More Things Learned While Traveling & Living the RV Lifestyle

1. Traveling like this is divided into 2 categories:

a)     The “Destination.”  When you arrive at your destination, you set up camp, hook up the utilities, and set about to do what you came to do.  I breathe a sigh of relief when we are at our destination—an RV park somewhere in the area we want to be in.  This will be our home for however long we stay and I feel safe and secure. 

b)      “Being On The Road.”  This is fraught with uncertainties.  We try never to be on the road longer than a few days before we arrive at the destination.  Because we pull a travel trailer, everything is in laundry baskets on the floor and cupboards are bungie-corded shut and the bed is loaded with stuff and the kitchen table benches are also holding things.  We have to do this to secure everything while we’re driving.  It may be different in a motor home.  So, it’s not easy to right everything every evening and therefore we don’t.  We usually only unload the bed so we can sleep in it.  We drive most of the day so we don’t really use the trailer except to use the toilet if necessary, although for that we also use public restrooms when we can.  We don’t cook meals either because the microwave doesn’t work (we don’t have a generator).  The only thing that works is the stove but we don’t like to cook when everything is piled on the floor in the way and we don’t want to be stuck with dishes to wash and fill up our tanks.  So, we usually pull into a truck stop for the night if we’re on an interstate, or we find a McDonalds where there is plenty of room to park or a Wal Mart shopping center.  Many Wal Marts allow campers to park overnight in the back corner of the parking lot.  The truck stops are called Travel Centers and we like them.  It’s free parking and we tuck ourselves in amongst the big rigs.  It’s noisy all night long with generators running, but at least it’s free and we feel safe there.  However, if you don’t get there early enough to get a spot, it can be packed with no place for you.  A few truck stops have separate RV parking areas but most do not.  Another option is to look around you at the fast food restaurants off the interstate and if you see any Big Rigs parked in empty lots or dirt fields nearby, then you can pull in with them.  You’ll notice that when you do this, other rv’ers will also join you before the night is over.  We all feel safer when we band together for overnight parking.  In the morning we usually buy a “team shower” in the facilities ($10-$12 usually) and buy coffee in their restaurant, and gas up the truck there too.  Every other month we’ll buy a car wash at their facility if one is available.  They will wash both the truck and trailer for about $40-$50.  Always behave as a guest and stay out of the way of the big rigs when you can.  At truck stops, they are king, and we are just the uninvited interlopers they tolerate.  If we are parking overnight anywhere but a truck stop, our morning shower is reduced to a “spit bath.”  This means using baby wipes and washing our body the best we can with these, and then sporting fresh, clean clothes if possible.  Unfortunately, my hair is an unruly mass of curls so I either tuck everything under a hat, or clip it on top of my head.  I don’t do anything with it until I get a real shower.  I also don’t wear any makeup while in-between being stationary.  In fact, I don’t really wear makeup all that much while living this way.  It’s too much of a hassle.

c)     We never sleep overnight at the Rest Areas that are found along the interstates, unless we see Big Rigs and RV’s there.  It’s not safe to be alone in these places.

d)     If we are really desperate, sometimes we’ll sneak into a hospital parking lot and sleep there for a few hours.  The worst that will happen is their security will come knocking on our door and kick us out.  Most of the time it’s not a problem.  We usually just explain that we didn’t know where to go and became too tired to drive anymore.  They are often very nice and helpful and will either let you stay or will suggest somewhere close by.  That is true of cops too.  They are usually very helpful.

e)     Sometimes the restaurants will let you stay in their parking lot overnight, especially if they have a very large parking lot and business is slow that night.  They will let you do this if you are a customer and come into the restaurant to buy a meal.  This is true of places like Denney’s or other 24 hour restaurants.  If you reassure them you are going to be gone by early morning (like 6:00 a.m.), they won’t have a problem with it.

f)     If worst comes to worst, then go to a motel and ask to pay to park in their back lot.  It should still be cheaper than a hotel room but don’t be afraid to stay in a hotel now and then if you have to.  If you get stuck somewhere in bad weather, pulling into a hotel and renting a room will be a good thing to do.

g)     The reason we don’t just stay in RV parks while on the road is that we aren’t going to be there long enough to make the price worth it.  We aren’t going to hook up the utilities, nor unpack anything, so why pay?  RV parks are often closed at 5:00 pm so if you arrive later you can’t get in anyway (unless you have a reservation and they have given you a space with codes to open the gate ahead of time).

h)     We try very hard to never drive past dark and we try to get settled for the night by about 4 pm in the winter, or later in the summer when there is more sunlight.  It’s not good to drive in unfamiliar places in the dark especially if you’re an older person and your night vision isn’t all that great.  It’s important to be able to recognize the parts of town you find yourself in.  You don’t want to be parking in the “bad” part of town, especially in a deserted lot or something.

2. Weapons:  Some states allow you to carry guns, others do not.  We don’t happen to have any but we do have a baseball bat, pepper spray and a stun gun.  The stun gun was a gift from our son who is a gun enthusiast and he was terrified we were going out on the road without “adequate protection.”  We try to live in such a way so that we don’t become a target of criminals while traveling, and so hope we never have to use any of this.  However, if you do plan to carry guns, I would suggest you keep them safely hidden out of plain view, and if anyone asks if you are carrying weapons, be sure to say no.  Why invite trouble?  We tell white lies to the customs officers when they ask us if we’re carrying produce from other states.  We just say no, and do not get into a discussion about the head of lettuce or 2 tomatoes in our refrigerator.  That’s not what they are concerned about anyway.  They just don’t want you transporting crates of infected produce from state to state.  They don’t care about the cucumber in your refrigerator.  There is such a thing as living by the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law.  So that applies to weapons as well.  The authorities aren’t concerned with an older couple with who are safe with their gun and only going to use it for self-defense.  They are concerned with gun trafficking and criminals and people so paranoid that they would shoot at anyone who looked at them suspiciously.  So be a normal, level-headed, considerate traveler and you shouldn’t have any problems.  Just don’t volunteer information to the authorities which doesn’t need to be volunteered, or you’ll force their hand and make them do their job—take away your expensive weapon and charge you with a crime that you’ll pay dearly for, for no reason.  Personally, I’ve talked to travelers who were on the road for years and never needed a weapon so you have to decide for yourself whether you really want to take chances.

3. Always get a weather report the day before and the day of, so you’ll know what kind of weather you’re going to be driving into.  The morning news on tv, the radio or even on the internet will give you information.  We drove right into a terrible rain storm with thunder and lightning once because we failed to check the weather report.  It was so bad that by afternoon there was flooding and it became unsafe to continue driving.  So we had to scramble to find a place to hole up until it was over.  The next day all was clear.  It would have been better to just wait the extra day in the first place.  Incidentally, we later heard on the news that there were several fatal accidents in the area we were driving in, and a tornado had even touched down behind us at one point.  Don’t take chances like this!

4. Be careful where you park your vehicle when away from the rv park!  Most of the time the vehicle will stay safe, but it’s not difficult for criminals to spot a traveler, just by the license plate.  If they see that you have valuable items in the car—such as stereo, GPS, other electronics, bags, luggage, they may decide to break in.  It only takes a few minutes to smash a window, open the lock, open the door and grab what they want.  They can even steal the vehicle itself.  So pay attention to where you are going, try to park where you can see the car, or park in a lot that has security.  When we were in New Orleans we parked in lots that had security but we paid a lot of money for that.  We also left as much stuff at the trailer as possible.  And this was during daylight.  For night time, if we were out at the French Quarter, which we were not, we would have taken taxi’s.  Part of the time you can take a shuttle or bus to and from the French Quarter and transfer to a trolley when you get there, so you can leave your vehicle back at the RV park.  The same safety rules apply for wilderness areas.  I have friends who go hiking and where people park at trailheads is a beehive of criminal activity sometimes.  People come back from a hike to see their windows smashed and their valuables gone.  In this case, it’s also best to lock valuables in the trunk where no one can see them.  It also goes without saying, to always lock your doors!  It’s also wise to talk to your RV park hosts—they are usually a gold mine of good information about the area you are in.

5. Most RV parks will cost between $25 and $40 per night.  Of course, they usually have better prices for weekly sites and monthly.  So be sure you budget enough money to pay for RV parks and gas for driving.  Food, repairs, parking and other sundries run extra.

6. I keep a roll of quarters in the glove compartment of our truck and use these for parking meters, phone calls (although with cell phones, it’s rare to need a pay phone), extra change for the Laundromat, vending machines and anything else that requires some change.  If someone were to break into our vehicle and steal the quarters, it would be the least valuable thing to steal.

7. RV Heater System:  Our RV heater broke down and the repairman said it was probably a circuit board which would run a minimum of $200 to repair.  We decided to forgo this for now and instead we bought a small electric space heater for $25.  The propane we have to pay for but the electricity is included in the space rental at the RV park, unless we stay by the month.  In that case, they charge less for rent than the daily or weekly rate, but you get charged extra for electricity.  Still, it’s cheaper than propane.  When we have no hookups then we have no heat at all.  The only option then is to buy a Little Buddy Propane Heater and the little canisters of propane and use that.  However, I’m not certain of the safety of running one of those without ventilation.  And if we have to keep a window open, then our trailer is not going to heat up and we waste the propane.  So what we do during those brief times when we have no hookups, is to stay away from cold areas as best we can, and when we do encounter a really cold night, we wear warm sweatsuits with our coats on to bed with thick socks, gloves and a beanie cap and use all the blankets we have.  This enables us be warm enough to get a nights sleep.  Thankfully, we don’t have to do this very often.

