"Gypsy Rubber Tramps!": Driving on Rural Roads vs City Highways & Freeways

Our story!

For several years now I have had the urge to travel which has been a dream of mine before marriage and children. My husband was never keen on the idea until one afternoon in 2016 he said, "let's do this!" The next day I began to sell, donate and give away items from my home. He was a bit shocked when he got home from work. I immediately called a realtor and our home sold within 24 hours for more than we were asking. I had sold, donated and given away EVERYTHING so that the day we moved we didn't even need a truck. We were able to drive away with everything we had left in both our vehicles. We moved to a smaller place directly across from the beach to enjoy the sunrise and sunsets for the following year before taking off to travel full time!

We love the scenic rural roads around the country. There are some great little towns we get to experience and the farmlands are amazing. I love when we pass by a driveway that is giving away produce because they had a massive crop that season and don’t want it to go to waste. It’s just not something you see every day living in the city and suburbs. We especially enjoy seeing the Amish buggies on the road with their families or passing by their farms with all their clothing drying on a line outdoors. Another thing you don’t see growing up in the city and suburbs. It’s like going back in time some days!

There isn’t much traffic on the rural backroads but the downside is they may be very narrow for our Majestic Thor 30 foot RV. Some days our gps has taken us through very narrow gravel roads in the middle of farmlands. Other days the gps has taken us down roads so tight we just pray no one is coming the other direction. Then there are the occasional low clearance bridges that surprise us. The RV is 10 foot 4 inches high and we have seen them lower than that on occasion. Fortunately, only when driving our truck. Today we had a bridge that was 10 foot 11 inches high. When driving highways and freeways that really isn’t a concern.

Yes, the rural backroads would definitely be our favorite otherwise but to avoid any unforeseen narrow roads and low clearance bridges we do the interstate and freeways more often now. When we first began traveling my husband wasn’t comfortable driving the highways and interstates but after 6 years he is a pro!