I never ever (EVER!) thought I would be disenchanted with RVing. After all, at age 16, I bought my first vehicle: a 1964 Ford Econoline Van, dreaming of travel. I found old books in the library dated in the 1930s that had directions for making a house trailer. Then I followed the ideas step-by-step and learned to saw, nail and glue a “house trailer” together in that van.
I traveled all over the country, both alone and with friends. Met a few new friends along the way. It was pretty safe to pick up hitchhikers then. There was an entire generation on the move. I kept in contact with a few of those new friends for decades.
Adulting got in the way
Being a responsible adult got in the way of RVing for a while. I went to school, got a corporate job, got married, and had two kids. But I never lost my lust for travel and camping.
The truck camper—my “she shed”
One day, I couldn’t resist and stopped at an RV dealer and bought a 1976 Centennial truck camper for under $800. I bravely asked my husband if he had his truck and if he could pick something up for me. He was a good sport when they loaded the mammoth truck camper in his half-ton pickup.
I was enchanted by the overhead bed, a kitchen with a pump faucet, a 12v fridge, and a table that made into a bed for our two kids. There was no bathroom, but I thought a portable toilet in the closet would work just fine. I had to overlook the rather dated centennial drum and bugle players with a red, white and blue theme.
What did I know about weight and pickup truck capacities? The RV dealer certainly wasn’t too forthcoming. Traveling down the road we were like a turtle with an oversized shell. We both thought that we would turn over at any moment, but quietly kept those thoughts to ourselves.
Despite looking death in the face on every curvy road, we only started thinking about upgrading when our kids brought friends to camp and wouldn’t sleep in the tents we bought. Our adventurous children were too scared to sleep in them. It only took one night for Mom and Dad to be on the ground in a tent for me to rethink the truck camper investment.
I still loved the truck camper, so I parked it in the backyard and I moved my sewing machine, a few books and some “mom treats” out there. My own “she shed” before they were popular.
The bloodmobile
I found a bloodmobile that someone had started converting to an RV. I bought it and we gutted it—spent all fall, winter and spring renovating it. Since no one would even consider buying our old 1976 built-like-a-brick truck camper, my husband cut off the overhead bed and installed it on the front of the bloodmobile. Our own homemade Class C. The neighbors thought we were nuts!
We had it for 18 years and made many wonderful memories. Our kids and grandkids grew up camping in it, until the aluminum siding began flapping in the breeze. Alas, it was time to say goodbye. My husband made the mistake of saying, “We need a new camper.” Four days later and a 2004 Coachmen Aurora was in the driveway!
(You can read more about my bloodmobile here.)
The Coachmen
We were in love! The Coachmen was a major upgrade with enough room for almost all the kids and grandkids at once! When we both retired, we decided to go full-time. I packed everything I could stuff in it from our five-bedroom house and we took off at 10 degrees below zero! Perfect!
Well, it was perfect until the overloaded V10 gas engine could hardly make it up the 6% uphill grade from Phoenix to Flagstaff… The semis with their lights flashing were passing us. My husband was so frustrated he said, “We need a diesel pusher.” Okay, “No problem!” I replied!
The Phaeton
One week later we picked up our new (and current) Tiffin motorhome in California. Totally in love… again! It is a house on wheels. It has everything I could possibly want and more as a full-time RVer.
Disenchantment sets in…
We have spent thousands in repairs and upgrades and there is no end in sight. I’ve learned that old houses and RVs are money pits!
Not only that, but I’ve spent countless hours booking campgrounds, mapping out itineraries, reading thousands of campground reviews… And traveling is expensive—campsites are exorbitantly priced and the cost of diesel is ridiculous.
Last year we got stuck in an ice storm, the Texas one that made national news. The water pipe burst, the satellite dish broke, we got too low on propane and it was cold! We had just had the motorhome buffed out for the price of a small used car and it looked like an ice cube!
I am finally disenchanted. After all these years of joy, expectation and cajoling my husband into the RV lifestyle, I have hit a wall. I want my sleep number bed, a thermostat to turn up as high as I want and a bathtub. I want to be still and not think about the next campsite and if there is room or how much it costs.
But now… we are still and at a house. I have my bed, heat and a ginormous water-wasting bathtub, but I must admit that I am a bit bored. I miss traveling and talking to so many great RVers.