8. Clotheslines:  Most RV parks do not let you hang a clothesline outside, not even the type that fit onto your back bumper.  So what we did is buy a clothes dryer rack and use that when necessary to hang wet clothes that cannot go into the dryer.  We also bought 2 cheap, short shower rods that are spring-loaded and placed them high up in the shower.  We use these to hang wet towels, bathmats and sometimes wet swimming suits.

9. An article in Highways Magazine (Good Sam Club), May 2011, entitled “RVers’ Best Friends,” really captured the truth about what services you use while traveling and how the familiar is what we are drawn to.  For instance, Walmart is a place we often go to for all sorts of things including RV supplies, and they have them everywhere.  We like The Pilot Flying J or Loves or any of the other truck stops for fuel, truck & trailer wash, gift shop, restaurant, showers and free overnight dry camping amongst the big rigs.  We eat at McDonalds far more than we ever did back home when we are on the road because it’s cheap and they have free wifi and good coffee.  Somehow, we feel psychologically reassured to see the familiar amidst the unknown and unfamiliar of every new place we go.

10. What is better to have—a Motorhome, 5^th Wheel, or Trailer?  I think all 3 have pluses and minuses.  The minuses of a trailer are that, suppose we park overnight at a Walmart or other public place.  We can’t really unhook the trailer to go exploring and leave the trailer there because then it’s obvious we are camped there.  A motorhome which tows a little car can easily unhitch the car and take off for a few hours and no one would be the wiser for it.  Also, with our trailer we are forced to spend 30 minutes packing things up and clearing countertops so that nothing falls or spills while we’re on the move.  We end up not being able to do anything in it except sleep in the bed and use the toilet.  The floors and table booth are loaded with things packed and wedged in.  All the cupboards are wrapped with bungie cords so it’s a hassle to try to get into one.  It may be that motorhomes and 5^th wheels don’t have to be packed up as much while on the move. 

Choice of RV is a matter of preference and budget.  A 5^th Wheel is the most economical if one owns a suitable truck.  However, the majority of RV full-timers prefer a Class A motorhome.  Motorhomes usually get the better gas mileage.  New RV’s get the bells and whistles but depreciate fast.  A gently used RV with low mileage is probably the best way to go.  There may be some way to check if certain makes and models are lemons, perhaps by checking with Consumer Reports. 

Visit CampingWorld.com/rvsales to get a brief description of all three.

It’s a good idea to rent an RV before purchasing one.  Then you’d have an idea what to expect.  I also think, if you’re planning to live in your rv full-time, that you should go live in it for a month or two at a park near your home before you actually live in one full-time.  That would give you an idea of what you need to fill it with, what kind of provisions you’ll need.

Visit CampingWorld.com/rvrentals for info on renting an rv.

The size or length of an rv also has pluses and minuses.  A smaller one can get you in and out of difficult camping sites.  Sometimes rv parks cannot even accommodate anything over 34 feet.  But having a larger rig means you’ll have more space inside which is a definite plus.  My old 26’ no-slide-outs trailer is definitely too small for full-timing, but it’s all we can afford.  We bought it for $4000 about 4 years ago off my husbands brother, then bought the Dooley truck off his other brother for $5000, and fixed it up a bit.  At that time we had no plans of full-timing.  My husband just wanted to go camping now and then.  But now we feel like we’ve learned to make-do.  The priority is just to travel and see the US and maybe Canada.  Our truck and trailer are paid off, and this is how we can afford to do it.  We try to keep our possessions to a minimum as best we can, and I continue to purge our trailer of un-needed things now and then.

If you are planning to buy a motorhome and tow a car or other item (called a toad or a dinghy), you may want to check MotorHome’s Guide to Dinghy Towing at MotorHomeMagazine.com/Category/Dinghy-Towing.  It’s easier to tow a 4 wheel on the ground than a 2 wheel.  You’ll need to find out if your motorhome is able to tow a 4-wheel-on-the-ground or not. 

11. I love to feed the wildlife when we are camping.  I keep bird seed and squirrel food for this purpose, but I learned that it is not a good idea to do this and that some RV parks or campgrounds forbid it.  Throwing seed around your RV draws in unwanted rodents like mice which can cause damage to your RV by getting into the underside openings and chewing through wires and tubing, even making nests and having babies there.  It can end up being a nightmare.  Having rodents draws in the snakes and reptiles which feed on them, and no camper wants snakes in their campsite.  As a result, we no longer feed wildlife near the camping sites or in the park and the only time I do it is if we’re out on a trail and there are no camps nearby.  If you do get assailed by mice/rodents and you didn’t do anything to encourage them—then there are a few helpful tips that may work:  first, inspect the openings around pipes, siding and the underbelly of the RV and install some exterior-rated foam sealant to these areas.  Make sure there is no water source for them near your RV.  And never keep food or garbage outdoors.

Campers often have all sorts of home remedies for common problems in camping and here is an example:  Someone wrote in to Trailer Life Magazine that placing bars of Irish Spring Soap under the trailer would work as an effective poison of rodents.  Then 2 other readers wrote in to say they tried it and it was a disaster.  The rodents ended up being driven by a terrible thirst so they came into the rv, bled out, and died in the toilet.  It was a huge mess to clean up, so maybe not such a good idea.

The techs at Highways magazine recommend a product called Shake-Away Small Animal Repellent.  According to the manufacturer, this stuff is organic and safe to use around people, pets and plants.  It comes in a 20 ounce container that sells for $14.95 (www.criter-repellent.com).  To use, you just sprinkle the granules on the ground, and critters stay away.

One remedy that works for us to repel insects and spiders, but may also repel rodents, is that we got some prescription bottles from a pharmacy, drilled holes in the top of the container cap, and placed moth balls inside.  We placed several underneath the trailer and in the outside cubbies.  The mothballs disintegrate over time so you have to periodically refill the bottles, but as a result, we’ve had no problems with insects or rodents yet.                                                                                                                             

12. Having problems with window shades and blinds?  Check out www.dirtyblindman.com.  There is a lot of information listed and the company sells repair kits.  The kits have all the parts you’ll need if you’re willing to spend a few hours on re-stringing.

13.  I’ve learned that we prefer to have a mail-forwarding service than have our relatives back home have to deal with our mail. We went through the Good Sam Club mail service, which is actually called American Home Base and it’s located in Florida.   They provide us with both a post-box and a legal residence.  You can get your mail every week from them but we only order ours 1-2 times per month.  This service costs us about $20.50 per month.   Florida, along with South Dakota and Texas are the most popular states to change your domicile to since they are no income-tax states.

14. Technology Must-Haves:  For us, we’ve found that we do need a GPS even if it’s not that accurate or has little quirks we don’t like.  We also use a road atlas, and city paper maps along with it.  We like our little Trac-phones and they are cheap and easy to use.  A laptop computer is also an important thing for us because we keep in touch with family and friends through email and facebook.  I also have a blog and use Flickr.com to post our travel photos.  Skype would be nice but we don’t actually have it.  Our music and my recipes are all on my laptop, as well as photos and other information.

15. We also like the idea of the Good Sam Club chapters, and they are often promoted on Facebook.  These are rv clubs that are within your home town or state and are especially great for camping because they provide networking and a chance to meet new friends.  Chapters get together for monthly gatherings, travels to state Samboree Rallies and take summer trips together.  Everyone shares a host of helpful hints, ideas and experiences.

16. You’ll need insurance on your trailer, just as you do on your vehicles, but it’s also good to have rv insurance which covers the contents of your rv as well.  Most RV clubs offer these policies.  CheckGoodSamRvInsurance.com and get an instant quote.  With newer rigs you can get full replacement cost coverage, in case of total loss.

17. There are often hidden costs to RV travel.  In Washington they have instituted a hotel tax of 11% (or so I read).  Camping fees, state tax, city tax, value-added tax, hotel tax…with all of these added costs, will there be any money to actually go anywhere or money to get home on?

18. I learned real fast that I wish I had spent some time losing weight and getting into shape before I ventured out on this trip.  Dan is also out of shape after being inactive for a year from back problems and then back surgery, prior to this trip.  Walking is hard on us and we often come home with aching feet, hips and back.  If we’d gotten into shape before the trip, we would be a lot more efficient with our time—able to see more and do more on a daily basis.  Being fit also means a better metabolism so that little treats and eating out isn’t as problematic for weight gain.

19. I’ve learned a lot about RV Safety, which I will post a list.  There is so much a new RVer like us has to learn and it’s often too late when you do.  Have you had an LP check done?  Do you have a CO detector, LP detector, and a Smoke detector in your RV?  Do you have A/C testers?  Do you have a roadside kit of emergency and safety items?

