By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers
“WE GET LETTERS” is a line from the 1950s era Perry Como Show, where a bevy of beauties would come out singing the lyrics to “Letters, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks of letters.” Then Perry sang requested songs from the home audience. Well, enough trivia for this evening. Just consider yourself lucky that I won’t sing, but here’s some of the mail received in the past week at neverboredrvers@gmail.com [each letter begins in bold]:
You asked for “wrong route” stories. We’ve found that traveling in our 38-foot motorhome is always an adventure. As we were driving home to Jacksonville, Fla., from a cross-country to Yuma, Ariz., we needed to buy fuel. When I checked GasBuddy, I found that diesel was several cents cheaper at a Chevron station near the Louisiana border just before crossing into Mississippi. We saw the gas station’s sign and pulled off.
Jim slowly pulled in front of the station to see if we could access the pumps. By the time he decided we could, it was too late to pull into the station. He said he would turn around up ahead. We kept following it, until it turned into a Y and climbed a rise. The road narrowed, and we found ourselves on top of a levee, on a narrow one-lane dirt/gravel road, with no turnaround in site.
“Garmina” (our GPS) actually knew about this road … sort of. She told us it went straight for a couple of miles, then turned back on itself. We kept going, and going, and going…until we came to the Interstate. Of course, we couldn’t get onto the Interstate. This was a levee road; we had to go under it. But the question was: Could our 11’6” rig fit under the road?
Before we attempted to find out, a Louisiana law-enforcement officer approached us on the one-lane road. He said if we could make through the underpass, he would lead us to the main highway. I stood on the embankment and watched as Jim inched our “Baby” forward. Using my cell phone, I told him to keep going. Our “baby” made it–with just and inch or two to spare.
The police officer led us along the levee, through a small neighborhood of houses, where kids and their parents stopped to watch us go down their street. We finally reached the main highway.
Our trooper guide stopped his truck and came back to say good-bye. He said, “In all the years I’ve been on this job, I have to admit: I’ve never seen an RV up there on the levee before.” That’s probably why we were a spectacle to those neighborhood kids. And we never have a dull moment. Your Reluctant RoVer, Linda Segall
July 4th may not be followed by Canadians, but we do celebrate Canada Day on July 1st so reservations at that time in Canada are recommended. We also work at the Halifax West KOA and know that their reservations for the summer are going heavy at present, so that might be an indicator for other campgrounds in that part of Nova Scotia. Having in mind your planned travel to the Canadian Maritimes you might want to consider reservations. Enjoy your articles. Thank you. Charlie Webber (currently in Florida)
Hi. Read your articles and you might to check with the Canadian border authorities about bringing bear spray across the border as it is to my knowledge illegal to do. You can buy it at some sporting good stores (i.e. Cabelas) or as a dog spray, but do not say it is for self-defense: say you are a hiker, runner, etc. It is just one more of our laws that no one understands as it is considered a weapon. It is user often in robberies. We enjoy your articles . From a Canadian camper with many miles and nights spent on your side of the border. Don
RESPONSE: Don, We were stopped at the border, supposedly because I admitted we had bear spray. After a half-hour in the office checking us out, they sent us on our way, saying it was okay, because we had a big bear spray canister, not the smaller one. We still don’t understand the logic there. Maybe we were just the Xth RV to go through the crossing.
Never been never done holds it all! Bought our first RV 32-foot looks great from Wales where we are currently based and will be returning this April we hope to start our retirement in Baysville, Ontario. We bought at auction and now have to test and certify and move her to Baysville and start to know her? We will leave as soon as we can to get through our first trip and a doozy across Canada to Victoria BC. First we have to find insurance, my Yaris is BC registered as I lived there, should I get it all done there?
Where would I get a list of stations and places to stay for that trip? I remember truck stops all across Canada until Ontario where they seem to vanish? Does TomTom have this sort of capacity? Can one get to your past mail and may be find some answers or are there some good books we can pick up on all this? Any and all information would be gratefully received. Thanks Ian & Doll Yes, she is blond and will be driving!
Do you know of any all women clubs in Canada in the Maritimes? I like to travel in groups rather than alone and have done so in the past mostly with musicians. My other question is why is it so hard to find out the opening and closing dates of campsites? I just returned from a trip. I had planned to go to Florida but travelling alone was too scary when I boondocked – at Walmart – any single women in the same boat?( RV)? Deborah
Quick answer, Deborah. On your search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.), put in “RV clubs for women.” Looks like several choices to investigate. Thanks for the note.
Hi Barry and Monique, I just spent a few minutes on your blog! A happy few minutes. I signed up and am looking forward to spending many more minutes travelling with you both to the top of the world, down to many sea level spots…and maybe someday to some underwater locations. If you keep blogging as you did on your trip to Alaska, I’ll be with you every kilometer of the way! My husband and I are presently spending the last month of our 19th winter season in Florida. When we leave near the beginning of April, we’ll be heading north on a slow trek, in our 25-ft. motorhome, back to our home in Ontario via the east coast. We’ll keep our eyes open for a “silver bullet” and the Never-Bored RVers. Drive safely! Mary H.
Hi Where is the website ontopoftheworld.cc???? Thanks, Nadine
RESPONSE: I hope it is at ontopoftheworld.cc. If anyone has trouble accessing it or the links to Alaskan blogs or photographs, please let me know (neverboredrvers@gmail.com).
I just want you to know that your blog was one of the many blogs we read, study and referred to as we trek north. We had a great time last summer 2012 and never had any dings, breakdown whatsoever. You are right just be aware and go slow in your adventure. Yes the Milepost is a must have, hands down. MonaLiza
Hello Barry, I will go to Alaska in a year or two and looking forward to it, but I would also recommend doing the Deh Cho ( http://dehchotravel.ca/ ) [a circular touring route in Alberta, Canada] is what the AlCan was 20 or 30 years ago. I did it in 2006 and loved it. Broken windshield and no flat tire. The people! The sights! Just as, if not, better than Alaska, I am Canadian after all! Enjoy! Denis
Barry, Followed your blog in 2010 as we too were traveling from Alabama to Alaska and back. One memorable campground that we stopped at was Cottonwood RV Park on Lake Kluane, just south of Destruction Bay, YT. A very nice park and great people. … Unfortunately, [when] we drove up the Dalton about 30 miles south of Yukon Crossing, I unceremoniously slipped on some gravel and broke my ankle. Needless to say, we were not able to complete our full itinerary. We did however return last summer to finish seeing what we had planned on seeing the first time. Had a great time. We drive a 37 ft Class A, towing a Honda CR-V. Look forward to your blog this summer. Sam, Tuskegee, AL
MY CAN OF WORMS — which, for folks not familiar with that expression — means a complex situation. To explain my “can of worms,” let me say that I don’t have a personal blog. I only post blogs designed to be helpful and informative to readers of this site. Quite a few comments that I receive are interesting, sometimes referencing personal blogs, but don’t fulfill what I consider to be the purpose and mission of blog.rv.net. I appreciate all the comments and look forward to publishing more in the future. Barry
From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.
Because of the numerous Spam comments on this site, the comments section has been deactivated. Please email us at neverboredrvers@gmail.com and I will pass along your comments.