ourselves held up in the RV for two or three full days just trying to catch up on work. I distinctly remember one time when we were in St. Augustine, Florida at a beautiful RV resort (fancy name for fancy parks) just staring at the pool from the RV windows while we worked. In fact we were in Florida three times this year and never even went to a beach! If we were lucky (or smart), we would stop working around 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon and find somewhere to go or something to do for the last few hours of the day. Of course this ruled out most museums since most of them close at 5 or 6 pm. We often found ourselves just exploring the sights or grabbing dinner somewhere with (hopefully) a view. The kids were often so sick of traveling that they just wanted to stay in the RV. We fought them on this most of the time but, every once in a while, we gave in and let them stay while Rob and I grabbed a date night out on the town (much needed when you live in 400 square feet with two children).  We’ve traveled almost 40,000 miles in the RV in the past two years. We’ve visited 44 states - coast to coast. We’ve seen almost every major landmark in each state or at least something notable in each state. But we never spent substantial time in any one place. We were at Mount Rushmore for less than an hour. We bought a seven day pass to Crater Lake in Utah (which is unbelievably beautiful, btw) and we only spent a few hours there. We were constantly jumping from place to place to take it all in and then back on the road we went. Thankfully for us, our kids would get bored easily. An hour or two at each place was more than enough for them. They were grateful to see it, leave and then move on to the next thing (or spend the next few days held up in the RV while we traveled).  The other day I sat down to really think about how we could grow our social media channel and why we weren’t picking up steam like other channels and I came to the realization that we may be trying to speak to the wrong audience. We aren’t like other full-time RV families. We live at the race track most weekends, not nice RV parks. We don’t work less now that we’re full-time. If anything, we work more. We see a lot of the country but we don’t get to spend much time in any one place. If you’re looking for a traditional full-time RV family, that’s not us. If you want to follow our unique adventures as we attempt to balance full-time RV living, build a business and homeschool our children on the road, we would love to have you follow along! If you have a passion for motorsports, you may also want to follow along. We visit race tracks across the country and are able to answer any questions you may have prior to visiting each track. Whatever your reason for being here, we’re happy you’re here - and look forward to connecting with you in person one of these days! (We aren’t those weirdos that don’t want people to talk to them either - no offense, weirdos.)   Traveling is a worthwhile adventure; we get to see new sites, new people, and foods and expose ourselves to new cultures. It’s just one of the many adventures in life that never gets old, so you’d understand that with how this past year has gone, everyone has been itching to see the world again.
With travel restrictions are being lifted, people are getting their chance to fly or drive again! This sudden boom that airlines have been seeing shows how much people are trying to get some sweet revenge travel! However, we cannot afford to get careless, yes, some travel restrictions have been lifted, but that doesn’t mean that the risks involved in traveling haven’t disappeared. This is where travel insurance will be your best support. No one ever likes to think about getting sick, injured, or robbed while on vacation, but it can happen and does happen on occasion. As the old saying goes, “hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” and the worst is always present whether you realize it or not, so best to be prepared. Below you’ll find some tips and scenarios in which travel insurance can save you a fortune.
Be patient and plan ahead Remember, traveling is one of the best experiences ever, so it literally pays to have things in order just in case anything were to happen. There are still risks, and we can’t plan for every little detail, but we can mitigate the big ones. So be sure to check the latest updates from the CDC, and if you can, take some extra time to clear up your credit report, so you can get a rewards travel card if you don’t already have one. And make sure that you and your loved ones are ready to enjoy your trip!
When we set out on our RV adventure, the main purpose was to build our business, Bison. Bison is a custom motorcycle racing gear business we started in September 2018. We provide motorcycle riders and racers with bespoke suits and gloves. We also sell several ancillary items, including undersuits, knee pucks, and apparel. We started the business on a part-time basis while we were working our full-time, corporate-level jobs. We started the business to meet a need (high-quality, custom leather suits at affordable prices) and to make an extra buck.
The business grew much quicker than we expected and by August 2019, we were faced with the decision to hire someone to handle the business or quit our jobs and do it ourselves. After what now seems like a divine course of events, Rob and I both ended up quitting our jobs and going all-in on Bison. When we sat down to have conversations about how we wanted to market the company in 2020, we were faced with a decision to either grow by adding dealerships in the area or by expanding our reach geographically without adding dealerships. We developed a grassroots marketing campaign centered around the MotoAmerica racing schedule. We decided to load the family up in the RV, follow the MotoAmerica racing schedule, and hit up club-level events along the way.
