It’s taken a little over a year for me to get the permission from my husband (the driver) to tell this story. He finds it embarrassing. I believe that I have finally convinced him that this incident is in no way his fault. It was a series of unfortunate events on the backroads of Tennessee.
This story cannot be properly told without explaining my roots. My ancestors are from Tennessee. We can’t really figure out where they came from before Tennessee. They were so dirt poor that there wasn’t much in the way of records, family heirlooms, etc. that might have given us a clue as to where they came from before Tennessee. For all I know, they could have been hatched in Paint Rock, Tennessee.
My dad has told us stories that he heard from his grandfather and my grandmother about Tennessee. For instance, the nearest school was 5 miles away. So, my great uncle drove my grandmother to school at the age of 9 while standing up in their jalopy of a Model -T Ford. The other story – more relevant to this story is that the people in the backwoods of Tennessee, including my family, didn’t wait for the police or the school principal or whoever to take care of matters. Instead, they took matters into their own hands. For instance, if you were to trespass on my family’s farm, you might find yourself looking down the barrel of shotgun. It’s just how things were handled. My dad also had me convinced that this is still how things are handled in the backwoods of Tennessee.
Fast forward to modern times – October of 2022 to be more precise. We were going to meet my dad in Sweetwater, Tennessee so that we could explore the cemetery in nearby Paint Rock and he could share the stories of my ancestors buried there. On the way, we decided we’d stop in Pigeon Forge and check out the Great Smoky Mountains, Gaitlinburg, and of course, Dollywood. We were headed from Charleston, SC to Pigeon Forge, TN. My husband carefully checks Apple Maps, Google Maps, and a paper trucker map for directions – three maps. He plots our route and we hit the road. This three map system had never failed us.
On this particular day, our maps took us through the Smoky Mountain National Park boundaries which we thought was strange, but we kept going. What the heck?! It was a beautiful drive! Surely our maps – especially the trucker map wouldn’t give us a bum steer…
And then, it happened …. There was a sign …. A really big sign that said “Bridge is Out. Do NOT trust your GPS” (Or something like that). Unfortunately, the sign was placed at a fork in the road and it didn’t specify which direction the bridge was out. Apparently, if you were a local, you would have known all about it and tourists should have gone a different way. We pulled over into a church parking lot and consulted all of the maps and tried to decide which direction the washed-out bridge might be. After careful consideration and a whole bunch of guessing, we decided on the road that went to the right.
The road was a beautiful backroad with two narrow lanes and thankfully, no low bridges. We kept going about two miles down the road and then, there was the second sign “Bridge is Out – take alternate route” (or something like that.). We had no idea how much further up the bridge would be because the road was so twisted we couldn’t see it. Have you ever turned a fifth wheel and truck around on a narrow winding road? It’s not possible. It appeared that our only option was going to be to back up the winding road two miles to get back to the fork in the road. So, we did what every good Fifth Wheeling couple would have done – we just sat there … trying to figure out what to do do next.
We finally decided that the best thing to do would be to have me get out with my phone and start walking toward the bridge. Thank goodness there was at least a little cell service! I walked up and found a long driveway that we could probably pull into and then back out and get pointed in the opposite direction. But, with all of those family stories my dad told me about the people of the Tennessee backwoods, I was pretty concerned that we’d find ourselves in some trouble with the owners of the driveway and possibly end up with some bullet holes in the truck and the trailer. There had to be a better option.
I walked a little further up the road and found a church parking lot. I may have heard an angel chorus singing! Knowing it takes about 40 acres to turn a trailer around, I saw at least 30 acres and that would do! (OK – I may be a little off on the acreage, but you get the idea.) I headed back to the truck and the trailer feeling pretty proud of myself for getting us out of our pickle. I was stopped by a driver in a blue car who told me he knew we were in trouble and he had talked to my husband and was going to turn us around and lead us into Pigeon Forge. He kind of stole my thunder, but YAY!
My husband wasn’t far behind him with the truck and the trailer. I got back in the truck and we drove to the very church I had found and got ourselves turned around. The blue car driver got out and came to the window to tell us where he was going to take us and explained that he was an Uber Driver and a former truck driver. He’d go slow, make sure we had wide enough turns, and not take us under any bridges. The driver of the blue car had a name that I can’t remember, so I’ll just call him “Clarence”– after the angel from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Clarence did a great job getting us out of our jam and getting us to Pigeon Forge, leading us on an equally pretty road that got exactly where we needed to be. When all was said and done, he didn’t even want to take any money for his efforts, but finally took a little cash for gas after a lot of convincing from us.
You have to wonder, what was an Uber driver doing in the backroads of Tennessee? It couldn’t have been good for business. I like to think he was an angel sent by God to protect us from ourselves… and some confusing signage. My dad later asked, “How did you think to call an Uber driver? That was genius!” We didn’t … he was sent!
Post script:
Here are some things we learned while in Tennessee – in addition to “even 3 maps might be wrong.”
The people of Tennessee are lovely. They are not like my dad described. Of course, we did our best not to trespass on anyone’s property.
Tennessee was much prettier than we expected! It was just like the song from Davey Crocket – “Greenest state in the land of the free.” I can’t wait to go back!
If you’re in a jam – call an Uber driver! You’ll look like a genius!
Due to a series of unfortunate events, we took a road trip without our trailer. Our son was getting back from deployment, and we were determined to go to his homecoming. Since it’s the Marine Corps, we were given about 5 days notice of the actual return date. Of course, the actual date didn’t match up with the really great trailer trip we planned to take up to see him according to the preliminary window of return dates we were given. To make matters worse, the trailer was in the shop having some warranty work done, and wouldn’t be ready in time for the actual dates we needed it. We had no choice but to make the trip and stay in a hotel.
The trip was a 10-hour drive. This is much easier to do in one day when you drive a little Subaru and not a big truck and trailer. We decided to make a mad dash for it and try to make it a quick turnaround. And, that we did.
I could end this blog post right here and just say, we missed our creature comforts from our trailer. But, since you probably are looking for something to read while you eat your breakfast or something, I’ll expand. More specifically, here are the things we missed:
Our closets and drawers – We had to pack suitcases! The horror! We are not used to that! In our trailer, everything has its place. It’s the same with my suitcase, but it’s all squished into one suitcase sized spot. First world problem, I know, but I really love my trailer storage.
Our medicine cabinet – Our toothbrushes and toiletries live in there! Getting them out of toiletry bags and trying to share the tiny counter space in the hotel was a challenge. We’re just not used to that!
Our TV – We know how to work it and we know how to stream our favorite shows on it. The hotel TV was fine … if you like reruns of “Friends.”
Our food – When we are on an RV road trip, we don’t eat out much – except for lunches when we’re out exploring. This really helps keep us from getting “road trip gut” (that nasty, bloated feeling like the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” had when he needed to eat through a nice green leaf toward the end of the book). It also is much easier on the budget to cook some of your own meals.
Our bed and pillows – Again, we’re used to them! Hotel beds and pillows are just weird.
The air conditioner vent – This may seem like a strange one, but I find hotel air conditioners annoying. They’re loud, they come on whenever they feel like it, they blow the curtains around … they just bug me! In our trailer, we leave the air conditioner set at one temperature and have it run constantly while we sleep. We have the perfect temperature and some familiar white noise. And, the best part, there’s a vent that I can point straight to my head while I sleep!
Our dogs – We had to board them for this trip. We normally take them on our trailer trips. They love trailer trips, riding in the truck, and exploring new places. It was sad not to have them along.
Really, the hotel was fine aside from the dead bug collection in the elevator (they promptly vacuumed the bugs up when we told them about the collection). It was also during the awkward post-COVID time when the hotels were not sure how to handle things. There was no maid service happening. So, the fun parts about hotels – like leaving your towel on the floor and having a new one when you get back from exploring – were not happening. This made us miss our trailer even more – even though I’m pretty much the maid service for our trailer.
We love our trailer and love exploring the United States in it. We love America’s diversity in landscape – desert here – beach there – mountians there …. It’s awesome! RVing is a vacation lifestyle choice we’ve made 18 years ago and we’re glad we made it! Perhaps it’s the creature comforts that keep us going. When we do the math, owning, storing, and maintaining the trailer isn’t saving us a whole bunch of money on vacationing – maybe even none! We’ve even thought about maybe selling the trailer and traveling like “normal” people. Those thoughts never last more than a few minutes because we remind ourselves why we RV and what we’d miss if we didn’t have it. This year, with diesel prices going crazy, we’re taking shorter trips and are finding lots of new places to explore within three or four hours of home.
