RV Lifestyler: Meghan Wieten-Scott

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Pssst! RVers, I'm so excited for this feature, as Meghan and her family are customers of my family's RV Dealership! They jumped on the RV Lifestyle and are sharing their take on it from a hobby-ist's perspective. :)

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1. Name: Meghan, Andrew, Matthew (and Georgia!) Wieten-Scott

2. Occupation: Andrew is a CPT in the US Army where we are currently stationed at the United States Military Academy in New York. I work as a contractor in event planning and partnership relations for Blue Star Families, a national non-profit for military families. I am fortunate that I work remotely so I can work even when we’re on the road in crazy locations!

3. When was the RV Lifestyle first introduced to you? 

As a child, we were always tent campers. We did have a pop up for a few years, but we mostly tent camped throughout Michigan. Andrew’s career moved us to Anchorage, Alaska in 2010, and we knew that a tent just wouldn’t cut it. We had our son and decided we really wanted a hard-sided camper to help us extend the camping season and also to protect us from the elements (and the bears!). 

If you know anything about Alaska, it’s that it is expensive. We knew a new RV was out of the question so we started trolling Craigslist. We scored a 1985 Sunline which at 16 feet long and with good bones was perfect for us! We put a lot of work into a basic remodel and set off to explore Alaska!

Sadly, we sold ‘Sunny’ in Alaska because we just weren’t sure she could make the 2,000 mile drive. When we moved to New York, we stopped in Michigan which is home to us and purchased our 2013 Sportsmen KZ 19BH from Veurinks’ RV Center. We call her ‘Sunny II’ and she’s been awesome! We were able to camp the entire trip from MI to NY and stayed in her for a week until our house was ready here. It’s great for our dog and son to be able to sleep in their own beds at night in familiar surrounding despite the turmoil of such a major move!

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4. Do you RV as a hobby or Full-Time?

We wish we could full time. For now, it’s a hobby that we take advantage of every spare weekend we have until the snow flies!

-If a hobby, do you do more seasonal trips or on weekends?

We do a combination of both. We try to take a few longer trips each year and then local trips every weekend we can. This year, we did a week in Washington, DC and a week in Acadia National Park, Maine.

5. What state or RV park is your favorite place to visit?

In moving to New York, we have fallen in love with Vermont. We have camped twice at Half Moon Pond State Park in Vermont which was named the best state park several years in a row. We also love Winhall Brook which is run by the US Army Corps of Engineers and open to the public. Both are remote which offer amazing night sky views with swimming areas and ponds/streams and woodlands to explore! We have found though, that you really can’t go wrong with any of the state parks in Vermont. They’re incredibly clean with huge sites and lovely, friendly staff members!

We also recently splurged on an oceanfront site at Bar Harbor/Oceanside KOA, and it was a dream! We could wander out into the tide pools each morning and afternoon, and we watched the sunset every night. While it was pricier than we are used to paying for a campsite, it was worth every penny!

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6. Where is one place you are wanting to RV to?

We have big dreams of a 5-6 month RV trip across the country someday when Andrew gets off of active duty with the Army. Being military, we have friends scattered across the US from Colorado to Washington to Arizona to Texas that would be great stops on our trip. We would love to visit National Parks, major landmarks, and all the quirky and hidden places in-between. We spend hours of our free time discussing where we would go and adding to our master plan. Hopefully someday that dream will come true!

7. What is one tip for anyone RVing, whether it is a weekend getaway or for the Full-Timers?

We love RV Family Travel Atlas. They have a presence on social media as well as a weekly podcast. They provide great insight into the RV lifestyle and we found them invaluable for as we were learning the ropes. They discuss everything from campground etiquette to seasonal gear guides to discipline at the campground. Plus, they do great campground reviews as they visit major spots across the country. They even visited Sleeping Bear Dunes this summer! We found their podcast very helpful as we got our footing as RV owners, and we still love listening them today for new tips and products.

While listening to RVFTA, we found our favorite road trip resource: Road Food! We take it with us everywhere and even consult it on the weekends. We LOVE to eat, and Road Food has hundreds of the best roadside, hole in the wall, locals places to visit at all of the 48 contiguous states. We have eaten some of our favorites meals at places we never would have stopped without the book! Plus, they also list most of the places on their website too!

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8. Describe the RV Lifestyle in 3 words or phrases!

Always an adventure!

Perfect family time!

Let’s go explore!

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9. What is your favorite thing to cook over the fire or in the RV kitchen?

When we first moved to New York, we had a full week in the camper at the local military campground. We had a lot of time on our hands as we were new here and didn’t know many folks. I took full advantage of all that time to experiment with campfire cooking. I made an insane pizza with Italian sausage and fennel over the campfire on our tripod grill grate. Campfire pizza is still one of our favorite meals to make when we camp!

10. What is your most memorable RV experience?

Our first trip in Sunny, our 1985 Sunliner, was to Denali National Park in September. Now September in central Alaska is cold, like below freezing cold. My husband calls it our ‘night in the ice box’ because our temperamental heater’s pilot light kept going out, and we would wake up throughout the night able to see our breath. We were wearing just about every piece of clothing we brought, and had layers of fleece PJs and blankets on our son. Needless to say, our first camping weekend was one we won’t soon forget! Thankfully a cup of hot coffee, a drive through Denali, and time spent with good friends allows us to laugh at the experience now and cherish it as one of our favorite camping memories. 

Even though Sunny was terribly temperamental, she taught us a lot about RV maintenance and do-it-yourself fixes that we are still able to use with our new camper today.

11. What makes the RV Lifestyle special and a different way to travel?

For us, camping provides a great escape from the craziness of Army life, plus it provides a comfortable and cost-effective way for us to explore the area in which we live. As a military family, we move every 2-4 years. We have always loved to travel, and being able to camp allows us to truly see and experience the area in which we live. Being here in New York, we have seen the beauty of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Washington DC, and Maine up close and personal thanks to our camping adventures. We love that camping allows us to bring our dog along and also gives Matthew an opportunity to completely immerse himself in the great outdoors.  We hike every chance we get and love the opportunity to just get away from it all every chance we get!