With international borders largely closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there\u2019s never been a better time for travel-hungry Americans to get out and explore the endless natural wonders of our own great nation!<\/span><\/p>\n So earlier this year, when our family had to cancel our backpacking plans throughout Southeast Asia, we decided to embark instead on a totally new type of adventure. We sold off nearly everything we own, loaded up our family car, and set off on a cross-country road trip to discover the very best of what America has to offer!<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":31604,"id":31604,"title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","filename":"P9181572.jpg","filesize":16046684,"url":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572.jpg","link":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/es\/olympus-digital-camera-40-2\/","alt":"Man siting on top of an Escape Campervan","author":"53","description":"","caption":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","name":"olympus-digital-camera-40-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2021-07-13 15:35:40","modified":"2023-06-14 18:07:37","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":2560,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-1152x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-1536x2048.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":2048,"blog-preview":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-600x353.jpg","blog-preview-width":600,"blog-preview-height":353,"post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572-1200x1600.jpg","post-thumbnail-width":1200,"post-thumbnail-height":1600,"gform-image-choice-sm":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572.jpg","gform-image-choice-sm-width":225,"gform-image-choice-sm-height":300,"gform-image-choice-md":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572.jpg","gform-image-choice-md-width":300,"gform-image-choice-md-height":400,"gform-image-choice-lg":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181572.jpg","gform-image-choice-lg-width":450,"gform-image-choice-lg-height":600}},"image_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" It was during the first week of our travels that we were introduced to <\/span>Escape Camper Vans<\/span><\/a>. I remember the moment vividly. We were getting ready to go for a hike in the Grand Tetons when a brightly-colored van pulled up alongside us,\u00a0and it was like love at first sight!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Our two young boys became instantly obsessed with its fun paint job while my wife and I began fantasizing about the freedom we could enjoy by ditching the car for a short time and trading it in for our first attempt at #vanlife. With a two-week gap in our existing travel plans ahead of us, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a shot, so we immediately jumped on it!<\/span><\/p>\n After picking up our <\/span>Big Sur Campervan<\/span><\/a> from the <\/span>Portland rental location<\/span><\/a> we began our two-week itinerary across the Pacific Northwest. Our travels took us from Glacier National Park to the Olympic Peninsula and then proceeded down the Pacific Coast Highway until we reached our final destination in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was a fantastic experience for everyone in the family, but as with every new adventure, it was not without its fair share of challenges. So that got us thinking – what advice could we share with other families who are preparing to embark on their first campervan experience that would guarantee an epic introduction to vanlife?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n So without further ado, here is our list of the top 3 lessons we learned from our own <\/span>family vanlife adventures<\/span> with Escape Camper Vans:<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":31580,"id":31580,"title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","filename":"P9161500.jpg","filesize":1778012,"url":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500.jpg","link":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/es\/olympus-digital-camera-36-2\/","alt":"Father and son sitting next to an Escape Campervan","author":"53","description":"","caption":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","name":"olympus-digital-camera-36-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2021-07-13 15:34:48","modified":"2023-06-14 18:06:20","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2362,"height":1999,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-300x254.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":254,"medium_large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-768x650.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":650,"large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-1024x867.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":867,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-1536x1300.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-2048x1733.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1733,"blog-preview":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-600x353.jpg","blog-preview-width":600,"blog-preview-height":353,"post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500-1200x1016.jpg","post-thumbnail-width":1200,"post-thumbnail-height":1016,"gform-image-choice-sm":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500.jpg","gform-image-choice-sm-width":300,"gform-image-choice-sm-height":254,"gform-image-choice-md":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500.jpg","gform-image-choice-md-width":400,"gform-image-choice-md-height":339,"gform-image-choice-lg":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9161500.jpg","gform-image-choice-lg-width":600,"gform-image-choice-lg-height":508}},"image_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" As is the case with any type of travel planning, it\u2019s always great to have some sort of itinerary that offers general guidance as to where you\u2019re headed and when. This is a great way to make sure you\u2019re maximizing your time and not missing anything important along the way. But with that being said, when traveling in a campervan, a huge part of the adventure is the freedom it affords you to literally escape to anywhere without a single plan at all – and there\u2019s something truly liberating about that!