If you’re questioning your decision to start or to continue RVing, maybe it would be a good idea for you to think about all the little things you love about it and what you’d miss if you traveled like a “normal” person. I bet your creature comforts will come into play and you’ll love your RV just a little bit more. Happy Camping!
We recently sold our sticks and bricks house in Washington state and are in the process of purchasing a new construction house in Florida. It won’t be ready for three months. So, being sort of homeless and loving the RV life like we do, we’ve decided to take an epic road trip South and East. Since we’re not really full-timing and we have a moving truck taking our house stuff to Florida, we are wondering how we’ve done on our preparation for this epic road trip…
Packing was hard! – We knew we’d have freezing temperatures as we left WA and hot and sticky temperatures as we arrive in FL. How the heck does one pack clothes and shoes for that. I for one, opted on the side of packing more summer than winter clothes. It seemed like a perfectly logical choice to me. Well, we are five days in and I’m wishing I would have packed a couple more winter type layers. We even poked around in some shops looking for another cute layer that would work in FL on say … Christmas that wouldn’t be too bulky in my already stuffed closet. No dice. So, as we sat in Idaho in 37-degree temps, I was madly washing my grunged out clothes I wore for moving and cleaning the house so I don’t run out of clean warm clothes.
While we were preparing to move, we read a checklist from the movers. It had important tasks on it like filling out the thing at the post office to change your address, turning off your utilities, and eating the food you can’t move out of your fridge and freezer. We thought, “Naw…. We have a giant RV fridge and freezer. We don’t need to worry about that!” In fact, we made EXTRA food to put in the freezer! There’s something we got wrong! As it turns out, you can’t over stuff your trailer freezer! Something happened where our LP and electric got confused and didn’t know what to do and shut off our refrigerator. We re-set everything and read the manual (a fine time to get around to reading the manual!) which said, “keep things away from the back of the freezer so that air can flow.” OOOPS! With the freezer being so jam packed, we had a “jammed in the back of the freezer” situation… also, some melted ice cream, which was the biggest bummer. We pulled out some meat that we had marinating, but then hit a windstorm which made grilling pretty impossible. When it was 37 degrees and windy our meat had to wait. We’ll get to it … and it’ll be delicious!
You can’t move liquids – We ended up leaving a lot of cleaning supplies behind for the new homeowners. We gave liquids that we thought we probably wouldn’t use on the trip like rice wine vinegar, duplicates of item, the Costco sized olive oil, etc to the next-door neighbors. Of course, I packed all the wine! Then, people kept giving me wine as a going away gift. So, I kept packing wine! I’m not sure how many bottles I’ve ended up packing! Given that a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds and wine comes in bottles which are heavy, I figure that’s quite a bit of extra weight in the trailer. I have been working hard at doing my part to lighten the trailer load!
We completely filled the fresh water tank – Seems like a good idea, right? Well, as it turns out, with a trailer stuffed with clothes, wine, and extra food in the freezer, a full fresh water tank added a lot of weight. I could even feel how sluggish we were getting over the mountain pass from the passenger seat. As it turned out, we didn’t need all of that water because our RV park had a city water hook-up. So, we lightened our water load by using pumped fresh water from our tank and dumping it at the end of our stay. The trailer seemed much happier in towing. That is, until we hit the windstorm and I heard my husband say, “Hmmm… maybe it would have been a good idea to fill the fresh water tank to add weight to the trailer…” When we arrived two days later in Idaho after 9 p.m., our RV paperwork said, “Freezing temperatures expected. Unhook all hoses by 9 p.m. Not responsible for any damage to RVs.” THAT would have been a good time to be stocked up on fresh water and propane. We used the water sparingly and ran our electric fireplace (that I used to think was over the top) and had no major problems. We have learned that we need to pay a lot more attention to the weather in our next spot so that we prepare the trailer properly.
We made reservations – We actually planned our trip out and have reservations for every night. As we discovered last night as we pulled into Wonderland RV Park near Capitol Reef, I messed up and only made a one-night reservation when I meant three nights. The RV park owner was super nice and actually called Thousand Lakes RV park down the road and got us the other two nights there. As it turned out, the spot they had available for us has spectacular views! This has been one of the best mistakes I have ever made! Now that we’re settled, I double checked all of our reservations to make sure I didn’t make any more reservation date errors. I’m happy to report, we are good to go on the rest of our reservations.
The dogs (Chevy and Chase) are being good road trippers
The Dogs – Of course, we had to figure out how to travel with our dogs. We have never taken them on a road trip that lasted more than a week and never much further than three hours away from home. Luckily, while we were in Florida checking on our house progress last month, we checked to see if we could find any place that carried our brand of dog food. No one did. We also checked major pet stores to see if we could find it. We couldn’t. We called the vet a couple weeks before we left and he was able to recommend a more readily available dog food and we were able to make the switch before the trip. That could have been a big problem. We also realized that we needed a “truck bowl” for them for water. Problem solved easily at a grocery stop.
We’re now on our 8th night into this trip. I’d say things are going pretty well. We’ve had a few mishaps – mostly related to the cold that we’re trying to get away from. But, overall, I’d say we’re doing just fine! We certainly have plenty of food and wine! We finally got around to grilling tonight and it was delicious! The dogs are great road trippers. We’re having fun! Follow my blog for more stories from our adventures on the road.
Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – That time Walla Walla, WA tried to Pretend it was Florida and Failed
We were headed out on a quick two-nighter trip. It was going to be easy! The RV park was across the street from a major supermarket. We wanted to get out of Dodge quickly after work so we decided we’d just buy groceries when we got there. What could possibly go wrong with our plan? This is the trip when we learned we should always pack a can of soup.
We were headed to Leavenworth, WA which is about two hours from our house. I think we even left while it was light out, which isn’t always the case. We may have even had some idea that we might be able to set up camp while it was light out. Our trip plans included some hiking, visiting some friends, browsing the cute shops, and dining at some favorite lunch places. We didn’t really need to pack a bunch of food, right? I’m not sure we packed any food other than some ice cream and some dog food. Sure, there were a few packets of oatmeal in the trailer, some spices, and some coffee, but we didn’t really pack anything of substance because we’d shop when we arrived. Best laid plans….
Our truck was only about a year old. We were driving on the downside of a mountain pass when we heard a huge pop and bang! My husband pulled off to the side of the road. As it turned out, we had blown out a tire on the truck. With it being a new-ish truck and with a trailer attached, we decided it would be best to call AAA and get some professional help.
It was dark … very dark as a matter of fact! My husband, “Mr. always prepared” was instructed by AAA to take the trailer off the hitch. So, he set out about doing his work while I hung out with the dog inside the truck. He, of course, had flares and set them out. He loves flares! He came back to the truck momentarily saying how dark it was and that he was wearing a dark colored jacket – a bad combination to be sure. The dog has issues. She doesn’t like it when the truck changes speed to a slower speed or stops when she doesn’t get to get out. She began to fuss. I turned around to comfort her when I noticed my husband’s hi-vis vest sitting on the back seat near the dog. Duh! The next time he came back to the truck, I handed him the vest. This must have jogged his safety brain because he remembered we had some orange cones in the storage hatch of the trailer. He put those out too. Things were brightening up outside.
After about an hour, the AAA guy showed up and gave him a hand with changing the tire. As it turns out, having a AAA guy change your tire the first time out on a new-ish truck is a really good idea. The instructions in the owner’s manual for how to get the spare out aren’t real clear. The demonstration was a huge help. Once the tire was changed, my husband, in all his high visibility, hitched the trailer back up and we were on our way.
Once we arrived at the RV park, we quickly set up the trailer and made a bee-line for the supermarket. It was probably about 9 p.m. We broke our own 8 O’clock rule (See my 8 O’Clock Rule Blog Post), but it wasn’t really our fault. We were thinking up what we might like to cook up really fast for dinner. A steak perhaps. Maybe a pasta dish. A nice salad on the side … it was going to be delicious!