20. I’ve learned that no matter how nice the camp hosts are, they either outright lie or they don’t quite tell the whole truth.  We see this when asking if they have internet.  If I hear them hesitate before answering, then I know they have no useful internet even if they say they do.  If I ask about whether or not they have clean bathrooms with private dressing areas and they hesitate before answering, then I know to take whatever they say and divide it by 2 and subtract.

21. Don’t bother the park hosts incessantly.  Talk to them when necessary but don’t go to them constantly with questions or complaints.  Once we’re in a park, our park staff will rarely hear from us.  I see people who make it a daily ritual to venture into the office for a half-hours’ gab with the staff about mundane things or complaints, and it’s not a good thing to do.  Leave them alone!  They are not there to entertain us!  I’ve learned to ask the standard questions either over the phone when we are checking a park out, or when we arrive.  I use the map they provide and take a tour of the facilities by myself, and be as proactive as I can be on my own.

22. A paper map of the city and state you are in, especially the cities, is very helpful.  Once you’re in a town, a paper map can help give you an overall view of how your city is laid out, and the best routes to take.  If you have a AAA Auto Club membership, you can free maps from their service centers.  The free maps the Visitor Centers give you are helpful but not complete.

23. If you’re planning to stay in an RV park longer than a week, here is a tip we received—check into a park for only 2-3 days and then spend those couple of days checking out if there better parks nearby at better prices. They aren’t all listed in directories or online.  We found at one park we stayed in for 2 weeks did not have adequate internet but the park down the road had perfect internet service.  If we hadn’t already paid for and committed ourselves to the one we were in, we could have moved to another park and been a lot more happy.  This is a good plan for us because it’s not easy to drive around town with a trailer hitched looking at dozens of sites, and once you’ve paid to stay somewhere they won’t give you a refund if you leave early.  It’s best not to commit to a long stay unless you’re sure you like your park enough to stay the duration.

Things Learned While Traveling & Camping in Our RV

1. Nothing free is ever that good. There is always more minuses than pluses.

2. Bathroom showers in all rv parks are never that clean. I guess they’ve never heard of bleach or hand-held shower nozzles.

3. Everything is filled with both good and bad. There is an upside and a downside to everything.

4. There are too many smokers everywhere. We often have to tolerate them in RV parks because there is no such thing as a non-smoking rv park. The rv’s are parked so close together that smoke from a neighboring rv can be torture for people like us, but there is nothing we can do about it except close up the door and windows. Not easy to do on a warm day. We are forced to endure until we can move on to somewhere else and hope to get lucky. We usually request not to be near smokers but they can’t always accommodate us.

5. Bars and restaurants are often smoky. Even smoking areas can overlap into the non-smoking areas. One has to learn to tolerate.

6. Try to eat before going anywhere or you’ll end up eating in restaurants. That may be fine part of the time but most of the time you’ll want to eat your own food in your home—your rv. And eating out gets very expensive and can drain a bank account. Always allow time to eat before going to movies or other events or you’ll be starving and eat their expensive food.

7. The more outdoors type of camping you do, the more problems with insects. Hornets, bees, flies and red ants are always a problem. The greener and more forested the area is, the more bugs. We use a hornet’s trap and ant trap when we need to, and we hang fly strips if necessary. We also sprinkle salt around our patio area to deter ants, but we only do this if the patio area is gravel or dirt. We don’t do it if there is grass or plants.

8. If a picnic table is provided at our rv space (and they are only half the time), we always turn it upside down to sweep it and spray it with bug spray, to kill any spiders lurking about. We let it dry and air out and then wash it down and apply a tablecloth when it is dry.

9. RV people are the best people in the world. All so helpful, friendly and cooperative and yet, they understand boundaries. That’s important when living in such close quarters. We always try to behave likewise everywhere we go.

10. RV people divide up into groups. The 1st group, the largest, are the retired people who either live and travel on the road, or are out often or for extended periods of time. The 2nd group are the vacationers. These are people with or without families who still work and go camping or rv traveling when they get vacation time for a couple of weeks at the most. The 3rd group are the poor who hit upon hard times and found themselves without jobs, then went broke, lost their home and now all they can afford is to live in their run-down rv/camper/trailer and live in an rv park. Some of these have struck a deal with the parks they live in. Free or reduced rent in exchange for work. Of these poor, some are permanently disabled, mentally or physically, and cannot work and have to get by on social security or disability payments. And of these, many are veterans. So be respectful.

11. There are rich and poor rv’ers and they are easy to spot by the type of rv they drive. The big, new, executive ones pretty much tag someone as rich, while the others are pretty much the same and drive modest rv’s. There isn’t any snobbery though, which is nice to see.

12. I have rated rv parks on a 5 star rating, with 5 being the really beautiful, executive, exclusive and expensive parks. There aren’t that many of those and they are only for rich golfers in my opinion. A 1 star is a dismal, dirty, run-down park while 2 and 3 stars are sort of average. What makes me rate them high or low is the condition of the bathrooms. A 4 star is the best with newer facilities, lots of amenities, great bathrooms. We mostly stay in 2-3 star parks. Obviously, we try to get the best possible park at the lowest possible price.

13. Part of traveling is to experience new things and that means both food and activities. We ate things like Honey Crisp Apples (a variety we’d never heard of before), and elk jerky and marionberries. Activities could be something like zip-lining, bungie-jumping, a helicopter ride, a boat tour, trout fishing, going to the ballet or opera, or any number of things you’ve never done before.

14. We have 2 – seven gallon propane tanks. We use one up every 2 weeks and it costs about $25 to fill it. Propane is what we use for the hot water heater, the heating and the cooking. It costs about $50 per month for propane. We also have a 3 gallon propane tank that we use to cook on the little BBQ grill we have outside.

15. With our solar panel it costs about $20 per month for electricity. The electrical is what we use for lights, a/c, electronics (tv, computers) and the refrigerator. Our hot water heater has electric capability but we don’t usually use it. With our solar panel, we only use about $20 per month of electricity.

16. It costs us about $50 per month to do laundry in the RV park Laundromat which is usually cheaper than using the Laundromats in town.

17. We’ve learned that there are 2 types of rv parks—the camping experience of State & National Parks and lakes in wilderness areas, and the town rv parks which are privately owned. State and National Parks don’t always have full hook-ups but the town parks always have full hookups. The State and National Parks require reservations in advance, the town rv parks you can just arrive and get a spot if they have room.

18. Town rv parks are usually located in the ‘bad’ or ‘not so good’ areas of a town. The hotels get the prime real estate, the rv parks get the leftovers. At least, the affordable parks do. In Tempe, Arizona the park was next to the metro and there were shootings and police sirens all the time. In Morro Bay, Calif, our park was on the beach but next to the waste water treatment plant. In Tucson, the park was on the outskirts of the ugly side of town and was overcrowded and run down. That park catered to the poor, disabled, and vets. In Las Vegas, the rv park was very nice but located in the northern part of town next door to Nellis Air Force Base and the jets drove us crazy with their noise. In Corpus Christi, the park was across from a school and next door to a cemetery, and near the chemical plants which spew smoke all day long. Often we’ve stayed in parks that are right next to the freeway or next to an airport so the noise is constant. In a State or National Park, it tends to be quieter, except of course, for the party people on the weekends. In town rv parks you don’t see children too much. Mostly the travelers are our age or older. At lakes and in the National and State parks you see families with kids more.

19. RV’s have small living quarters no matter how big they are. People who have some sedentary hobbies and interests will do better than someone who is active all the time and claustrophobic in small areas. While it’s important to be active every day and get some exercise, there are times when you’ll be stuck indoors and you’ll need some quiet interests. TV and movies, reading, writing, puzzles, computers, games, practicing music on a portable instrument (guitar, flute, etc.), crafts and hand stitchery, even cooking and baking are all good ways to pass the time.

20. You have to enjoy or at least tolerate driving to do this lifestyle because there is a lot of driving involved. Having a good car stereo and radio is helpful, having conversation with your partner, and being able to tolerate quiet is important.

21. Cooking in the trailer is different than cooking at home with a lot more space and more gadgets. In the trailer I am having to learn how to cook very simply with fewer implements, less pots and pans and even less food. I use my crock pot a lot more—even making lasagna in it and didn’t even boil the pasta—just broke it to fit in the layers and let it cook several hours on low. It tasted fine, but was a little dry as I didn’t take into account that I should have thinner sauce and needed more liquid to cook the pasta. Next time I’ll know and adjust the recipe for it. As I said, a new learning experience. I also use the top of the stove more—more skillet cooking and sautéed food. Meals are very simple—only one or two items. We like burgers and meat so we grill as much as we can outdoors. But a burger meal is just a burger with no frills—no chips, no potato salad unless there is company, which is rare. So in some ways, we’re eating less. I have to buy small amounts of everything. No more buying large bottles of olive oil, we buy the smaller ones even if it cost more per ounce. We no longer buy the 2 for 1—we just don’t have space for extras. I buy grated cheese instead of grating my own—it’s easier. I’m not above using convenience foods when it is just easier. I have to think about making as little mess in my tiny trailer kitchen as possible. Plus, we just don’t want to be home too much. The reason for travel is to be out and about experiencing the area we are in. So we even eat out quite a bit. We don’t want to buy a lot of food and then end up throwing it out either. Hence, we only plan a couple of days of meals and they may actually end up lasting a whole week if we are eating out and on the go. We’re not above using some canned food, something we rarely did at home. I buy canned soups and canned meat like chicken or tuna for quick sandwiches, or on crackers when I don’t have bread, or on salad if I don’t have crackers. But I don’t buy up a lot of this either. No space for it. I do utilize my tiny freezer to freeze a small amount of leftovers if necessary but I can’t save much, so we have to cook small amounts—something else new I am having to learn to do. I buy only small containers of coffee, no room for the big cans. I can only have 1 bottle of salad dressing at a time. No room for several bottles. We use it up before we buy another. The same goes for paper towels, Kleenex, and condiments.

