Lessons Learned on the Road with 2Veterans.OnTheMove | Lippert Scout Spotlight

As Lippert Scouts, Bob and Grace Bouchard, also known as 2Veterans.OnTheMove, began their full-time RV life after retirement from the military. With a passion for adventure, they quickly started checking off places on their bucket list. Over the years, they learned a few important lessons while on the road. Read on to get acquainted with the Bouchards and find out their secrets to full-time RV travel.

By Grace & Bob Bouchard of 2Veterans.OnTheMove

Everyone has a unique story for choosing the RV life, and ours started as we were closing in on our retirement from the military. The closer we got to that 20-year retirement milestone, we had a lot of friends and family asking where we planned to settle down. What we realized was that, after 20+ years, there wasn’t a place that really felt like home to us. We also knew that we wanted to travel, but we wanted a way to bring our dogs along with us on the adventure. As we continued to consider our options, we both ended up coming to the same conclusion: full-time RV travel would be the perfect fit for this next phase of our lives.

Once we made the decision, we started the year and a half long process of researching what our new home would be. After we toured various models and attended a couple RV shows, we purchased our 40-foot, 2018 Keystone Montana  (3810MS). To safely tow our new fifth wheel, we also traded in both of our trucks and upgraded to a 2018 RAM 3500. Our Montana was our very first RV, and we’ve been traveling in it for over four years now.

Since we started full-time RV life, we’ve really enjoyed the flexibility to explore areas of the country we’ve had on our bucket list. The ability to visit and spend time with friends and family while still having the comforts of our home with us is amazing. This life has provided us with new opportunities and introduced us to a community we could have never imagined... but it didn’t start off that way.

In our first two years, we felt like we had to rush everywhere to see all the things. Doing that created a faster travel pace, which continually put us out of our comfort zone. Once we realized that we needed to find our own pace, we started planning our routes for a much slower travel pace. We also made sure to give ourselves some extra time at a location every so often for a reset.

Along with adjusting our travel pace, finding community was key for us! Full-time travel can be a lonely experience at times if you haven’t made the effort to seek community. And, because we were moving so often, trying to get as much exploring in as possible, trying to make lasting connections was a struggle. Now that we’ve slowed things down, we love being able to have the time to build those deeper connections. And through that, our community on the road has grown, which has been a game-changer for us.

If we could go back and give ourselves, as new RVers, one tip before starting, it would be to find our own travel pace early! Traveling at a pace that you’re not comfortable with can put unnecessary stress on your new travel life experience. New RV owners should keep in mind that everyone’s travel pace is different, so you shouldn’t feel pressured to compare your travel pace to anyone else's. We always say, “We're in no hurry to get anywhere.”

That said, somewhere we would be in a hurry to get back to would be Southern Utah! One of the most common questions we get asked is, “What is your favorite place?” Although answering that question is hard after four years on the road, some of our best memories have been in Southern Utah. It was an area that we hadn’t initially planned to visit; however, as travel life goes, plans change, and we ended up rerouting to Utah. And what an amazing trip it ended up being! Getting to be able to spend time visiting the National Parks, referred to as “The Mighty 5,” hiking some amazing trails, and looking up into the night sky to see the Milky Way. Those are memories that will stay etched in our minds.