The hardest part is not planning the route, checking the weather, or perfectly timing the pit stops. The hardest part is deciding to take the leap in the first place. It is the uncomfortable unknown that forces the worst-case scenarios to the surface while quietly hiding the possibilities on the other side.
Since my trip last year through Montana, Wyoming, and Utah, I knew I had to find a way to share that experience with my family. I told them about what I saw and how it made me feel, but no matter how hard I tried, I could never fully convey it in a meaningful way. To them, my stories are just more tall tales of a traveler.
I have realized that some things cannot be understood until they are experienced firsthand. The only way was to break free from the routines of daily life, pack the truck, and hit the road. This time with a new truck, new trailer, and my family in tow.
Before heading out, I needed to find a way to monitor the trailer. Riot, our furry family member, will be joining us on the trip. Unfortunately, there will be times when she has to stay in the camper while we are out exploring.
I considered using an off-the-shelf system to monitor temperature and other conditions, but the idea of adding yet another subscription was not appealing. If I was going to spend money on a system, I figured I might as well buy the parts and build it myself.
Naturally, I decided to design and develop an open-source platform called OpenRVPi. Link to the repo coming soon.
The system starts with a Raspberry Pi, custom firmware, and sensors that tell me everything I need to know about the conditions inside the camper. It reports data to the cloud and ultimately to an iOS mobile app, giving me a way to check in from anywhere.
The setup is powered by two separate power sources and connects to the internet through both a primary and fallback connection. After the trip, I plan to push the project to a public repository with the firmware, React Native app, and server source code so anyone else can build their own version too.
Today, we start this next chapter.. together.