22. Technology, specifically a GPS—contrary to popular belief, it’s only 50% helpful. When ours is not taking us on a wild goose chase, or bypassing freeways to send us through side streets, or telling us the nearest donut shop is 100 miles away, when I just saw one the day before (but can’t remember the street it was on), or sending us to places that are closed for business…..then it can be helpful. But I still have to use paper maps, and my computer. Online, I can google the local directory to find the places I’m looking for, call the numbers listed to see if they are still in business, and then even google directions which are more accurate than my GPS. The only time the GPS is really helpful is if there is an actual address to feed in it. Then it will get us there, albeit by using streets but not freeways. So again, Map-Quest or Google directions are often better although they are not fool-proof either. We found that our GPS had old information and needed to be updated, so we paid the $25 to get updated maps, but it’s hardly any better. People try to tell us we should buy a better GPS or Onstar or any number of techno gadgets, but we’d go broke trying to have it all. We are trying to travel within our means—a trac-phone and an old GPS and paper maps. At least we do have a laptop and use the public internet whenever we can, even at the risk of being hacked.

23. Living on the road and just traveling without commitments and schedules or at the whim of others is very liberating and we value our freedom enormously. But with this comes a price. It also makes us feel disenfranchised from others who are working and living in one place and having roots. We are coming to terms with our loneliness, and some days are harder than others. There is good and bad in everything, even in traveling.

24. Television, which is such a big part of everyones’ life, is a very small part of our life. Of course, if one can afford it then it is possible to have satellite tv and better cable, but we can’t afford all that. So we’re at the mercy of whatever RV park we are in, and most of them, especially the cheap ones, have very few cable channels—and usually the ones they have are the worst. We channel surf to find the best of the worst—like QVC, or local political channels that air the latest city council meeting, or the 10 Spanish channels, or cartoons. Sometimes we’re lucky and run across an episode of Twilight Zone or a rerun of Seinfeld which is half over, but most of the time we are reduced to finding other pursuits or renting the occasional movie from a Blockbuster (which we still have a membership with), or actually going to a movie theater. This isn’t so bad. When I lived in our home I got very addicted to television because we had the best of the satellite channels and Netflix so I hardly ever had to leave my home and it was easy to spend the entire day watching programs, something I never used to do when we had so few cable channels in the years before. Living this lifestyle, we are forced to get out into the real world and mingle a little more and actually do things.

25. RV parks which have clubhouses or recreational rooms are often the most social and you’ll meet new friends. But some parks are just more social than others anyway.

26. No one wants to talk about poop but the reality of living in an RV is that it is something you have to manage. I’m talking of course, about the Black Tank, which every RV has. We quickly learned 3 lessons: #1: That you must use special fast-dissolving toilet paper that is made for RV’s, #2: You should use chemical agents made for the tank (it’s easy—you just pour a couple of ounces into the toilet and flush every time you drain the tank); #3 That you must install a sprayer on the side of the tank to rinse it out whenever you dump the tank. #4 Use a garden hose with special nozzle in the toilet to give further cleaning about every 2 or 3 times you dump the tank. This rinses the tank from the top down with a high pressure rinse and makes the difference between a stinky rv and a fresh smelling rv. Rinsing also keeps the sensors free of debris so you can read the monitor correctly. If you’re going to live and travel in an rv, it’s something you have to get used to without being squeamish.

27. There can be long stretches of road where there are no gas stations, so one must be very careful. If you stay on interstate highways there are always gas stations and services but if you want to drive a scenic route or pass through little towns in the outback, it is easy to get stuck without petrol. With the economy collapse a few years ago many little towns closed the gas stations, so don’t trust your GPS to always guide you to the nearest one. We get only 8 miles to the gallon when pulling our trailer so we have to be especially careful.

28. We learned we really don’t like to be anywhere the temperature falls below 40 degrees, especially if we are without hookups (because we can’t use the heater). We can manage temps of 30º but we really don’t like it. It means that we have to worry about our tanks and hoses freezing, and we have to use heat more, and we feel vulnerable to the elements.

29. We should have done a trial run of living in our RV before we actually left on this journey. Then I would have had a better idea of what to bring and what to leave. I brought so many non-essentials and left behind things I could have used.

30. Gasoline: In most RV’s including ours, paying for petrol takes a huge bite out of our budget. We get 8 miles to the gallon when pulling the trailer, so that averages out to $100 for every 200 miles we drive. We’ve learned a couple of tricks to help us make the most of what gas we use:

a) We try to keep our speed at 55 mph on the freeways and interstates. I forget exactly what the formula is, but that is a standard practice to maximize fuel efficiency in RV’s.

b) We drive shorter distances and stay longer at locations. We sometimes stay a month in an RV park just to conserve money to make it possible to continue the trip the following month with money in the bank (RV parks are cheaper by the month than by the day). We also have to do this when we anticipate expensive repairs to the truck or trailer. It takes a long time to travel and see the country but at least we’re doing it.

c) We check our tires regularly to make sure they are inflated to correct air pressure standards.

d) We try not to idle the engine. If we’re in line and it looks like it’s going to be a while, we turn off the engine. Idling burns a lot of fuel. We also try not to be on the freeways and interstates during rush hour traffic for the same reason.

e) We try to travel off-season when fuel prices are lower. We may encounter rain or sub-optimal weather at times but we make the most of it by enjoying the good weather in-between. If we’re stuck in the trailer on a rainy day, we play board games and catch up on reading or other favorite hobbies. I even use the time to clean the RV really well or bake something. As soon as the weather clears, we’re out and about. If we’re in a city we go out and about no matter what the weather.

f) We plan our trip ahead of time to find the shortest route to save on unwanted excess travel miles. If we’re on the road for extended periods, we plan ahead a day, a week or a month by checking out our plans online and using a GPS.

November - December 2011 Arizona - New Mexico - Texas

Tempe Travel Trailer Villa, Tempe, Arizona

10 days at $185.00.

What a beautiful state Arizona is!  The landscape is subtly different than the high desert of Nevada.  It’s very red for one thing.  The rocks are red and are different.  The plants are different.  Here you see an abundance of Saguaros, Cholla, Prickly Pear and Organ Pipe Cactus.  Traveling through the lower part of the state in November is the best time to visit as the weather is perfect—around 70 degrees every day with clear blue skies.  The Indian or Native American influence is just as strong as the Mexican-Spanish influence and you see it in the art, the architecture and the ambiance of the state.  There is also a strong cowboy presence here too.  Summer temperatures can reach above 120 degrees which would scare me to death!  I don’t understand how people can live in such intense heat.  Of course there is air conditioning but what if the power fails?

As we arrived in Phoenix we were debating on whether or not to continue down to Tucson, but then the front brakes on the truck went out and the decision was made for us.  We stayed in an RV park in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix, where Pep Boys one block away did the work in less than 2 days.  They actually had to do several things to the truck and as a result it depleted our bank account almost $700.  The tires are worn too and need to be replaced but that will have to wait until the next paycheck.

Between gas for the truck and repairs from the chronic wear & tear on an old truck and trailer, it keeps us poor and we have to travel very slowly, literally from 1 paycheck to another.  Did I mention that we get 8 miles to the gallon when we pull the trailer?  That averages out to $100 per every 200 miles we drive.

So we stayed in Tempe for one week.  Weekly rates in RV parks are cheaper than the daily rate; and staying a month is the cheapest of all.  But if we stay a month in one place, it would take us forever to travel and get anywhere.

We liked Tempe and Mesa very much.  It’s very pretty and upscale and Tempe is a college town which houses the university.  Phoenix is rather a dump but has a few nice parts.

We ate out very little but did manage a nice evening at a sports bar & grill called the New Yorker.  Dan enjoyed watching the golf game on the big screen tv.  We ate breakfast one day at a café called Cracker & Company where I had the most incredible, fattening plate of French toast and Dan had blueberry blintzes.  We had to take home a box of leftovers which Dan finished over a 2 day period.

We went to the Heard Museum one day in Phoenix and there we were immersed in Native American history.  We really enjoyed it—the basketry, Navaho blankets & rugs and the Katchina dolls.  I wish I could have afforded one for the granddaughters but everything was too pricey.  A hand-made wooden flute cost $350.

