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Our spontaneous travel continues, and this week we plant our flag in Arkansas, just south of Fayetteville. The campground - Hog Valley RV and Treehouse Resort - was a surprise gem and we can’t wait to return. In fact, the campground was such a pleasure to stay at, we decided to make it our first campground review. Stay tuned next week for the full run-down, including an exclusive tour of one of the treehouses. This week was our last chance to ride bikes, and we all took advantage of the opportunity. The girls rode around the campground and I found my new favorite mountain bike trail - Kessler Mountain Regional Park. We also found our new favorite restaurant of the trip - Ohana Poke - where we could indulge our craving for sushi without the sushi restaurant price tag. The management was friendly and the food was amazing! This was our last chance for full hookups. So, we charged our battery, emptied our tanks, and made plans for the last leg of a journey we started a long time ago.
Fayetteville, AR
Welcome to our home away from home, the 2021 Grand Design Imagine 2800BH travel trailer. In this episode, we give you a full tour of the rig interior, including the floor plan, amenities, and minor mods we’ve made to make the space more accommodating. This is our first rig and, in the past 3 years, we have traveled more 20,000 miles and lived in it for a total of 9 months, off and on. Personally, I didn’t realize how comfortable RV life could be and I’m grateful that Honeybunch encouraged the family to make the purchase and hit the road. When we started, we didn’t know how much we would love this lifestyle - and I was very nervous about towing, backing up, and setting up the rig at the campsites. We watched a lot of YouTube instructional videos and quickly found that there was more to YouTube than just the “how to” content. We found motivation and inspiration as we became interested in the travel documentaries uploaded by our fellow RVers. Eventually, we decided to make the leap from being YouTube channel subscribers to becoming creators. Huge thank you to everyone that has watched our content and subscribed to our channel! We are honored to be a part of your lives and we hope our channel is achieving our goals: to entertain, educate, and inspire you to make the most of life!
Rig Tour: 2021 Grand Design Imagine 2800BH
Today we’re sharing some outtakes and bloopers that are usually edited out of the videos. In this episode, we’re covering a lot of ground - 879 miles to be exact - and another stop in Nashville to take care of a little trailer maintenance and visit a few places we missed last time around. We also had the pleasure of seeing the Nashville Symphony again, this time for a live performance of the entire Home Alone score while the movie is projected on a screen above the musicians. The performance was incredible and we’ll definitely keep an eye out for shows like this in the future. This video includes an excerpt from the film Napoleon Dynamite (Paramount / MTV Films).
Drive Day Diaries (Bloopers & Outtakes)
This week’s video is a bit shorter than most because we spent the week visiting family and dealing with a few Blazedar family illnesses. Everyone was on the mend by the time we left, but there were a few visits to the vet and urgent care along the way. Otherwise, it was a busy week catching up with family, showing off the rig, and celebrating Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania at my parents house - Special K’s G-Ma and G-Pa! We managed to squeeze in another visit to Camping World, the fourth, for those of you keeping score at home, and we stopped by Taylor Swift’s childhood home in Wyomissing. We have a rough plan for our route back home, but we’re mostly winging it to see how spontaneous we can be as we hit the road with no reservations. The time with family went by way too fast and we look forward to a future trip where we can spend more time in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. This video contains an excerpt from "Allentown" by Billy Joel on Columbia Records.
The Turning Point
No destination on this trip is complete without a stop (or two) at Camping World. Since we go there so often, we decided to spend the night - for free (or at least for the cost of a Good Sam membership). The overnight stay wasn’t completely necessary, but it made us feel better to get our tires checked and to invest in our long-awaited TPMS system. Turns out I was overreacting about the tire, but at least we left our mark on the town - or rather, it left it’s mark on us when we fell victim to trailer tail swing and smacked a road sign with a back end - minor scrapes, no real damage. Thank goodness. Now that we had a little more peace of mind, we made it to American Heritage RV Park in Williamsburg, VA. The week went by very quickly, but we managed to fit in some mountain biking and a few visits to Colonial Williamsburg, including one of our favorite events - the Haunted Williamsburg Ghost Tour. HOT TIP: You do not need to pay an entry fee to walk around the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. You do need an entrance pass to enter the theater, take part in tours, and visit live demonstrations like the blacksmith shop. We bought three-day passes but in hindsight, we only needed one-day passes. On our final day, I squeezed in another mountain bike ride at Freedom Park. It took me longer than expected to bike to the park and I would not have been able to spend much time on the single-track but, luckily, a good samaritan offered to show me the trails and even gave me a ride back to the RV park. And he didn’t try to kidnap me or anything. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - the RV (and cycling) communities are full of good people that are happy to help, advise, and share experiences! We are grateful to be a part!!
