This August our family will travel to Minot, North Dakota, to celebrate, participate, and party down at FMCA’s 100th International Rally! We are very excited for multiple reasons.
First, we love any excuse to spend time with members of the RV community. RVers really are some of the nicest people on the planet. Second, this is our first rally! We have long been trying to get to a rally, and we are finally doing it. Woo hoo! And third, North Dakota. This is a state we have wanted to learn more about and spend a decent amount of time in ever since we set out on the road full-time in 2016.
We have a lot of reasons to be looking forward to August, and with Minot situated in the upper part of the state, we decided to make a good run at North Dakota and spend the entire month traveling around the state. That’s the cool thing about the RV lifestyle. You don’t have to fly into one place and be there; you don’t have to road trip in your car to a hotel or Airbnb. Your home is on wheels, and you can take as long as you’d like to reach your destination.
What’s on Our Agenda?
So, where are we headed? What are we planning to do? Where are we camping? Let’s start with the camping question first: State parks.
When we do a big swing of a state, we like to stay at as many state parks as we can. We’ve made similar trips through New Mexico and South Dakota, and state parks were our go-to. In New Mexico, we traveled the state for about 10 weeks, and in South Dakota, we traveled around for about four weeks. Both times we utilized state parks as often as possible and found them to be an excellent jumping off point for exploring and getting to know the natural beauty of the state.
Thankfully, North Dakota has state parks in abundance, and we’ll be staying in at least three while we are there — Turtle River, Icelandic, and Cross Ranch. We’ll explore cities like Grand Fork, Fargo, Bismark, and Washburn. Travel highlights include
- The Fargo Theater, a restored 1926 theater that is now a registered landmark
- The Grape Mill Vineyard and Winery in Grand Forks, which I’ve been told produces a unique to the region wine, thanks to their cold and hardy grape vines.
- Walking in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark with a visit to Fort Mandan in Washburn
- And, finally, taking in the beauty of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the city of Medora.
Did I mention these are just highlights? Our month is jam-packed with urban adventures and outdoor excursions. What a roadschool education August will be for our boys!
FMCA’s 100th International Convention
FMCA has a history with Minot and for good reason. North Dakota is beautiful, and August is the perfect month to visit — so do! Take your time, slowly travel to FMCA’s rally, and get to know the state.
However, if you can’t slow travel the state, that’s cool, too. The drive to Minot is a beautiful one, and the FMCA convention will not disappoint! Bring your kids, bring your partner, bring yourself. We’ll be there, and we’d love to meet you! We’ll also be doing an episode of the RV Miles Podcast during the event, and throughout August we’ll be recapping our adventures on the show and on our Instagram account. Plus, while we’re in Theodore Roosevelt, we’ll be researching possible stories for a future episode of America’s National Parks Podcast.
Work and play! That’s how we like to roll. See you at the rally!
Meet the Family
Abigail Epperson is one of the five wanderers that make up Our Wandering Family. Along with her partner, Jason, and three boys, Abigail spends her days traveling the country by RV. She’s the publisher of RVMiles.com, a travel site dedicated to the RV and outdoor lifestyle. She is also a co-host of the RV Miles Podcast and the America’s National Parks Podcast.
Great read. We have been FMCA members for over 15 years and believe it or not this will be our first FMCA Rally. As recently retired military officers, and now fulltimers, we finally have the time for a rally and this looks to be the best yet. Plus, we have been fortunate enough to recently transition into a newer class A coach. Looking forward to learning the coach and experiencing an FMCA International Rally. See you there. Kevin and Andrea Harvey, (Oh and Lucas too. Our great travel dog.)
Congrats on your retirement! Glad to have you as FMCA members and excited you can join us in Minot. See you next month!
That’s awesome, Kevin! We will be floating all around the convention, and look forward to possibly meeting you, Andrea and Lucas! Happy Travels! – Abigail
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