One thing we enjoyed very much was a movie theater we went to.  It was very unique.  We chose it because it was the only one playing the new Planet of the Apes movie, which happened to be as good as I hoped.  The theater was one of those traditional 10 screen theaters, but it only cost $3 per person and it was decorated to the nines.  One side of the lobby had a very large, ornate Christmas scene and the other side had the entire cast of the Pirates of the Caribbean—with life-size mannikins.  All through the theater were these life-size Hollywood mannikins—Tom Hanks, the Rat Pack, Elvis, the 3 Stooges, etc.  There was even a glass display case with metal lunchboxes—also with celebrity faces.  I found out later the theater is privately owned so that explained its unique-ness.

Our RV park was managed by a very nice couple but the office and attached public bathrooms smelled terrible from their cigarette smoke.  There are too many smokers out there!  It’s one of the few chronic irritating things about travel.  The bathrooms also had no dressing rooms and nowhere private to dress and undress.  That to me is a deal-breaker.  From now on, every RV park we enquire about is going to be asked about privacy.  For the week we stayed here, we just used our own trailer shower even though it’s small and we have to unload all the storage from it every day.  The shower/tub is where we store our laundry hamper, our bathroom bags of wash stuff and clothes and towels.  It’s just easier to use the public showers.  I’ve also found that all the showers from every park we’ve gone to just isn’t quite as clean as I’d like.  Mostly my complaint is about the showers.  There’s always mold in the grout, in the corners and discoloration.  I don’t know why all rv parks don’t use a little spray bleach to whiten and kill the mold and bacteria.  I also wonder why they don’t install hand-held shower heads.  They’re cheap and make it easy for people to get a quick shower, plus it makes a shower stall easier to clean.  They spend money on other non-essentials, you’d think they could afford such a useful thing as these. 

11/20/11

Tucson Mountain RV Park, Tucson, Arizona

$25 per day

10 day stay

Wow, this is what I get for not checking out the park before we arrived, as I called the park after seeing it listed among others online and this one looked to be in the town so we decided to come here.  I’m going to get better about asking questions because the management never tells the whole truth. 

When we arrive in a town it’s actually difficult to pull the trailer everywhere to check on parks so I’ve gotten to where I research online and pick one before we arrive.  I call ahead to see if they have room and feel thankful when they do.  Because the southwest is where all the winter Snowbirds vacation, it’s not that easy to get an RV spot.  And some parks are out in the woods, far from town, making it expensive to drive around to explore the area.

For instance, here the bathrooms are private but are so rustic they border on absolute decay.  The old walls and floors are crumbling, the old, exposed pipes are filthy and in one shower, the first day, there was a huge wad of hair in the corner.  At first, horrified, I thought it was a dead rat.  I also discovered that even though there are 2 bathrooms, only one shower can be used because the other one only runs cold water.

I solve the bathroom problem by taking a bottle of spray bleach with me and I spray the shower down beforehand.

For toileting we use our own trailer bathroom most of the time and Dan is good about keeping the tanks maintained.

This particular park gets very few travelers because most of the people live here.  They cater to Vets and the Disabled so poverty is apparent.  However, what a nice group of people here!  All friendly, all helpful.  The spots are very crowded though and there is little privacy unless you stay in your RV.  Our spot is next to the bathrooms and laundry room on one side and next to a walkway on the other so people pass by within a foot or two all day long.  Somehow, these things don’t bother me all that much, maybe because we won’t be here long.  Living and traveling this way on a limited budget means that we can’t stay at 5 star parks and make demands.  So it changes ones’ attitude.

Payday is on the day we leave here but we are thinking about staying a few additional days.  That would allow us to do some more local exploring but we just aren’t certain yet.  Unfortunately, Thanksgiving fell on this week and that means days we couldn’t go do things.  Holidays always mess up our plans.

We’d like to take a couple of day trips without the trailer.  We’d like to visit Biosphere 2, Tombstone, and Bisbee before we leave.

We’ve noticed that RV people divide up into 3 groups.  One group, the largest, are the retired people who either live and travel on the road, or are out often or for extended periods of time.  The second group are the vacationers.  These are people with or without families who still work and go camping or rv traveling when they get vacation time.  The 3^rd group are the poor who hit upon hard times and found themselves without jobs, then went broke, lost their home and now all they can afford is to live in their run-down rv/camper/trailer and live in an rv park.  Some of these have struck a deal with the parks they live in.  Free or reduced rent in exchange for work.  Of these poor, some are permanently disabled, mentally or physically, and cannot work and have to get by on social security or disability payments.  And of these, many are veterans.

These poor are 1 step from being homeless.  If it weren’t for having some sort of rv to live in, they would be on the streets.

At one park we saw a man up on top of his run-down trailer, placing tarps over the roof just before a rain-storm moved in.  Another lived in a camper on blocks, and he must have had a wood-burning stove in there because we noticed smoke regularly coming from the pipe attached on the roof.  Some have wood tacked up over missing windows.

I have to say that so far, not one thing has been stolen from us.  That is something we worried about when staying where there are obvious poor people living.

It costs an average of $400-$500 a month to live in one of these 1 and 2 star rv parks.  That is not bad considering it includes utilities.  Sometimes, the electric bill is extra but most people don’t spend more than $50-$100 per month on electricity.  And people like us with a solar panel use only about $20 per month.

December 1, 2001

So, Dan wants to keep moving on.  He doesn’t really want to stay here any longer.  We’ll have to catch Biosphere 2 another time.  Today we head for Tombstone.  We’ll try to get an RV space at one of the 4 or 5 parks there.  We only plan to stay maybe 2 days and then head on to New Mexico. 

The 10 days here has flown by.  A couple of days we just stayed in—me writing, reading, watching tv and cooking; Dan doing his thing—playing online fake poker and enjoying walks and tv and doing maintenance on the truck and trailer.  He’s in charge of our money so he works on the budget and logs in the receipts for everything we spend money on.  That way we can budget and see where the money is going.  No matter what, it’s very hard to save while traveling.  Everything costs so much.  We often have to hunker down the last week before the pension or social security check comes, just to avoid spending money.

We certainly enjoyed ourselves here.  We always enjoy ourselves wherever we go.  Yesterday we went to high tea at Chantilly, a local tea house.  That was nice.  A bit of elegance from another time.  Sometimes I need a touch of civilized life—to drink tea from a china cup and saucer, eat delicate scones and finger sandwiches.  I’d like to go to a symphony concert soon too.

We took pictures, we drove around.  Enjoyed what beauty there is.  Tucson is very run down in many parts and there is poverty here.  But there is beauty and culture as well.  The Cathedral downtown and the southwestern architecture all around.  The mission, the historic buildings, the saguaros and the beautiful cactus landscape.  The clear blue skies.  And of course, the shops and stores we are familiar with.  In addition to sight-seeing and soaking up local history and culture, there is also the day to day mundane chores at home, and cooking and grocery shopping and general cleaning and maintaining.  Laundry, ironing.  I even had to buy buttons to replace lost ones on one of my blouses. 

The every day chores include filling our water filter and then bottling the water for drinking and cooking.  We empty the ice trays and fill them back up again.  We use a lot of ice in our drinks.  There are always dishes to wash, bed to make, floor to sweep and mop everyday.

Our neighbor next door is from Georgia and I love his thick accent, although he’s been living and traveling elsewhere for years.  His wife is a nurse so they travel now and then while she takes jobs.  He was sitting outside in his chair yesterday while cooking a pot of ham-hocks and mustard greens.  It smelled delicious.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen mustard greens before.  I left my soda cans with him because I noticed one of the park residents, a disabled vet, makes the rounds every day looking for cans and this guy keeps a bucket next to his rv for that purpose.

Another old guy with plenty of wear on him and no teeth, stopped by to tell us someone put several boxes of yellow squash in the laundry room and to help ourselves to it.  He chatted for a while, something we all love to do around here.  He freely told us about his years in prison and parts of his life, laughing about the whole thing.  He seemed very nice although I can see his status in life is very low.  But, what an amiable guy!

While in Tucson, we managed to drive out to Sanctuary Cove, a place advertised on the Attractions of Tucson list online.  I was curious about it—it’s an interfaith meditation place.  It was very pretty there but nothing special and at least we got some photos.

We enjoyed a visit to Trail Dust Town—an old western village great for picture taking and there is a little restaurant there.  We got a few pictures but the batteries died in the camera there.  Dan obviously forgot to keep the batteries charged.  It’s one of the downsides of growing older—we are both forgetful of things we shouldn’t forget.

The Chapel of San Pedro was one of my favorites—an old street that is now residential and houses about an acre with little paths to walk and at the end of it is this little Spanish chapel that has been restored and maintained.  It was right in town and yet felt so far away.  We were the only ones there and it was very quiet.  I spied a cottontail bunny, who didn’t appreciate us invading his sanctuary.

We enjoyed a couple of nice restaurants but mostly ate at home.  The Blue Willow provided a tasty breakfast.  One of the bakery-coffee bars cheated me on a latte but it’s not worth it to complain about it here.  And of course, our tea room, my favorite.  We visited a Waffle House but were not impressed.  It’s simply a diner, a step up from a fast food and we didn’t think the food was all that special although the waitress was very nice.  We try to get a game of cribbage going whenever we’re out at a restaurant like that.