We started our adventure in February 2020 by attending the season's first CMRA event in Houston, Texas. The next stop was originally Dayton Beach, Florida for MotoAmerica pre-season testing but we opted to forego that event since our sponsored team decided not to go. It simply wasn't worth the cost at that point. Instead of Daytona Beach, we headed to New Orleans, Louisiana for the second CMRA round. This is when all hell broke loose with COVID-19. The CMRA event was canceled on the first day as the Governor of Louisiana implemented a limitation on the number of people that could gather for a public event. Meanwhile, the Daytona Beach event we originally planned to attend was also canceled. Thank goodness we didn't decide all that way and spend all that money just to have the event canceled on the first day!
Over the next two months, we quarantined, re-grouped, and questioned everything in life as our huge business investment seemed to crumble before our eyes. After wallowing in our sorrows for the first few weeks of quarantine, we decided to gather ourselves back up and re-focus. We spent the next few weeks, re-planning our trip, investing in new product development, improving process efficiencies, and re-designing our website. When it was time to get back on the road in May, we were structured much better for growth. We hired a part-time virtual assistant to handle all of our daily processes and used the SBA loan funds to order inventory to sell on the road. After a HUGE outpouring of support for our products at the first event at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Jennings, Oklahoma, we knew we made some wise investments.
The growth since that event has been big. We went from selling an average of five suits per month in the first four months of the year to eleven suits per month in the last three months. Revenue increased by 81 percent over the same time frame. We released a new glove design that is unlike anything on the market and we invested in a large SEO and PPC marketing campaign to increase our reach beyond where we will physically reach over the remainder of 2020.
The great news about all of this growth is that we are much closer to being able to sustain our full-time RV lifestyle than we were when we started this journey 13 months ago. The bad news is that we have new challenges to deal with on the road. When we first hit the road, we had very little product that we carried with us. Since all of our suits and gloves are custom, we only carried a couple of each with us. After selling out of our gloves and undersuits at our first event in May, we quickly realized the demand for these products trackside was high. Since we are focused on becoming the best custom motorcycle racing gear business in the industry, we designed our first colorway, The Roots design. This was a custom Thor.1 glove design that we would offer for a limited time until we created the next colorway design. We placed a fairly large order of both The Roots colorway and men's and women's one-piece and two-piece undersuits. 
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally received our stock products near the end of July. Now we were faced with a new problem. What would we do with all of these items in our small space? If I'm honest, we haven't quite figured it out yet (as you can see from these pictures) but we do have a plan to reduce some of our undercarriage cargo (personal items) to make room for the business stock. We also have a longer-term plan to order additional stock, have it all shipped to our centralized shipping and receiving location, and have a limited number of items shipped to us periodically from that location. Unfortunately, ordering that much stock is very costly so we have to work up to that point. Here's the other issue - that's just one of our businesses. We are getting ready to launch products for both our Lackeys Be Trippin' brand and our Edie Kate children's clothing brand. We have designs being developed for both now. The plan for those two brands is mixed. We will probably stock most of the items at our centralized shipping and receiving location while carrying a few Lackeys Be Trippin' items with us on the road in case anyone wants to buy them when we meet up. We also have a future brand in its infancy stage that will be geared towards the RV lifestyle and will require much more storage space than we will have to offer on the road. We will have to come up with a creative solution for that as well!
So what's the hardest part about running our business(es) from our RV? Storage! Living in an RV full-time is already like playing a daily game of Tetris - try adding the need for product storage! Now I know why most full-timers look for service-based work on the road. The good news is that I've realized we don't need nearly the stuff we originally thought while on the road. We've purged our personal items twice in the past year and it seems we'll need to do it at least once more before we can reach the optimal personal/business balance. If anyone has any storage tips, we would appreciate it if you would share them with us! Leave them in the comments below. Until next time - go fast, be safe! (That's our motto for Bison if you didn't already know!)
