Life in the Roadtrek and other tidbits after 11,000 miles on the road.

Always double check your lock-down procedures before taking off to your next destination: Disconnecting externals (water and electric); closing propane valve; and locking all cabinets. If you ever saw the Lucy and Desi film The Long, Long Trailer” (1953) you will see that whatever can go wrong in an RV will go wrong at sometime if you are not especially vigilant. Rookies beware! We made the mistake of not securing a cabinet and sure enough, things went a-flying shortly after take-off.

Steep mountain roads around hairpin curves can quickly overheat your brakes on grades of 7% and higher, even more so if the road is on the bumpy side. So for those of you who are too young to remember how to do the Shimmy, Shimmy, KoKo Bop get in the practice of going in lower gears sooner rather than later when hitting the slopes.

The RT is a wonderfully designed vehicle but its much smaller that most RV’s and space is tight. While its not quite as bad as rush hour in the subway, we had to learn how to rotate our space and tiptoe around each other. Joanne got free reign when preparing dinner and that works well…when its not raining outside.

Don’t put all your faith in the GPS. As many rural folks told us, “that works well for you city people but out here you can be going in circles for hours.” Many roads had different names, some were deadends, and others in different states. Its a good idea to get an alternate source of directions and hard copy them if you are going well off the beaten path.

Where the hell are we?

Never count your chickens in terms of mountain weather. It can turn on a dime. Mitch (never in doubt) left our canvass chairs and washed clothes outside one night fully confident they’d be dry in the A.M. Three inches of rain and snow fell that night. Enough said!

We did most of our cooking inside the RT on the gas stove-top rather than over a campfire which we did a few times. Campfires are fun if the smoke is blowing away from the van–otherwise everything smells like wood smoke for a week. Joanne cooked some great meals including her chicken paprikash with the good supply of Hungarian paprika we brought with us. Also, Mitch got the beouf bourguignon that Lucy promised Desi on their trip. On another note, after avoiding the use of a microwave oven for more than three decades we grew to really appreciate its utility and Joanne could easily make her soft boiled egg in it each morning.

Having a bathroom in the RT is a major plus, particularly for an over-65 male.

Sleeping in the Roadtrek. This works well under certain conditions. The RT should be on level ground or one might feel they are sleeping on an escalator. Also, don’t be  too tall. That means if you are six feet or more get used to having your feet hang off the end of the bed. At 5 feet Joanne loved it. At 5’9” Mitch often slept at an angle. But all was not lost and by the end of the trip he no longer felt like a dirty hippy when having sex in the van.