As full-time RVers, we end up visiting a lot of Walmarts. I was never a regular Walmart shopper before we started living on the road, but when you spend a lot of time in small towns, Walmart is often the only grocery store around, or at least the only affordable…
Thorncrown Chapel has been on my architecture bucket list ever since I first saw photos of it online. There are plenty of beautiful buildings in the world, but something about this one immediately caught my attention. A glass chapel tucked into the Ozark woods, surrounded by trees and stone, sounded…
Eureka Springs, Arkansas, had been on our list for a while, so when we found ourselves camping nearby in November, we decided it was finally time to spend a week exploring the area. Visiting in November meant we were there during the off season, which definitely affected what we were…
We spent more than three months exploring every corner of Route 66 for its 100th anniversary, and we’d do it all over again. As full-time RVers, though, we couldn’t simply take a three-month vacation. We left our home base in the Chicago suburbs in late February, balancing work, everyday life,…
After reaching the end of Route 66 in Los Angeles, it was time to point the truck east and begin the journey back toward our home base in the Chicago suburbs. Rather than retracing our steps as quickly as possible, we used the return trip to revisit a few favorite…
While passing through Springfield, Missouri on our three-month Route 66 road trip, we made time to visit the Springfield Botanical Gardens. Located within Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, this beautiful collection of themed gardens is one of the best free things to do in Springfield, Missouri. Whether you’re interested in flowers,…
Pacific, Missouri is one of the most charming stops along Route 66 in Missouri and home to several of our favorite attractions on the Mother Road in Missouri. Located less than an hour from St. Louis, this historic town combines classic Route 66 nostalgia with scenic overlooks, local museums, and…
After nearly two months of following Route 66 from the Chicago area to the Pacific Ocean, we finally reached Los Angeles. This stop marked the western end of our three-month Route 66 adventure that would eventually take us all the way back home to Chicagoland again. Los Angeles is one…
Joshua Tree National Park was one of the side trips we added while driving Route 66, and it ended up being one of my favorite stops of the entire journey. I’ll admit that part of the appeal was simply that I got to spend a few days wandering around a…
Disney and Pixar’s Cars might be an animated movie about talking cars, but many of the places and people that inspired it were very real. Before creating Radiator Springs and its colorful cast of characters, the Pixar team took multiple research trips along Route 66, meeting business owners, exploring small…