We got to the supermarket and low and behold, it was closed! What supermarket closes at 9 p.m.? Aren’t they all open until at least midnight?
Okay fine! We’ll head to one of the many restaurants in Leavenworth – no problem. Guess what – closed! Yep! It was still the “off season” for tourists. Why stay open past 9 p.m.? It probably isn’t cost-effective. Ok fine! We’ll drive through McDonalds. No problem, right? They have to be open! We got all the way to the place where you place your order and the girl got on and said, “Um, we’re closed. We had to close because our cash registers went down.” Really? How is it possible that there is no food available in the whole town after 9 p.m.?
We headed back to the trailer. Surely, I’d have some emergency type food in the cupboards, right? After all, we are Emergency Workers for our city on the Communications Team. We have go-bags for goodness sake! 3 days – 3 ways… We had a whole go-trailer, right? Wrong! Our team leader would have been disgusted with our lack of preparedness! Not only was our trailer not go-worthy, but neither of us had a go-bag! The trailer had a can of diced tomatoes – not much you could do with that without anything to go with it. There were no cans of soup, nothing but milk and juice in the fridge … basically nothing. It was probably the worst food packing job we have ever done in the history of our RVing! I ate a big bowl of ice cream. I can’t remember what my husband ate.
The next morning when I returned from walking the dog, I saw groceries on the counter! There were eggs, sausage, biscuits, juice, and fruit! There was coffee in the coffee pot. I was a little surprised that my husband was up and had made it to the store and back while we were gone. He told me he was hungry and highly motivated.
Now, we keep 2 cans of soup in the trailer at all times … for emergencies. We haven’t had a food crisis since this time. As I’ve said so many times, pretty much everything we’ve learned about RVing has been by making mistakes. It was yet another mistake where we made a new rule. “Always keep soup in the trailer.”
Next Trailer Girl Blog: Holiday Gift Ideas for RVers – Some of my Favorite Things
If you were to talk to my kids when they were between the ages of about 10 and 17, you would have thought they lived with Mrs. Hannigan from “Annie” and were suffering a hard knock life. They were sure that no one on the planet had as many chores as they had. I’m pretty sure they were wrong. When it came to our RV trip, it was all about family teamwork and making sure that no one carried the lion’s share of the work. Here’s how we worked it when we traveled with our kids.
The Planner – That’s me. I am an OCD planner. I like to have reservations lined up, meals planned, some activities planned and booked, etc. It works that I took this job because no one else wanted it or loves this kind of thing. My husband teases me on a big trip when I show up with a folder full of copies of our RV park reservations, waivers for things like white water rafting, printed out recipes, etc. Once we’re at an RV park, I grab all kinds of brochures for local things to do and see and add them to the folder. I get called, “Julie the Cruise Director.”
The packers – It has always been my job to pack the food into the trailer. Everyone is in charge of packing their own stuff. We have collapsible crates that we use for packing clothes and such into the trailer. We bought our first trailer when my son was four. He helped me pack his crate at first, but by the time he was five or six, he did his own. I made the kids lists so that they didn’t forget things. After a while, they didn’t need the lists anymore. We did, however, have to stop a few times for underwear. One time, my husband and I reminded the kids over and over to pack their swimsuits. They did great! My husband and I forgot ours … after all of that kid nagging we did!
The Driver – That’s my husband. No one else wanted this job … or was old enough for it most of the time. I drove some with our first trailer, but only on straight, flat roads, and never backwards.
The backing guide – In the early days, that was me and a walkie talkie. When my son got older, he did this some too. When he was about 10, he loved standing on the tongue of the trailer and guiding my husband to the hitch and did this with tremendous and kind of hilarious enthusiasm.
The car clean-up team – This was a kid job. When we arrived at an RV park, their job was to make sure the dog got a little walk and clean up the inside of the car. By the time we would arrive at an RV park, our car was full of snack trash, drink cups, and whatever activity the kids did to pass the time such as movies or video games.
Outside trailer hook-up & leveling – This is also my husband. When my son got older, he helped with this some. Now that we’re kid-less, my husband is on his own … with his auto-leveling system.
The inside of the trailer setter-upper – That’s my job and I love it! One of my favorite parts of getting somewhere is setting up the trailer and making it feel homey and cozy.
The Cook – That’s me. I plan and shop for all of the meals. I love to cook. I love the challenge of cooking on the road. I love my trailer job!
My happy Sous-chef
The Sous-chef – This is the cook’s helper. Usually, this was a kid. The sous-chef does whatever is needed (age appropriate of course). Cheese grating is a big one because I hate grating cheese.
The table-setter& Dog feeder – That job goes to whomever isn’t cooking or the sous-chef. In our first trailer, when the kids got older, we were very short on room. This job often went to whomever was sitting near the dishes drawer at the time.
The dish-washer – This was and still is usually me and I don’t really mind. I think that comes from my kitchen cleaning OCD I inherited from my mother. It was my job growing up to clean up the kitchen. She was a stickler for shiny faucets, clean stove, etc. Kitchen clean-up is all part of the dish-washing for me.
The dish-dryer – This job was always up for grabs. My daughter got it more often than not. Sometimes, someone else would put the dishes away after she was done drying them. It was like an assembly line from the sink to the dish-drawer. It worked well – especially when our trailer was so small.
The dumper – Mid-trip, that could be anyone that could tell the black tank handle from the grey tank handle. Our first trailer needed the gray tank dumped on an emergency basis sometimes. We’d hear from someone yelling from the shower, “The water isn’t going down the drain!!!!” Time to dump the tank. The short straw went to whomever was dressed in something other than pajamas. At the end of the trip, this is my husband. He makes sure everything is done right, tanks are cleaned, and all the hoses are put back where they belong.
The trash taker-outer – This was often my son. It’s a good job for an 8-year old boy. In our first trailer, we didn’t think through the trash situation and only had room for a little wastebasket under the kitchen sink. 4 people and a dog = a lot of trips to the dumpster with little bags of trash.
The dog-walker – It depends on the time of day who gets this job. I get up in the morning and do the morning shift. After that, it’s up for grabs. Of course, if we’re somewhere where we can take the dog for a hike or out to whatever activity we’re doing, all the better.
The laundry boss – That’s me. I try my hardest not to do laundry on a trip. But, when we were traveling in a 25-foot trailer with two kids, it was often impossible on a two-week trip. When we ended up in a laundromat, the kids helped more. Most of the time, it was just me and the RV park laundry. On a two-week trip, the time spent in the laundry room of an RV park was often welcome quiet time.
Trailer-tidy – This is everyone’s job. In our trailer, everyone is to make their bed and are in charge of keeping their stuff picked up and out of people’s way. In our first trailer, our bunkhouse room was where all of our little trailer closets were. There were four bunks used by only two kids most of the time. The kids used the bunks that weren’t getting slept in as added storage sometimes (to my shagrin). My daughter was an avid reader and couldn’t go on a trip without a crate of books. How could she possibly choose two or three books to pack on a trip? She might change her mind! Her crate could be found on her non-sleeping bunk. If anyone’s stuff was in someone’s way, we’d say they were “oozing” and it was time for them to clean up. Did this always go smoothly? Nope!
Cussing day – That’s what we call sheet changing day. It’s always been my job to change the sheets. The name for this came about because, in our first trailer, changing the sheets was difficult, and painful! The queen bed was actually a short queen and the mattress was wedged into a rear slide out that was exactly the same size as the mattress. I scraped many a knuckle on the wall trying to change the sheets almost every time. Our bunkhouse room had all of the basement storage underneath it. So, it wasn’t a full height room. By the time we sold the trailer, no one could stand up fully in the bunkhouse. When the kids were little, it was perfect. When I changed the sheets on the bunks, I invariably hit my head on the crank for the antenna, scraped my knuckles on their walls, knocked the curtains down … you name it. Sometimes, a bad word or two slipped out. Now, we still call it cussing day, but it just means we’re changing the sheets. No cussing happens anymore because the sheets are much easier to change on our walk around queen bed.
When the trip was over and it was time to break camp, everyone was in charge of cleaning up their stuff. The kids were in charge of taking care of the dog and setting up the car for their ride. I cleaned up the inside of the trailer. My husband took care of the outside of the trailer.
