Outland Adventures

Planning the Perfect Travel Day A smooth travel day doesn’t happen by accident. Over time, we’ve learned that a little planning makes a huge difference—not just in getting from point A to point B, but in actually enjoying the journey. Here’s how we plan our travel days to keep them as stress-free as possible. 1. Start with the Route (But Stay Flexible) The first step is mapping out the general route. We look at: Distance and estimated driving time Road conditions and major construction areas Weather along the route We try to avoid pushing too far in one day. Shorter drives mean we arrive with enough energy to settle in, cook, and relax instead of collapsing into bed. Of course, flexibility is key. Detours sometimes lead to the best unexpected discoveries— quirky roadside stops and small towns are kind of our thing, after all. 2. Plan Fuel and Stretch Stops Driving for hours straight isn’t fun or safe, so we plan stops ahead of time. We look for: Gas stations wit...

  Winter RV Life 101: Staying Cozy on the Road Hey Y'all! Winter RV life can be magical—quiet campgrounds, snow-dusted landscapes , snow-covered views, and crisp mornings with hot coffee. But it can also be intimidating if you’re not prepared. Cold weather demands flexibility, smart routines, and a little creativity to stay comfortable on the road. Whether you’re chasing mild winters or braving frosty nights, this guide covers the essentials for staying warm, managing propane and heat, and building winter-friendly RV routines. Staying Warm (Without Freezing or Burning Through Your Budget) Insulation Is Everything Cold air will find every tiny gap. Start by: Sealing drafts around doors, windows, and storage bays with weather stripping or foam tape. Reflectix or thermal window covers for large windows and windshields. Rugs or foam mats on floors to block cold from below. Skirting (DIY or purchased) to reduce wind under the RV—especially helpful for longer stays. Layer Your Hea...

  🚐 Top 10 Myths About Full-Time RV Life (and the Truth) We’re Amanda & Chris, traveling full-time in Wildebeest , our 1990 Ford E350 shuttle bus conversion . After a couple of years on the road, we’ve heard (and lived through) just about every assumption people make about full-time RV life. Some are hilarious, some are frustrating, and some have a little truth to them — but most are myths. Here are the top 10 misconceptions we hear the most (and the reality behind them): 1. Myth: RV Life is Just One Big Vacation Truth: It’s still life. We work, we clean, we budget, we stress. Yes, the scenery is better — but laundry still piles up. 2. Myth: You Need a Huge, Fancy RV to Go Full-Time Truth: Nope! Wildebeest is a 1990 shuttle bus conversion with quirks galore. It works for us because we made it ours — not because it’s shiny or new. Our previous rig? A 1991 Chevy G20... If it works for you it's the right RV. 3. Myth: Full-Time RVers Are Always on the Move Truth: We s...

  🚐 Full-Time RV Life: The Pros & Cons We’re Outland Adventures, aka Amanda & Chris, traveling full-time in Wildebeest, our 1990 Ford E350 shuttle bus conversion. What started as a leap into the unknown has turned into a lifestyle that’s equal parts adventure and challenge. Living in an RV full-time often sounds like a dream — and in many ways, it is. But like anything worth doing, it comes with its highs and lows. Here are some of the things we’ve learned along the way: 🌟 The Pros Freedom to Roam We’re not tied to one place. Mountains this month, lakes the next — we just point Wildebeest in the right direction and go. Changing Scenery Our backyard changes constantly. Cornfield sunsets, lakeside mornings, small-town main streets — no two weeks ever look the same. Simplicity Living small means less clutter and fewer distractions. Everything we own has a place and a purpose. Meeting Incredible People From campground neighbors to fellow workampers, we’ve met amaz...

  💀 The Nightmare Campground: A Cautionary (and Slightly Funny) Tale Hey y’all — Amanda & Chris here from Outland Adventures , coming at you with something a little different today. We just shared our dream campground , and now it’s time to explore the dark side — the kind of campground that makes you rethink everything. The one where you wake up and immediately start Googling where to go next. We’ve stayed at a few of these in our time. You know the type… 🐭 Filthy Bathrooms (If They're Even Open) Let’s start with the classic red flag: bathrooms that haven’t seen a mop since the Bush administration. Think: Muddy footprints, mystery puddles One flickering lightbulb A half-used roll of toilet paper dangling sadly from the wall Bonus points if they advertise “clean facilities” and then you walk in and immediately nope back out. 📶 Wi-Fi? You Mean... Lie-Fi? They said free Wi-Fi . What they meant was "You might get one bar if you stand near the dump...

