From the Trail is CampCommand’s experiential travel journal and real stories from the open road shared by our resident explorer and co-founder, Scott Trail. Each entry captures the heart of RV life: the places that inspire us, the people we meet, and the small moments that remind us why the journey matters just as much as the destination.
The First Road That Hooked Me
Before GPS systems and trip planners, before dashboards glowed with maps and mileage, there was a Tonka truck camper parked in a patch of dirt behind my childhood home. It was bright yellow, with silver stripes down the sides and plastic wheels that squeaked across the concrete patio.
That little toy was more than a truck. It was a ticket to anywhere. I’d load it with bottle-cap luggage and drive it across imaginary deserts, through forests of grass, past lakes made from rain puddles. I can still remember sitting in the dirt, squinting at the horizon and wondering what it would feel like to actually go there.
Back then, we didn’t travel fancy. My parents were “road people.” Every summer, the family car was packed like a jigsaw puzzle–cooler first, sleeping bags next, and the dog wedged between my sister and me in the backseat. We didn’t fly to destinations; we drove toward them. Looking back, that’s where it started: a love for movement, for the unknown, and for the simple rhythm of the road.
A Lifestyle Built on the Move
Fast forward a few decades, and not much has changed, except the Tonka is now thirty feet long, runs on diesel, and comes with a steering wheel I can actually reach.
These days, my wife and I spend about half the year traveling by RV. We board up the house, pack our essentials, and trade front porches for mountain views. She builds the playlists, I map the route, and our dogs, Chewy and Hershey, are just there to ride along.
People often ask what draws us to this lifestyle, and my answer never really changes: it’s the balance between freedom and familiarity. You can wake up somewhere new every day, but still have your favorite mug, your pillow, and your two dogs snoring by the fire.
How the Road Became Home
It started small–weekend trips, long weekends, the occasional extended loop through new states. But after every trip, we came home a little more restless. Eventually, we realized we weren’t escaping; we were experiencing and living life.
There’s something steady about life on the road. Mornings begin with coffee and the soft hum of a generator. Nights end with the sound of crickets instead of emails. You start measuring life in sunrises instead of schedules.
That’s when we stopped calling it a vacation and started calling it home. We packed up, boarded the windows, and made the road our new address.
Lessons from a Lifetime of Miles
If the Tonka truck was the spark, the real fire came from every mile since. The flat tires, the missed turns, the mechanical surprises that forced us to slow down and laugh instead of stress.
RV travel is the best teacher I’ve ever had. It’s taught me patience, adaptability, gratitude, and that every wrong turn is usually just the start of a better story. The road doesn’t owe you perfection. What it gives you instead is perspective.
Closing Reflection: Why the Journey Still Matters
When I think about the miles behind me, it’s not always the destinations I remember first. It’s the feeling of motion. The hum of tires on asphalt. The way sunlight stretches across a windshield. The smell of coffee mingling with morning air.
That Tonka camper sitting in the sandbox all those years ago didn’t just start a hobby. It shaped a life. It taught me that adventure isn’t about getting somewhere new; it’s about staying open to where the road leads next.
And that’s what ultimately inspired CampCommand. As one of its founders, I wanted to build something that honored the journey—the part of travel that happens between the pins on a map. Our goal was simple: to make the road feel lighter, the logistics smoother, and the moments more memorable.
Because the more time you spend wrestling with details, the less you spend living the drive. CampCommand was built to change that by taking care of the planning so you can stay focused on the reason you travel in the first place: the joy of the journey.
From the Trail,
Scott
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Because the journey deserves as much attention as the destination.