Life on the Road as a "Most Timer"
Written by:
Reggie & Patsy Collins
Jerry & Carol Dale
We have all left behind a permanent home and opted for one with wheels. We love to travel and explore new places, but we can't pack just a suitcase. When we go somewhere we always have everything at hand. We live in a moving home because we can't be without all of our stuff. Don't make us fly somewhere; we wouldn't know what to pack!
When we moved into our wheeled homes, and became "most timers," we had to try to decide what was so important that we would want to take it with us in the motor home. We decided what to give to the kids or put in our gigantic garage sale. Then we had 2 stacks and, low and behold, the motor home stack was too large to fit into all those compartments. The big challenge was deciding what we REALLY needed in that stack- but we succeeded and were ready to begin this wonderful new lifestyle
The hardest thing to learn is what to live without. We try to avoid Costco unless we shop as a group to divide up the goodies. Have you ever tried to store 36 rolls of toilet tissue or 15 rolls of paper towels? Those are hard habits to break! We have set backs occasionally when we find ourselves shopping alone - it's really hard to resist those bargains.
Trying to figure out how to live together in a very confined space is a whole other challenge and adventure in itself. After a while you get the ground rules figured out and peace and contentment reign.
There were three things we discovered when we finally hit the road. You don't do fast food drive thru's in your motor home, it takes a lot more room to park - but most of all was our new found freedom and friends!
Traveling down the road in a motor home presents some interesting challenges. Imagine wanting to stop at Wal Mart, pulling into the driveway only to find there is an overhead bar erected at 7 feet. Your math skills come into play as you try to remember how tall your coach is (12 feet) and then a moment of panic comes as you try to find a way around this obstacle without backing up.
(Blue Ox Rally Team members NEVER back up!)
When we are ready to stop for the night we begin to search for the perfect campground. We search through the many resources available and give the campground a call to make sure they have room for a "big rig." "Sure, all our sites are big rig compatible." Yeah, right! Once you have arrived there is always a helpful camper who is going to get you in your site. We have finally figured out no matter how many helpful hands are there, we only watch signals from each other. We have our own hand gestures and movements which allow us to get settled on the first try. I sometimes wonder where some of these helpful folks learned their method... maybe it's still in the development stage.
A campground can be peaceful and quiet place with nature all around... or it isn't... depending on how close it is to the interstate. Over the years we have developed a rating system on how close the campground is to the interstate, airport or train track, with extra points for being near a dairy or pig farm! We have actually been in a few that had high marks in all categories with bonus points!
While we are on the move a lot, we do get to stay in one spot for a week or two at a time. We have met some of the most interesting people in campgrounds, some unforgettable and others no matter how hard you try you'll never forget them! We have a decal on our vehicle that states we are a Destination American Rally Team which is a great conversation starter. We have even been able to do a few minor repairs in the campgrounds. So, if you see us in a campground, come over and say "Hi!"
We have great freedom to enjoy this beautiful country we live in and to meet new people as we travel to new places. Like the couple we met at a Thanksgiving dinner at a campground that we kept in touch with via email. This friendship has grown for 6 years - meeting once or twice a year to share a meal and catch up on where we've been and what have we've been doing. We were able to finally spend 3 weeks together over Christmas & the New Year at our new home, providing them a place to park their old motor home & move into their new motor home. We all had a good laugh about how now we know we can spend more than a few hours together.
We also had the opportunity to meet our daughter to hike in the Rockies, raft down the Arkansas & Salmon Rivers or tour New York City. Who says there's not time for family on the road?
Having found a forward looking company, to work for on the road, that cares about our needs and participates in the RV Industry and is always looking to new horizons, which has given us the opportunity to experience many new horizons... what more could we ask for?
<LI> We participate with youth groups in bike rodeos and see the excitement on their faces when they win that bike.
<LI> We get the feeling of satisfaction of a job well done when we teach a class at Life on Wheels and a person who has never RV'd is so excited about what they have learned... a new chapter of their life they are just beginning.
<LI> Spending Daytona Week attending your first ever car race and to have it include the Daytona 500 was the icing on the cake. Not bad for a 62-year-old gal. Of course, I seldom saw my husband who was in "guy heaven."
Do we ever get tired? ....YES
Do we ever get bored? ...NO
Do we ever have a new challenge?...YES
Would we ever do it again?.....YES....YES...YES
Blue Ox has four Destination America teams and two Park and Resort couples that travel the country providing information to RVer's. To find out when they are in your area go to
Blue Ox.us and click on
Destination America Rally teams or contact our office at 888-425-5382.
There is always that next bend in the road, the next mountain to cross, that next rally to work and most of all that new friendship to form.
This is what keeps us young at heart!
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Blue Ox is our forum sponsor and has requested the opportunity to share this article with you. Come and meet the
Destination America Team assigned to the
2006 iRV2.com National Rally in Sevierville, Tennessee this July. Whether your Blue Ox hitch is new or old the folks from Blue Ox promise to give it a once over for you and send you on your way all tuned up and ready to go!
Blue Ox has made available for door prizes 3 - $200.00 discount coupons for any Blue Ox products that you may need.
See ya'll at the iRV2.com National Rally - Don't miss it!
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