Happy Monday, family, friends, and fellow campers! I am writing to you from a small town outside beautiful Virginia Beach, Virginia following a fun, family-filled weekend. I'm reflecting on the weekend we had with a bit of angst about the time we took away from work. I'm trying to put in perspective the work-life balance we've created through this lifestyle for our readers. I think it's easy for people to see all of the amazing places we've traveled and things we've done over the past year and think that all we're doing is having fun. That couldn't be farther from the truth so let me try to explain.
We took a small detour from our strategic, race track-focused travel schedule last week as we made our way from Summit Point Motorsports Park in Summit Point, West Virginia to Virginia Beach, Virginia. This is the first time we've moved our Thor Outlaw motorhome without heading in the direction of another race track since we left Dallas at the beginning of June. Since we decided not to take the RV to The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington this coming weekend, we found ourselves with a three-week gap between events. Because we were on the east coast and all of Rob's family (on his dad's side) lives on the east coast, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to have some family time.
This past weekend was the first weekend since my birthday on May 29th that we did not find ourselves at a race track all weekend. We met up with Rob's sister, Erica, and her family to slow down for a bit and enjoy time away from the track. We hadn't seen Erica and her family for two and a half years, since she and her husband moved from Fort Worth, Texas to Virginia Beach on assignment from the Navy. The last time we saw them was at Carter's eleventh birthday party at Elevation Trampoline Park. Erica, her husband, Donald, and their son, Jason, had driven from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City for Carter's party shortly before they packed up and headed back to the east coast.
On Friday night we reconnected at Donald and Erica's house for pizza and to meet our newest niece, Kira, for the first time. She recently celebrated her first birthday and we hadn't had the opportunity to meet her yet.
On Saturday we visited the Norfolk Naval Station and saw many incredible ships. We can't tell you about them, though, because then we'd have to kill you! LOL. According to military.com, "Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest naval station, supporting 75 ships and 134 aircraft alongside 14 piers and 11 aircraft hangars. The base houses the largest concentration of U.S. Navy forces. Air Operations conducts an average of 275 flights per day or one every six minutes. It is the hub for Navy logistics going to the European and Central Command theaters of operations, and to the Caribbean." Following our visit to the Norfolk Naval Station, we drove to Virginia Beach and went on a driving tour of the boardwalk. The weather wasn't ideal for a beach day so we opted to just tour the area by car instead.
Saturday night, Donald and Erica offered to watch the kids so Rob and I could have a date night for the first time in months. Since game three of the Oklahoma City Thunder/Houston Rockets NBA playoff series was on TV and we've barely been able to see the first two games because of our less than stellar internet connection, we opted to visit a local restaurant called Jose Tequilas Mexican Grill and Bar to grab a couple of margaritas, some chips, and queso and watch the game at the bar. If you ever visit a Jose Tequilas Mexican Grill and Bar, I highly recommend their avocado margarita and cowboy queso with steak, applewood smoked bacon, and fresh hot peppers. It was very good but also very hot! To top off the evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled out the win in overtime to avoid being swept in the first round of the playoffs. (Here's to hoping they can even the series up tonight!)
Sunday morning we met Erica, Erica's mom, and the kids for a morning at the beach. Since they are beach regulars, they came prepared with beach chairs, umbrellas, and boogie boards. It was a beautiful, relaxing day of beach fun topped off by seeing several dolphins just off the shore! Following the beach, we headed to Donald's parent's house for burgers, hot dogs, and pool time. Carter enjoyed playing basketball with Jason while Edith enjoyed pushing Kira around the pool in the baby pool float. Rob and Donald joined the two teenage boys for a rowdy game of basketball in the pool. If you would have seen this game, you would have thought they were all teenagers - except the men eventually came to terms with their ages and ran out of energy.
The weekend was great! We really enjoyed family time - but it also felt a bit weird being away from the track and work. We feel a bit guilty taking time for ourselves, away from our business. I think that's the part that people don't see through our social media. Rob and I typically spend seven days per week fighting as hard as possible to build our business as fast as we can. We work all kinds of crazy hours, including well into the morning most nights as we communicate with suppliers in other time zones. It's what we have to do to build the life we want and we're both willing to put in the hard work to make it happen. The beautiful part of this full-time RV lifestyle is that we can be so close to our children even when we're putting in those hours to build our business. (Don't forget the fact that we're trying to build multiple businesses simultaneously.) But it's not like we spend a ton of quality time together every day. Rob and I are usually both working while the kids are doing school work and playing video games or watching YouTube. That's the part you don't see on social media. Just like any family, we have to make a conscious effort to have uninterrupted family time. And it doesn't happen as often as we would like! We just find ourselves somewhere cool and different when it does happen!
