At that time, the “we” involved in our road show included myself, my partner Jason, and our (then) three-year-old son Malachi. Our second son, Deacon, has since joined our little traveling band.

Our initial venture into RV travel was not one of preference, but the ultimate conclusion of hard lessons learned in caregiving and accessibility. All we knew at the time was that we wanted to give our son unique and exciting travel experiences.

The challenge we quickly discovered was learning how exactly to travel in a way that accommodated his needs.

Malachi is a medically complex wheelchair-user who travels with a ventilator system and a double-wide stroller, along with oxygen tanks and a concentrator, a must-have shower chair, and bags of daily supplies.

In our early days of family travel, when we had finally gained the confidence to take our caregiving show on the road, we participated in an extremely short-lived trial in hotel accommodations. We struggled to find a method to the madness involved in unloading, unpacking, and then re-packing and reloading in a time-efficient way that was physically manageable on our middle-aged bodies. We learned that hotels were simply not the best way for our family to travel — not at all.

So, we purchased our first RV — a mid-sized motorhome — that gave us ample grace for a period of self-education. As total RV newbies, we made our share of operational mistakes. We also discovered what we needed for greater accessibility in travel.

In 2022, we traded up for a trailer with more open floor space for wheelchair navigation. The trailer accompanied us on a few long road trips and many short ones.

When our younger son joined the family in 2023, we realized that a second upgrade was necessary — this time to accommodate the needs of a growing family.

If our first motorhome taught us what we needed for accessible family travel, our second trailer showed what we wanted. We were no longer RV amateurs. In fact, we had grown into the role of experienced traveling caregivers.

We attended the Seattle RV Show this past February. We did our research ahead of time, creating a list of manufacturers and models we knew included both must-have and strongly desired features. With the knowledge that “perfection” is an impossible bar to set, we attended the show with the goal of finding a larger RV that would grant us as much leeway as possible to meet our needs.

And we did find it!
SUCCESS!!

Here are three things to keep in mind when considering an RV:

1. Know what you need.
   For us, this was an all-season model with an open and flat floor plan. We needed a lot of storage and extra space in the main bedroom to accommodate medical equipment. We also needed sufficient electrical power to support that equipment. We needed at least 3–4 beds, and we needed to keep it affordable and within our budget.
2. Know what you want.
   We wanted as much built-in accessibility as possible to avoid pricy modifications. We wanted a model that allowed for attachment of an entryway ramp, as well as a bedroom that could be accessed without going up or down stairs.
3. Remember the end-goal.
   As with any major purchase, shopping for the right RV can be stressful. There may be some give-and-take in what features are available and what you are willing to overlook. Ultimately, we knew the best way to approach this process was with our end-goal in mind — that is: To create for our family the most accessible and inclusive home-away-from-home living space that two frugally-minded parents can muster.

Find Whitney Stohr and her RV traveling family on Instagram @rollin.n.rockin and the family travel blog, “This Chosen Road,” at whitneystohr.com/blog-this-chosen-road