Dan, ever mindful of every cent we spend, enjoyed discovering that Costco’s food court has great fast food very cheap.  They had a special going—a hotdog and soda for $1.50.  He wanted to go there whenever we planned to eat out!  We went there twice but that was enough!  The food was good but still, it was Costco and didn’t reflect the culture of what Tucson really is at its heart.  Dan doesn’t seem to appreciate things like that.

We spent one afternoon in Old Town Artisans—the art section of town where we enjoyed a visit to the Museum of Art and the historic County Courthouse.  We walked a few blocks to a great little Mexican restaurant where I ate delicious food, but of a type different than back home.  Even Mexico has many cultures and the food reflects that.

December 1-4, 2011

Wells Fargo RV Park, Tombstone, Arizona

3 day stay @ $ 102.00

I’m so glad we were able to get an RV park downtown, next to the 3 block square of Tombstone.  It’s a historic and tourist town, much like Virginia City, Nevada, only smaller.  The economy has been hit hard here too—many of the shops are closed.  The little houses surrounding the town are very run-down.  We did have fun though.  We enjoyed the shops that were open but did not want to spend too much money.  We bought Brian a funny t-shirt.  We also got Arizona tshirts for the granddaughters with Navaho coloring books and a Christmas card with $50 in it for each girl.  We bought post cards.  All this we mailed out.

We found a nice little Pizza restaurant, housed downstairs in a motel.  Very plain décor but clean and good food.  We bought some fudge at the chocolate shop.  We visited the museum and a Magic Shop where spiritual and Wiccan things are sold.  It smelled so good in there with all the incense.   We got a kick out of all the men in Tombstone.  They have long beards and dress up in the old west style.  They really get into it!  Dan and I took a stagecoach ride through the town.  It was a simple town and we enjoyed the modest attractions they had to offer.  It wasn’t crowded at all while we were here.  And of course, we had our home chores to do—laundry and cooking and cleaning.  The usual.

The towns leading into Tombstone are nice too—Benson, St. David’s.  It’s a 2 lane, 24 mile long road into Tombstone, so it’s definitely out in the middle of nowhere.  That’s the way the old west was too—mining towns that boomed and then became ghost towns after the mines were stripped.  Dan and I read up on the history here.  Dan enjoyed it more than I did because Tombstone is one of his favorite movies.  He likes old westerns.  It was nice to see Wyatt Earp, his brothers, Doc Holiday and the other compatriots immortalized in this town.  Enjoyable to see the OK Corral and the Birdcage Theater. 

There are a lot of tourist things to do too but we didn’t do any of them.  The Queen Mine Tour, which was in its heyday, the most productive copper mines of the 20^th century.  The Tombstone Trolly takes you for a ride throughout the area and ends at the Boothill cemetery.  The evening Ghost & Murder Tours.  Bisbee, an old mining town, and the Kartchner Caverns State Park are within driving distance but because the weather turned so cold, we didn’t go there either.

December 6, 2011

The Hatch RV Park, Corpus Christi, Texas

1 month stay @ $350 + electric

We left Tombstone after a 3 day stay, on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 and it was snowing as we left and very cold.  We decided to head for Corpus Christi, Texas to escape the cold since the weather was no better in New Mexico.  It took 3 days of driving to arrive on the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi. We were in Arizona for a few weeks but it turned very cold in Tombstone. The rain and snow followed us to San Antonio, Texas so we decided to head south towards the gulf to warm up. It's cold here too but warmer than up north and expected to continue to warm a little more. In New Mexico, we didn't even stop except to get a few post cards, and then down to El Paso and further down to a little town called Van Dorn where we camped for the night. We froze 2 nights because we have no heater when the electricity is off.  The heater is propane, but it has an electric ignition.  So for 2 nights we slept fitfully, fully dressed, wearing our coats.  We hadn’t expected such cold weather and so did not plan for it.  It snowed and rained the whole way to San Antonio, and it got down to 25 both nights. But we made it to Corpus Christi in record time because the interstate speed limit is 75 and even 80 in some parts.

The first thing we did when we arrived here was head to the Wal Mart and buy sweat suits, beanie caps and gloves!

We have decided to stay a month here in Corpus Christi for a couple of reasons.  For one, it’s cheaper to stay in an rv park by the month.  Otherwise it’s $30-40 per night.  We’re running a bit low on cash so this will help us buck up a little.  We need to be in a city to have some work done on the truck.  Dan thinks it needs back brakes and new tires.  On a Dooley truck, those 6 tires will run about $1000.  We also need some parts for the rv.  We need a Shear pin for the tongue jack on the ball hitch.  It will probably have to be ordered from the manufacturer.  We aren’t able to move the trailer until it gets fixed.  There are a few other things we need to do as well. The travel puts a lot of wear and tear on the vehicle so it feels like it constantly needs work done. We don't mind. We expect it to be like this sometimes. I'll spend some time getting further caught up on my blog and maybe get some walks in. We don't get much exercise traveling.

It’s nice to be here in a big city but also near the water.  We’re looking forward to getting a first look at the Gulf of Mexico.  We also hope it will be warmer here than up north, although it was 30 degrees the day we arrived, which did not reassure us much.

Some interesting facts—both Arizona and Texas do not provide toilet seat covers in public bathrooms.  The speed limit in Arizona and Texas is often 75 and in Texas it’s sometimes 80, especially on the interstates that drive through the middle prairie lands of the state.  We encountered very little traffic the past 2 days on these long interstates.

We briefly passed through New Mexico before heading south through El Paso into Texas.  The post cards from New Mexico are the funniest we’ve seen so far.  We also spied a funny sign in a tourist shop.  It read, “Shopping With A Husband is Like Fishing With the Game Warden!”

Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas radio stations mostly have 3 programs—Preaching, Country Music and Mexican Music.  Thank goodness we have an Ipod on those long rides to our destination.

The Freeways in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are decorated beautifully with art work.  In Arizona there is a lot of tile mosaics, in Texas there are painted scenes.  Nevada has a lot of bas relief and sculptures.  The patterns and designs in all these state freeways are very pretty but it’s not easy to pull over with a big rig and get photos.

We saw a lot of trains coming and going in New Mexico.  The interstate happened to run parallel to the train tracks.  New Mexico and Arizona have an abundance of great things for sale in the shops—things that represent the southwest.  Navaho blankets, turquoise, western and cowboy stuff, rocks & minerals, ponchos, Mexican pottery, Katchina dolls, Spirit and Dream Catchers, baskets, rugs.  I love it all!

In Texas we see a lot of saddles, rope, horns, tack and cowboy hats and clothing for sell in the shops.

We got a kick out of this sign in Texas.  We saw it twice on the freeway, “Don’t Mess With Texas.  Fine for Littering $2000.”  

We drove 2 full days through what I would term the Texas Prairie, vast stretches of nothing except scrub and chaparral.  We saw windmill turbines on some of the mountains, a lot of derelict buildings, oil wells and lots of tiny towns.  Because of the economy, we have learned to gas up the truck every time we come to a town that has a working gas station, since many of the little towns have their stations closed down.  Texas has these enormous cities in-between the little towns and vast stretches of highway—El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, etc.

In Texas we saw a lot of dead deer along the interstate, and lots of signs warning of deer crossing.  I even saw live deer running in the woods near the interstate.

I hate to admit this but….we just might be rednecks (somebody call Jeff Foxworthy)!  Here’s the definition of a Redneck Microwave:  putting the box of leftovers from the restaurant on the floor of the truck and turning the heater on!  Aaaagh!

The people here are very nice although when we first entered the border, it was dicey.

I've always heard about the famous good manners of Texans so I'm looking forward to someone calling me ma'm!  The border officer was obviously sick and coughed in Dan's face. He asked if we were both US Citizens in broken English, but I had my doubts about him.  What’s up with that?

Then the truck stop guy in Van Dorn had a harelip and was kind of mean to us. He looked like a serial killer. The McDonalds people got our order wrong and then tried to blame us. If they could speak English, they'd probably have gotten our order right.

But it got better the further we drove into Texas.

This park with full utilities (called hook-ups) is only costing us $350. Where else can you get rent and utilities for that? Of course, by the day they charge $30-40 per night so staying a month is always the best deal. But most places we can't stay that long or we'd never get to see the country except at a slugs' pace, which we are already practically doing now.

We'll hopefully get a chance to really see Arizona (Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon), and N. Mexico next fall--we'll go earlier to beat winter and see the northern parts. Our going to Oregon for a month is what slowed us up this year, that and staying in Las Vegas a month.

The park we are in is, as usual, in a sort of 'not so good' neighborhood, which is normal for rv parks. The hotels get the prime real estate, the rv parks get the leftovers. But no matter what, we never have any problems. Even when there are shootings around (Tempe), or if we are next door to a wastewater treatment plant (Morro Bay), or if we are in a run-down park on the outskirts of the “bad” side of town that mostly caters to the poor, disenfranchised, disabled, and vets (Tucson), we make the best of it all and we feel safe. The travelers band together and keep the peace.  People look out for one another.

