RV Travel: Enhancing your RV Getaway! by Peggi McDonald

Life in the RV Lane can be a real whirlwind where you run from here to there - or as laid back as you want it to be. However finding a place to visit when you arrive in an unfamiliar area can be equally challenging while you discover what’s ‘happening’. During a recent stay near ‘Mickey Mouse Land’ in Disneyland in Orlando, Florida we had to look real hard to find fun things to do other than the expensive attractions and theme parks. When you’re only in an area for a few days, your search can become even more trying.... A few suggestions we follow to gain maximum enjoyment from our stopovers.

• First we ask the park office for an on-site activity listing and what can they recommend we should see in the area.

• Next we check with our neighbours. Sometimes the seasonal RVers are a preferred source of info especially if you are looking for less expensive enticements.

• RVers on the move may have recently stopped at a nearby attraction or two en route. Don’t hesitate to ask them for their favourite stops, RVers love to share info.

• We find the most accurate information comes from Tourist Bureaus and Chamber of Commerce Centres. (Provincial and state phone numbers plus webpages are listed on the RV WebLink page of www.rvliving.net). RVers who plan to spend time in a particular province or state should order the Travel Guides for that area before beginning an adventure.

For Example – When our 12-year old niece Kayla travelled from British Columbia to Ontario in our motorhome we asked her to find places to visit on the way. Kayla and her mom searched the travel guides and found some neat stops John and I had never seen, such as a covered wagon ride through a Manitoba desert near Brandon or a swim in the hot spa waters at Revelstoke, BC. We also visited a ghost town between Calgary and Edmonton en route to the fantastic West Edmonton Mall. Some of these places were more memorable than others but they each added one more dimension to our adventure.

• We included a few more of our choice destinations along the way based on our previous trip experience. At several places we added rewarding unforeseen adventures to our initial plans. For instance in Winnipeg my girlfriend Fern, from my military basic training days, was a foster mother to a 12 year old and her younger sister. Kayla and Theresa (the 12 year old) had an absolute ball; Kayla really appreciated having someone her own age to socialize with. Our ‘girl’s day out’ at a museum and then the afternoon at Chucky Cheeses was most enjoyable. Seeing the obvious delight the girls were having was rewarding plus it gave Fern and I a perfect opportunity to catch up on what had happened over the past year. John stayed behind to take care of some routine maintenance.

• This trip proved that RV Travels are enhanced if you include visits with family/friends along the way. Just south of Calgary we combined a laneway camping stop with a very creative friend Marcy and her family. It was a wonderful opportunity to teach Kayla how to create crafty gifts for her family and friends back home – a much-needed diversion from all the adults at the house.

• With pre-planning it may be possible to coincide your getaway with local festivals or flea markets and/or attractions in a specific area.

• Consider stopping at large campgrounds that feature hayrides, nature walks, bingos or craft days, horseshoe or shuffleboard tournaments, periodic dances or evening entertainment to add yet one more dimension to your travels. Many of these activities range from free to low-cost for park residents. Some parks routinely offer craft sharing sessions where everyone brings their favourite project to teach others; it may also include learning a new craft for a small fee designed for kids of all ages. This can be a two part story if you stop here

(When you’re only in an area for a few days your search can become even more trying. These tips should enhance your getaway).

• Both male and female RVers participate in knitting, crocheting, quilting, crafts and woodcarving projects. These interesting hobbies help fill many quiet hours. They are great diversions for inside or outside of the unit. Of course relaxing in a campsite provides a perfect opportunity to catch up on overdue reading.

• Working at a project on the picnic table is a super way to meet other RVers. Those strolling the park will frequently stop to say Hi or simply to ‘see’ what you are doing. When a male RVer wants to meet his neighbours all he has to do is to open the hood of the tow vehicle or the motorhome and within minutes several male bystanders will be over see if they can help – sorry guys, guess it’s just a ‘man’ thing. Polishing your unit works the same way. When women are travelling alone, raising the hood is even more of a magnet to get to meet your male neighbours.