📞 Staying Close When You’re Miles Away: Connecting with Family on the Road Hey everyone! It’s Amanda & Chris from Outland Adventures , here to share a part of life on the road that can be both tricky and rewarding: keeping close with family — even when we’re far, far away . Being full-time travelers means we’re often hundreds (or thousands) of miles from home, holidays, birthdays, and just the everyday moments we used to take for granted. But family? They matter. A lot. Here’s how we keep those ties strong — and why it’s worth the effort. 📱 Technology Is Our Lifeline Thanks to the magic of smartphones, video calls, and social media, we’re never really far away. Weekly video chats with siblings and loved ones keep us in the loop on birthdays, big news, and sometimes just to see familiar faces. We share real-time updates — photos from our latest hike, clips of campfire stories, and silly moments from inside Wildebeest. Group chats keep the day-to-day jokes, memes, and ra...

  🏡 Small Town America: The Heartbeat of Our Journey Hey friends — it’s Amanda & Chris from Outland Adventures , coming at you from another one-stoplight town with the best biscuits we’ve ever had and a dollar store that sells both fishing poles and  dresses. Life on the road is full of surprises, but some of the best ones come from the places no one’s writing travel guides about — the small towns with rusty signs, handmade milkshakes, and big personalities in tiny zip codes. Let’s talk about why we love exploring Small Town America. 🌽 1. The Characters You Meet Every town has that guy — the one who knows everyone, runs the local feed store, and once met Elvis. You’ll meet the mayor at the gas station, your new best friend in line for ice cream, and the campground host who used to tour with a rock band. People in small towns don’t hide behind screens or rush past you. They look you in the eye and say things like, “Y’all ain’t from around here, are ya?” And it...

  🛞 RV Life Isn’t Always Glamorous: The Hard Truth from the Road Hey y’all — it’s Amanda & Chris from Outland Adventures . We love the RV lifestyle. We really do. The freedom. The weird towns. The starry skies. The cornbread from strangers. But here’s the truth no Instagram filter can fix: RV life is also hard. And weird. And sometimes really gross. So today, instead of showing you another peaceful campsite or slow morning coffee, we’re talking about the parts of full-time travel that don’t make the highlight reel — because being real is part of the adventure too. 😩 1. Things Break. Constantly. Wildebeest is a tough old gal — a 1990 E350 shuttle bus that’s seen a lot of action. But still, something’s always rattling, cracking, leaking, or randomly falling off the wall. Just in the past few months: We've had noises for no reason. Our door was flapping in the wind at 50MPH. A propane regulator hissed at us like an angry raccoon. Our “new” fan quit mid-hea...

  🌤️ Lazy Days at Camp: Why Doing Nothing is Sometimes Everything Hey friends — it’s Amanda & Chris from Outland Adventures , coming to you live from the most important part of the full-time RV lifestyle: the lazy day . You know the one. The sun’s warm but not too hot. The birds are doing their thing. Your to-do list is “maybe later.” Your biggest decision is whether to make coffee now or wait 15 more minutes just because you can. Yep — we’re talking about the gloriously slow , refreshingly quiet , do-nothing-all-day-and-feel-good-about-it kind of campground day. 🪑 What a Lazy Day Looks Like for Us We’re not sightseeing. We’re not working. We’re not filming, cleaning, organizing, fixing, uploading, dumping, driving, planning, or packing. We’re just… being . Here’s how a lazy day at camp usually unfolds in the Wildebeest: ☕ Coffee outside , in chairs that squeak slightly, facing whatever view we’ve got — trees, fields, fellow campers walking their chonky golden re...

