Hitting immediate obstacles (HH/BW Challenge Series)

In our days leading up to our Harvest Hosts challenge, we definitely got cold feet. We were kicking off the challenge during a busy time, work-wise. We did as much as possible to prepare ourselves before we left Blue Sky. Anthony tackled all the tasks he could do in advance. I got tons of recordings done so I wouldn't need to keep getting my harp out and setting up all of my equipment. Even still, sometimes we have work calls that can't be moved, and we always have our ongoing projects, where we need to squeeze in work whenever we can. Full-time RVing might seem like an exciting life, but for us digital nomads, the majority of the time, we're sitting in our RV doing work. Granted, it is nice to do work with pretty views out our window, which is one of the reasons we decided to RV in the first place. However, sometimes work takes priority over fun adventures, and we need to be okay with that.

This challenge means that we won't be able to just lock ourselves inside and do work whenever we want. We will have more drive days. We will have things to do at our locations, like shopping, taking a farm tour, or having a meal. Many Harvest Host locations are social experiences, so we might end up chatting with people for a while. Given that Mondays are always one of our busiest days of the week, we got nervous leaving Blue Sky on a Sunday, knowing we would immediately need to find a place that would allow us to do work the next day. We decided we needed to ease into our challenge and ideally choose a Boondockers Welcome. Boondockers Welcome locations are on private property, and many of the hosts let you stay multiple nights. We were initially thinking we'd remain in Arkansas a little longer, but once we decided on a multi-night stay, we knew we also needed to be in civilization so that we could get some necessary errands done. We decided to stay at a Boondockers Welcome near Springfield, MO.

We booked the maximum 3 nights on a gorgeous piece of property with a huge yard as our pleasure-side view. Water and 30amp electric were available, and we took advantage of the electric. Our host greeted us when we arrived, and we got to chat for a few minutes. She was very welcoming but also let us do our thing, which we appreciate. We were able to get work done in the peace and quiet, but we were also only minutes from civilization and were able to run some errands, like going to our first Natural Grocers this year! There is no better feeling than stocking up on organic goodies after months of hit-and-miss shopping trips.

This stay allowed us to gear up for some overnights. We felt better about the challenge already.

We decided that the best way to plan our travels would be to book sites on a rolling basis, a few nights at a time. Once we get to our last booked location, we would book a few more. This would give us a good sense of the weather for the upcoming days, so we could choose a location that skirted storms. We also need to make sure we don't end up cancelling too many bookings because Harvest Hosts frowns upon that and could give us a strike if we suddenly start racking up numerous cancellations in a short period of time.

So while we were at our Boondockers Welcome, we planned for our next few nights. For some reason, we thought the planning wouldn't take long. How wrong we were! Planning became our other full-time job. Well, it became my other full-time job, since I'm the travel planner of the two of us. But I did need to enlist Anthony's help a lot more than usual because I had to constantly check his work schedule. Leaving on Wednesday (4/24) meant we needed to depart after Anthony's morning calls and arrive to our next location with time to spare before we both had 6PM calls. Adding to the restrictions was the weather forecast. Storms were rolling in at the end of the week, and the further west we were, the worse they'd be.

Live Storm Chasers was predicting severe weather from Kansas and Oklahoma all the way to the Western Ozarks. We needed to get out of the Ozarks.

Our first idea was to head mostly due east, toward Mark Twain National Forest. There was an ice cream place on the other side, boasting unique, seasonal flavors. It sounded like a delicious place to stay! But we needed to get there. Hot tip: National Forests are a huge Harvest Host blocker. Where there is federal land, there aren't a lot of homes and businesses! So we had slim pickings. Initially, we had hoped to find a location for Wednesday night, take the "scenic route" through Mark Twain on Thursday, and arrive at the creamery for Thursday night. After finding next-to-nothing that would suit our needs, we looked north of the Forest. Only 2 places would fit us: A winery that had no availability, and an equestrian facility that explicitly said that parking might not be available if it's too rainy. The weather looked cloudy for Wednesday night, but no rain. We submitted a stay request.

We didn't want to book the creamery until the equestrian center responded, and so we waited...and waited...and waited.

Over 24 hours later, we still hadn't received a response. Harvest Hosts suggested not calling the host unless it's less than 24 hours before the stay, and now it was. Only, we decided not to call them. If they can't so much as respond to a request, then we don't want to stay there. We don't like poor communication when we're up to our elbows in all things challenge. We also took another look at the weather, and the forecast had shifted. There was a chance of rain Wednesday night. We didn't want to risk it, and clearly the folks at the stables didn't want us there anyway. So we cancelled it. We can't put in another request if we already have one in for the same dates, so we had no choice. It's a bummer that we're trying to keep our cancellations low, and this one wasn't even our fault.

But we really wanted to stay at the fancy ice cream place! We knew we'd be pressed for time leaving Springfield on Wednesday, driving through or around the Forest, arriving before 6PM, and getting ice cream, but maybe we could swing it. Google was saying between 3.5 and 4 hours depending on which route we took. Of course with towing and breaks, that would mean more like 5 hours. Leave at noon, arrive at 5PM, quick ice cream before our calls? The creamery also closed at 6PM, so we couldn't wait until after our calls to get ice cream.