On big trips, we tied a spending money allowance to the chores our kids did. This helped with the “enthusiasm” for the chores and some of the whining about them. Our trips and our chore system was far from perfect. Our chores at home were similar and were met with the same “enthusiasm” and whining. At home, as they grew up, we had them do more and more of their chores on their own – like laundry. It might have been easier to just do the darned chores ourselves. Where would the life lessons be in that? Everyone has their own tolerance for dealing with kids and every parent has to choose which battles they are willing to get into with their kids. In the end, I’m glad we stuck out the chore battle.
Here’s the thing. Our kids our now 21 and 24. As they grew up and got jobs, they were always very employable. My son liked doing things like yard work and odd jobs for people. He had a little business we liked to call, “Odd Job Inc.” People would tell us what great workers our kids were. When my daughter babysat, she was often the first sitter that anyone would call because she not only took great care of the kids, but the parents came home to a tidy house and a cleaned-up kitchen. Now, my son is a US Marine and my daughter is an EMT. I’m not 100% sure that all those chores we made them do taught them to be independent, but I’d like to think so.
When my daughter went off to college, during her first year in the dorms, she once said incredulously, “There are people here that don’t even know there’s a lint catcher in the dryer!” I said, “you’re welcome.”
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For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to kids with special needs. As early as elementary school, my parents introduced me to a girl with special needs. In high school, I talked the teachers into letting me help in the special education PE class instead of taking a general PE class so long as I took all the required PE tests. I went on to study Therapeutic Recreation and guess what? You got it! I found myself working with kids with special needs during my studies. I now run a community based non-profit youth orchestra program. At some point, I realized, we had an oddly high ratio of students who had siblings with special needs and on top of that, we had a mom who was a Music Therapist. It was meant to be that we would start a music program for students with special needs. I love the time I get to spend with these kids. They’ve taught me a lot about life. Much of what I’ve learned, and am continuing to learn, can be applied to RVing.
I must put out this disclaimer. I am not a parent of a kids with special needs. I can’t even pretend to know what it’s like to live with the challenges of special needs 24/7. I am a person who gets the privilege or working with these kids for a short time each week. This blog post is written from that perspective. I believe kids with special needs are a gift. I don’t like to call them “disabled” because I don’t believe they are. Perhaps they are unable to independently do the tasks that are considered “normal” by society, but so what? These kids have super-powers that allow them to see the world and enjoy things in a completely different way. Here are just a few of the many gifts in the form of life lessons that I’ve received from these kids that have helped me enjoy life a little more simply and have a lot more fun.
1. Enjoy the moment– This may be the hardest one to apply to life when it comes down to it. You don’t find kids with special needs fretting about politics, their bank account, or the next thing they’re going to do. They enjoy what’s in front of them … in the moment. Often times, we fret about too many things we can’t control. In these times, we get irritated about things like politics, other people’s driving, comments on Facebook … you name it! We spend too much time trying to control things that we can’t. In the end, it’s a waste of energy and a joy-sucker.
When on a trip, I try to just enjoy what’s in front of me in the moment. I love watching kids run around in an RV park. I love National Parks and looking at the views, checking out their historic buildings, and taking hikes. It’s hard sometimes, but I try not let the stresses at home, things going on at work, politics on Facebook, or the news suck the joy out of my moments. One of the many gifts of RV travel is terrible internet access. Going off the grid can help me gain perspective on what to enjoy in the moment and the stresses that I can save for later or ignore all together.
On one trip (that wasn’t an RV trip), my husband and I went to Yosemite. It was January and we were planning to go snowshoeing. The weather didn’t cooperate. There was no snow on the ground and none in the weather forecast. So, we left our snowshoes at home and packed our hiking gear instead. Just before we left, my father in law was diagnosed with cancer and was hospitalized. My mom was also starting to have mysterious health problems. After talking with both sets of parents, it was determined that there was nothing we could do to help and that we should continue with our plans and go on the trip. If you’ve ever been to Yosemite, you probably remember the terrible cell phone reception. What a blessing that turned out to be! We had good reception on our hikes when we got to the top of things (like waterfalls) and at the hotel. This is where we’d return the calls and check in on the parents. The poor cell phone reception allowed us to compartmentalize the crises going on, enjoy the moments, and then deal with the crises when we were ready to do so. We lost both my father in law and my mom shortly after the trip. People asked us after the trip, “So…was it a… good trip? Was it ruined..?” We both agree that it was a good trip and that it allowed us to enjoy moments instead of fret over things we couldn’t control.
2. When it gets to be too much, take a break – Kid with special needs can become easily over-stimulated. In this fast-past world with information bombarding us all the time, we could all learn to become more aware of when we are becoming over-stimulated. I think that those of us without special needs have become desensitized and a bit numb to it all. We don’t realize how overwhelmed we’re getting until it’s too late or we’ve spun ourselves into a grumpy tizzy and wonder how we got there. One of the beautiful things about RVing is the ability to get away for a weekend fairly easily. When work, life, and the world get to be too much for us, we escape to a happy place … which is pretty much anywhere our trailer can go with us. We keep a copy of “Office Space” in our trailer for when we’re escaping work stresses. Inappropriate language aside, the movie is hilarious. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to go “Office Space” and smash a piece of office equipment! Taking some time out and poking fun at what stresses us, can be good for us and make Mondays a little better.
Sometimes a person needs to take a step back in the middle of the trip. I remember one time, we were on the second to the last day of a 10 or 12 day trip. We were traveling in our 25-foot trailer with no slides-outs. The kids were on my last nerve. Normally, taking out the trash isn’t my trailer job. This night, I volunteered. My husband got the cue and didn’t worry when I was gone for an hour … taking out the trash. I needed a break.
3. Routine is a good thing – Kids with special needs like their routines. In our music groups, we have a certain order for the songs. If we skip one, the students let us know! It’s important to them that they have the routine. With RVing, I have routines! For instance, I get up every morning, walk the dogs, get back, and have my coffee. I like this routine. It gets my day started right. I have a routine for cleaning up and preparing the inside of the trailer for travel. If this routine is interrupted, bad things happen! Doors don’t get latched and fall off the tracks. Refrigerator bars don’t get put in and food gets spilled in the refrigerator. I forget to put the toilet tank deodorizing chemicals in the toilet. Don’t mess up my routine! Routines are important!
4. Change your perspective – One of the most fascinating things about kids with special needs is how they look at things. This is especially true of kids who have autism. I have watched kids who are playing with a set of egg shakers, for instance, and instead of looking at them from the perspective of sitting on the floor and looking down on them, some kids will get at eye level with the egg shakers and look at them from where they lay – on the ground. I can only guess at why they do this, but for some reason, the change of perspective brings on a new kind of delight. Simply going on a trip can change your perspective and your attitude. Let’s face it, sometimes when you’re RVing, things don’t go your way. Tires blow out, tow vehicles break down, lunch takes forever and makes you later to your destination…stuff happens! I try to change my thinking from “this is a bummer” to “what are we learning?” or “what’s funny in this situation?” or “what’s going to be funny later?” Sometimes, I just think about dinner and how I’m going to change up what I’m making because we’re going to get to our destination late. I have to admit, my ability to have a better attitude about things going sideways is much better when I’m on a trailer trip because my perspective changes as soon as we leave the house!
5. Be helpful – In the photo for this blog post is Jacqueline. She has autism. She’s also a trailer girl. She takes a special bus from school to our group and gets there early. She is my “side-kick.” She helps with set up and seems to enjoy it. There are other students who come early and ask, “Can I help?” RVing has chores. One thing my husband and I have learned over 28+ years of marriage is when one of us is flustered or frustrated, things go better when the other stays calm and asks, “can I help?” In our family everyone has a trailer job. We’ll talk more about that in my next blog post.
6. Laugh easily – Jacqueline, and many of our students with special needs have low humor thresholds. By this, I mean they find things funny … a lot! Even when they maybe aren’t funny. Finding the humor in things is always helpful – especially on vacation. Things go wrong – or not as planned. Was there anything funny about it? Look hard … there probably was! To this day, we still laugh about backing our trailer at the Canadian border. (See previous blog post about our doomed Canada trip). We have lots of little mishaps from our trips that are funny, at least to us.
