1. Something always needs fixing. Always. Right now the water pump is gone. The water pump was allegedly newly replaced when we bought it. However, this makes me think it was installed by Norm, who sold us the RV, and this gives me pause. Norm will be a separate post, so for now I will just say that it is not all that surprising to me that something quite new that Norm may have installed is not working.
Our first weekend out, a bathroom pipe came loose and soaked the carpets. I now snicker at how nervous that made me, because that was a piece of cake to fix compared to later fixings. To be fair, Will, who spent 45 minutes flat on his back reaching behind his head into a tiny space to fix said pipe, might not agree that it was a piece of cake to fix. But since then, we've had the gearbox fixed, new batteries, a new starter, new tires, new brakes (ours were worn to metal), two different mudflaps came loose, the door came loose, the driver's door wouldn't open, a window lost its handle, the pipes came loose again, and we added a steering stabilizer. That's just a partial list. Notice that a lot of things on the list came loose - that's what happens when you drive your house all around the country.
2. RVs cost a lot to maintain and run. This is related to #1 above, but not completely. All of the repairs cost money, and I have spoken to people with brand-new RVs that still have lots of repairs to deal with. I remember when we were talking to Norm about one of the first repairs to the RV and he said "Yup, RVs will dollar you to death." At the time I wondered why he didn't say "RVs will nickel and dime you to death" since that is the traditional saying. Now I know why.
RVs are also expensive because they EAT FUEL. Each time we fill up with diesel it costs $160 and I figure that we run through $100 of fuel every day we drive. And the last way RVs are expensive is in paying for campsites. We thought we'd be boondocking at my parents and in the desert mostly, and we have done that. But we've also done a good deal of state park and KOA camping, and the latter is particularly expensive - more than $40 a night in some places. That adds up.
3. There is more room in an RV than you might think. This was a happy discovery. We actually have empty cupboards, although they are decreasing rapidly as we collect books and souvenirs. My most egregious offense is an egg scale like my Mom's; you should have seen Will's face when I jokingly said I wanted to keep it on the kitchen counter. And we mostly don't feel crowded, even when everybody is here. Everybody means Will and me and Abi (17), Ben (14), Maggie, Charlie and Livvie (Cavalier King Charles spaniels, about 15 pounds each) and Bodie (our Bernese Mountain Dog puppy who is about 70 pounds and growing). Our RV is actually smaller than most, since it was made the year before sliders came out and the storage design is not fantastic (as was helpfully pointed out to us by an RV mechanic).
When we were visiting Laura Ingalls Wilder's homesite in South Dakota I realized that most pioneers spent all winter in smaller quarters than ours, and they didn't have an indoor bathroom and a nice kitchen and computers and a flat screen TV and a kingsize bed. I feel very comfortable here.
4. There are a lot of great RV campgrounds in the US. None as great as my parents' farm, of course, with 80 acres for the dogs to roam and a nice site by the barn with easy access to electricity and protection from the prevailing southwesterlies. We have stayed in very comfortable and private campgrounds with spectacular views, near all sorts of neat activities from canoeing to shopping to Civil War battlesites. We have several books on campground locations, but I have had the best luck with a website: rvparkreviews.com. We have found some real jewels this way, and I think the majority have been state or county parks.
5. There are a lot of great people who RV in the US. This has been fun for us. Most people RVing, especially the full-timers, are a bit older than us (we are 48 and 51) and for the main part retired. Our neighbors at campgrounds have almost all been very friendly, outgoing and helpful. It's fun seeing the couples walking around in the evening, checking out everybody's rig. We've gotten some terrific advice on how to fix things and places to visit from them.
The nicest part for me is seeing people in longterm relationships who seem to genuinely like and respect each other. I guess you wouldn't head out for the year in a tiny aluminum box with someone whose company you didn't enjoy. But I also wonder if the teamwork that living and travelling in an RV requires makes those bonds stronger.
I myself have been loving our little routines. Each of us has naturally taken responsibility for certain aspects of getting ready to move out (happily for me Will seems content to empty the waste tanks), and I get such a kick out of making him lunch while he is driving us to our next adventure. Will says he feels really pampered when I bring him his lunch and a drink then feed him a few Twizzlers when he's flagging.
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