<\/span><\/p>\n On our recent <\/span>family vanlife adventure<\/span> we made the rookie mistake of reserving the majority of our campsites in advance, not knowing what we\u2019d be able to find once we got out on the road.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, the campgrounds that we stayed in were all fabulous and offered some truly great amenities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But when you\u2019re traveling in a van, you really don\u2019t need all of that. Rather, what we found is that you can often save money and have greater access to beautiful camping spaces by either waiting to grab a first-come, first-served site or just boondocking in a location that\u2019s convenient to where you want to spend your time. Nearly every day we\u2019d drive by vans and other RVs that had pulled off on the side of the road to sleep alongside the ocean, a\u00a0 crystal-clear lake, a snow-capped mountain, or some other beautiful landscape, and each time we wished that we had left ourselves that option as well.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":31562,"id":31562,"title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","filename":"P9151454.jpg","filesize":14128147,"url":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454.jpg","link":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/es\/olympus-digital-camera-33-2\/","alt":"Escape Campervan on the Pacific Coast highway","author":"53","description":"","caption":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","name":"olympus-digital-camera-33-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2021-07-13 15:34:18","modified":"2021-07-14 14:09:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-1536x1152.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-2048x1536.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1536,"blog-preview":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-600x353.jpg","blog-preview-width":600,"blog-preview-height":353,"post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454-1200x900.jpg","post-thumbnail-width":1200,"post-thumbnail-height":900,"gform-image-choice-sm":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454.jpg","gform-image-choice-sm-width":300,"gform-image-choice-sm-height":225,"gform-image-choice-md":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454.jpg","gform-image-choice-md-width":400,"gform-image-choice-md-height":300,"gform-image-choice-lg":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9151454.jpg","gform-image-choice-lg-width":600,"gform-image-choice-lg-height":450}},"image_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" Sometimes when you\u2019re out exploring you discover a place that you fall in love with and you just don\u2019t want to leave. This happened to us when we visited the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After driving almost 2.5 hours from our campground to get there, we quickly realized that one day just wouldn\u2019t be enough for us to experience everything that we wanted to see and do in that area of the park. So in a spur-of-the-moment decision, we opted to forego our second-of-three nights at our original campground to be able to camp in the rainforest instead. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it was money that was unnecessarily spent on an unused campsite at our original campground.<\/span><\/p>\n Lastly, as is the case with just about any type of plan, things will inevitably come up along the way that will force you to have to make changes on the fly. Fortunately, campervans are perfectly equipped to accommodate for these types of situations, but it becomes much more complicated the more locked-in your plans are. This happened to us when we set off on one of our longest drives of the trip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After a wonderful morning hiking in the North Cascades, we got a later-than-planned start to our drive out to Glacier National Park. Shortly into our long trek, a fatal motorcycle accident forced a 3+ hour shut-down of the entire highway, further complicating our already-delayed drive. Fortunately, being in the campervan allowed us some flexibility for the time we spent on the side of the road. We got the boys out of their car seats for a little while to play in the back, fixed up an easy dinner, and then folded down the bed so the boys could eventually fall asleep.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By the time we finally got back on the road, we knew there was no way we were going to make it to Glacier in time for our next reservation. So instead of trying to drive through the night, we decided to pull off into a rest stop to sleep for several hours before finishing out the remainder of the trip the next morning.<\/span><\/p>\n \n With its incredible range of precipitation and elevation, diversity is the hallmark of Olympic National Park. Encompassing nearly a million acres, the park protects a vast wilderness, thousands of years of human history, and several distinctly different ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles of wild coastline. Come explore! <\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Olympic National Park is open 24 hours a day year-round, although some roads, campgrounds and facilities are open seasonally.