7. Enjoy people! – One of my favorite things about kids with special needs is how they love other people! They find delight in bumping into someone they know at the store. They don’t worry about the other person’s background, what kind of car they drive, if what they’re wearing doesn’t match … they don’t care! They are the most wonderfully non-judgmental people! They care that the person is happy to see them too. What if we all just enjoyed other people because they were people? Not because they think like us Not because they “belong.” Not because they are popular. Just because they are a person. What a different world this would be!
I love people! I find them entertaining. I love people watching. One of my favorite things to do in my trailer is to sit at my dining table and watch other people in the RV park. They are so entertaining! I like visiting with people when I’m out walking the dogs or taking out the trash. Just this last trip, a kid taught me a new word when describing his dog, “suspicious-ist.” I love this stuff!
8. If one sparkly happy face sticker is good, two or six is even better – At our music group, we just finished our summer camp. One part of our camp is crafts. We do a lot with those squishy stickers that are easy to peel and stick. I love the way the kids decorate their crafts with these! There is random, sparkly, gaudy, joy in their creations. What are the little things that bring you joy that you can add to your RV or collect along the way? I have my National Park pictures that I frame and hang in the trailer. I have also been collecting dishtowels from places we’ve been and hang them in the trailer. I change them out with each trip as a reminder of a past trip.
9. Eat the good stuff – At the end of our summer music camps, we normally have the kids put on a show with all of the songs and dances they learned. We culminate the show with a pot-luck lunch. Sadly, this year, we couldn’t do the pot-luck since sharing food during a pandemic is frowned upon. This pot-luck is always the best. Parents are smart and bring things they know the kids like. One dad drove through McDonalds and picked up a whole bunch of Chicken McNuggets and French fries. Another time, a parent brought a couple of pizzas. Another dad made his daughter’s favorite “taco pasta”. The kids’ plates are a testament to the foods they love. They have nuggets, fries, pizza, taco pasta, and the most colorful cookies available.
On trips, I like to eat the good stuff. I try to keep it healthy, but I also try to remember the fun stuff. For instance, I don’t normally have chips with my sandwich when I’m at home because I’m trying to eat healthy. I pack chips on trips! Maybe trips can have some delicious traditions. For us, our trip food indulgence is pie. We love to find pie on our trips. Perhaps it’s because I make the worlds ugliest (yet still tasty) pies know affectionately in our family as “pie salads”. Or, maybe the hunt is part of the fun. Maybe both. I recently made a dish that we often have on trailer trips and we were home. My husband remarked, “I feel like we should be in our trailer.” Trailer food should be the good stuff!
10. Dance like no one is watching – Anyone who knows me will tell you that I lack rhythm and coordination. There is no way that I could ever be trained to be a professional dancer. In our music group, we dance! We do goofy dances to goofy songs. We get out scarves and wave them around. We have ribbon wands we fling into the air. My kids with special needs and I boogie like there’s no one watching and it’s fun! We enjoy the movement. Stretching your arms and legs, wiggling, and flapping your arms like a bird is fun! OK, so I don’t get out of my trailer, crank up the music and dance like no one is watching. However, I do make sure I move! It makes the trip better! Walk, hike, wiggle to the music in the truck – just move! Have fun doing it! It also helps with the “eat the good stuff” advice.
11. When all else fails, get out the parachute – There are times in our music group when things go south. Kids have bad days just like us. They get out of sorts. They have trouble understanding why they didn’t get their way and get the big drum. There was one such day when all heck seemed to be breaking loose. We had one girl screaming in the corner, “I want to be a pirate!!” (We weren’t even doing anything pirate related). Another kid that was disturbed by her screaming and beginning to melt down. Another that couldn’t sit still. And, yet another, who was stimming (making strange sounds that help soothe himself). It was a fiasco! What did we do? We got out the parachute! As soon as we did, the focus changed to the big colorful thing in the middle of the room. The kids were mesmerized. We turned on music and began making the parachute go up and down together. They focused. They smiled. They worked as a team. At the end of the group, when asked what their favorite part was. Guess what it was. Of course! It was the parachute!
Sometimes that’s what we need to do on an RV trip … or in life… take a minute to find our parachute. Why are we on this trip? What is important? Who is important. In our 16 plus years of RVing, there have been some annoying moments. There have been kids melting down. Heck! There have been parents melting down. But, in the end, what do we remember? We remember who we were with and what we saw, did, and sometimes, what we ate. We remember the good stuff! Focus on the good stuff!
A parachute help our group focus.
I am grateful that I have the pleasure of working with kids with special needs each week. They continue to teach me things. They crack me up on a regular basis. They spread joy! It’s hard to come out of our music groups in a grumpy mood. You really have to try hard to be grumpy in that group. So, I don’t try. I enjoy the moments!
Enjoy your trips! Enjoy your moments!
Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Everyone needs a Trailer Job
In our 16 years of RVing, we’ve always had at least one dog who comes with us most of the time. Our dogs love trailer trips! Our trailer lives in a storage place. When it comes up to the house to get it ready for a trip, our dogs know we’re going somewhere, and they get very excited about it! Over the years we’ve learned more and more about bringing the dogs and when not to bring them. I should probably point out that we are not full-timers. Our longest trips are usually around 2 weeks. As you’re reading this, take away anything that helps and leave the rest. I know for a fact that some of this won’t apply if you’re full timing (sorry about that!). Also, we have no experience traveling with cats. I know people do, but we can’t help you with that. (again, sorry about that!).
If you’ve read any of my blog posts, you’ll know I am a bit of neat freak. I also don’t like doing extra work on vacation. Bringing a dog or two along on a trip can be a bit of a struggle in this regard. I’ve learned to reconcile my love of traveling with my dogs and inner neat freak. Here’s how I handle things. (Note: check the bottom of this blog post for links).
Dog hair – I hate dog hair dust bunnies! Whenever I leave to go to work, I tell my dogs, “Leave your hair on!” They never listen! I found a good vacuum for keeping after the dog hair and I use I almost every day. I also use a swiffer to pick it up. I have learned to not even bother trying to sweep it out of the trailer as it just floats back in. I also brush out my dogs after our morning walk each day.
Mud prints – We live and travel in the Pacific Northwest. Mud is a constant issue. We keep a mud colored (some people might call it “taupe”) towel by the door so we can wipe off their feet when we come in from a walk and before they track mud all over the trailer. I also keep floor cleaner and a mop handy in case.
Rugs are your friends! – We have a Waterhog rug by the door. It’s a big help with collecting dirt and mud from the dogs’ feet and ours. I recently discovered Ruggables. Ruggables are magical rugs that don’t slip and are 100% machine washable and dryable. They come out beautifully! I don’t have any in my trailer but have them in the house and I’ll probably never buy a rug that isn’t either a Waterhog or a Ruggable ever again!
Dogs need their place. – Our dogs have their beds. We had another dog that needed her kennel at night. What does your dog need, so he knows where his spot is in your trailer?
Behavior – I’ve heard it said, “A tired dog is a good dog.” I totally agree! We involve our dogs in our day as much as possible. They love new smells, hikes, drives in the truck, and generally exploring with us. We do our best to make sure our dogs are tired from having fun! It usually makes us tired too! We all sleep better!
Keep up with their routine – You’ll all be happier campers if you do. My dogs go for a walk each morning after I get up. I plan that into my trailer routine, or should I say, they plan it into my trailer routine. They wake me up at walk time and let me know it’s morning … even if I try to explain that I’m on vacation and I’d like to sleep in. An RV park gets low marks from me if I can’t find a nice, safe place to walk a couple of miles with my dogs in the morning. My husband is the night guy. He takes them on what we call, “Nine-O’clock gosies outsies.” Every night at around 9 p.m., he takes them out on a little walk about for their last time before they go to bed.
We don’t always bring our dogs with us. We believe there are times when it isn’t really fair to the dogs if we bring them along. We have been lucky to find great house and dog sitters in cases where we think it’s best to leave them at home. Here’s how we decide.
Will we be going to a National Park? – If the answer is yes, then the dogs stay home. Most National Parks don’t allow dogs on their trails. The dogs would have to stay in the trailer all day. It wouldn’t be fair to them and potentially, they could be a disturbance to others in the RV park if they bark or whine while you’re away. Having said all that, check the website for the National Park you’ll be visiting. They may allow dogs, or they may have kennels you can use.
