What

We are frequently asked this question by friends or even strangers we meet in places we visit. So, I thought I'd give you an idea of what our "usual days" are like...both traveling and "in camp."

Today it's raining, so we've elected to stay put since we have no schedule we have to meet right now. The rain on the roof is a nice sound...as long as it's gentle! Chris is working on his computer on the "kitchen table" and I'm at the computer desk using my computer. The laundry is going with a small load of clothes. Later, we'll head out in the Jeep and visit a winery or two and perhaps take in a movie (if we can find the local theater!) I understand there's an excellent bakery in town, so we may have to stop there to see what they have! Our hydronic heat (which uses diesel fuel) is quietly doing its job of keeping our rig nice and toasty. (We have heat pumps, too which we could use, but they are noisier.) Our tile floors are comfortable, since we had NuHeat installed under them which keeps them nice and warm...great for bare feet!

We "hooked up" yesterday afternoon when we arrived, which means we attached our water hose to the water faucet provided at our site, attached our 50 amp electric cord to their electric hookup, and also attached our 3 1/2 inch sewer hose to the sewer connection they provided. They don't have cable service here, or a phone, so we didn't hook those up, although more and more campgrounds are offering those hookups too.

We only hooked our sewer connection up last night because our black tank (the tank that holds the waste from our toilet) was half full (we can go about 5-7 days without dumping it...we hold about 50 gallons in it). Since we are heading into territory where we might want to stay in State Parks, we would like to have empty tanks, so we decided last night that we would go ahead and dump the black tank. Because we dumped the black tank, we also dumped the grey water tank, the tank that holds the waste from our shower and sinks. THAT is why I am now doing laundry, since we've found a great way to clean out the sewer hose is for me to run a load of laundry after we've dumped the tanks...it cleans out the sewer hose as it's draining out to the sewer, so when Chris puts the hose away it smells like Downy!

Since we have 50 amp power we are able to run everything we need to...TV, microwave, oven, heaters, etc. No problem. If we are on 30 amp hookups (which are common) I have to be a bit more careful about how many "large appliances" I run at once...like the hair dryer and microwave at the same time!

Our refrigerator operates on either electric or propane gas, so usually it's on electric. Depending on the quality of the water we are hooked up to we will have the ice maker "run" or not. Otherwise, our rig feels just like anyone's home should...just a little smaller!

Our typical day on the road would find us trying to get off "at the crack of 10"...so we don't really hustle too much! It only takes about 30 minutes to really get underway. Chris usually checks the fluids and tires the day before we travel. That means that once breakfast is finished, and we've checked the local weather on the TV (we have satellite TV, but also try to get the local stations on the antenna or cable to get the best weather for where we will be traveling.) Chris goes outside and begins his job of unhooking us (the electric, water, sewer, etc.), and I start at the back of the rig inside and prepare us for traveling by securing the doors, making sure things are put away in their traveling locations, securing the contents of the refrigerator (the hardest job...means making sure no glass is against another piece of glass, and all contents are packed in tightly, etc), making sure the water heater and water pump are off, etc. Both of us usually finish our respective jobs at the same time, so then it's time to move out. I get in the Jeep and Chris moves the RV to a space where we can line up straight to attach the Jeep. It only takes about 5 minutes for him to attach the Jeep, then once I've made sure the Jeep lights work with the RV lights, we are off to whatever destination we've chosen for the day. We like to travel no more than 4 hours a day for several reasons...that's what we both prefer as far as sitting in our seats, and also, we can usually find a better campsite if we get off the road earlier. It gives us time to hookup and relax a bit before making dinner, etc. Usually that's when we make friends with folks in the park and find out where to head off to on the next leg of the trip.

During our trip we'll usually plan to stop for lunch at a rest area or truck stop...someplace large enough for us to pull into and get out of easily. More often than not, we'll eat in the RV which is soooo convenient! Traveling fare is usually peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...one of our favorites, so it's not a hardship! I'll drive for part of the day, though I try to only drive the "orange cone" sections...or at least that is what it seems like! I ALWAYS get the road crew sections!

We pull into our RV park (which we've chosen via the campground books or by word of mouth from friends or the 'net) and start all over again. Sometimes we are able to get a "Pull-through" which is a campsite long enough to allow us to drive straight into it with the Jeep still attached...those are nice for when we are traveling day after day and don't need to use the Jeep to go to the store or sightsee. Other sites require that we unhook the Jeep, so Chris usually does that while I'm checking into the park. Once we're unhooked, I'll usually drive ahead in the Jeep to scope out the site to make sure it'll work for us. We have to be careful of overhanging trees, etc. since we're so large. Once I see it's OK, I'll help Chris back into the site, which can be tricky, but we're getting pretty good at it. There's only been one time when I've had to scream into the walkie talkie to prevent Chris from backing into a car he couldn't see...there's a pretty large blind spot for our RV. We find some parks are delightful, others are less so...but once we pull our curtains shut we are in our own lovely home, so it doesn't matter what it's like outside. Probably 90% of the parks we've visited we'd return to, so they are overall quite nice.

The parks we've been to range from public parks like State and County parks, to posh RV resorts with full "resort type" amenities. The most common have been the private RV parks with assorted types of facilities. We've had large sites with huge amounts of room, to tight sites that left us with hardly room to walk down the side of the rig to hook up. We've had awesome views or parking lot views. We've had no hookups to complete hookups with private phone lines to your rig.

Beyond the obvious advantage of seeing so much of America that is hidden from the airplane traveler, we've found meeting all the various people so rewarding. We find that since so many of the folks who are traveling like this are retired, we have plenty of time to visit...nobody has meetings to run off to, business to attend to, assorted trivia that consumed our time when we were in our "land-based houses." We all "live in the moment." Most of our conversations center around "Where have you been? Where are you going." Meeting the locals has its rewards, too...like the barber Chris found (who gave him his best haircut ever!) to the bison rancher and his daughter who taught us all about bison.

All in all this is definitely an interesting way to spend a few years. Yes, of course we'll want to settle down somewhere, but traveling allows us to find out where that will be as well as to see so much of this country at a leisurely pace all without packing and unpacking!