• John and I use silver wine goblets for Happy Hour drinks. They always draw attention from other RVer.

• Lawn games such as ring toss or board games like monopoly or puzzles (complete with an edged board that can travel on the bed) are lightweight and don’t take up much storage space. Playing games or cards under the awning or socializing around the bonfire adds a finale to the adventure.

• At larger resort style parks, on-site amenities may include a video game room for the kids and billiard table(s) or dart board(s) for the adult children. A heated swimming pool/hot tub, tennis courts, shuffleboard courts, mini golf etc only add to the fun of getting to know your neighbours.

• Electronic toys like game boys; DVD players and similar amusements work wonders to break up a long drive for kids of all ages. Numerous travel games have surfaced in the past few years but the self-designed diversions such as spotting the most ‘visiting licence plates en route’ or a game of ‘I spy’ or even a ‘sing-a-long’ can add an appreciated dimension to the trip as well.

Another extra that enhances any trip is to have a small vehicle available for touring. If your RV is a towable you already have a touring vehicle but if your unit is a motorhome, a car in tow promotes an extra plus. John and I didn’t tow a vehicle for the first eight months of our travels. We had set aside a substantial rental car/towing budget and didn’t feel we needed a car - in reality we were actually afraid to tow. Not until we arrived at a beautiful state park in Oregon where the closest store was simply too many miles away to bike, did we realize what we were missing. At that park we also assembled a new add-a-room attached to our motorhome awning - so to become mobile meant a lot of packing up.

However when our ‘newest best friend’ neighbours offered to take us spelunking (cave exploring) in the Oregon Mountains we jumped at the chance. Although that tour was two decades ago and it is still one of our most memorable side trips we’ve ever experienced. Even if our motorhome had been easily moveable, it never would have traversed the hilly road to these fantastic caverns. This incident was the determining factor that made us realize we NEEDED a tow vehicle. We also discovered it was no big deal to tow.

Our car has become our perfect getaway machine --- when we stop, we simply unhook and explore the surrounding area by car. The number of neat events we accidentally have ran across over the years while exploring in our ‘toed’ (tow car) is overwhelming. Having wheels available for touring, other than your unit, definitely adds to an RV getaway.

The final way to enhance an RV adventure is for each of you to claim your own space within the RV, no matter how small or large your unit is. In our first RV I used the living room foldaway table (we had no dinette) and in follow-up RV’s we modified the dining table to become my computer desk/work station. John claimed the bedroom as his Rec room in our Kruisin’ Kastle #1 and in our Kastle #2 and #3 it was his turn to use the foldaway tables in the living room and/or the bedroom. Following extensive modifications in our Luxor (removal of the large ‘J’ couch plus the immense captains chair and replaced it with two round bottom loungers – see our website for details) John now has his personal workstation and a special place to watch TV in the living room. On this unit our bedroom TV is only used early morning or late at night.

We share some programs but I spend much of my time on the computer anyway. Your individual space may be as compact as the folding-table and a separate storage area or it could be the upper bunk in a small unit or a desk/table set within the slide in the bedroom of a fifth wheel or, or, or. It doesn’t matter where it is so long as you have a spot to call your own --- with a place to work at your leisure and to keep your stuff in a separate area.

Have fun and enjoy your journey.

Peggi and John are RV Lifestyle Consultants, Webhosts of the Information Site For ALL RVers –www.rvliving.net. Peggi’s newest book is RV Living in the 21st Century includes the best of her first best seller Spirit of the Open Road plus seven years of updates. For details and more listings of ‘where to buy RV Living in the 21st Century’ go to www.rvliving.net/spiritcont.htm or
http://www.rveducation101.com/detailpages/RVLiving.htm?siteID=0

Re-printed with permission for www.rveducation101.com