Will we be going to an amusement park? – We love to take our trailer to Disneyland. We would never bring our dogs on an amusement park RV trip. We are amusement park geeks and like to close the place down at night. This would create a situation where the dogs would have to stay in the trailer too long during the day. Again, not fair to the dogs or others staying in the RV Park.
How long are our driving days? – If it’s more than say, 4 hours, we leave the dogs at home. This could change when we retire and are able to travel more at off season times. We are usually traveling in July for our longer trips. If we’re going more than 4 hours from home, it’s usually hot where we’re going. We like being able to make stops along the way without worrying about what to do with the dogs while we go inside a restaurant for lunch for example. We’ve seen people with dogs on long trips stopped at rest stops. They do a great job with their dogs. We just think our dogs (and us) would have a better time if the dogs stayed home and stuck with their routine.
Are we going to be able to get them enough exercise? – On shorter trips where we’re planning a lot of hiking (where dogs are allowed on the trails), we love bringing the dogs! For instance, we traveled to Winthrop, Washington and camped there for a week. On the way, we ate lunch at a place on the way that allowed dogs on their deck. Our dogs loved it! We hiked all over the place in the North Cascades on trails that allowed dogs. They got a ton of exercise and were in dog heaven! They were also tired! If we went out to dinner at night, they were quiet in the trailer because they were happy and tired. We took another trip to Cannon Beach, OR that was a five night trip. The dogs loved the walks, running and playing on the beach, and the campfires.
Other things to consider:
Before you travel with your dog – Make sure your dog is good on a leash and behaves around other people and kids. You can teach this by walking your dog in your neighborhood, introducing him to kids, and letting people pet him or her. My dogs like to go to Starbucks! I tie them up while I run inside and get my drink. They often get lots of extra attention from other Starbucks patrons who are passing by them. They love it! It’s also taught them a lot about how to behave in other places. Before ever leaving them alone outside at Starbucks, I took them with a friend and we took turns going to grab our drinks. This way, they learned that I come back out and that they don’t need to fuss or bark – all under the watchful eye of my friend.
Check the RV Park’s pet policies – You may have a “banned” breed. Some RV parks ban certain breeds like Dobermans, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds. We have a rescue dog who is a German Shepherd mix. She is a submissive type dog who is timid around strangers. As my husband says, “Try to get bit by her!” We think it’s fairly impossible. We were also told that she may be part Aussie. So, when an RV park asks for breed of dog, we say that she’s an Aussie Mix. Our little “un-banned” breed dog has a greater potential for being a troublemaker!
Use a leash! – We stayed at an RV park one time and the people next door to us had Dobermans. The people let them roam free off leash. The RV Park didn’t pay any attention to what was going on in their park. I’m sure the people trained their dogs and that they were good, but I wasn’t going to test it by bringing my dogs out of the trailer while their dogs were out. It created a situation where we were “hold up” in our trailer. Not cool! Even if you have the best-off leash dog on the planet, put your dog on a leash in the RV park. Not only is it usually a law, but it’s better for everyone in the park.
Dog Parks– Many RV parks have dog parks. If your dog is a dog park dog, you might look for this feature.
Pick up after your dog – Bring lots of poop bags! Always clean up after your dog in the RV Park, on hikes, etc.
Is your dog a flight risk? – Our little dog is named “Chase.” Chase is his favorite game! If he gets out the door, we have to chase him all over the place and he’s fast! We work really hard at “sit” and “wait” when I open the door, but every now and then, he escapes! I have a “Whistle” on him. This is a GPS tracker that pairs with an app on my phone. So, if he gets lost, I can find him on a map. It also tracks his activity kind of like a Fitbit. I get a text every day that says, “Chase met his activity goal today!” With the Whistle, I can make my house/dog sitter one of his “people” while we’re gone. That way, if the dog-sitter has an issue, she’ll be able to hunt him down. It’s also fun to see where they go on walks and runs. Conversely, if the dog isn’t getting walked, I can see that too and check in to make sure everything is OK. One time, our dog-sitter hurt her knee while running our dogs. So, I had to enlist the help of a neighbor to get the dogs walked.
Our dogs have been a fun part of our RVing experience. When they’re not with us, we miss them and catch ourselves trying to block them from coming out the door when we come back from our exploring. Our dogs love the truck, the trailer, the hikes, the new smells, and everything about a trip! I guess dogs need vacations too!
Dog Packing List
Dog dishes (mine live in the trailer – one less thing to remember!)
Dog Food
Treats
Leash
Brush
Foot wiping towel
Dog jackets (I use these when it rains – less dog to dry)
Poop Bags
“Place” (bed, rug, kennel – whatever your dog needs to have his own spot in the trailer)
If you already own an RV, I’m probably preaching to the choir. If you’re just thinking about one, maybe these thoughts will push you toward a purchase. One of the best things about owning an RV is the ability to pick up and go at fairly short notice. Even if the trip is an apparent bust, there’s value in just getting away. This is a tale of one such trip and it’s benefits.
It was during the middle of our current pandemic. Both my husband and I were working from home … in the same office … (10’x10’). It’s also just us in the house. Our nest is empty. For just the two of us, it’s a LOT of togetherness! In fact, because we already know how each other’s day has been, we’ve given up having dinner together at the kitchen table and have moved to eating in front of the television with the Reagan’s (you know, the family from the show “Blue Bloods”). As much as we love our house and what we can see out of our windows, we were in dire need of a change of scenery.
Of course, during the COVID-19 pandemic, “they” decided that all outdoor fun should be stopped including camping. Many RVers, including us, have been scratching our heads wondering why. We are self-contained. They can close off their restrooms, laundry, showers, etc. and just let us in! As it turns out, many of the fun places didn’t want people from other places bringing germs. Well, fine then! We found one RV park open in McMinnville, Oregon which is about 4 hours away. My husband was delighted because there is an In-N-Out Burger 40 minutes from the RV park and it was open. It would be the highlight of his trip. For me, just looking out a different window was going to help.
Pretty much everything in McMinnville was closed. We could get wine from a winery if we ordered ahead. There is what appears to be a fantastic air museum right next door to the RV park – closed. Oregon was pretty much closed! So what?!
The RV Park was lovely. It was beautifully landscaped and a really nice place to walk the dogs. It was adjacent to the nicest mobile home park I have ever seen. It was nice to walk around in there. I am sure it’s home to some master gardeners. Their yards were well maintained and gardens were gorgeous. One thing I discovered on my dog walks was a path that led to the air museum. Even though the air museum was closed, we were able to see plenty of planes they had outside and peek in the windows. It was like a re-con mission for the next time we come. The air museum is definitely on our list!
We made our trek to In N Out. When we arrived, there was about a million cars. (OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but not by much! There were a LOT of cars!). They were into the street and then, lined up into the sports arena parking lot near-by. There were some In-N-Out employees directing traffic like the Disneyland parking lot. It was an impressive operation! That is, until we stopped moving. We scrolled through our phones for a while and then realized it had been about ten minutes without moving at all. My husband got out of the car and asked one of the In N Out kids how long it takes to get to the front of the line. The kid told him it would be about three hours before we had burgers in our hands. Not even my In N Out mongering husband thought a Double Double was worth a three hour wait! We left and found our lunch someplace else.
That was pretty much the entire excitement of our trip. A four hour drive for seemingly nothing! But, wait! There’s really more! Here are some things we found beneficial.
A beautiful drive – The Willamette Valley is beautiful! It was nice to look at some different scenery.
Together time – Yes, we’ve had way too much of that lately, but it was together time someplace else. That changes things. We end up talking about other things. We see different things out the windows. We look at different walls.
Great food – We’ve been cooking a lot at home. Trailer food is different. We choose things that are easy to clean up and delicious. Trailer food tastes like vacation!
No computers – We rarely bring computers with us when we travel. We are usually trying to get away from work. This was no exception. We each have ipads and can check email if necessary, but we avoid it. It makes a nice mental break from work.
Nothing=Relaxing – Doing nothing can be quite relaxing! We caught up on some reading and just enjoyed some down time. It was nice to turn our brains off for a while.
When we returned from our trip, people asked how our trip was, and we said, “great!” They asked what we did, and we answered, “pretty much nothing.” Of course, we could have done nothing from home, but where’s the fun in that? When you do nothing at home, you’re still looking at the same walls, the same windows, etc. and probably feeling guilty about not doing something like the laundry.
