Welcome to the Shaw-nanigans blog site where we’ll share all things crazy, chaotic, and clever as we make our way cross-country
with two boys, a camper, and a cat.
As the lone female on this trip - the cat is also male - I’ll be your trusty tour-guide. I’ll share photos, travel tips, and ways to stay sane on what is sure to test the most patient of people - Me!
And please know, I’ll be “keepin’ it real” with my dialogue.
I could “Instagram-shine” our adventures to look magazine-worthy AND easy, but that's just mean. You can't dispense real travel advice with fake, Pinterest-worthy images of an artfully-decorated RV interior and my beautifully, fully-bathed family lounging around in designer duds.
What you will get are honest reviews, entertaining (I hope) anecdotes, and a peek inside the daily life of living in a camper.
With a cat.
(And teenagers who MIGHT bathe twice a week.)
So without further ado, here we go.
Who are we?
We’re the Shaws!
(Not the Millers. We're riding drug-free.)
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Still at Home
Problems arose before we even left the driveway to begin this crazy adventure. We had…a hitch that didn’t fit, car tags that had yet to come in, rear and side cameras for the camper that needed to be installed, and a smudge on a driver’s license that prevented a very moody DMV employee from handing over our camper tags. (That would be you, DMV Cindy.) After two extremely hectic days of running in circles, ordering the correct hitch, getting car tags, dealing with Cindy, plus a full day of yours truly using YouTube videos and a very patient older brother to install the cameras, we were off.
But first, back to the camera installation…with my brother’s help over FaceTime, I rewired lights to install the cameras. Rewired. By myself. Me! I was a badass electrician for half a second! A very proud badass electrician doing a very simple install but still, I did it. And I’d like to take a moment to relish in that fact…….
So all of these problems pushed our trip back by one day. And here’s where your very first lesson comes in…
PLAN EARLY!Things occur at a much slower pace these days thanks to the pandemic or Chinese shipping routes or DMV Cindy. (Oh yeah, Cindy, I’m still here.) So to avoid what almost ended our marriage and sent my husband into cardiac arrest, plan ahead. Don’t wait until the last minute. Start planning and ordering what you need AT LEAST a few months ahead of your departure date. You’ll thank me later.
Now onto our first stop -
Mammoth Cave National Park!