We were so close to booking it, but one of the last things I do for due diligence is street and satellite view. The great thing about businesses is that we can find the address before we put in a stay request. Not so much with private properties, for obvious reasons. The creamery said that they allow rigs over 45ft in length, but they also gave specific directions about which roads to take in. I followed the roads with street view and did not feel good about them. There was a lot of tree cover, and the turn onto their driveway looked intense: Narrow road onto narrow drive, trees and trenches. The photos showed an Airstream and a motorhome, so we know some people made it in, but our rig is very long and has a very wide turning radius. We need to be extra careful turning from and onto narrow roads.

At this point, we needed a place to stay for the following night, and we knew anywhere around Mark Twain would be tough. We decided instead to continue on I-44 and get closer to St. Louis. We'd get away from the impending storms, and we'd have more options closer to civilization. I requested a stay at McKelvey Vineyards, about an hour outside of St. Louis. They had gravel parking, which would be good in case the rain came early. They also had non-alcoholic drink options, as well as food. The request was accepted immediately, and we prepared to head to the hills west of St. Louie.

McKelvey Vineyards, Leslie, MO

During our stay at the Boondockers Welcome, we discovered an unforeseen obstacle: Where were we going to throw our garbage away?! Most locations are pack-out, but we can't accumulate a month's worth of trash before finding a receptacle! We would need to be on the lookout for accessible dumpsters that didn't have restrictions. We're sure that will be an issue many times, but it wasn't at the Vineyard. They had a dumpster right in the parking lot!

Unfortunately, that was the only good thing about that parking lot. We couldn't tell from the photos online, but it was on a really steep slope. We tried to angle ourselves all different ways, but we were still several inches up and down and all around. When it comes to Harvest Hosts, we don't expect to be perfectly level all the time, but we want to be level enough to be able to walk inside our rig without falling over. Being down 8 inches left-to-right is a little much. We also wanted to stay hitched, but too much of a slope front-to-back would not only be uncomfortable, but could also put strain on our hitch.

The reviews I had read didn't say anything about not being able to level, and we saw in a message that there was also parking behind the pavilion. We decided to go and ask. The workers told us about the parking in the back, but also said we could park further down the road. The area out back had some low hanging branches, so we opted to head down the road. We needed to exit the property and drive to a nearby church to turn around, but ultimately we found ourselves a level spot in a little nook full of trees, a short walk down from the vineyard parking lot.

When I went back to look at more reviews, I saw that many other people had also decided to park here. The message was old and didn't say it was an option, but the actual listing did. The listing says they accept 3 rigs at a time, but if one person takes the tree grove, and one person goes behind the pavilion, the third person will be out of luck trying to park on the gravel. They might be better off buddying up behind the pavilion.

That's one of the problems we've found with Harvest Hosts. Knowing what length of rig can fit is important, but there are so many other factors to consider: Height, turning radius, off-road capability, ground clearance, and levelness. Some hosts are RVers and have a good sense of what rigs need, but even then, no one can know every individual rig. For example, our trailer is only 28ft, but because we're so long and a toyhauler, we need the same space to maneuver as much larger rigs. We're also a lot heavier than other trailers our size, so we sink into soft ground easily. Every RVer needs to get to know their own rig, so they can decide their own capabilities.

Of course, if your parking lot lies at a 10% grade, you should probably assume its not conducive to camping.

All that said, once we found our little nook, we were happy. Actually, it's one of the best parking spots we've ever had at a Harvest Host. Woods to one side, the vineyard to the other, and far away from any noise on the street or at the winery. We don't know how soft the grass would get in the rain, but thankfully the rain was supposed to hold off until the following night, and we'd be gone by then.

We took so long getting settled that we only had 45 minutes before our calls. We decided to purchase some food to bring back to the rig. We got two savory pies and two sweet pies. Everyone was really friendly and totally cool when we said we don't drink. There are options for food, soda, and a few gift items.

The grounds of the vineyard were lovely, and I was even able to take my morning walk, something that will not be the case at every location. We had a wonderfully peaceful night and stayed into the afternoon the following day to get work done. The winery wouldn't open until 4PM and staff usually arrives around 3PM, so except for a few deliveries and a guy checking the water meter, we were by ourselves.

On the planning front, we were gearing up for the storms. While they weren't supposed to be as severe in the eastern part of the state, we did not want to drive in rain and high winds if we could help it. Gravel parking would also be key. We found a Boondockers Welcome across the border in Illinois that didn't have lots of availabilities, but did have 3 nights from Saturday-Tuesday. This would let us stay put for most of the bad weather. We booked it. That meant we needed two overnights to fill in the gaps, ideally short drives away from each other in case we get caught in a storm and need to move slower. I chose a farm for Thursday night and a (different) riding stable for Friday night. Because animals!

With 5 nights in a row booked, we finally felt like we were getting a grip on this challenge. Only, would it last?