In May of this year we hit the road with the intentions of traveling to see the country and find a place to settle down. We started our journey with driving down to Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Moving into the RV
We completely moved our of our apartment a few days before we were ready to get on the road. Seeing our apartment empty and spending our first night in the RV was when it really started feeling real. We had spent months working on renovating the RV nonstop and seeing all that work come to fruition was tremendously rewarding.
I was pleased to find the foam mattress we chose was quite comfortable! The deadline we set to leave was a bit tight, but the RV was ready and the apartment was empty, so we got on the road with a few projects still on our list.
Driving Down Stop One: Mary's Land Farm
We got on the road early to try to get a jump on traffic. Little did we know that wouldn’t help as much as we hoped… We ended up being over two hours late to our first overnight stop.
If you look at GPS directions, the drive down to Raleigh seems like it can be done in a day and it definitely can be done, just not in an RV. We had planned for two overnight stops before we got down to our campground in Raleigh. The first day was just a reminder that we need to plan ahead and leave plenty of time on travel days.
The first overnight stop was booked through Harvest Hosts, so we got to stay at an organic farm! After a long stressful day on the road, pulling into serene surroundings with pigs and goats wandering around was just the balm we needed for our souls. With the windows open and cute piggies grazing in our view, we cooked chicken to make a salad for dinner.
After dinner we went for a walk around the property to unwind and got followed around by a farm dog and goat! They were our buddies for the evening as we toured the farm. There were cows grazing, many chickens in their coops, ducks swimming around a pond, horses feeding in their pen and a small drove of pigs free floating and grazing on clover wherever they wanted. Tell me where a better place to spend the night is?
We got to bed early for our next leg of the drive in the morning.
Driving Down Stop Two: Shenandoah National Park (well technically a Cracker Barrel)
After restful sleep in peaceful surroundings we got on the road early for our next stop. Since we were driving through Virginia, why not visit Shenandoah National Park? So we did.
I bought a National Parks Guide before we started our RV journey, so I had done some research the night before on a game plan for the day. There was only so much time, so we had to plan accordingly.
Shenandoah proved to be a breathtaking park with pristine forest, awe-inspiring waterfalls, and majestic meadows. We ended up only having time for the Dark Hollow Falls Hike and a prance through the Big Meadow.
It was, however, a rejuvenating visit, even though it was just half the day. I had originally tried to book a campsite in the Big Meadows campground so we could just stay in the park for the night, but my efforts were fruitless as the campground was packed full to September.
So that led us to our second stop before we reached Raleigh… Cracker Barrel. We ate dinner there and parked overnight in their RV parking.
Our Final Leg Down to Raleigh
And another day of driving! We woke up early one more time to take our final drive to our destination. We made it to the campground around 3pm, settled in, relaxed and made plans for our stay in Raleigh.
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