Advertisement
Published: November 11th 2011
Edit Blog Post
I decided to make this entry about living and travelling in a motorhome (no exciting pictures - just text).
One question we have been asked is “what is boondocking”. Sometimes we fail to realize that not all are familiar with RV jargon! Boondocking is camping without any amenities - power, sewer or water hook-ups. You see a lot of this in Quartzite, CA where people park in the middle of the desert and look for rocks (ya I know, exciting). But we do it in a Rest Area or parking lot (like a Walmart!) We have been faced with more of these this year, as not many campgrounds have been open in the northern States in November. We have a “house” battery, which runs most lights, but after several days of use, needs to be recharged, either by plugging into electricity or running the generator. Our stove and furnace are both propane, so always have use of those. We use the generator when we want to use electrical appliances, the oven, computer, and of course our TV! But we limit our usage of the generator, as it is a little noisy and does use diesel (though not a lot). The generator or travelling down the highway recharges our starting battery, which has a tendency to run low if we sit parked for any length of time. So it’s kind of like borrowing from Peter to pay Paul – starting battery gets recharged as we travel so requires diesel, house battery gets recharged from the generator or electrical power, generator requires diesel, propane tanks need to be refilled to provide gas for stove, furnace and hot water. All need monitoring!
We also need to watch our water usage. We have 3 holding tanks – fresh water, grey (shower, sinks) and black (toilet). We can usually last about 5 days, but are careful with dishes and showers. So it’s always nice to get to a campground and have full use of everything.
Two other necessities of travelling are, of course, cell phones and internet. We have a set of US cell phones, where we just buy airtime (Tracfone), which work great year after year. We pick up where we left off the year before each time we cross the border. We also have Canadian and US aircards for internet WiFi (plugs into our USB port). Most times they work great, but there are certain locations where there is no coverage, or limited/slow reception. This can be most frustrating when it takes 5-10 minutes to download information, pictures, etc., and when trying to plan our next day's route. We also have to be careful when close to the US/Canadian border, as we may pick up a wrong cell tour and get charged roaming. This could have cost us $125 extra last month, but after a long argument with our provider, they reversed the charges, with a strong warning to not use our aircard or cell phone within 50 kms of the border!
Travelling down the highway is usually fairly enjoyable, but every now and then we find ourselves on a small road or very busy highway, which can be quite stressful. There are times when we plan on taking the scenic route, and other times it’s “oh, oh, missed that turn, guess we are taking the scenic route”. U-turns are NOT an option in a motorhome (despite what the GPS is urging us to do. It is usually the GPS’s fault in the first place that we ended up on this STUPID road), and we end up committed to a different route than planned. One such “scenic” route took us through 200 kms in Nova Scotia, which was very beautiful, but also very narrow, hilly and windy. Gerry had to really pay attention and was quite exhausted after two hours of white knuckle driving. He is not allowed to look around – just me.
We have had several instances of having to stop suddenly – such as when a school bus didn’t allow enough time for us to stop, or when flagged down because our large mud flap was dragging and sparking, or when our tow vehicle almost fell off a few years ago (now that was exciting). That’s when I check the cupboard for broken dishes (so far, been lucky!). I tie down a few cupboards in the event that Gerry has to slam on the brakes. Did come in useful last week when our dishes definitely would have come crashing out if I hadn’t had the clamp on. People just don’t realize that we are just like a semi-truck – a lot of weight behind us and just can’t stop on a dime.
Another challenge this year was the introduction of hearing aides for Gerry. He doesn’t always choose to wear them, as he doesn’t want to hear the groans and moans of the motorhome or highway noise (or maybe it’s the “other” navigator in the passenger seat??). So even though I have quite calmly said TURN RIGHT! TURN RIGHT!, we sail right by (and remember what I said about u-turns – can’t make 'em). Then the next day I haven’t noticed that he once again is wearing them, and he complains “Quit yelling at me!” There’s just no winning…
Advertisement
Tot: 0.119s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0233s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Anne and Ted
non-member comment
Your blog brought back many memories !!