Rare Sightings While Full-Time RVing

Traveling the country on the well-designed interstate highway system and connecting state highways has been a staple of American life and freedom since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

Although I first experienced the benefits of the interconnected highways at the age of 4, when my family moved from Michigan to Oregon, I didn’t appreciate the marvel of the highway system until embarking on my first cross-country tour with the Continental Singers and Orchestra at 18. I remember being amazed at the ease of travel with cloverleaf on and off ramps in Texas. 

Today, the “Greatest Public Works Project in History” makes full-time RVing possible. Although we like using interstates because we know they’re safe for our tall fifth wheel, we also like to venture off the freeways and away from large cities to get a better taste and feel for small-town America. 

Both kinds of travel can lead to some unusual sights. In addition to witnessing a total solar eclipse, dinosaur tracks, and the northern lights, here are some of the rare sightings we’ve observed in five years of RV living.

Horse-Drawn Carriage on a Main Road

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is home to the oldest Amish settlement in the country. There, Amish people, who believe in simplicity and eschew technology, live alongside modern Americans who espouse contemporary conveniences. 

While en route from an overnight stop in Lancaster to Sight and Sound Theatre to see a show, signs displaying a horse and buggy gave way to the real thing. We happened upon a slow-moving horse-drawn carriage on the two-lane road and had to reduce our speed until oncoming traffic dissipated so we could pass. 

Camping Hearse

Because our rig is fitted with solar panels that allow us to do a lot of boondocking, we don’t spend a lot of time at campgrounds. When visiting our son Josh in Eugene, Oregon, however, a campground offered closer proximity to him than boondocking options did, so we took advantage of it. 

While at this campground, a hearse pulled in one day and took up temporary residence in one of the campsites. We had heard of van living, but not hearse living. Typically, hearses are associated with death. 

Truck Camper on a Trailer

Speaking of odd campers, while camped in Homer, Alaska, we saw a truck camper on the bed of a trailer, towed by a truck. I’m sure it has its advantages. After all, you don’t have to remove the camper from the bed of the truck in order to separate the two. But it looks a bit funny. 

We witnessed this phenomenon again in Canada en route to the Lower 48 after our summer in Alaska. Maybe it’s a new trend. A search on Reddit revealed people are asking about this setup and how to do it. 

Precarious Class A Motorhome

While boondocking in the Badlands of South Dakota, we caught sight of a class A motorhome parked downhill with its front tires off the ground. The weight of the coach rested on its levelers, with no supports under the tires whatsoever. It looked too unsafe for my liking, but apparently the owner had no issues. 

I have to admit that the first time we took our fifth wheel out for a test camping run, we set it up and leveled it, lifting the two passenger-side tires off the ground. Although it looked a little risky, we felt pretty safe. We were quite inexperienced then and have learned a lot about proper leveling techniques since. We no longer park with tires out of contact with the ground.

Windmill Fan Blades in Transit

Travels through windy areas of the U.S. can lead to sightings of wind turbines designed to convert wind power into electricity. In passing, it’s difficult to gauge the immensity of these structures and how quickly their blades actually move. The length of a single blade is about 170 feet, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

We gained an appreciation for their enormity when seeing a blade stretched from behind a tractor trailer, seemingly suspended, and then attached to a self-steering, dolly-type trailer toward the back of the unit. 

Roadside Attractions

Living on the road gives us lots of opportunities to see roadside attractions, of which there are too many to count. We’ve seen a gigantic hot dog on the roof of a restaurant in Michigan, an enormous roadrunner made of recycled electronics in New Mexico, a giant beaver in Beaverlodge, Alberta (between Calgary and Edmonton), the Dignity statue of a Sioux woman in South Dakota, and many others. 

Perusing the collection of photos from our travels, I can’t help but be grateful for the amazing lifestyle we get to lead. 

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