It doesn’t take a pandemic to get these sort of benefits from getting away. In fact, during normal non-pandemic times, the benefits are even greater, in my opinion. Getting away means getting away from even more than just working from home. It means getting away from busy-ness, routines, and maybe a hectic lifestyle. During non-pandemic times, here are some added benefits.
Outdoor recreation – I’m a huge fan of hiking, kayaking, and exploring the outdoors. For me, all of the fresh air and exercise helps clear my mind and melts stress!
Retail therapy – Some of the places we go are cute towns with cute shops. I love poking around in these shops. In fact, in one of our regular get away places, I actually put money aside and bring a list of things to shop for. They have great shoes, my favorite jeans brand, a spice place, and a wine shop. They also have fun art galleries to look in.
Local cuisine – You might eat out near home frequently, but if you’re like us, you have familiar places you go to eat. We love checking out a restaurant near where we camp. When we camped near Glacier National Park, we found an awesome burrito place. In one of our favorite places, we have so many places we like to eat, we pretty much quit packing groceries except for coffee and some breakfast things because we like so many of the local restaurants.
Time in the truck – Most of the time, when there’s not a pandemic where we are home alone … together …. all the time, we have been busy with our jobs, house and yard projects, and other obligations. The time in the truck allows us some time to catch up with each other on the way to our destination. Sometimes we just listen to music and make fun of signs and sights out the window. Sometimes, when we’re busy, and we know we have a trip coming up, we’ll table a discussion item and say, “we should talk about that in the truck.” Note: this would be for non-urgent items but things that need discussion such as, “should we fix the fence this summer, or do you think we can get another summer out of it.” The time in the truck is a great buffer between the stresses of home and the hustle and bustle of getting ready for a trip and the destination. It makes the destination that much more relaxing.
For me, a trailer trip is an attitude adjustment. My stress begins to melt as soon as we’re driving out of our neighborhood. (Of course, my husband is the driver. I would guess his stress doesn’t begin to melt until the trailer is set up at our campsite). I come back from trips more relaxed, well rested (because most of the time, I’ve gotten so much fresh air and exercise), and more ready to take on the challenges of day to day life. I also come back ready to take my next trip.
Can you get the same benefits from say, a trip to Hawaii? Of course! And, you can get a tan to go with it! But, can you take off to Hawaii once a month? Can you get there in just a few hours? I love a good “normal person’s” vacation just as much as the next person, but I always miss my trailer! I miss all of my creature comforts, the easy access to the fridge and snacks, my coffee pot, etc. I’m a trailer girl. It’s how I roll! You’ll have to make your own decisions about how you like to get away. But, do get away! You’ll be glad you did! As my good friend and neighbor once told me, “You never regret the trips you take. Only the ones you don’t.”
Next Trailer Girl Blog – Traveling with Dogs. They love trailers too!
Are you stuck at home? Are you chomping at the bit to go camping in your RV? Are you watching for RV parks to open back up and thinking to yourself, “open … open….open!!” That’s me! Unfortunately, our 5thwheel is too big for driveway camping in our driveway. We’re actually toying with the idea of taking it to a place with a big parking lot with take-out food just so we can have dinner someplace else. We’re getting desperate… Maybe the best thing to do right now, besides dream of the trips you’ll take soon, is to work on little upgrades that will make your future trips a little happier.
We’ve done several small-scale upgrades over the years in our rigs that have made our camping a little happier. There are lots of things you can do! I’ve seen people paint the cupboards and walls of the inside of their rigs, take out tables and build new things where the table once was, re-configure bunk house areas, and other more involved upgrades. These sort of amazing transformation type upgrades are not small scale in my book. The ideas in this blog are not those kinds amazing transformation types of ideas. We like the easy stuff!
Here’s our list of things we’ve upgraded over the years:
TV’s – If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, this is probably the third or fourth time you’ve heard about TV upgrades. The TV’s that come with RV’s aren’t great! We swapped them out with Smart TV’s and it’s awesome! RV Park wi-fi is sketchy, but we run them through the hotspot on my cell phone. We’re able to keep up on our favorite Netflix and Amazon Prime shows. You may be thinking, “I bought this trailer so I can go out in the wilderness and enjoy the great outdoors.” We enjoy the great outdoors as much as anyone, but at the end of a big day outside hiking, grilling a good dinner, and a campfire, it’s pretty great to flop out and watch something other than a pixelated episode of Friends that’s showing on one of two channels that you can get on your antenna.
Faucets – Our first trailer had the world’s dumbest faucet in the kitchen sink. It didn’t have the “arch” and just stuck out over the sink fairly level with the top of the sink. So, when you put a pan in the sink to wash it, you had to flick the water into it. It was ridiculous. Imagine my delight when we accidentally forgot to leave the faucet valves open after a winter trip and found the faucet broken off and laying in the sink! YAY! We got a new, much more functional faucet. After that, we decided not to wait for something to break and just get a faucet we like right off the bat! If you don’t have a faucet with a pull out in your kitchen, you’re missing out on some much easier dishwashing!
Cupboard hardware – Don’t like your knobs? Are they catching your fingers and causing you pain? Swap them out! It’s easy! Go pick out some you like and swap them. Just make sure if you have two holed drawer pulls that your holes are the same distance apart on your new pulls.
Towel bars and TP holders – You know when you go to Home Depot and look at things: the stuff on the Left hand of the aisle is more expensive and the stuff on the right hand of the aisle is the cheapest? So, when you look at towel bars and TP holders, the nicer ones are on the left and the super cheap ones are on the right. The ones on the right are the ones that come with RVs. Sometimes they’re even fancy colors like gold that you might hate! Donate them and buy some that you like! If your rig comes with already installed towel bars and TP holder, make sure you’ll cover any holes that are already drilled into the wall.
Hang a picture – Got a favorite picture from a trip? Hang it up! I collect National Park poster art. My RV is a great place to put it. I buy the smaller sized ones and cheap mats and frame them with inexpensive frames. They look great! If the mat doesn’t fit just right, you can use scrapbooking tape that matches your mat to hide the gap. There are lots of ways to hang pictures. Command Strips might work for you. We drill pilot holes through the frame and then screw the frame into the wall with nice looking screws. The downside of this is, when we’ve gone to sell a trailer, we have to empty out the frame and leave the frame with the trailer, starting over in the next rig.
Hooks – It seems obvious once you think about it, but usually isn’t something you think about right off the bat. You don’t normally think about it until you’re wondering where you’ll hang the dog leash or your wet jacket you’re wearing. So, think about it now! Where might you like a hook to hang something? We have a hook in the bathroom for our clothes while we’re in the shower, hooks in the “hallway” for dog leashes and wet coats, hooks in the closet to hang up our PJs, and a broom hook in the pantry for the broom. That’s just us. Put your hooks where they work for you. We use $2 hooks from the hardware store that go with the metal in our trailer.
Drawer and cupboard organizers – No one likes to clean up a jumbled mess first thing when they get to their campsite. Where are your jumbles? Measure the area and find some organizers that fit in your space online (since you can’t go to the Container Store right now). You can check my blog for earlier posts about setting up kitchens, bedrooms, etc. to get more ideas on how to organize and where to find things for organizing.
Mattress – Is your mattress kind of a rock? Do you sink to the middle? Our second trailer had a horrid mattress! We slept on it one trip and ditched it! Comfort is super important when you’re camping (fake camping as it were)! Make sure your mattress works for you! In our current rig, we’ve gotten by with adding a nice topper to the mattress that came with it. In our second trailer, we went to Camping World and bought a memory foam type mattress. Camping World was a good place to shop because it was a short queen bed.
Drawers under the bed – We keep the dirty clothes and laundry supplies in the storage area under the bed. In our second trailer, the hardware that made it so we could lift the mattress to get to the storage was … stupid … We didn’t know it, but it was totally useless! Now that we have our new rig, it’s easy to get in and out of under the bed because the hardware is more functional. When we replaced the mattress in the second rig, the memory foam version was considerably heavier than the horrid mattress that came with the trailer. It took two people to put a pair of dirty socks under the bed. That got annoying. So, we had someone make drawers for the under-bed storage. That was a great improvement and made life much easier. This was a bit spendy, but was totally worth it in the “quality of life” department.
