The whole time my husband was working, he kept saying, “When I retire we are going to buy a Motorhome and go see the country!” We all laughed and said, “Sure, sure” and I was a bit claustrophobic so the thought of being in that tiny space for any length of time was a bit frightening.
We started by renting a 20 foot mini Motorhome and taking our two daughters from central New York to Maine for seven days. I was sure this was a mistake because the rental people called to say that they would be late on delivery. The previous renters had ripped one of the windows off on a tree so the rig needed repair. I was very surprised to find that since the scenery changed with each stop, my phobia did not even kick in. We all enjoyed it very much.
Our second try was to rent a popup, the other end of the size scale. A group of friends were going to a park along the St. Lawrence River and we wanted to join them. The Motorhome had taught me a little about how to pack and what to take so I was fairly comfortable in that regard. When we arrived at the park, we found that the owner had spread a layer of what he called “fly ash” in the camping area and it had rained. This fine black stuff stuck to our shoes like wet mud. I was not a happy camper!!! Still it turned out to be a happy experience.
Next was our first purchase. It was a WELL USED 18ft Saturn travel trailer with an over bunk. The glass in the door was broken; the wiring was put together with so much electrical tape; that it was the size of a baseball when my husband removed it all. The plastic water pipes had been replaced by copper but were on the outside of the insulation on the undercarriage. None of the appliances worked because most of them either had spider webs or were rusted. I keep saying “My husband can fix anything but a broken heart but I was not so sure when on the second day into the renewal I almost cried. He had almost gutted the interior. He redid the wiring, relocated the pipes, cleaned out every appliance orifice and found new glass for the window. The refrigerator had to be taken out, turned upside-down and then returned to its little resting place. The interior was fairly well situated and when I finished scrubbing off the dirt it started to feel a lot less like a mistake.
Our daughter was attending Cornell University at the time and finding the closest campground we took our new acquisition for the weekend, on its maiden voyage. We had a wonderful time and thanks to my husband everything worked. After 10 years of fun trips we sold that little unit.
Hubby retired and we were ready to fulfill his dream. We looked and looked and when we saw it at the Dealers we knew, that was it; a 30 foot Motorhome, Georgie Boy, Swinger, with teal accent paint. We were very proud of it! It took us to our first winter in Florida and for the last 16 years it has taken us to almost every state in the Union . In a couple of weeks it will take us, on probably, our last big trip. Alaska, here we come!
Submitted by Dolores Maeder of Redwood, NY as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest.
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