My family and I began a new adventure last Friday. We rented a 38’ motorhome, packed up our
stuff and the kids and began a 3 week tour of the American Southwest.
How in the world did Brian and I, who seem like sane people
(usually), decide to voluntarily place ourselves in a space of less than 500
square feet with our two energetic children for three weeks? What in the world possessed Brian to decide
that, after driving a relatively small, sporty, hatchback car, he would be glad
to drive a 38 foot long, 31,000 lb. behemoth for three weeks?
It is actually something we’ve discussed and dreamed about
for a few years now. What better way to
see the country than to drive through it?
And, if you’re going on a long drive with small children, it is
certainly convenient to have a clean bathroom available at all times and to
have a large refrigerator and freezer. A
few weeks ago, I mentioned to my husband that a friend of mine had gone on a
Southwest road trip with her family. We
talked about how educational that would be for the kids and interesting it would
be for us. We had been planning a family
vacation in October, but we were planning a relaxing beach vacation. Brian suggested we do this instead. I pointed out that it wouldn’t be very
relaxing. After discussing it more,
though, we agreed it would be an amazing experience for all of us and we agreed
to start planning.
We agreed that I would plan our route and Brian would work
on finding an RV rental. He started
looking and found that RVs are rather scarce and expensive unless you plan several
months in advance. I found that the
places we wanted to visit out west were apt to get snow as early as October so
we’d need to go relatively soon or wait until Spring. Then, I posted a question on a Facebook group
for RVers and a member of the group messaged me to say that she and her husband
live in our city and had an RV they might be willing to rent to us. We found that they lived just 15 minutes from
our home. Brian and I met them and
checked out the RV, a 10 year old Fleetwood Bounder, Class A, 38’, diesel pusher. It seemed pretty well maintained and the
couple seemed very nice. The price was
slightly better than renting from a rental company and it was available
whenever we wanted to use it. After
figuring out insurance issues, roadside assistance, etc. we picked up the RV on
Wednesday night and started packing our things.
Packing for an RV trip is very different than packing for a
road trip where you stay in hotels or even packing for a camping trip. Rather than using luggage, we packed our
items directly into the closet, drawers, and cabinets of the RV. I had to think about meals on the road and
pack food in the cabinets and refrigerator/freezer. I had to pack cooking utensils, dishes,
silverware, etc.
As I packed, I was a little nervous. This was essentially a house on wheels. I had to keep in mind that this house and everything
we packed in it would be moving down the road.
Things would potentially shift in transit. I had to make sure everything was
secured. There was something a bit disconcerting
to think about sitting on a couch or at a dinette table while rolling down the
road at 65 miles per hour. I packed
carefully and was thankful for cabinet doors that closed securely and shelves
with lips on the front.
I started to get excited about the trip as I imagined all of
the interesting and amazing things we’d see and be able to share with the
kids.
I’ll write more about our trip as soon as I can. Internet connectivity at RV parks can be a
bit spotty.
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