RV adventures
-
And…heading home!
My eyes flickered open and tried to focus on the microwave clock…5:45 am. “Are you awake?” I heard Dennis ask. I had this sense that he was about to drop some really bad news on me. “Pennsylvania is closing all the RV parks to new registrations. I think we need to start heading home today.” So, it wasn’t as terrible as I’d intuited but it was disappointing news to say the least. Today was Saturday and we were scheduled to leave Tucson on Tuesday. We had anticipated enjoying the absolutely perfect weather for the next few days, walking trails with the dogs, and continuing to enjoy our time with Lisa…
-
Covid-19 and Uncertainties while RV’ing
The grandest part of our RV expedition was to include enjoying and exploring Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington. This is not to diminish our excitement at visiting dear friends in other areas on the eastern seaboard and in Texas, but visiting with friends has its own specialness, something that’s different from exploring the great outdoors. And so we relished every minute of our time with friends, and then took a deep breath and exhaled everything into the wide open spaces of the west as we finally arrived in west Texas. From Texas we made our way into New Mexico to enjoy the wonderment of White Sands State Park, and then…
-
Aaah Arizona!
It’s a bit like coming home. Arizona offers a winter experience that has been more than worth the long drive from Maine. Moderate temperatures during the day, cool evenings, dry air, blue skies with little white puffy clouds, and blooming desert flowers. We have loved the vast open spaces and the dusty trails that reach far into BLM lands, giving the dogs places to run free. But what I think I love most is resting my eyes on the horizon at midday and in the evening as the sun colors the sky and clouds in oranges, reds and pinks. It all just takes one’s breath away. Tucson offered all the…
-
The Other Side of Nowhere
We were amused and dubious as we pulled into Loma Paloma RV Park. There was no apparent official entrance, and no apparent office to go and check in. We stopped in front of an RV where a woman was sitting in a chair, enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine. “Where do we check in?” we asked. She just laughed and said to just pick a spot and that the owner would find us. As she finished telling us that, a woman named Maxine pulled up in a golf cart and repeated exactly what we’d just been told. And so we looked around the very large, mostly empty dirt lot and picked…
-
What The Hell!
It was pretty exciting to hit the road in Fort Stockton and head south to Presidio which is located on the border of Mexico, right near Big Bend National Park and its sister State Park. One, it was exciting because we couldn’t wait to get to Big Bend, and two, because we only had a 2 1/2 hr drive on this particular day. This was very good news for Charlie who finds the driving days to be very stressful, and this was the 3rd day in a row that we were driving. We were an hour from our destination. The West Texas plains were stark and beautiful, and we could…
-
A Secluded Winery
The hubbub of Houston and it’s sprawling reach took us over an hour to drive out of. We had enjoyed 5 nights just north of Houston and now it was time to get out into the Texas countryside. Our next destination was Big Bend National Park. We looked at the distances to be covered, keeping in mind stops for pup walks, people walks, and gas fill ups, and planned our next 3 days of driving. Three days! Albeit not full days of driving, but still, Texas is a huge state to drive across. Our first one-night stopover was in Vanderpool, TX and the second was in Fort Stockton, TX. Vanderpool…
-
The RV Life ‘feeling’
No matter how much research we did, how many YouTube videos we watched, how many articles we read and how much information our RV’ing friends shared with us, there was no way for us to really understand what RV’ing was really about or how it works. I’m not referring to plotting next destinations on the map, researching campgrounds and jotting our plans on the calendar. What we have discovered is the flow that is part of life on the road. It ebbs and flows, it has a feeling, and it informs us on when we are to spend a single night at a campground or extend our stay to either…
-
Find Rhythm on the Road
Hopefully we have finished finding the little things we think we ‘need’. It feels like we have. I write this while looking over at the little palm in its pot, placed right next to the little lamp, both of which I felt we had to have. I always have my reasons (also read as justifications). But that’s the human way. There has been an ongoing trickle of purchases for things like cleaning supplies, an occasional tool, a new squeegee with extender handle, and compostable Nespresso pods for the best purchase I ever made…a Nespresso machine. We have become very fond of our morning café Americano in our Yeti cups. The dogs like…
-
Note to Self
We have lift off! Or perhaps more accurately, we have rolling earthquake! I’m borrowing ‘rolling earthquake’ from an RV inspector who was explaining, in part, why things get jiggled loose in RV’s. We are used to the creaks and groans of our mobile home now, we even think it’s pretty quiet, which is very different from how we experienced Dora (RV) on our maiden voyage. We wondered how we might ever be able to hear the radio. But that was then and this is now. We left Maine just over a week ago, hitting the road 2 days earlier than originally planned so that we could get out and south…
-
Florida to S. Carolina to N. Carolina
Our last day and night in Florida was full again. Visiting old friends, meeting new friends, watching a rocket launch (!) and then the evening collapse into bed. Our good intentions of getting on the road by 9:30 am went straight out the window as our very chatty RV neighbor shared all sorts of tips and hints about RV living. And then as I was about to pull forward out of our parking spot, she ran over to share just one last tidbit of information. It was much less stressful driving this time. Everything was a bit more familiar and and we were keen to get ourselves up to our…
