2 Adults 2 Kids » RVing

On The Road Again

KJ — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:10:15 +0000

So we eventually we had to leave Glacier National Park. A reader of our blog had suggested that we travel to Bozeman hot spring and Butte. I was pretty psyched about taking the advice of a complete stranger, and I was surprised that CM seemed to be going for it as well. About 200 miles later our RV broke down.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it did break. We lost our turbo. So we’re on the highway, it’s just us and two other cars and we couldn’t go faster than 40 mph! The only way we could get some speed was to pull over to the shoulder and restart the car. I happened to be driving that day and it didn’t really bother me so much. I was more excited about Bozeman/Butte. I agreed to just drive through Bozeman thinking we could catch the hot springs at Yosemite instead, but I had Googled Butte and they had some awesome museums I wanted to go to. However, CM insisted that we should go get the turbo fixed ASAP. I was pretty furious at the time, but in hindsight he was definitely right.

Our RV is built on a Dodge Sprinter van chassis. As it happened, in the ENTIRE state of Montana, there was only one Dodge Sprinter dealer…ONE!! The good news was that we weren’t too far away from it. The bad news was that it was in the opposite direction of Butte. I was sooo disappointed. So naturally that day I didn’t feel like blogging that day either because I had planned to say, “Thanks for the suggestion, we had a great time! We did this, this, and this, etc.”

So we park at Wal-Mart and drive the last 20 miles or so to the dealer. The owner was a really nice guy. Unfortunately, he tells us that it’s going to 4 days to get the broken part in. There was no way we could camp in his parking lot in that small town for 4 days. We called the Winnebago factory (since that was our next big stop) and they suggested another Dodge dealer for us in Iowa. This guy told us that we might be able to make it Iowa if we didn’t have to go through any more hills, so CM and I decided to take our chances.

We made it to Yosemite the next day and we only had to restart the car a handful of times. There’s only one word to describe our time there: Crazy!

Where To Next?

CM — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:15:45 +0000

We made it back to the mainland and it is time to start back towards NYC. We have until the end of the month to get there so we are not in a real hurry.

Our first plan is to see a glacier. Can you beleive they are still around? I know, so we are going to Montana to see one. Other than that we are struggling for places to go. We are taking a northerly route and niether of us know much about that part of the country.

We are also on a tight budget so we can get all the way to NY, and that limits the criss crossing we can do on our way back. Any suggestions on what to see?

So I Must Be Cheap

CM — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:23:53 +0000

So how cheap am I? Well I have a really hard time paying $40 for a campground. We have yet to purchase any membership in any association, and we have not bought a book on free campgrounds. I still have trouble with full price campgrounds.

We are now in northern California and the first campground we stopped at wanted $40. I just don’t understand it. I am bringing the room with me so why do I have to pay the same price as a hotel?

All I need is a place to park. I can park cheaper in the city than some people want at these places. After searching we found a place for $25. It got horrible reviews on a website, but it had what we needed.

We don’t have a $300,000 rig and we are not rich. I just can’t fathom paying the price of a nice apartment in Brooklyn for one night in the middle of nowhere.

KJ says it is supply and demand and I know she is right. I do feel there should be something more reasonable.

New Ways of Doing Things

KJ — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:03:16 +0000

CM and I had dreamed about life on the road. Just picking up and going to see new places at a moments notice. Well, we’ve officially been RVing for over two weeks now, and we realize that a life on the road isn’t as sweet as we initially thought it would be.

I would say that main problem is that we were moving too much. Every morning we would wake up early, drive until it got dark, find a place to park for the night, make dinner, fall asleep, and get up and do it all over again! It was just too much. We had a hard time fitting in any activities with the kids like board games and reading books because we were always so exhausted.

When we reached White Sands we decided that we all needed a rest. We liked the campground and there were a few kids there, so we decided to stay for 3 nights. We really got rested up and had some quality family time.

When we were planning this trip, we planned to drive for 8 hours a day. After traveling for a while I would say that’s too much driving to really enjoy the journey. Perhaps you could drive 8 hours a day and stay in one place for 2 nights, or maybe just drive 4 hours a day and then park and explore the area.