Williamsburg, Virginia
We weren’t sure how anything could live up to the fun and excitement we had in Nashville and, as it turns out, we were ready for some peace and quiet. Our campsite in Lenoir City, Tennessee delivered just that. The Melton Hill Dam Campground was beautiful, our neighbors were friendly, and after some much needed rest, we ventured out to nearby Knoxville and later, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where I had the opportunity to take part in some batting practice with the Knoxville Holstons team and members of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Baseball. Although there was a bit of panic when freezing temperatures set in, our first experience camping in this climate, everything went smoothly. We did invest in a rather pricey heated water hose, but overall there were no issues and we’re happy to have some new gear in our toolbox.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Step-by-step instructions for setting up almost any travel trailer. Our rig is a 2021 Grand Design Imagine 2800BH (bunk house), but the instructions in this video apply to most travel trailers. Travel Trailer Setup Checklist 1. Level side to side (passenger/driver) 2. Chock tires! 3. Disconnect tow vehicle 4. Level front to back 5. Connect electric 6. Extend slide-out (if applicable) 7. Connect water 8. Connect sewer 9. Lower stabilizer jacks 10. Relax by the fire Printable Setup Checklist https://blazedar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/BLAZEDAR-How-To-Trailer-Setup-Checklist.pdf Products used in this video: LevelMate Pro - https://amzn.to/3CHtPhL Andersen Camper Levelers - https://amzn.to/3poZRMc X-Chock Wheel Stabilizer - https://amzn.to/3Pt6JTq Valterra T58 Twist-On Waste Valve - https://amzn.to/46p4W8b Renator RV Water Pressure Regulator - https://amzn.to/43S5fGK Camco Heavy Duty Leveling Blocks - https://amzn.to/42SILnT Solid Rubber Heavy Duty Wheel Chocks - https://amzn.to/3PpkOkV Camco RhinoFLEX 20-Foot RV Sewer Hose Kit - https://amzn.to/433Ij61 zero-G Kink-Free Garden Hose - https://amzn.to/3CMBefO Camco PowerGrip 25-Foot 50-Amp Power Cord - https://amzn.to/42SJhlP
How To: Travel Trailer Setup
As our time winds down in Nashville, we try to fit in all, or at least some of the things we missed the first week. First stop, the Grand Ole Opry. We ended up spending most of this visit at the Opryland Resort because, apparently you have to purchase a tour or concert tickets to see the actual music venue. Fine, we’ll buy tickets to see Carrie Underwood! The whole night was amazing and all of the performers put on a great show. We also loved the Grammy Award winning Riders in the Sky who are known for their song Woody’s Roundup from Toy Story 2. Another bucket list destination for us was the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was worth the wait (we couldn’t get tickets the week before). The museum was filled with memorabilia from past and present country artists, like Elvis’s gold-plated Cadillac. We got to walk through RCA Studio B, got pictures at Elvis’s favorite piano, and listened to music that was recorded right where we were sitting. Our last exhibit was the Hatch Show Print which is a working letter-press print shop. Hatch Show Prints created the famous, simple design for events and political campaigns that we now consider to be the quintessential vintage poster look. I rode my bike for the first time on the trip, but had to do a little maintenance first. We found our new favorite restaurant, Nadeen’s Hermitage Haven. And we got to see one more Cole Ritter and the Night Owls show. We’re sad that we have to leave Nashville, but there’s plenty of great stops left in the trip. Next week, we make the short drive to Knoxville, TN and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We also recorded the full campsite setup process, for those that have been wondering what is required and how long it takes.
Nashville, Tennessee (Part 2)
Music City, USA lived up to it’s name. Happy New Year! We’re looking forward to a year of adventure and new experiences as we travel the country, and we’re thankful that you join us for the ride. Nashville did not disappoint. We got a slow start, but made up for it with a busy second week during our stay at Grand Ole RV Resort in Goodlettsville, TN. The resort was about 10 miles from Nashville, it was comfortable, and the managers could not have been friendlier. We did so much that we had to split the episode into two parts. In Part 1, we found out we should have booked Country Music Hall of Fame tickets in advance. We saw Trisha Yearwood sing with the Nashville Symphony at the Schermerhorn, attended a private rooftop show at the Four Seasons, played vintage guitars, and tried some Nashville hot chicken. It was hot…and pretty greasy, but delicious. And hot. The Trisha Yearwood concert was even better than we expected, and we had high expectations. First, we were surprised to see that she would be singing with the Nashville Symphony. Then, we arrived to find her whole first set would be a tribute to Frank Sinatra. Photography was not allowed (and it was strictly enforced), so we don’t have any video, but we actually liked the policy and the show was worthy of our undivided attention. A surprise highlight of the trip was a private rooftop show with Cole Ritter and the Night Owls at the Four Seasons Hotel. The performance was great and we were very fortunate to be invited to the show, and it was a perfect night. Big, big thank you to Marissa at Blue Moon Artists for getting us into the show, and for letting us record and post our experience. In the last few minutes of this episode we included some excerpts from the performance, and we plan to upload some full-song video in a separate post. In Part 2, we finally make it to the Country Music Hall of Fame, got to see another Cole Ritter show, and we saw Carrie Underwood at the Grand Ole Opry. To book an event with Cole Ritter and the Night Owls contact Blue Moon Artists https://www.bluemoonartists.com/ https://coleritterandthenightowls.com/
Nashville, Tennessee (Part 1)
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