A couple days ago we posted our Oregon Trail blog, in which I related everyday RV challenges to the hardships faced by our distant kin as they made their way across the frontier. If you haven’t read it yet, please check it out HERE! Naturally it was written with some tongue-in-cheek embellishment; however I simply can’t help but see the parallels during every day of our journey! Case in point: Today.
If you’ve been following our journey on social media (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram) you likely know that we’ve had ongoing issues with our power generator. Today we dropped our beloved home off at the Onan/Cummins dealer in Manassas, Virginia. As they went to work diagnosing the issue, we made an impromptu trip to Washington, D.C. (skipping our religious Wednesday laundry day) for some family time. It was great!
We love D.C. Carter had only been here when he was about 2 years old, so it was awesome seeing his and Edith’s reactions. The wild part about this trip compared to my past experiences with D.C. is there were no people! The COVID lockdown meant everything was shuttered. No Smithsonian museums, no food vendors. Minimal auto and foot traffic. The bad news: We couldn’t get into one of my favorite buildings in the US: The Air and Space Museum. The good news: We didn’t have that much time anyway, and the lack of traffic made for a great day of sightseeing from the truck, just driving around.
After several hours of sightseeing we still hadn’t heard from the Onan dealer with a diagnosis on the genny. We had originally planned to get the RV back the same day, whether it meant the generator was pulled out or we picked it up completely fixed and healthy (super-optimist-mode engaged!). A quick phone call to check in with the service guy, and any optimism turned to frustration. Not only was the genny unrepaired, it wasn’t even diagnosed. They hadn’t even pulled it from the RV. 
We returned to the shop and packed a suitcase, sorted out the quote for diagnosis (UUUUUUUGH), then we left our home at a repair facility for the first time during this journey. Everyone was beside themselves. Edith didn’t want to leave her bunny. Carter didn’t want to leave his bed. Tosha didn’t want to leave AT ALL.
The biggest issue with all of this - besides leaving our home and all of our belongings (including our pet) in a strange place - is that we were supposed to be at a racetrack for work this evening! Instead we are now at the mercy of the warranty company and the repair shop. We lost a day! Just as in the game, unforeseen circumstances come up weekly during our travels and sometimes result in a lost day… or two. Here’s to hoping it’s no more than one! Stay tuned and see how bad this one hurts us, and how we overcome this latest challenge! 
Remember the video game Oregon Trail? If you’re between the ages of say, 20 and 50, chances are you played some iteration of the educational Apple video game in grade school. For those robbed of this wonderful schoolhood privilege, here’s a brief synopsis: You are the leader of a family making the trek across the Oregon Trail. You must keep the rest of the family healthy and, well… alive. Oh, and the oxen. Gotta keep them healthy and living as well, otherwise your trip stops and the family dies. You begin the game by selecting the supplies you think you might need along the way: food, ammo, clothing, water, medicine and spare parts. The numerous challenges faced by those on the Oregon Trail are there to greet you in digital form via the video game and in many cases they lead to the sudden loss of life - especially if you aren’t equipped with the proper supplies. Because you name your family at the start of the journey, you feel a little tinge of emotion every time the game displays a little digital tombstone complete with the family member’s name and cause of death.
The truth is, Oregon Trail is a perfect game in the sense that it puts into perspective the hardships faced by those travelers while teaching the player about the importance of planning ahead, being prepared, and dealing with sudden hardships. These days you can get Oregon Trail on emulators and online, but there is also a card game version. In fact, we carry the card game on board the RV during our travels! I’d recommend checking either game out, both are a lot of fun but most importantly they make you realize just how easy we’ve got it these days. As a full-time RVer the Oregon Trail games hit a little closer to home. Let’s walk through the parallels of driving a motorhome across the US in 2020 and driving a digital wagon across the US in the Oregon Trail game. 