Change your lightbulbs – We didn’t do this, but the guy who bought our second trailer swapped out all the light bulbs with LEDs and says it’s much brighter inside and it’s less strain on the AC/DC converter. For the record, that information comes from my husband, the Electrical Engineer. I wouldn’t have a clue about AC/DC converters. I majored in Recreation. We didn’t have that class!
It’s a tough time in our country right now, and going camping would do a lot to adjust my attitude! I can’t wait to get out! Even if we end up someplace where things are closed, I’d like to look out the window and see something different and maybe walk my dogs someplace different! Or, maybe we’ll just have our take-out dinner in a parking lot in our trailer just to be someplace different. I hope you’ll get out and about in your RV soon. Until then, enjoy thinking about camping and maybe doing some easy upgrades.
Next Trailer Girl Blog – The Value of Just Getting Away
With the Coronavirus going on, you might be home on quarantine wishing you could go to an RV show. You might be doing the next best thing – shopping online for a new rig or maybe just dreaming for the future. You’re probably looking at floorplans and features. A lot of RV manufacturers like to show off some fancy features and try to woo you.
A little background for you about me. In addition to being a bit of a tight wad, I am also “Miss Fancy.” It’s a conundrum. My mom’s nickname for me was “Miss Fancy.” That’s because I was kind of persnickety about a few things. For instance, take me to an antique store and I’m in seventh heaven. Take me into Goodwill, especially the clothing department, and my gag reflex starts going off. That was the case when I was younger. I’m proud to say that if I’m on a hunt for something, I can handle Goodwill. So, maybe now, I’m “Miss Sort of Fancy.” I say this because, the “Miss Fancy” part of me is the part that jumped ship from tent camping to camping in a trailer. My fancy-ness has evolved over my 16 years of RVing to become a little more fancy. Here’s my take on the fancy gadgets they try to woo you with at RV shows. Remember, this is just my opinion. Your needs and opinions may vary. It’s my two cents … for whatever it’s worth to you.
Outdoor kitchens: Some rigs come with extensive outdoor kitchens complete with sinks, refrigerators, and a stove. Our first rig had an outdoor stove. Our second had an outdoor fridge and no stove. I used the outdoor stove only a little and I mostly used it to cook things that would have a lingering odor in the trailer such as clams and bacon. One of my favorite smells is bacon cooking in a campground. Taking it outside to cook was kind of a treat! Our second rig had an outdoor fridge. We thought it would come in handy so we could grab drinks on the road. As it turned out, it didn’t do a good job of keeping drinks cold while we were on the road because the fridge required electrical hookups to keep running. So, we had slightly colder than room temperature drinks on the road. It was kind of nice to have drinks cooling outside in the fridge once we were hooked up. Then, we could transfer them inside the trailer as we had space. It was an OK thing, but kind of a waste of space other than the spare key we hid in the freezer department. My verdict on outdoor kitchens – not worth the money or the space! I’d rather have the storage space to store something more useful.
Washer and Dryers: I have friends that wouldn’t own a rig without a washer/dryer unit. I don’t want one. Here’s why. The first problem is, they have plumbing. It’s one more thing that can leak. Leaks are one of the worst things for an RV. I don’t like doing laundry so much that I would want it going constantly in my rig. I’d rather pony up the quarters and get it done in one fell swoop at the laundromat. I have no idea how noisy they are. I’m sure I wouldn’t like the noise either. It’s also one more thing that has moving parts that could break. I figure, if I’m using the laundry in an RV park or a laundromat, the maintenance and repairs are not my problem … unless they eat my quarters. Space is always an issue in RVs and I would much rather have the space to store things than have a washer and dryer.
Dog bowl drawers: They look like a nice idea in a brochure, but in reality I think they’d be a trip hazard. As one of the world’s clumsiest people and a person who has worked in rehab facilities, I have decided that falling down is basically a bad idea. So, one less thing to trip over. Also, if you have to put the drawer back in while there is still food or water in … eww! What a mess! No thanks! I’d rather flip the dog bowls over accidentally in the trailer and be fully aware that I have made a mess instantly!
Dishwashers: My objections to these are much the same as my objections to the washer and dryer. There is plumbing, it leaks. Moving parts could break. It might be noisy. They’re also small. So, you’re going to have to wash some dishes anyway. I really don’t mind washing the dishes. It’s always been a teamwork thing on our trips.
Theater seating: I always thought theater seats were for wimps. That is, until we had our second rig. The couch was not floppable. Watching movies together as a family was awkward. It just wasn’t very comfortable. Then, we went to a movie theater that had the reclining seats and I was sold. That was going to be a requirement in our next rig. We now have theater seats and I love them!
Heated seats: When we were looking at our current trailer, the dealer was proud to show us that the theater seats were heated and that they had a massage feature. I thought, “Wow, that’s a little over the top, but OK.” Well, the heated seats … let me just say, I’m never going back! I love them! They’re especially great on the first night when it’s chilly out and the rig is still cold. The massage feature just makes me laugh. It’s not so much a massager as a jiggler. When we were kids, my family went on road trips where we stayed at Two Diamond or less motels listed in the AAA trip book. Sometimes these fancy places had beds with a little box you could put a quarter in and get a “massage,” which was more of a jiggle. The massage feature in our chairs makes me think of those funny motel beds.
Fireplace: Try to buy a fifth-wheel without one. I was against them, but when I we started looking at fifth wheels I had to make my peace with them. Luckily over the years, they have gotten better looking. I thought we’d probably never use ours. I was dead wrong. I love that thing! It heats up the living area great and adds a nice cozy feel to the trailer in the evenings when we can’t be outside with a fire in a fire pit. Another plus to the fireplace, it runs on electrical power. So, when you’re fully hooked up and on shore power, it provides heat to your living area without using up propane. One of my favorite things with this rig is when we go to one of our favorite places, there is a place to order take-out chowder. My husband gets the outside all set up and I set up the inside, make salad, and heat up the U-bake bread we bring along. Once he’s done outside, he calls to order up some chowder. I sit and wait in my heated seat and enjoy the fireplace. Miss Fancy … there she is!
Outdoor shower: Our first two rigs each had one. I thought it was going to be a Godsend since we had dogs and a little boy. I figured they’d need to be hosed off outside. It turns out, we mostly used the outside shower for filling up the bucket with the clams we brought back from clamming. In our second trailer, something went wrong and the shower leaked into the trailer. We ended up capping of the pipe to stop the leak which disabled the shower. We never missed it. Our current rig doesn’t have an outdoor shower. We actually could have used one recently when one dog hiked his leg and the other dog got her head in the way. Gross! We ended up working with the hose outside to wash the dog’s head. Everything was fine without the shower!
DVD player: Most rigs come with a built in DVD player. Meh… they’re OK. We’d rather they had a good place to put one that we pick out. We’d pick one with a blue-ray player. We keep talking about buying a blue-ray player for the trailer and never have gotten around to it. We’ve been talking about it since the last trailer….
TV: The TV’s that come with trailers aren’t great. Don’t let them woo you with the TV. We swap them out for smart TV’s. We use my phone as a hotspot and we have access to Netflix, Amazon Prime and a lot of other things. We love having a smart TV in the trailer! You might think that you’ll never watch TV because you’re going into the great outdoors. Well, if you’re boondocking, you’re right! Your TV isn’t going to work unless you run a generator. We generally stay at places with full hookups. I am a big fan of the great outdoors and hiking, but I love to return to my trailer for an evening of flopping out after a hiking day if I can’t have a campfire.
Outdoor TV: I’m not really interested in these, but can see their appeal. Maybe you want to watch a movie with the kids outside while roasting marshmallows. Sounds fun! Maybe you’re a tailgater. Maybe you’re camping with people and want to watch a football game together outside. Cool! My husband is opposed. He wants the space for storage (they usually take up some space in the storage area) and he’s absolutely against sitting still when he might get bit by a mosquito. So, no outdoor TV for us!
I hope that’s given you a little food for thought. If you want to make this long story shorter, I’d say if it has moving parts or if it might leak – think real hard about whether or not having it is worth it to you. If it makes your time in the rig more comfortable, it’s worth it.
Next Trailer Girl Blog: Easy Upgrades for Happier Camping
Trailer Girl's Guide to Happy Camping 