To get the max gas mileage for our RV we cannot go faster than 60 mpg, so we don’t really cover much ground in 4 hours. However, today we only drove for about 4 hours not including a stop at the Three Rivers Petroglyph site. We hiked, we found a camp site early and we enjoyed a leisurely dinner.

It’s funny how easy it is to slip back into the “go,go,go” routine.We’ll definitely be taking things slower from here on out.

Biloxi Blues

KJ — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:18:55 +0000

Today was a crazy day. We started off thinking we were heading to Texas and we ended up stranded at a gas station begging strangers for help. In the end, it all worked out. CM wasn’t taken as a sex slave and we got gas for the RV

A lot of times I feel like CM’s being homeless when he was younger has made our marriage more difficult. However, today wasn’t one of those times. I was ready to shell out $40 plus insurance to rent a car, but he was more enterprising. He just walked up to strangers and asked for help. It freaked me out, but I guess he had done that so many times before when he was homeless. You never know what somebody has been through just by looking at them.

It’s days like this that I really start to think about all that he must have went through when he was homeless. It made him who he is today. One of the things that I really love about him is that he helps me find things that I’ve accidentally thrown in the trash. He has no problem just reaching in and looking for what I’ve lost. It doesn’t matter if it’s our trash can at home or one on the street corner. He’s crazy!

On a more serious note, even here in Mississippi we are seeing that people are still in the process of rebuilding. As we drove through the town we could see the ruins of old buildings that were lost in the hurricane. It looks this bad and it’s been almost 3 years!! I can’t imagine the destruction people faced when they walked out of their shelters right after Katrina hit.

Picture: Midget sat in the front seat next to me while we waited for CM to return with the fuel. Sometimes she just looks so serious.

Okay, We’re Idiots

KJ — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:26:10 +0000

Sooo… in an effort to make it to the camp ground before the office closed, I told CM to put the pedal to the metal. We kept an eye on the gas tank and we appeared to be hemorrhaging diesel. We thought we’d be okay because surely there’s a gas station that sells diesel nearby — WRONG!!!

So here we are at a little gas station WITHOUT DIESEL!! CM is freaking out because he thinks the car will run out of diesel any minute. There is a rental car place close by, but they would charge a minimum of $40 for the day and they weren’t budging on the price even though I told them we only needed it for 1 hour.

CM just pulled up in the passenger of a stranger’s car!! They have agreed to take him to the nearest gas station that sells diesel so that he can fill up one of those gas cans. AAAgggghhhhh!!! Was that poor planning or what??

New rule: Never ever let the gas get below one quarter of a tank!!

Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! What if they kidnap CM and use him as a sex slave?

To be continued…..

The RV Is Back (kj)

KJ — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:23:54 +0000

We picked up the RV this evening. My heart fluttered a little bit when we turned the corner and I saw it. Man, we are really doing this.

3 Reasons I Shouldn’t Have Bought an RV (KJ)

KJ — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:52:51 +0000

Yes, you read that right. What was I thinking when we bought an RV? I had lofty goals, but I don’t think I fully considered the real life impact of our decision.

1. I have way too many clothes. Being in the RV last night for dinner made me realize how quickly the space can get cluttered. CM and I worked out who would get which storage area, and even though I got the largest space, it’s still not enough. I have two dressers and a closet full of clothes; and that doesn’t include the bins full of summer clothes I haven’t unpacked yet!

2. I’m a pack rat. My mother sent me an eyeglass cleaner from Japan and even though I’ve never opened it, I can’t get rid of it! I’ve got a gazillion other little things that I’ve bought and never used, but still can’t get rid of. RV space is so finite. There’s no way for me to have room for all of the little things I love.

3. I like to “Shh” people.It’s true. When I’m watching TV, I demand complete silence. That just doesn’t happen in an RV. I can hear every whisper and every giggle. It’s just like standing in an elevator.

Regardless of those 3 things. We did buy an RV and I know I can overcome these things. I just need to really get it into my head that we are not just switching from apartment living to RV living, but rather we are changing our lives. That means I have to learn to do things differently.

What do you think would be your greatest adjustment to RV life?