Welcome to the Road

 

Welcome!

Right Lane Living is a travel blog that chronicles the full-time RV life of Bob and Marlene Dees as we travel the USA in our Motor Home, Kokopelli, and Jeep, Nakai. Each week or so, Bob will offer reflections on places they visited and our experiences of living in a 32-foot Class C motorhome. The title of the blog refers to more than driving. Our Rig travels best when we stick to a maximum of 65 MPH, which places us on the right lane of multi-lane highways. But the title also reflects that our travel is not about hurrying to a destination. Instead, we are finding ways to enjoy the journey itself. If you want to live in the right lane and enjoy the ride, check out the blog each week. Generally, I will post on Saturdays, but sometimes our travel will take priority, and I may post on Friday or Sunday.

We look forward to having you with us, as we live in the right lane!

 

Most full-time RVers learn to appreciate driving in the right lane. RVs have low MPG, and when combined with high-priced fuels, we have a strong incentive to slow down. Also, we are unnerved by the cars and trucks passing us on our blind side. This offers a further incentive to move over and enjoy the more relaxed pace of the right lane. I have wondered why I strayed into the center or left lane for the last 55 years.

 

When we began our full-time adventure, we averaged seven days of our stays while on the road. We saw 28 states, stayed at 122 campgrounds, traveled 19,552 miles, visited hundreds of attractions (including state and national parks), visited with friends and family across the US, and spent most of our time living between 40 and 80 degrees. This travel style required weekly drives of 150 -200 miles between stops while dodging bad weather on drive days and revising our plans as needed. For the most part, this has been very enjoyable, but it has worn on us and on Koko. We are not quite ready to leave the road, but we want to slow down. In short, we are also moving our yearly travel plans into the Right Lane.

 

In 2025, we will spend the first half of the year traveling much as we have for the last two and a half years, averaging about a week during our stays and spending time with our children and grandchildren in Galveston and Seattle. But, after July, we will shift into a much slower pace. We will extend our stays to nearly 10 days per stop with longer drives between them. Then, in 2026, if we are still on the road, we will likely extend our average over 10 days with more month-long stays.

 

Why are we making this change? The more relaxed pace will allow us to enjoy more of life in the Right Lane. It is not just about Full-time RV living. It is about full-time life, making the most of each day.

 

The road has proven an excellent teacher in our last ten years of traveling in our RVs. And it has much more to teach me. (I am a bit of a slow learner.) I hope to discover these lessons while I write this little blog and share them with each of you who chooses to travel with us. I do not expect big, earth-shaking discoveries that will change my life. That was the fantasy for the days when I stayed in the left lane. Nope! Living in the right lane will offer little tidbits to help me appreciate the 71 years I have lived and the remaining years before my wheels stop turning. I hope that you will gain something as well.

 

As with my last blog, Wanderlusting, I will continue to share some of the pictures I take along the way and offer some information about the places we visit. We hope to fill in some of the spaces in our maps and revisit a few spots we enjoyed. We can visit family and friends and chase a few rabbits along the way with a more open itinerary. We hope to see more of the Midwest, the Northeast, and parts of the High Plains and Rocky Mountains. We can reach out and be touched by more of this vast country by lingering for extended periods.

 

When will we leave the road? That is a straightforward answer. We will park Koko when it is not fun any longer. As of 2024, the stress, expense, and complications have been manageable. But, with age and other changing circumstances, there will come a point where these things may overwhelm our joy and steal the fun. When that occurs, we will find a place to live where we can reduce the negatives and enjoy the positives of life in retirement. We do not have a timetable. Our wandering days have taught me that not every plan takes months or years to make. Some are best left to the “right time” when we have the necessary information to make a good decision. For now, we will enjoy the road, and I trust at some point, the road will tell us when it is time to leave the right lane and enjoy life from the side of the road.

 

How often will I publish Right Lane Living? I will publish as needed. The schedule will depend on where we are and what we are doing. They will be more frequent (likely weekly) when traveling and less frequent when we stop for a month. I will continue to notify people on Facebook when I post a new blog. I will also email people who want to receive a notice when a new blog posts. (Please contact about this at rldees@gmail.com. Feel free to go to the blog and check in from time to time as well.

 

Our retirement life on the road is equal parts freedom from, freedom to, discovery of, making our days count, and living in gratitude.

 

A full-time life on the road is not the only way to achieve these things, and it will not last forever. But as we begin our 6^th decade together, it serves us well.

 

I look forward to seeing you on the road.

 

Travel well, my friends.

 

Bob and Marlene