Two reluctant ramblers

October 30, 2023

It’s been 51 days on the road so far. I’ve got to admit, this living in an RV thing was not my dream, it was my husband Paul’s. I went along because everyone deserves to have their dreams come true. And because marriage is about compromise. And when someone you love has always supported your dreams, turnabout is only fair play. Who knows? It may be great, although the cat may not think so.

So far the trip’s been pretty good. I even kind of like it.  We are both tackling new challenges almost daily. Learning to live a new style of life is immersive and requires lots of patience. That’s not always Paul’s strong suit, but he’s getting better at it. Except when the GPS is wrong, swearing commences. Okay, I too get really anxious about that, especially because you can’t backup a 35-foot RV towing a jeep with a bike rack behind it - maneuvers and spots to pull over are very limited. But we figure it out and move on.

Our catchword (is that a word?) for our crazy new life is “pivot.”   You’ve got to be able to pivot. So, what things have made us pivot in these first days?

o   Windshield wipers – test them before you leave.

Ours flapped in the wind like moths trying to escape through a screen for three hours on our first rainy day. After a quick look some parts and pieces were missing - huh? Replaced those pretty darn quick.

o   Gas - schedule your Truck Stop diesel fill-ups into your GPS lest the truck stop is well off the highway and the signage blocked hidden by trees and well, you never see it. Fortunately, we found a commercial gas station further along. We even fit our 13’ high rig under the canopy…… this time.

o   Gas caps – not crucial but ….

Invest in a gas cap that attaches to the rig. Ours is still sitting on a pump in PA. We are in South Carolina.

o   Scheduling stays #1 - one week at a campsite is not enough time to see Washington, DC and visit a sister, 4 nephews, 2 nieces and their offspring. Two weeks probably isn’t either. Or three. Or four.

o   Coffee – plan your withdrawal before you go. There are no Starbucks on the Outer Banks. EEK!

o   Appliance repairs – A new world - do not choose just somebody to fix your dryer even if their billboard says they work on RVs. You may just get an old Southerner with an accent so thick you can barely understand as he grunts slowly up your stairs into the rig. He then stares at the wooden sliding door and frame that hides the appliances and needs to be removed before pulling the dryer off the washer to get a gander at the problem, declaring “I don think I cain help ya” and charges you $150 for showing up.

Call an authorized mobile RV tech (RVTAA) - a much better idea. Thank-you Tim for your courtesy and professional help.

o   Scheduling stays # 2- one week is barely enough time to find a decent restaurant. Time to pivot. Now we’re trying out 10 days to 2 weeks. We’ll let you know what we think.

o   State driving customs – this is not New England - South Caroline roads do not warn you the lane you’re in is about to become right or left turn only. Not anywhere.

o   More state driving customs - South Caroline does not care if you need to make a left hand turn against five lanes of fast-moving backed-up traffic. You wait and wait and wait and swear, still the traffic whizzes by.  Stop stressing - do that maneuver illegal in New England called turn right and make a U-turn. Everyone else here does.

There seems to be an extreme shortage of stop light fixtures in the south. Maybe China refuses to sell them here.

o   Back to GPS – even the best GPS doesn’t always work. It is a surprise when the lady tells you the only bridge directly to the Outer Banks is inoperable and tries to reroute you 4 hours away to get a ferry. One anxious pullover later and a call to Tim (the guy who finally fixed our dryer) convinced us the GPS was wrong.

Luckily, the paranoid passenger brought a paper trucker’s atlas along and guided us onto the island as the GPS lady kept repeating “no access., rerouting, rerouting, rerouting”.  Distrust of the GPS lady is healthy.

That’s about it, only 10 pivots in 51 days. So Not too bad. We’ll see how the next few days go.

 P.S. the cat still needs to adjust a bit.