This particular park is across from a high school and next door to a cemetery.  At least it ought to be quiet and the office woman assured me the dead next door have very nice, quiet ghosts. The Industrial section is fairly close by--that bothers me the most but we can't smell anything from the chemical plants which spew smoke all day long. We're not going to be here long enough to get poisoned, I'm fairly sure. We brought our Berkey with us--it filters all our water--so we won't get sick from that, at least.

We are mostly content, and we know this is the only way we can afford to travel and see our country.

Most criminals simply don't bother with rv parks. Too many people around keeping an eye out, plus most of the time the management is on-sight full-time.  In many ways, they are little utopias in the middle of chaos.  The only concern is the public internet network we use.  We do worry about getting hacked or having our identity stolen.

So, the park we are in right now is quite nice, definitely a 2 ½ to 3 star (out of 5).  We often make do with a 2 star and feel lucky when we can find a 3 star.  The condition of the bathrooms is what I really judge a place on.  We'll be just fine here, I am sure.

It's very social here. I met Elise, the social director at the clubhouse. There is something going on every day. She's very nice--from Quebec. Love her accent.  Have met a lot of Canadians since Nevada. They get tired of the cold and come here. There will be a Christmas potluck so we won't have to spend it alone although it wouldn't bother us if we did.

Everywhere but in Texas, northerners who live in the south during winter are called Snowbirds.  In Texas, they are called Winter Texans.

In the beginning we had thought we’d like to stay in state and national parks more, but they require reservations and we don’t always want to commit because we are not always sure if we will arrive on time.  They also often don’t have full hook-ups, making cooking and washing dishes difficult if there is no sewer hook-up.  We didn’t have room to bring much of our outdoor camping equipment either.  Many of the state and national parks are out in wilderness areas, miles from a town and that means spending a lot of money on gas driving back and forth.  So far, we’ve needed towns to get work done on the truck quite often.  Living and traveling with our trailer is just different than vacationing and city rv parks just make more sense.  Although, I won’t rule out the chance to stay at some state and national parks now and again, and do the camping thing.

We also have to be careful not to get stuck in real snow because we don’t have our tire snow chains with us.  We’ll pick up the chains and some of our stuff from storage when we go home next fall.  We are thinking that we’ll head back across the US towards home in Calif in early summer so that we’ll arrive at our sons’ house in fall and spend the winter with them before we head out again in late spring.  This country is just too big to see it all in the 6 months of good weather during the year.

December 12, 2011

We’ve been here in Corpus Christi a week now and it has rained every day but two.  It is supposed to rain for another week or more, which is great for the state but awful for us.  RV living is for good weather but we are making the best of it.  At least it is not that cold here.  In fact, with the rain, it’s quite warm and humid.

We discovered we still have a leak over the bathtub after 2 attempts to repair it.  Dan is going to talk to an RV place today and discuss how to fix it.  I think the whole roof is going to need to be re-sealed but it can’t be done until the rain stops and everything dries out.

It’s of concern because we also need to have work done on the truck—tires and back brakes-- and wonder how long we’ll need to be here to afford to fix it all.  Corpus Christi isn’t the nicest place to stay for an extended period because the town is so derelict.

Yesterday we went exploring a little bit.  It’s hard to do without proper maps.  Dan called the Triple A and they are supposed to mail us maps but we haven’t received them yet.  We drove out to South Padre Island which was nice, and we had lunch at JB’s German Bakery and Café.  It was good—we ordered the $5 lunch special—a cup of potato soup and Schweinebraten (roasted pork slice).  And we shared a piece of pineapple cake which was delicious.  We bought a little herb bread to bring home, which we had with our dinner chef salads.  I have to admit that we also bought a little box of cookies too.  Just couldn’t resist.  Getting me past a bakery without buying the pastries is much like getting a dog past a fire hydrant.

So, my impression of Texas is that it is a state of meat-eaters, and here in Corpus Christi they are also seafood eaters.  I’ve never eaten so much meat at meals in my life.  Back home, it’s too expensive to order meat in restaurants.  Here, the most common restaurant is a steakhouse.  But it is delicious.  Texas is definitely a low-carb state, which is good.  They probably have less diabetes than anywhere else, but higher cholesterol.

From what I have seen of Corpus Christi so far, it’s mostly run-down.  There are mansions along the shoreline drive and out on the island, but everywhere else is very run down with homes in disrepair and many are boarded up.  Yards and fences are a mess.  A lot of businesses are closed too.  We were in downtown after our scenic drive yesterday and was surprised to see whole sections closed.  What shops there were, were mostly closed.  We managed to find a great little coffee bar called Coffee Waves by the harbor but it too, didn’t have many people in it.  Next door was the surf museum and that was nice.  Around the corner an antique store was in the process of closing and had great sales going so we went in to browse and found 2 cups and saucers for my tea service.  But everything else was deserted.  I guess all the shoppers were out at the malls.  The big stores—Walmart, Target and the others are doing fine in this down economy.  The little private businesses are hurting.

In a way, the downed economy works for us.  The RV parks always have room and they aren’t as expensive as they would be if more people were out traveling, competing for space.  The roads have more room for us and we find parking easier.  And that it’s off-season means fewer people too.  Of course, the high class RV parks are probably full because the Winter Texans (people from up north) come here for the winter.

We went to the indoor flea market and I really enjoyed that although it didn’t look like they were doing much business there either.  It was divided up into stalls or cubicles—some quite large-- and we bought a couple of dvd movies.  I spied a doll exactly like the doll my neighbor had years ago when I was a young girl, a doll I had wanted so bad.  I’ve never been able to find a replacement all these years because I didn’t know the brand name of the doll.  The only difference with this doll is that it is a smaller version but I learned it was a Madame Alexander Puddin doll and when I went home I looked it up on the internet and there she was in the size I remember which was about 19-22 inches.  Back then, a doll that looked and felt like a real baby was rare.

The doll in this shop was $40 but the proprietress offered to let me have it for $25.  I declined because I don’t have space in my rv and I kind of think my days of collecting things are over.  If my granddaughters were at all interested in playing dolls I would have bought it, but they really aren’t.

The indoor flea market reminded me of when I was 12 years old in 1971 and stayed a week with my cousin Bonnie one summer in the commune she was living in, in Santa Barbara.  All the adults worked in a place called The Whole Earth which was a wood building with cubicles and hippies making leather crafts, selling incense and beads, and general hippy crafts. 

This town has a lot of restaurants and we even spied a large gym downtown, Planet Fitness.  We are thinking of whether or not we ought to get a months’ membership.  There is a little gym right here in our club house but they don’t have any hand weights.  Still, in a pinch, it’s better than nothing.  It’s just that it’s so cold in there.  The clubhouse feels like the walls are made of cardboard and I don’t see any heating.

The restaurants are the usual chains but there are some that are new to us.  The different Texas smokehouses and steakhouses.  They have a chain of fast food places called the Whataburger that we’re destined to try out.

With eating out yesterday ($25), gas for the truck ($85), and the few sundries we bought, the day came to over $100 so we have to be careful for the next 10 days until the social security check arrives.  Even with that we need to be careful until we get the work done on the roof and on the truck.  We may have to stay here an additional month.

Everywhere we go, the homeless, poor and panhandlers are asking us for money.  We’re getting hardened to them.  I feel it is hostile, manipulative and threatening for people to approach us this way, especially when I am sitting in my car by myself.  I never know if they have a weapon or not, or if they are mentally ill or on drugs and won’t appreciate me telling them no.  Dan and I are working on strategies for dealing with it.  I wish I could help them but we’re broke too and nobody is helping us out.

December 13, 2011

The days pass so quickly, even when we’re a little bored and so little money to spend.  I was up in the middle of the night again, but I’ve been writing and working on files.  I did some chores.  I emptied the Berkey water filter so we’d have clean water to drink, and filled the jug.  Then I refilled the Berkey to filter again, water for reserve.  I do this every day.  I emptied the ice trays and refilled them.  I cleaned the teapot and the coffee maker with vinegar.  I washed dishes.  I swept and mopped the floor.  And I’ve already had 2 cups of coffee and 2 scones and it’s only 5:20 a.m.  Yesterday I cleaned the bathroom and re-organized the bathroom shelves.  I re-organized my kitchen cupboards.  I have a small bundle of things to get rid of.  Extra aprons, a plastic container, a couple pieces of dishes—a glass sugar bowl I won’t use.  I have some extra bottles of booze.  Dan and I just don’t drink much.  I’ll put all this in the club house for any takers who want it.  Today I need to strip the bed and wash the sheets.  Dan wants to remove the mattress so he can repair the bed chest lid/platform.  I guess the screws get loose from time to time.  And I need to iron some clothes and mend a dress.  I also need to grocery shop but maybe I can just send Dan to the market.  I’ve been baking more lately, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, considering we eat what I bake, me eating far more sweets than Dan does.  I’m trying to use up the baking supplies in the cupboard and all the nuts.  We use the nuts in cereal and we eat them by the handful but I’m also trying to reduce their numbers by baking with them—scones, brownies, snack cakes, cookies.  This is what happens when we are low on money and have to conserve every penny—I start baking.  Except for going on a short walk around the park, I’m basically confined to the trailer, especially since it is raining almost nonstop.  I read, write, watch tv/movies, talk on the phone to family & friends back home, I do chores, I cook and bake.  Dan and I play board games—Cribbage, Scrabble and Yahtzee.  All very confining and sedentary.  I’d sort of like to work on self-improvement—go to a gym and go tanning but both costs money.  I need a pedicure too, and have to budget to get my nails done every 2-3 weeks.  All these things take a bite out of the wallet.

