Any kind of travel is eye-opening, but when you’re the one behind the wheel, at the camp stove or wielding the tent poles, there’s a layer of knowledge you won’t get on a cruise or an airplane-and-hotel trip.

ROVA’s writers share their own road-travel insights in this issue, so take note, folks—there’s a lot in here to help you on your own adventures! Longtime boondocker John Soares shares the best ways to find a free site, and how to camp safely and legally once you’ve arrived.

Katherine Burns brings us (and Harry Styles) on her first-ever van trip, and shares what she and her friends learned; Emily Jay shows us how to organize a van in a way that best suits your needs; Thomas Brentwood investigates that lesser-known RV—the toy hauler; and Catherine Campbell learns that road-tripping with her mom is not to be taken for granted.

Also in this issue, Atticus Lee reveals what made him realize that van life doesn’t have to be perfect; Caroline Martin shares the many ways in which her van life is definitely not perfect; Karen Rose Kingsbury discovers that a plant-based diet on the road is not as difficult as she had imagined; and regular contributor and ROVA pal Reggie Grey shares with us what he’s learned since leaving the full-time nomad lifestyle.

Our photo essay in this issue centers around the Mighty Five National Parks in Utah, where Jacob Sigala captures the abstract art of the region’s rock formations.

Come on a round-the-country journey with us as we visit the natural beauty of Washington’s Willapa region; discover the reasons that it only takes one visit to never want to leave Sandpoint, Idaho; find out what makes a teen traveler tick in Taos; track down the boyhood home of Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri; explore the small townships that comprise the beautiful Gulf Coast in Mississippi; and remember what we have to be grateful for along New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway.