The RV Factor

I’m sitting outside in a light drizzle because the little white dog insisted on freeing the area of marauding squirrels.  Actually, I believe that Mike, at least partially, bought the RV so that Sophie could join us on our travels in comfort.  Not a problem!

 

 

While initially I came up with forty-three reasons (not a hyperbole – I still have the list) why a recreational vehicle would not suit us, it has - surprisingly on my part and smugly on Mike’s – turned out to be just great.  The RV gives us freedom to wander and stay a day or three days.  It has allowed us to be flexible with our schedule with all of the creature comforts of home.

 How did this saga begin?  We had been boaters and travelers for decades.  We sold our last boat in September of 2011.  Then one day, less than two months later, we entered the RV world.  I had returned from visiting Mike’s mother, Virginia, in the care center where she lived.  I asked a routine question:  “Anything new?”   Mike replied “We bought a travel trailer” to which I queried “How do we like it?"

 

Our first travel trailer, a 2012 Rockwood 2604

 

Our new trailer, a 2014 Rockwood Windjammer 3008W

Apparently, and quite obviously, we do like it.  Our first trailer, a 26-foot Rockwood, was used 101 nights during the year that we owned it.  Almost a year to the day after that first purchase, we traded it on our current trailer, a 30-foot Rockwood Windjammer with a floor plan that gives us more room and more of the feel of a house, with the kitchen separated by a counter from the living room/dining room space. 

Tonight we are in a campground just outside of Springfield, Illinois.  We are returning from a trip to Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, including a fun FROG [Forest River Owners’ Group] rally with old and new friends in Goshen, IN.  The Illinois State Fair is in full swing this week and since I’ve never been to the fair, and Mike hasn’t been there since he was a kid, we decided to stop for a couple of days.  Stopping on a whim to see prize-winning livestock and new tractors and enjoy fried-everything-on-a-stick...such is the advantage of an RV.

As far as good times, I’m reminded, too, that we spent a week in this same campground last summer with our grand-daughter Allison.  We were in Springfield to visit the Lincoln Presidential Museum and other sites, since her Dad spent two years assigned to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.  While she was fascinated with the Lincoln history, her greatest joy was hitting the swimming pool every afternoon and staying up late playing cards with Grandpa every night.   

Since taking delivery of the new trailer in March, we have already used it 59 nights, with more to come.  And more of our ramblings and rumblings will be coming your way, with more Road Stories…