Supplies
In the Oregon Trail video game, supplies are limited due to weight and space. In RV life, loading the rig up with all the necessities while staying under the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) is truly a balancing act. Our Class A coach has an overall GVWR of 30,000 lbs. When we are full of fresh water and fuel and towing the Ranger, we weigh in at about 29,700 lbs! Talk about cutting it close. And that’s after we unloaded about 500 lbs of weight during our last stop in Oklahoma City. In the Oregon Trail games, if a hardship arises and you don’t have the supplies to handle the situation, your entire party can perish in just a few turns. Wagon axle breaks and no spare parts? You’re stranded and everyone starves. While the consequences are not typically that dire, RV life is pretty similar. Balancing our on-board water for instance (@ 8.3 lbs per gallon) with a large load of groceries might mean we dump 30 gallons of fresh water in a WalMart parking lot. Speaking of food, we can only bring so much since our fridge and cabinets are in no way “residential grade”. As the primary driver of the coach, I am responsible for repairing and maintaining our “wagon”. When something breaks or needs general attention, I better be prepared. Some items that have proved their weight in gold: tire plug kit; tool kit(s); electrical connectors and tools; fuses; spare oil and other fluids; tire pressure monitors; electric impact wrench; RTV silicone sealant; silicone lubricant; rubber roof patch tape and the Dremel tool. Obviously that’s a lot of stuff but, really, I’ve used all those items more than once in the past year. Some, weekly. What’s the tradeoff? All those things take up space and add weight to the vehicle. For me, the pros of being able to diagnose and repair in the field outweighs the cons of space and weight. Beyond the needs of maintaining the RV, truck, generator and motorcycles, Tosha and I also need to consider that little thing where we keep the kids comfortable and alive. Food, drinks, entertainment, clothing, learning tools and medicine are all crucial. Again, lots of things there but all are necessary. Carter in particular has Type 1 diabetes, which means we always have insulin on board which must be refrigerated. If we lose power, we better have propane on board to run the fridge. No power and no propane? We’re in trouble. By the way, we have to work out logistics for ordering and restocking these meds as we travel across the country! Keeping tabs on propane, gasoline, oil level, fresh water, medication, spare parts, food, ammo (yes ammo is a necessity), waste on board, generator/coach maintenance and 10 different tire pressures can feel like a full-time job in and of itself. Losing tabs on any one of these things can put us in a predicament that sends our stress level skyrocketing. 
Calamities
In the Oregon Trail games, those predicaments are referred to as calamities. Sure that sounds dramatic, but I can relate. Over the past few months we’ve experienced a flat tire, an exploded electrical system thanks to a short in our power hook-up cord and various generator issues. In fact we’re currently living without mobile power since our generator completely went out last week… but that’s a story worthy of it’s own blog. The key is being as prepared as possible for any foreseeable issue while not overloading the RV. Non-tangible things that can still bail you out of a sticky situation include roadside assistance plans, vehicle/RV extended warranties, and the best insurance you can afford. These don’t add weight or take up space, but they do provide protection and peace-of-mind.
Hunting when times get tough
When you run out of food on the Oregon Trail, it’s time to load the gun and go hunting. Assuming that you have ammo on board of course! In real life I would equate this to hustling for a few extra bucks. This can be done remotely depending on your primary sources of income (and again, assuming you have wifi reception!), but you can also forage for some extra income via a workcamping gig or using your toad vehicle as an Uber. When times get tough, rolling your sleeves up and hunting for those extra dollars can really save the day! 
The oxen
Like oxen, the RV is one of the most important things to monitor during your travels. Without a healthy yoke of oxen you are stranded, and you better hope you’ve got roadside assistance. The thing about RV’s is there are SO MANY THINGS to tend to! Of course you have the running gear; engine, transmission, tires, axles, brakes, suspension, steering and cooling system. But you also need to remember the coach elements; plumbing, electrical, structural, air conditioners, appliances, generator and exterior sealant! Neglect any one of these items and a small inconvenience could quickly become a big big problem. I use a couple different apps to keep me on schedule with all the RV maintenance needs. A logbook works as well. Oh, and don’t neglect your toad vehicle! 
