Adjustments Made

So Many Places To Visit

There has been a vacant parking space in our driveway where our motorhome used to sit.  That empty space has been a constant reminder that we are getting older and giving up things we’ve always loved.  

When we sold our motorhome in October of 2020 we thought that was the end of our RV travel days.  Although we loved traveling, the motorhome was bigger than we needed and at twelve years old it was showing some wear.  We spent a lot of time thinking about what was next for our golden years.  The thought of sitting here in Tucson every summer wasn’t appealing and we have never been comfortable living out of a suitcase.  

We started looking for a used motorhome, thinking that the folks who bought one at the beginning of the pandemic might want to sell it now that everyone is getting vaccinated. These folks could all get back on the cruise ship to Tahiti  or enjoy a flight to Cucamonga.   We looked at several RV’s listed on RV trader and came to the conclusion that the folks that bought them last year didn’t really understand the care and feeding of a motorhome.  The ones we saw weren’t in very good shape.  

Monty started looking at the new RV’s with better safety features and upgraded electronics.  Well, weren’t they nice.  Really did we want to do this?  We don’t buy new cars or new RV’s.  We’ve always been able to find something a few years old that we liked, but the prospect was looking bleak this time and summer was fast approaching. The more we looked at used RV’s the more discouraged we became.  

OK, let’s think this over, what do we enjoy doing, how many years to we have left to do this sort of thing. ? Traveling the back roads, seeing small towns, visiting National Parks is what we enjoy.  What do we need to do that?   Some type of RV.

I have poster by the treadmill that we look at while taking a walk.  It reads: 

We took that advice to heart and bought a new motorhome. 

You’d think we’d simply run down to La Mesa RV here in town and pick one out.  But if you know us, you know nothing is ever that simple.  The guys at the local RV places just didn’t make the cut when we were looking.  Monty connected with a good ole boy from Springfield, Missouri, Bobby was everything a good salesman should be and he got our business.  

I know you are thinking, you guys are nuts driving all that way.   We’ve purchased  two campers,(CA) a travel trailer, (CA) a 5th wheel (CO) and a motorhome (TX) This is just the way it seems to works out.  I do have to mention when we were first thinking about traveling to Missouri, Monty assured me it was just a  ‘hop skip and jump’ to Springfield. Just over to New Mexico, up the state, across the panhandle of Texas, then across Oklahoma and right there at the corner of Missouri is Springfield.  Easy Peasy, that’s only 2,500 miles, round trip, just sayin’.

The camper we bought in California proved to be a delightful trip.   We brought a sauce pan, silverware, bedding and towels.  After we loaded the new camper on the truck we stopped at Rays’ market and picked up a bottle of wine, can of soup, and some cheesecake.  Off we went over the mountains to a State Park on Malibu Beach.  We watched the sun disappear into the ocean, walked on the beach. We enjoyed our soup and wine for dinner and feasted on cheesecake for dessert.   We’ve returned to Leo Carrillo State Park a couple of times just because it holds such fond memories.  You remember Leo the actor who played Pancho on the Cisco Kid in the early ’50’s.

We found our first motorhome in Beaumont, Texas. Within spitting distance of the Louisiana border. We loved the story surrounding that trip. A recent widow, La Verne, was a delightful octogenarian with lots of fun stories to tell about their travels. We laughed at the thought that she and her husband bought this brand new motorhome when they were turning 80.  How crazy is that! In a few years when we are done with RVing, for real,  some young couple will be laughing about us when they buy this motorhome.   

We put a plan together to drive to Missouri, loaded the Honda, (our tow car) with the tow bar and everything we might need for a few days on the road in a naked motorhome.  Sheets, towels, a blanket, a few pots and pans, paper plates, glasses, minimal groceries a cooler for lunches on the way there, and we hit the road.  

We started watching the weather forecast trying to hurry through a break in the Midwest storm track.  Except for the falling snow in New Mexico,  gale force wind in the Texas panhandle, torrential  rain in Missouri, and snow covered fields coming back across Texas it was perfect.  It only took us two days driving to get to Springfield. A day spent there while getting familiar with the new unit and three days driving home.  It was actually a pretty easy trip and we have a nice shiny motorhome that still has that new car smell.  

The goal was to down size, and I think we accomplished that without sacrificing much.  We moved from a 34’ class A motorhome to a 28 ‘ class C.  This one has all the same stuff but with upgraded safety features and cool electronics.  Monty can tell you all about the engine and the transmission but that part is a bit boring, although he was smiling all the way home.   

I’m pleased with the interior, the spacious kitchen counter and wide drawers and the convection/microwave. There is lots of storage, in fact we haven’t even filled it up yet.  Of course, there are some drawbacks, nothing is perfect, I’m sure your mother mentioned that to you.  Not only is the wardrobe small, you can’t open it unless the bedroom slide is out.  So if you are wearing jeans in Flagstaff and anticipate needing shorts when you get to Phoenix you better get them out of the closet before you close everything up and get on the road. On the reverse trip don’t put your sweatshirt in the closet if you are leaving Phoenix heading up to Flagstaff in the fall.  

I think this RV is touted as sleeping six people but unless they are actually laying down they would have to take turns standing up the rest of the time.   So that really isn’t feasible.  It is perfect for the two of us, we aren’t very big. On the other hand, because we aren’t very tall, we need the folding step stool to get stuff out of the overhead cabinets.    

Our first motorhome had a real bedroom with room to dress in front of the large mirrored wardrobe. (not really a selling feature at our age!) We could bring all kinds of clothes that we never wore. This one has a bed in a room but it is wall to wall bed.  Kind of cozy actually.  The bed is two separate cross wise pieces.  When the slide comes in one piece slides over the other.  Amazingly the sheets and covers all stay in perfect order when the bed is slid back out.  Ingenious really.  

We were looking forward to getting home to see Daisy, who stayed with a sitter while we were gone.  In our anticipation of leaving Springfield early in the morning we moved the RV out of its spot and backed the car onto the grass, then backed the RV up near the car, pulled the car forward to connect to the RV. Now when the sun peeked over the horizon we’d be able to hit the road for home.  

Not only was there a torrential rain storm that morning but when we pulled out of the park we misjudged the turning radius of this new unit and couldn’t make the turn.  We can’t back up with the car attached so we had to hit the reboot button and start over.  Unhook the car, back it out of the way, back up the RV then move it forward and then snuggle the car up behind the RV.   Rejoin the car and RV and try again.  That’s RV life, we’re used to it.  

We are looking forward to several more years of travel, we have reservations in Durango this summer and maybe we’ll stop in Taos and Santa Fe on the way home.  We are planning to go back to Colorado and visit Arches and Zion National Parks in the fall. 

Life is good and we are blessed.  

Our New Home Away From Home