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n Olympic National Park<\/strong><\/p>\n When you have the freedom in a campervan to travel just about anywhere you want to go, it\u2019s easy to get overly ambitious and try to see and do too much in a relatively short amount of time. This certainly was the case for us with our chosen itinerary. In a matter of 2 weeks, we drove over 3000 miles trying to make the absolute most of our time in the van. Sure, we visited some pretty incredible places along the way, but spending so much time behind the wheel made it nearly impossible to enjoy all the other cool amenities that the van has to offer, from its cooking capabilities to just being able to chill and relax in some pretty spectacular locations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So if you\u2019re ok with using the van primarily as a vehicle, then go ahead and create an ambitious itinerary like we did. You\u2019ll definitely drive comfortably! But if you\u2019re wanting to feel like you actually got to experience the essence of what vanlife is all about and get to relax a little along the way, then we\u2019d highly recommend slowing it down and minimizing the amount of travel you do throughout the trip.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":31598,"id":31598,"title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","filename":"P9181570.jpg","filesize":8831744,"url":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570.jpg","link":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/es\/olympus-digital-camera-39-2\/","alt":"Campervan with a kitchen","author":"53","description":"","caption":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","name":"olympus-digital-camera-39-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2021-07-13 15:35:27","modified":"2023-06-14 21:51:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":2560,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-1152x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-1536x2048.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":2048,"blog-preview":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-600x353.jpg","blog-preview-width":600,"blog-preview-height":353,"post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570-1200x1600.jpg","post-thumbnail-width":1200,"post-thumbnail-height":1600,"gform-image-choice-sm":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570.jpg","gform-image-choice-sm-width":225,"gform-image-choice-sm-height":300,"gform-image-choice-md":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570.jpg","gform-image-choice-md-width":300,"gform-image-choice-md-height":400,"gform-image-choice-lg":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/P9181570.jpg","gform-image-choice-lg-width":450,"gform-image-choice-lg-height":600}},"image_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" This may not come as a surprise to anyone, but when you\u2019re living out of the back of a van, storage space is at a premium. As a result, packing efficiently is the most important thing you can do to live as comfortably and clutter-free as possible throughout your trip. This begins before the trip even starts with the creation of your packing list. Our encouragement here would be to think carefully about each and every item you put on your list to determine if it\u2019s truly essential or just a luxury.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"escape_tip","tip_tip_title":"Pro tip: ","tip_tip_text":" You\u2019ll be much happier with your overall campervan experience if you just leave the non-essential stuff at home<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":31454,"id":31454,"title":"IMG_6256","filename":"IMG_6256.jpg","filesize":10513980,"url":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256.jpg","link":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/es\/img_6256-2\/","alt":"Escape Big Sur campervan","author":"53","description":"","caption":"","name":"img_6256-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2021-07-13 15:31:47","modified":"2021-07-14 14:03:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":2560,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-1152x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-1536x2048.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":2048,"blog-preview":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-600x353.jpg","blog-preview-width":600,"blog-preview-height":353,"post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256-1200x1600.jpg","post-thumbnail-width":1200,"post-thumbnail-height":1600,"gform-image-choice-sm":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256.jpg","gform-image-choice-sm-width":225,"gform-image-choice-sm-height":300,"gform-image-choice-md":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256.jpg","gform-image-choice-md-width":300,"gform-image-choice-md-height":400,"gform-image-choice-lg":"https:\/\/escapecampervans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_6256.jpg","gform-image-choice-lg-width":450,"gform-image-choice-lg-height":600}},"image_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"How We Learned About Escape Camper Vans<\/span><\/h2>\n
Lesson 1 – Plan, But Don\u2019t Over-Plan<\/span><\/h2>\n
Another Reason Not To Over-Plan<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"info](\"\/wp-content\/themes\/escape2.0\/assets\/images\/info.svg\")
\n Hours:<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
Lesson 2 – Minimize Your Time on the Road<\/span><\/h2>\n
Lesson 3 – Pack as Efficiently as Possible<\/span><\/h2>\n