Camping overnight in strange places
Just as on the Oregon Trail, you sometimes find yourself in a strange place with no other choice but to stay overnight. We generally try and scout our surroundings ahead of time using various crime mapping websites, but even that isn’t foolproof. Only a few times have we been truly sketched out, but we can take a little solace in the fact that we have home protection on board. When parked in less than desirable areas we simply pull the shades down, lock all doors and compartments, and we all sleep in the mid/loft area of the RV away from entry doors. Again, it doesn’t happen often but you do need a plan and protection for the times it does.
Arriving at the next checkpoint and resupplying
When you’re low on supplies or have an ongoing calamity in the Oregon Trail game, seeing the next sign of civilization on the horizon is a huge relief. In the Oregon Trail game, it’s a fort or a town. In RV life - for us anyway - the equivalent “sigh of relief” moment would be an RV park with full hookups. Electricity without the restrictions of our generator size! Water without worry of running out! And draining our showers and toilets without worry of overflowing the holding tanks! Living in an RV, you quickly start coveting things you once took for granted. As I mentioned earlier, we’re currently grappling with generator issues. For the past 24 hours we have done a delicate balancing act of conserving every watt of energy while still making food, running the water pump, etc… We also completely filled our waste tanks which meant dirty dishes stacking up, and no one being allowed to use the toilet. This morning Carter woke up with high blood sugar (again, diabetic), and unfortunately he was sick and throwing up. We ran out of water flushing. Worse, we had no water for him to drink in order to reduce his sugar levels! Finally, at noon today we rolled into an RV park for the first time in over four days. We plugged in 50 amp electric and the sewer dump as soon as we arrived, we put the slides out, kicked the AC units on and emptied the waste tanks. Let me tell you, it was nice. It truly felt like we were back in a house. Just as comforting: Leaving the RV park with full batteries, empty waste tanks, full water reserves, and - if I’m lucky to find the time - a freshly-washed rig! RV parks truly are an RV’ers equivalent of civilization on the Oregon Trail. 
Fording a river
I debated putting this one in, but it’s relatable. In Oregon Trail, when you come across a river you have a few options presented to you: You can ford the river, attempt to float the wagon across, or at times pay a ferry. The RV equivalent? Low clearance things like bridges, power lines, trees, etc., or a dead end road that you can’t turn around on. Maybe a steep incline that could cause you to rip the entire rear cap off your rig. In these instances you have to make quick, sometimes stressful decisions. I’ve attempted to clear low bridges and crushed my roof elements, and I’ve been stuck in dead ends that made for time-consuming turn arounds. It’s not fun and it can cause everyone in the wagon (RV) to hurl stress-induced comments at one another. Essentially, when navigating an RV you have quick decisions to make around every turn. Assuming you’re going to clear that low bridge without knowing your actual height? Better have the budget for a new satellite dome! But hey, most of the time you’ll only make a mistake once. That being said, I’ve repaired our satellite dome three times now. Take better mental notes than me. 
These are all first world problems
In the end, everything aforementioned - aside from keeping medication stocked and refrigerated - is not a big, life-threatening deal. These are truly “first world problems”. In the grand scheme of things, whether you live in a big sticks-and-bricks home or a little travel trailer, a day or two without electricity or water is nothing compared to what our forefathers endured. More importantly, it’s nothing compared to what others experience even in these times. We must remind ourselves of this. Perspective is very important. Hopefully if you’re new to RVing or considering it, this blog opens your eyes to some of the everyday challenges you may face. For those of you already familiar with all the things I described above, my hope is you got a smile from this and you’ve been reminded to keep your cool when times get tough. But regardless of how you relate, reading it all the way through means you’re now rewarded with this: A fully playable web-based version of the original Oregon Trail game! Have fun, good luck and… make those supply choices wisely!
Life on the road can be exciting and rewarding. It can also be exhausting. Sometimes you just need to take a break. Take one.
Don't travel those extra miles. Don't force yourself to go see more sights just because you feel like you should be making the most of your time. Don't go visit friends if you need a day or night at home. 
Listen to your body and take the break when it's needed. If you don't, you'll find yourself feeling burnt out and resentful to life on the road.
When we started planning our 2020 tour of the United States, there were several stops that were high on our list of places we wanted to visit. Wisconsin wasn't one of them. However, after spending the past six weeks in Wisconsin (with a little bit of time in northern Illinois), we've added Wisconsin to the list of places we want to return and here's why.
