Video Story
Watch VideoAround the country in 66 days
Story By: Nicole Vandeputte
Source: KOAA
On this 4th of July holiday, a family is visiting here from california, but their story is unique. They will be spending their entire summer on the road in an RV.
It may seem even more unique this year, because these gas prices have a lot of people staying closer to home. The Herzog's offer a different outlook. They say living each summer in their home on wheels is actually cheaper than any other family vacation.
Brad Herzog takes us on a tour of their 39 foot RV. It is the family summer home. Brad says, "We're on a 14 state, 66 day journey." Every summer, for the past 9 years, Brad Amy, and their two sons leave their California home. They spend the next two months on the road. Brad says, "It's a nice to get away sometimes. It's nice to get out of your routine. We love to explore the country, so we do it in a couple of months; take the RV out. Take our kids on the road, and celebrate each other, and celebrate the open roads."
On the refrigerator in their RV is a calender. It's brightly colored descriptions on each day show each stop the family will take. This year, they stop in Colorado Springs. On the 4th, they want to experience America the beautiful. Brad says, "It's going to the top of, taking the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak. That sounds cool."
Brad's written two books about their travels. He also blogs on an GoRVing.com. He says, "It's a journal of our trip. The blog I just posted today was our trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park yesterday."
He read a portion of that blog to us. Talking about his trip to the Sand Dunes, He says, "We walked up a single dune. We saw that there were 5 or 6 larger climbs before we reached the top, and Luke promptly sat down. That was that. We made it about a 1/4 of the way up."
While high gas prices have most people scaling back road trips, the Herzog's offer a different perspective. Brad says, "Gas prices are outrageous. The money we save by not having to stay in a hotel every night, by not having to eat every meal at a restaurant, by not have to be at the mercy of the airlines, that are also raised." He says they fill up the 75 gallon tank about twice a week. He says that is cheaper than 3 days in a hotel.
The first year they did this, Brad and Amy were living in Chicago. They said they decided to just live in an RV for a year, traveling the country. While they were on the road he would write a book about their travels. That book "States of Mind" has done very well.