December 15, 2011

Enjoyed a day at the beach today.  Finally some sunshine and warm days.  We drove through the east side of Corpus Christi to cross on the ferry to Mustang Island.  We enjoy the ferry and it’s free too!  Our truck takes up so much room though, but still they accommodate us.  We like the novelty of it.  There are artworks aboard the ferry—simple ones like those of a child.  Texas and Arizona have art work everywhere.

We love Port Aransas—such a cute little beach town.  The bright colored buildings, nice people, the beach.  The wide expanse of the Gulf of Mexico.  All my life I would look at maps and see what I imagined these exotic places to be like—the Gulf being one of them.  And now we are here.  The beach stretches for miles across the island.  It’s wide and flat mostly.  Lots of little shells.  And baby clams thriving underneath the sand.  I saw these little air holes bubbling in the wet sad area, and dug one out with my flip-flop.  I uncovered about 6 little clams, the size of my pinky nail.  So that’s what it was!  Back home, we no longer have shells, nor clams either.

The surf is small here but perhaps that is because it is winter.  They do have a big surfing culture here but maybe it’s only for summertime.   I enjoyed watching children play in it. 

We saw that people were camping at the beach so we talked to a couple in a van.  They are from England originally but now live in Canada.  The woman was wearing an OM Yoga teeshirt and talking about organics and non-violence.  They were very nice.  They told us where to get a permit to camp on the beach.  I wish we could do that for a couple of days.

There are so many Canadians here.  Half of our RV park are Canadians.  What a lovely people too.  Many of them have no accent either, and seem just like us.  Most of the accents are those from the French provinces.

December 17, 2011

This whole travel thing is very interesting to me.  I think doing it for a long period of time is best done in an RV because it allows you to live as a native wherever you go.  After a week or so in a new place, you feel like a resident and over time you get used to the streets, the shops, the life and pulse of a city.  When one flies to a destination and then stays in a resort, you don’t really get to feel what it is like to live somewhere and experience it like a local.  Of course, flying in a plane to some exotic locale and staying in a fancy hotel—what’s to dislike about that?  It’s great for a vacation.  But to travel slowly and live as we are, well, this is why people own RV’s.

I’m not sure our little old trailer would be considered an RV even.  It’s a 2001 Terry Fleetwood, 26 feet, with no pop-out, no whistles and bells!  I like my little trailer but am thinking of doing some remodel on it when we go home.  I’d like a new floor and a new cabinet added, and perhaps the walls either painted or new wallpaper.

December 20, 2011

Elise and Guy, French Canadians who live here 6 months per year, are the clubhouse directors.  She works hard, preparing food and entertainment activities.  They are very nice, very lively.  They taught us to play basic backgammon and we’ve been playing it to keep it fresh in our minds.  It’s so easy to learn a new game and then forget because you neglect to actually play it.  I’d like to learn some of the variations of Backgammon, just to keep it challenging.

December 24, 2011

This RV park is the most social one we’ve been in.  About half the people here are Canadians or northerners who live here 6 months per year to escape the cold, and they are very sociable.  Tonight there was a feast of appetizers, cookies and finger foods at the clubhouse with games afterwards.  It’s nice to party and get acquainted with the other travelers.  Everyone is so nice.  People are relaxed and on their best behavior when traveling or living this way.

When we came back to the trailer, my phone was ringing.  Joe, my son was calling with the good news that they are pregnant again and due in July.  He wants us to come home for it and babysit if Stacee goes back to work.  They have lost 2 other pregnancies so it will be a wait and watch time to see if this one works out.  However, this changes things for us.  We had wanted to be on the road 1-3 years but I don’t want to be far from new babies so we’ll most likely head home for a while in July.  We can finish the trip at a later date. 

But what happy Christmas news!

December 25, 2011

Dinner at the clubhouse—potluck style.  The RV park bought the ham and the rest of us brought dishes to share.  I made a crockpot lasagna and steamed yellow and zucchini squash with just a light dusting of butter and seasoning over it.  There was so much food.  We sang carols, played games and generally had a nice time chatting with new people.

This is the first time away from home and away from our kids at Christmas.  I miss all of them but it was nice to spend the holidays with a group instead of alone.

December 31, 2011

More partying—leftover ham sandwiches and salads at the clubhouse and games.  We had a nice time re-learning to play Uno which is more fun with at least 4 people, and a new game called Skipbo.

January 1, 2012

New Years Day!  A nice, quiet morning and then we took off to take photos of the town.  We mainly stayed down by the harbor.  We visited the Selena Memorial and walked on the harbor.  It’s very pretty there.  We stopped in at the Yacht Club to have a drink at the bar—I had my first Bay Breeze and we shared a bowl of chips and quacamole, and chatted with the waitress.  Shopped at the Yacht store and bought a couple of pretty coffee mugs to commemorate Corpus Christi, and a funny fisherman’s tee-shirt for our family practice doctor back home.  He likes funny tee-shirts.  We got some great photos of the art district and the cathedral, all of which was deserted on this holiday, which felt kind of eerie. 

Selena was a young up and coming Tejano singer and was born and raised in Corpus Christi.  Seventeen years ago she was murdered here in Corpus Christi.  The grieving town placed the beautiful memorial of her at the harbor and there is a museum uptown as well.  The only real crowd of people we saw was at the memorial.  Mostly Hispanic people and their children, coming to see, grieve, and pay their respects.  It was quite moving, even after all these years, to know she is not forgotten.

We stopped in at Coffee Waves, a great little espresso bar near the harbor and next to the surf museum.  We enjoyed a latté and a game of cribbage there and yakked with the clerks.

For some reason, today just seemed to resonate with me and I had a very good day.  Just being near the water and harbor boats, the fresh sea air and sunshine, gives me a tremendous feeling of well-being.

There is so much water around Corpus Christi—the Nueces Bay, the inlets and waterways, and of course, the Gulf of Mexico, that fishing and boating are big activities here.  People pull their vehicle over just about anywhere and start fishing.

January 5, 2012

Tomorrow marks 1 month that we have been here in Corpus Christi, Texas and it is time to leave.  Dan is sick with a cold, and his colds often turn serious, requiring medical help, so we shall see if we actually leave or not.  Today he says we’re leaving no matter how he feels.

We’ve had such a nice time.  We didn’t expect to meet so many people and make friends.  I’ve learned that RV Parks which have clubhouses or recreation rooms are often the most social parks where people meet and make friends.  Yesterday was the first time someone invited us to their RV to visit.  John and Maria are from Australia and are quite the world travelers.  It was nice to see another RV and just talk about so many things.  Their RV is a large, newer 5^th Wheel and it’s like a small apartment with no clutter, as my trailer is.  Her countertops are clutter free and the bedroom has real drawers and closets.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have packed for this trip differently.  I brought so many non-essentials and left behind things I could have used.  We should have done a trial run of living in our RV before we actually left on this journey.  Then I would have had a better idea of what to bring and what to leave.

But every couple of weeks I get on a cleaning kick and purge more items which I just give away.  As a result, our trailer is looking better and is less messy.  Most RV parks have a place where you can dump your extra stuff for others to take.  At this park it’s in the Laundromat.  There is a table set up for just that purpose.

So we’ve had such a great time here.  The people are nice and it was great to have some social time and a group of people to spend Christmas and the holidays with.  While the town of Corpus Christi is quite run-down, there were still delights everywhere.  I’m glad we came here and got to see the Gulf of Mexico.

I was surprised not to encounter a lot of cowboys wearing boots and hats and very few people talk with a drawl.  Someone told me it’s because Corpus Christi is different than the northern areas where they still dress and talk like classic Texans. 

We enjoyed a few firsts here.  We ate burgers at our first Sonic Burger.  We ate at a Whataburger, and at our first Cracker Barrel.  We saw the Gulf of Mexico for the first time.  We rode on a ferry for the first time.  We saw our first Fox squirrels.

They have a Dollar Cinema here, just like in Tempe and we enjoyed seeing the film Moneyball there for a whopping price of $2!  The dollar theaters are nice too, not dirty, run-down and smelly like back home.

We like shopping at Thrift Stores and it is nice to see they are the same everywhere, same merchandise.  The only thing is, we don’t really buy much.  There is no place to put any extras in the trailer.  We usually just enjoy looking around.  Sometimes I look for funny tee-shirts to buy and send to the boys back home, or I look for clothes for me, which is rare to find anything really good in my size.  Still, it’s fun to look and browse.

Our next destination is to see an old friend in San Marcos which is located half way between San Antonio and Austin up north.  We’ll go there for a few days and then head on to Louisiana.