First and foremost, the weather in Wisconsin during the summer is amazing! Sure, it does get hot here during the day and, yeah, it was even a little humid but it's nothing like Oklahoma summers. The average high temperature during the summer (June, July, August) in Wisconsin ranges from 76 to 80 degrees. Meanwhile, the morning and evening temperatures settle in between 54 to 59 degrees. Compare those to our home state of Oklahoma where summer high temperatures range from 88 to 95 degrees with lows ranging from 65 to 69 degrees. The humidity in Wisconsin is a little higher than Oklahoma but the temperature and cloud coverage helps balance that out during the day and nights make up for any extra humidity. Nights in Wisconsin are magical - until the mosquitoes come out at dark!
If you look for a bustling city to visit on your vacations, Wisconsin has plenty of cities with a lot of great places to visit. Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin and offers all of the amenities of a large city, including dining, shopping, museums and other entertainment venues. If you're a history buff, Madison may be the perfect city for you. The Wisconsin State Capitol building is located in Madison along with the Wisconsin Historical Museum, Madison Children's Museum, Olbrich Botanical Gardens and several notable Frank Lloyd Wright architectures. We personally visited Bassett Street Brunch Club in Madison and the food was phenomenal! We highly recommend it if you're in the area. Meanwhile, even if you're not a Packers fan, Green Bay offers several other must visit destinations. Green Bay is home to the National Railroad Museum, Bay Beach Amusement Park and Green Bay Botanical Gardens just to name a few. Unfortunately, COVID-19 left us pretty restricted during our visit to Wisconsin so we didn't get to visit many of these amazing places but we definitely plan to return when we can experience them fully.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Wisconsin to us were the beautiful, clear lakes. We're used to the man-made lakes in Oklahoma full of mud and clay (among other, not so pretty things). Wisconsin is home to more than 15,000 lakes throughout the state, many of which are beautiful and clear. We personally visited Lake Michigan in Sheboygan, Lake Winnebago near Fond du Lac and Elkhart Lake. Lake Michigan gave us great views, an incredible rainbow after a short stint of rain near North Point Park, a painted rock hunt in the old Lottie Cooper ship wreckage and a magical walk on the water towards the Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse. We made a quick visit to Lake Winnebago after a walk through the Menominee Park and Zoo (which was free, btw). Lastly, exploring Elkhart Lake was a key part of our trip to Road America (and Wisconsin in general). Having grown up around racing, both Road America and Elkhart Lake were places we had always wanted to visit. Elkhart Lake did not disappoint with incredible views, great food and drinks at The Tiki Bar, ice cream on the beach water and exploring all of the cool, historical road racing signs throughout Elkhart Lake.
Another important part of Wisconsin's tourism is its state park system. Wisconsin is home to 60+ state parks and recreation areas that include lush forests, beautiful lakes and plenty of outdoor activities including hiking, fishing and kayaking. While we tried on several occasions to make time to visit them, it just never worked out for us. However, this is a must do the next time return to this area. Since we did not personally experience any of the state parks ourselves, I am sharing a couple of links to reviews of the Wisconsin state parks for additional insight. Hidden Gems: 12 Wisconsin State Parks Perfect for Exploring Hiking Across Wisconsin: Top 5 State Parks 15 Best State Parks in Wisconsin You Should Visit This Summer 
The last but certainly not least reason to visit Wisconsin in the summer is its expansive farmland. Maybe this is my Oklahoma roots showing but I found so much beauty in the farmland throughout Wisconsin. The endless pastures of cattle grazing, the adorable farmhouses and barns and the rolling wheat pastures made for beautiful sights as we traveled from one campsite or race track to another. Breweries, cheese factories, farmer's markets and wineries are high on our list of things to do when we return to this area (and when COVID-19 is no longer a factor). Until we're able to experience the full tours, we'll stick to watching from the windows of our RV as we drive by all of these beautiful places.
The six weeks we spent in Wisconsin were more memorable than we could have ever imagined. We made a ton of memories as a family and experienced a part of the country we never had on our radar. We met a lot of amazing people who opened their homes and lives to us and, for all of those things, we are eternally grateful. We are excited to some day return to Wisconsin to finish exploring all of the areas we were unable to reach on this trip and visit all of our new friends. Thank you, Wisconsin. Until we meet again.
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