If you follow us on Instagram, then you’ve become familiar with the Rogue Trip Pit Stops that we’ve highlighted in several posts throughout our journey. If you don’t follow us on Instagram, then…are you really our friend? Do we need to reassess this relationship? Go on over and give us a follow: @roguetripusa. We’ll wait.

Welcome back, FRIEND! Now, back to our regularly scheduled program: What is a “Pit Stop”?

Many subscribers to the #vanlife movement start their journey with a full-on, hands dirty, vehicle conversion that includes the build-out of a plumbing system. This girl did it.  This guy too. But New York made us soft, and our delicate hands had no interest in pursuing such a project, so we chose the route of our sweet, plumbing-absent minivan Odie the Odyssey.

As we’ve mentioned before, it’s not always a walk in the park to, well, to park in the park. No running water means we’re out of luck for tooth-brushins and toilet flushins, and there are no midnight glasses of water fresh out the tap. Our Planet Fitness membership helps, but the gyms aren’t always conveniently located.

This is where our pit stops come in. A pit stops happens when someone agrees to host us overnight along our route. We love our van, but we LOVE these overnight refreshers that allow us to shower, reset, and reorganize. Pit stops come in two forms:      

AirBnB: Everyone loves a good AirBnB stay, and ours have not disappointed so far. We pounce on the opportunity to chat with our hosts and get a feel for the local flavor from them. We’ve posted up in the homes of Rachel and Kirk in Dothan, AL, Brandin and Amanda in Houston, TX, and Chris and Victoria in Austin, TX. As we mosey out west and further from the bulk of our personal networks in the southeast (Hailey) and northeast (Mitch), our AirBnB stays will become more prevalent.

Speaking of our networks…you beautiful, generous, bunch of folks are the ABSOLUTE BEST!  And I’m not just saying that to get a free shower out of you. Our friends and family members are the second type of pit stops, and they are the most fun of all. We are looking at a whole year of slumber partyin’ with our closest friends and family who are scattered around the US. We’re only a couple of months in and we’ve already connected with high school friends, college friends, friends with babies that we hadn’t met before, cousins, and second cousins. I mean, look at all these folks we’ve been able to hang with already:

We’ve had 12 official pit stops to date. Here’s a highlight reel for ya (reminder: if you’re reading this in your inbox then you’re missing out on the video action. Click on over to the website to see it):

There you have it. Rogue Trip Pit Stops take our journey to the next level on the fun-o-meter. Before you leave, I have a few final words of praise to some of our hosts:

• Pit Stop #1: Rich and Barbara hosted us for an extra-long stay in Jacksonville, FL and we can’t thank them enough.
• Pit Stop #2: Emmy and Kevin, along with their 3 kiddos, carved out time for us in Sarasota, FL even though they were in the middle of a move.
• Pit Stop #3: It was awesome to meet Troy-boyfriend to my bestie-for the first time in St. Petersburg, FL. And we learned to NEVER call St. Pete “Tampa” or “St. Petes”
• Pit Stop #4 and #5: Kaley and Kristen-both college besties. Both living amazing lives and killing it at the family thing. Love you both so much!
• Pit Stop #9: Uncle Clark and Aunt Georgi made their apartment in Dallas, TX available for us, even though they weren’t around. Missed seeing them, but loved the cousin time we squeezed in with Carrie and Lauren.
• Pit Stop #10: Diana was obviously mega-pregnant and WENT IN TO LABOR THE DAY AFTER WE LEFT!!! I still can’t believe that. What an awesome person for letting us hang around. We missed seeing her hubby, but glad he made it back in time for Henry to make his appearance.
• Pit Stop #11: Mitch’s high school buddy Ben was an awesome tour guide in Santa Fe!
• Pit Stop #12: Jen and Kate: They didn’t even really know us (Jen is Mitch’s friend’s sis), but were totally welcoming and helpful to us in Colorado Springs!
• Ann and Rod Newman: Great seeing Ann, Rachel, and Carus. Thanks to them for offering to host us in OKC. Glad we squeezed in a dinner!
• Moms: Though not official “pit stops”, we’ve both been able to see our moms along the route (Hailey’s in Austin and Mitch’s in Denver). Love you both!

Until next time!