As you’re reading this, I hope to be cranking up and heading out on another road trip. This will certainly be the most ambitious one since all the craziness that was 2020. It will also be my longest time to be traveling -and staying- in the RV.
If everything works according to plan, I will arrive in South Dakota Sunday afternoon with plenty of time to setup and relax before a week of testing everything from Dodge trucks to new guns.
Some product testing will even be underway while I’m driving out. We’ve gotten books to review, recyclable cups, glasses, and straws to avoid creating waste paper/plastic; even new camp blankets that say they’re proudly made from “sixty recycled three-liter bottles.” If you’ve camped or traveled in recreational vehicles, you know that anything that saves space, power or avoids trash is viewed as a good thing.
Space isn’t a terrific concern as this is also a solo trip. The longest trip I’ve done solo since the MyTime2Stand campaign several years ago. Back then, I drove a Jeep and towed a LittleGuy teardrop trailer.
The days of having to follow poorly folded maps are truly in the rearview mirror. But knowing how far isn’t as tiring as realizing how long a trip takes on the ground as compared to flying.
It wasn’t horrible, but I’ve not found myself fighting the urge to repeat the experience. Recreational vehicles, even smaller ones like mine, are decidedly more comfortable. Having your own kitchen, bath and bedroom in a self-contained unit certainly beats trying to cook outside in a rainstorm, then try to get into a trailer that’s all bed on the inside without, well, wetting the bed.
Of course, no trip would be complete without some complications pre-departure. Despite the excellent assistance and instruction from the Truma/AquaGlo Company after my last misadventure with the RV’s water heater, I had another “issue.”
Yesterday, during the all-systems checkout before packing, I discovered the water heater was, once again, not heating water.
A quick email to my new friends at Truma got a diagnosis and a suggested “fix.” Seems I’d accidentally put the water heater into the “clean” mode. Being a computer, it wouldn’t “heat” until it had completed the cleaning cycle. So… I followed the cleaning procedure, everything reset, and I’m once again hitting the road with hot water.
After my earlier problems involving the water heater, several of you wrote asking if I’d soured to the whole “RV thing”.
I certainly have not. But I’ve learned several lessons.
For one thing, learning by doing is more difficult than learning by asking questions.
Today, I’m a lots more likely to look online for instructional videos than dial up my dealer’s still-overcrowded service center. A ton of useful information, helpful hints and “hacks” found online can make the sometimes baffling aspects of travel via RV less mysterious. And I’ve joined a couple of RV organizations -they’re also solid sources of useful information.
As is generally true in any new experience, the best way to learn the basics isn’t trial-and-error. If you can watch a video and avoid making a mistake out of ignorance, I’m all for it. I’ve been around long enough to know that I’m more than capable of finding ways to make simple things hard. If I can make hard things simple, I’m all in. I can learn subtleties after I master some basics.
This weekend, I hope you have the opportunity to get outside and take in some of the great outdoors. I’ll be taking in some of the great American roads that lead to a part of the country I’ve never visited.
As always, I’m looking forward to sharing the trip with you.
-- Jim Shepherd