  🧭 Where to Next? We Don’t Know (and That’s the Best Part) Hey again, from somewhere slightly east of the middle of nowhere. It’s Chris & Amanda from Outland Adventures , and if you ask us where we’re headed next, we’ll smile and shrug and say: “Not sure yet.” And here’s the thing — we mean that in the best possible way. When we first hit the road in Brunilda, our previous van, we thought we’d have a color-coded map and a six-month plan. Instead, we’ve learned that the best parts of this lifestyle come when you leave space for the unknown. 📅 Plans? We Have Loose Ideas. Right now, we’ve wrapped up a workamping gig in Northwest Indiana. The campground’s been good to us — solid people, weird weather, and more than a few stories. But as it all winds down, the inevitable question pops up: “So… where are you headed next?” Honestly? We don’t know. We’ve got a short list of maybes. A few friends in a couple states. A festival we might hit if we feel like it. But no reser...

  🧭 Travel Day Prep with Outland Adventures What it really takes to hit the road with Wildebeest Hey friends! Amanda here — and today we’re giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how we prep for a travel day in our 1990 Ford E350 shuttle bus conversion, Wildebeest . It’s not quite as easy as turning the key and heading out (though we wish it was). Every travel day takes some planning, packing, and patience — but we’ve got a routine down that works for us. ✨ The Night Before We like to keep our travel mornings as stress-free as possible. That means starting the prep the night before: 🧺 Tidy Up We hand-wash dishes, put away laundry, and make sure anything loose is packed or secured. Amanda clears craft projects and books, Chris puts away tech gear. 🧠 Route Planning Amanda dives into maps, apps, and notes like the GPS queen she is — checking for low bridges, construction, road closures, and whether there’s a good spot for fuel or a fun roadside stop. She also conf...

  🚐 Tiny Space, Big Life: Tips for Thriving in a Small Home on Wheels Hey again, friends of the road (and tiny house dreamers)! It’s Amanda & Chris here from Outland Adventures , and today we’re talking about something we get asked a lot : “How do you two live in such a small space and not drive each other crazy?” Short answer? We do drive each other a little crazy — but we’ve learned how to do it with love, coffee, and very clear drawer boundaries. 💀 Living full-time in Wildebeest , our converted 1990 E350 shuttle bus, means cozy quarters, creative storage, and figuring out how to make a home out of less than 100 square feet. It’s not always easy, but it is worth it. So here it is — our best, road-tested advice for living in a small space and actually thriving . 🧺 1. Everything Needs a Home (and a Backup Plan) In a tiny space, clutter multiplies fast. Every item should have a designated spot — not a vague “somewhere in that bin.” When something new comes in, somet...

  🛠️ Coffee, Campfires & Clocking In: Our Workamping Life in Northwest Indiana Hey again, fellow road warriors and curious readers! We’re still rolling along with Outland Adventures , but, we’re parked in one place for a bit — tucked into the tree-lined corners of Northwest Indiana , working at a campground that’s become our temporary home (and paycheck). Workamping might sound like a weird buzzword, but for us, it’s how we keep the wheels turning — literally. It’s part travel, part work, part campground chaos, and somehow, we wouldn’t have it any other way. 🧔🏻 Chris: Landscaping, Maintenance & Getting Dusty Chris spends his work days outside — mowing, trimming, fixing, hauling, or tracking down that one leaky spigot again. From landscaping to routine maintenance , he's basically the behind-the-scenes wizard who keeps things running. You’ll find him with a weed eater in one hand, cold water in the other, probably mid-sweat and still managing to crack a sarcastic j...

🌄 Welcome to Outland Adventures: Life on the Road with Chris, Amanda, and Wildebeest Hey there, fellow travelers, dreamers, and DIY lovers!  We’re Chris and Amanda, the duo behind Outland Adventures — a rolling lifestyle of creativity, curiosity, and a whole lot of campfire coffee. We’ve traded traditional living for the open road, traveling full-time in our one-of-a-kind rig: Wildebeest , a 1990 Ford E350 Shuttle Bus conversion. Once a mobile command unit for county EMS, she’s now a quirky, dependable home packed with personality (and a couple of propane stoves that keep us well-fed and caffeinated). 🚐 Meet Wildebeest Before joining our crew, Wildebeest helped save lives — serving as a county EMS mobile command unit. Today, she’s on a new mission: helping us explore backroads, small towns, and the weirdest roadside attractions we can find. We converted her into a fully functional tiny home with everything we need (and nothing we don’t). No black tanks to worry about, just smart...