Eighteen: April/May 2020

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The magazine for epic road trips

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Gemma Peckham gemma@rovamag.com Richard Kirby richard@rovamag.com Madelyn Roberts madelyn@rovamag.com Abby Schmidt Sam Brown Anna Elliott, Micah Ling, Beth Johnston, Leland Nally, Ryann Ford, Sam Brown, Son Little, Abigal Trabue, Ryder England, Katie
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From The Editor
After years of trying to figure out what’s going to happen next, I’ve come to realize that pretty much the only thing that you can count on happening is the unexpected. Five-year plans aren’t something I can fathom; I might get a call tomorrow tellin
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“Rova In Your Words”
I am a high-school teacher who sits on our school improvement and professional development committee. One of our focuses is how to reach the struggling learner, focusing on those on the autism spectrum. Imagine my excitement when I saw your article “
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Rova Recommends
If you’ve been to an RV show, you’ll know the vans make up a pretty small percentage of what’s on display. At the Adventure Van Expo 2020 at Big Bear Lake, California, it’s all about adventure vans. Check out rigs and accessories, indulge in great fo
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Why The Road?
When I’m asked why I chose this lifestyle, I’m never entirely sure what that answer is. There are probably 1,000 reasons that I decided to buy my home on wheels, but in retrospect it’s that this life chose me. I was always going to end up in my vehic
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Gear Up!
If you’re the type to travel with a group, or host campsite coffee sessions at events and festivals, the Eureka! Camp Café has your back. Brew pour-over coffee super-quickly—the kettle is designed to boil twice as fast as a regular kettle—and serve
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America’s Vanishing Highway Rest Areas
In 2020, the very notion of “rest” itself is an underserved concept (the enemy of the rest stop, who also happens to be the enemy of truth, love and beauty, is the guy in the car obsessed with making “good time”). The simple act of resting gets very
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Photographer On The Go
After college, Beth Johnston knew exactly what she was going to do for the rest of her life. But sometimes plans get derailed—and in some cases, like Beth’s, it’s for the better. Today, Beth is not, like she had planned, a medical professional; she i
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The Musician On Tour An Interview With Son Little
Aaron Earl Livingston, aka Son Little, is a rhythm and blues musician with a soulful singing voice who is on the road a lot. He has three albums to his name (the latest being aloha, which was released this past January), and he’s collaborated with ma
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ROADSCHOOLING Or, How I Learned To Slide Down Sand Dunes
When we first jumped into full-time RV travel after 15 years, three kids, and a long career in Chicago theater, we were not a roadschooling family. Sure, we naturally assumed that travel would elevate our boys’ education, but I’d be a complete liar i
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A Tiny Home By The Sea
In the late spring of 2019, I decided to transform my old, worn-down (but still mighty) 1982 Toyota pickup from a skeletal frame into a cottage on wheels. A project of this stature felt far beyond my experience, so I had to ask myself how it would be
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Sometimes Van Life Sucks
Once upon a time, I had an objectively good career as a lawyer and was starting to build what looked like the perfect adult life. Boyfriend? Check. House? Check. A ton of random crap to fill said house? Check. But I felt like the walls were closing i
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Travel Can Boost Your Fitness (not Sabotage It)
I used to fear road trips; I’d avoid them at all costs. I knew that I was missing out on stunning new scenery and timeless memories, but I still forego travel. It wasn’t the usual fears that plagued me—driving, bears, the unknown—I was worried about
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The Lure Of The Trail
I was on a train heading to work the other day. The sun had yet to rise, and I was still dazed in that ambiguous state between being asleep and being awake. I tend to stare off in these early moments while adjusting to the fact of another day, which
ROVA2 min readEarth Sciences
Desolate Roads
We hadn’t been on the road for very long before spotting a field of Joshua Trees. I stuck my arm out the window and closed my eyes for a moment. The desert was already working its therapeutic magic. There’s an innate sense of freedom on these desolat
ROVA6 min read
Going North
Ever since we started full-time RVing in September of 2015, my husband, Tom, and I had always dreamed of making the trek to Alaska in a truck camper. After selling our house, we had moved with our two dogs into a 33-foot fifth wheel that we’d towed a
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A Change In Perspective
Creeksgiving is a celebration of Thanksgiving in the world-renowned rock-climbing area of Indian Creek, Utah. The event brings climbers together from all walks of life, from all over the world. Campgrounds overflow, lines accumulate at classic climbs
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Chisos Mountains, A Cactus Savior And The Magic Of The Desert
Books have been written to discuss the many ways that poor bastards have died while exploring and camping around Big Bend National Park. From murder to dehydration, it’s not just the black bears and rattlesnakes that you need to be wary of. Big Bend
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White Sand Oasis In Middle America
Squint over the water gently lapping onto fine white sand, over the windswept royal blue waves. Beneath the grassy hillside on the horizon, you might see spindly cottonwood trees sticking out of the water and rows of sunflowers flapping in the breeze
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Ditching The Travel To-do List
There’s bourbon to drink in Lexington, bacon-studded pastries to devour in Portland, and photo op lines to wait in... everywhere. There are bottomless beers on Bourbon Street, rock shops in Holbrook, and Dungeness crab in Friday Harbor. I’ve had that
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Road To The Sugarlands
The roads that wind through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park follow the old footpaths of America’s indigenous people. Even after 14,000 years, the quickest way to get through the mountains is via one of these walking trails—the one that came t
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The Casco Bay Death Ship
As a full-time RVer and part-time ghost-hunter, I’m drawn to New England. Its history reads like a tome of ghost stories, each town with its own tragic legend. In Maine, the most harrowing of these legends take place in the seaport villages along the
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Taking A Back Seat In Tahiti
Offshore winds blow the rain into the back of the Range Rover as it passes along the shoreline. We are not close to the water, yet it feels like I am swimming, like the gravity that affects the tide is pulling me into this moment. The front tire hits
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Picture This...
you ask yourself while staring up at the ceiling of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. You have spent your whole life on the outside of the Earth. It didn’t even register that the bulk of the planet—its internal volume—is completely unexplored by human

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