RV Adventures or Life in the Beast

Ever since we were "blessed" with our RV, I have threatened to write a book. I say threatened because my experience has not been very positive, and my attitude toward the machine which I call "The Beast", even less so. My idea is that my trip journal and my husband's would both be in this book with our entries for the same day on facing pages. I think any woman who has ever travelled in such a beast would find it hilarious. (Someone should get some enjoyment out of this, don't you think?)

Since I have not done anything about writing such a book, and we've now had the thing about 17 years, I thought I might bring some chuckles to someone by publishing my experiences here.

First, let me say that without exception, every woman I've ever visited with who had one of these things said it was the happiest day of her life when her husband sold it. My opinion in general is that you may "travel" in an rv, and they do have some advantages when you have small children (no seat belts, potties onboard, lunch when you want it, etc.), but you do not "vacation" in an rv. It is a lot of work before, during and after the trip. My husband once got quite offended when I told him that I considered in all our married life we'd only taken 2 real vacations. One was a long weekend at a friend's house in Lake Tahoe with no kids, and the other was the Alaska cruise we took for our 25th anniversary. The rest of our travelling was just "trips". I always need a vacation when we get home from one of our adventures in the beast.

So, now that you know where I am coming from, let me describe our beast. It is a 1965 model Condor. It is a 26 ft. long class A motorhome, which is small compared to most nowadays, and is equipped with bunked double beds across the back wall, so it is truly more useable for a family than any of the new ones. It actually will sleep at least 6 comfortably, 8 if some are small children. My husband's parents bought it new when he was 4 years old, and it has been in the family ever since. When he was a child, they travelled in it quite a bit. He has many fond memories of Christmases in Colorado in it. It was such a family icon that when we first got it, and I stocked the kitchen with necessities, I was informed with horror that I had put the silverware in the toy drawer by one of his brothers. I thought I was going to have to move it.

Since we have had it, we (meaning my husband) have replaced the engine twice (or is it 3 times?), the refrigerator, the toilet, the furnace, an a/c, the carpet, the upholstery, the curtains, part of the ceiling and some of the framing boards. I have no idea how many engine parts and systems have been redone. I gave up keeping a tab on the cost long ago. Suffice it to say it will never be cheaper than flying and staying in luxury hotels. So, if you are considering buying one of these vehicles, please be aware that you don't travel this way to save money-----you do it because you enjoy the convenience or some other aspect of travelling this way.

I will start posting some of our adventures in the next installment. If anyone is interested.