How it started
We bought a used Tiffin.
Flew to Charlotte.
Forgot our luggage.
March 14, 2017. We flew to North Carolina, spent the night in a hotel looking out the window at a 35-foot motorhome in a distant parking lot, barely believing it was ours. The next morning we signed the paperwork, drove home to Missouri — and discovered the stairs wouldn't fully retract. We bungee-corded them together for the entire 10-hour drive.
That summer we took the shakedown trip. Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mackinac Island, Wisconsin Dells on the 4th of July, Taliesin, Field of Dreams. Thirty-six days to find out if we could actually do this.
"In Mackinaw City I started having what felt like a toothache. The dentist looked in my mouth and asked: Do you grind your teeth? I said not to my knowledge. He said: Well, you've started."
The pace was too high. That was the single biggest lesson — and it directly shaped how we planned the 14-month journey. There were quite a few other hard-earned lessons too, and they're all in the free guide.
