We celebrated 4th of July 2026 in...

Our foray into part-time RV life had been a struggle so far. At our second campground of the trip, we began having electric problems, when our battery bank stopped playing nicely with our new inverter. This came on the heels of our first inverter frying and dying, which left us with limited power in our RV. Now we were dealing with even more limited power, while trying to camp our way through the massive "ring of fire" heatwave that was plaguing much of the US. Electric issues and heat do not mix, and we mustered all the grit we could manage to keep moving ourselves north. We were almost to our first longer stay of the trip, where we could settle in and finally start tackling our large New England to-do list. We had lots of loose ends to tie up after escaping winter weather back in March. We wanted to grab items to bring to our new cottage in SC, and close down our NH storage unit in the process. We hoped that organizing our lives would help us feel more settled once we returned to SC.

We couldn't park on our land in NH because there are no hookups, but honestly, even if we had our inverter, the heat still would have been a big issue. Temperatures in the area were reaching well into the 90s, which isn't exactly boondocking weather, even with a fully intact electrical system. We considered our good fortune that Riverbrook RV & Camping Resort had availabilities during peak season, including for 4th of July Weekend. Once we discovered that we'd need electric hookups for all our stays, I was overwhelmed scrounging around for available sites. I had found a few 30amp electric sites here and there, but Riverbrook still had several full hookup, 50amp sites available. This meant we could run our electric on full capacity, including both ACs. More fortunate was that we were super familiar with this campground, having stayed several times since our first year of RVing in 2022. In the past, Riverbrook has saved us during times of need, and it looked like it would be saving us once again.

This was the first place we stayed after our RV was struck by lightning in 2022. Not only were they accommodating when we had to delay our arrival, but this is where we learned how to jerry-rig our transfer switch when the contacts got fried.

In 2024, they let us stay in our campsite late so we could change a tire.

We now call this campground our "staging area" before heading to our land. We park here for a few days to utilize the full hookups and amenities, while we mow our land and get our parking spot ready. Only this time, we'd need a campsite for a lot longer than just a few days. Before we knew we'd lose use of our inverter, I had already booked 3 nights at Riverbrook, for a totally different part of the trip. Initially, the plan was to spend the first couple weeks at our home-base in MA, and then move up to NH. We flipped our itinerary on its head because we found the availability at Riverbrook. And so, we called them to change our dates and extend our stay. We booked 2 weeks at the campground, starting July 2. At first, we thought we'd need to downgrade our larger pull-thru site with a standard back-in, but shortly after we booked, we got a call from the office. Someone had switched their site, and an end-row pull-thru became available. Being familiar with the park, we knew this site would be perfect for us. No one behind us, a huge pleasure-side grassy area, and easy access to the exit. We grabbed it for the full 2 weeks.

With this reservation set, we could now focus on all the tasks at-hand. We needed to get packages delivered, check on our land, install new trail cameras, and start going through our NH storage unit. But first, the holiday weekend was upon us, and we could finally decide how we wanted to celebrate! We made absolutely no plans until we knew for sure that we'd be in the area. So much has been up in the air lately with our travels. Thankfully, we had other people doing the planning for us. We had a standing invite to attend festivities in Merrimack with my friend Shannon and her family. Or, if we wanted to stick close by, Riverbrook had a whole weekend of events right at our doorstep.

Ultimately, we decided to do a little of both. We started with Friday night bingo in the rec room, where I almost won the $250 blackout bingo jackpot but was too shy to scream "Bingo" fast enough, and someone beat me to it by a millisecond. Well, darn. Still a fun time, but my psychology brain just had to delve deeper into what insecurities do to reaction times, compared to the seasonals who are comfortable and secure enough to yell a lot more quickly and loudly. I, on the other hand, just got here.

It was the first moment we noticed our interesting position here at Riverbrook. There are long-term campers who stay here all season, each year. We recognize some of them when we come in and out. We stay here often, and sometimes we stay here for a decently long time. But we're still transients. Not weekenders who pop in and barely immerse themselves in the community. But not seasonals who have the already-established community. We're just somewhere in the middle. And we kind of love that. We feel welcome when we do participate in events, but we aren't looking to make forever friends. We know that our stays at Riverbrook will dwindle once we get utilities and our cabin on our land. So for now, we straddle the line.

On Saturday, July 4, we drove the hour and 15 minutes down to Merrimack for the parade, which Shannon and her family were marching in. We knew it would be a hot one, so we stopped in at Dunkin Donuts for some iced coffees before making our way to a good viewing spot, near the end of the parade route. Once again, we smiled at the idea of immersing ourselves in a community that we're not actually a part of. We reminisced about all the parades we had attended in various parts of the country over the years. Parades are a great way to get a sense of a community. Not only do they draw tons of people of all demographics, but they're basically walking advertisements for the local businesses. We've learned a lot about different towns by watching their parades. There's no better way to get an impression of a New England town than crowding into a Dunks on the 4th of July. First off, major kudos to all the workers who somehow stayed extremely efficient and were smiling and friendly despite the mayhem. Then as we walked to our viewing spot, we watched the prep for the arrival of the parade. Spectators lined the streets with their camping chairs and sunbrellas. The police blocked the road at exactly the right time to keep traffic flow for as long as possible, while making sure all the pedestrians were safe. The level of organization wasn't lost on us, especially once we realized that this parade was massive! Well done, Merrimack. We can see why our friends have chosen to settle into this community.

We spent the afternoon catching up with our friends, before heading back to Riverbrook just in time for their evening dance party.

Then around 9pm, we started hearing the distant booms of fireworks and went outside to see if we could see any. Most were echoing off the mountains, except for a few that we could see up in the foothills. It made us wonder if they were far enough up for us to see them from our land. Perhaps next 4th of July, we'll find out.

Then the staff came by and said "Fireworks are starting soon!" They ushered us over to the corner across from our campsite. We knew about most of the calendar of events, but we somehow missed the memo that we'd all be getting our very own private fireworks display!

We ended our holiday watching the fireworks, cheering happily with our fellow campers, and thinking about what the RV life has done for our patriotism. A fellow RVer posted on Instagram and said, "If you want to be disappointed by America, read the news. If you want to love America, travel across it." Our travels have let us see first-hand that we're not as divided as the media likes to portray. Journalists have a job to do, and unfortunately, part of that job is to get people to tune into their stories. They're competing with an entire world of content creators, both in the news and social media, and so to make their stories stand out, they sometimes post exaggerated, sensationalist headlines that tear at people's emotions. It's typical sales psychology. Someone reads a headline that gets them all flustered, and they click to read more and release that emotional reaction.

Traveling, though, has given us first-hand perspectives. It gives us the opportunities to not just read and watch news stories, but to actually have conversations with people from all walks of life. Our country isn't perfect, but most people here are kind. Most people want the continued freedom that we've been granted for 250 years. And, without a doubt, this country is stunningly beautiful. We count our blessings that we've gotten to celebrate its independence in all different states, from Virginia, to Wyoming, to Michigan, to Indiana. And this year, our soon-to-be home state of New Hampshire, beneath the same mountain range that we'll see from our windows every day. The state's motto is "Live free or die," and it's arguably one of the most well-known state slogans in the country, for good reason. As a nation, we know that freedom is a coveted value. Our travels have given us a deeper sense of what freedom truly is, and for that, we are grateful.