Getting Ready To Travel

Do you know how many times I start and stop writing a blog?  It is so numerous, that sometimes it gets frustrating.  I will start writing, and it just dies, just stops cold.  I stop, and I walk away.  It is not time to write if it doesn’t flow.  I will not force it.  Now is try number 2,349, or so it seems like!

We are sitting in sunny Arizona while most of my friends and family are freezing in the midwest and through most of the country.  I won’t rub it in, but I do feel very blessed to not have to battle the icy weather.

The other day, after much discussion with my husband, Dennis decided that the travel trailer we had did not suit our purposes.  We really loved the fact that we got to and from Missouri twice since Covid without having to go to restaurants and hotels.  We loved the freedom we had, but our little travel trailer was just that—little.  Any extended vacation may prove to be uncomfortable.

We are not as young as we used to be.  Climbing into a bed from the foot of the bed is relatively easy, but in the morning trying to climb back down to the foot of the bed is a bit more interesting.  The kitchen prep area is small, and the bathroom feels really cramped.  Don’t get me wrong, this trailer served us well for the purpose we purchased it.

The pros and cons of the travel trailer:

Pros –

1. Small enough to be pulled by our car.
2. Cozy.
3. Had a good size refrigerator for the size of the trailer.
4. Had everything we needed as far as sleep, eating, and bathroom facilities.
5. Had a great little love seat that turned into a queen bed.
6. Nice little television.
7. Had a lot of storage for a small unit.

Cons –

1. The recliners that came with the unit were terrible—they were too low for sitting at the table to eat, and they kept falling apart because of the movement of the trailer (we replaced them with regular dining chairs).
2. Bathroom felt really cramped, but then it did have a full bathroom with a shower high enough for a 6’2” husband.
3. There was a lot of work to set it up at the RV park—which is tough when it’s winter.

Dennis and I have looked over the years at RV’s, and now it was time to consider a Class A or a Class C.  Both are driven, but the Class C, has separate doors to the driving cab.  Dennis found them to be too cramped for his tall frame for comfortable driving.

We thought a Class A would be the best, but not one of those big giant ones.  I mean there are some the size of a stick built home.  They are crazy big and crazy expensive. 

We found an RV dealer and told him what we were looking for—he didn’t have much inventory, but had one he could show us that would fit our needs.  Unfortunately, the unit was sold.  As I looked at this RV, I knew it checked off more boxes than we had.  I sat in the front passenger side, and saw the sold sign posted on the windshield.  I could read through the paper, turned and to the salesman (who had already met us), smiled and said, “We are the Harris’s.”  That was the name of the people who bought the RV!   At that, Dennis said, “Where are the keys?”  The salesman smiled back and said, “Good one.”  It was worth the try!  The salesman proceeded to say that he could order us one but it would take 5 or 6 months to arrive.  No, we don’t think that would work.  He said there just was no inventory anywhere.

We walked out, drove home, and Dennis started doing was he does so well—researching on the internet.  There was a dealer of the brand we liked not too far from our home.  Dennis hit the button to set an appointment for the next day.  As we drove to this dealer, we stopped at several used RV dealers on the same road.  Who knew there were used RV dealers, just like used car salesmen.  That was a scary venture.  Some of the RV’s felt old, dingy, and moldy.  I felt like some nice old person owned it, traveled some, and must have died in it—okay, just kidding.  They were pretty nasty.  If they were really cheap, it might have been fun to redecorate the whole thing, but they wanted big bucks for these old, and ugly, not so gently used RV’s.

Finally it was time for our appointment.  We told the new salesman what we were looking for.  The first RV we came upon was identical to the one the Harris family purchased!  We walked inside, I looked at Dennis, and immediately he said, let’s talk money!  We knew it was just the one we wanted.  It is spacious.  Having three televisions in a RV is a bit of overkill in my opinion, but that is standard—a 50” in the living area, a smaller one in the bedroom, and an outdoor one.  We hardly watch the one and only huge TV at home.  This puppy has a regular home size French door refrigerator with ice maker, a farm sink, 3 burner stove with oven, and a convection microwave.  The bathroom I spacious (for an RV, that is).

We will pick it up on Dennis’s birthday in March.  We decided to take it for a test run for a couple days the following weekend.  Covid has had us cooped up for way too long.  We can now travel.  Both he and I had our 1st vaccine shot, and we will get #2 in three weeks.

Where do I want to go?  Well, Missouri is a given—back to see friends and family.  But most of all, I want to travel the perimeter of the country,  drive along the south, up the east coast, west along the northern states, and hopefully, by the time we make our way back toward Arizona, we can go down through California, and visit our two children that live in that state.

I am so ready for a vacation.  I am so thankful we can still do it with minimal risk, staying away from restaurants and hotels.  I am really thankful that Dennis and I are healthy enough to even think and plan such a trip.

So for now I say, “Let the fun begin!”  I may be in your neighborhood this summer!

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