Is there a next grand adventure? Oh, heck…
A couple of weeks ago, an email caught my eye: “Adventure Caravans during Cherry Blossom time in Washington, D.C.” It would be spring in Washington, D.C. That means cold weather, potential ice storms along the way, days of planning to get there, and expensive campgrounds. Again. Not to mention the high potential for things to break. Again.
But, we haven’t been to D.C. and we haven’t tried an all-inclusive (almost) caravan trip. My interest is piqued again, at least a bit, despite everything that can go wrong with RVing.
I read a little more. The photo of the cherry blossoms looks heavenly even if the temperature is not advertised. I sigh and say, “Honey, we haven’t been to the East Coast yet. What do you think about this?”
Go! You can still do it! The cherry blossoms are awesome to see. People come from all over to see them
Cherry blossoms are awesome. Hope the timing of the rally and Mother Nature’s timing match.
Be extremely aware of your surroundings in D.C. Even in a group it is a dangerous city.
I don’t disagree with you, Tom, but there are many, many “safe” areas too. DC is laid out in quadrants designated by direction. GENERALLY, NW (that is, streets listed as XXX, NW) is considered the safest, NE and SW next, and SE the least safe. The Mall area is in SW, as are lots of museums, memorials, and monuments. Bolling AFB, now known as Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling or JBAB IS in an area considered the most unsafe, Anacostia. The baseball stadium is quite safe and served by a Metro (subway) stop. We lived and worked downtown and in the metro area from 1991-2017 and never had any problems. Be aware, not fearful, while you’re there.
My earliest memories are camping under the trees at Lake Tahoe and under the stars out in the Mojave Desert. Fast forward 60 years. I retire. We downsize and sell our cabin on the lake to buy a bigger truck and 5th wheel (our cabin on wheels). Four years later and we’re making the same 2000 mile journey from FL to TN (home base) to the NE and back following the weather.
If we let those three big expenses get to us, diesel prices, repairs, and skyrocketing campground fees, then we’ll likely not “pack it in”. Instead we’re talking about cutting out the expensive FL leg and extending our time in the NE. Maybe permanently park the 5th wheel in upstate NY to use 5-6 months each year.
We are transitioning from full-time after 7 years to a house. After the last 2 years in a truck camper, I still love it. But my husband misses his hobbies and wants more room. So we are hanging up the full-time flag back to part time travel. It’s a very hard decision for me but I will always support him. An entire set of acoustic drums won’t fit in our truck camper anyway. But I keep my eye out for new adventures. I just can’t give it up completely. Nova Scotia is our next adventure. I’m already planning it out!
I too am becoming disenchanted with RVing. The small mom & pop campgrounds are quickly disappearing, being absorbed by corporate campgrounds who don’t really care about anything but the bottom line. Resort Fee, Lock-in Fee….just another money grab. I leave the campground and search out firewood sold by local residents because I’m not paying for a red plastic bag containing six pieces of balsam wood for $7-12 dollars.
20 years & 6 months full time (all 50 states, over 700 rv parks, over 200k miles) I decided to downsize from a 35ft class A to a 26ft class A (both Fleetwoods). Very simple, no slides, no jacks, hopefully not much to fail. I will be in it by myself as I will leave my lot in Quartzsite the end of March and head for my house in FL (that I haven’t lived in for 20 years) and my girlfriend will head to OR with her truck & trailer. Then north for the summer. I shed the money pit Dutchstar 6 years ago. I miss the lack of engine noise and torque but I don’t miss the maintenance and expensive repairs one bit.
Planning on 5 more years and then back into the house. I am already dreading that.
We too have the wandering bug biting us again. Three years ago we decided we were probably getting to old for this lifestyle and sold our beautiful motorhome we had just completely made it our “home” just like we wanted. 6 months later we were looking at down sizing and bought a midsize pickup and 23’ TT. Then we bought a park model trailer in FL and sold the TT and pickup, now we moved back to TN, bought a nice home, and are getting the urge and looking at RV ads. The RV bug is a permanent bite, once bitten you’re bitten for life. Lol
Go Nanci!!!
Thank you, Nanci! Amazing story; thank you for sharing it. Well, if you decide that you DO want to see DC AND you don’t want to pay the Fantasy Caravan price, I’ll share the link to OUR favorite DC-area campground, which is outside the beltway (I-495, so farther from downtown than the Cherry Hill campground). We stay here because it is near where we lived for 26 years AND I don’t have to drive the beltway with the RV (we approach from the south, so Cherry Hill could be better, depending on how you come to DC).
Pohick Bay Regional Park (https://www.novaparks.com/parks/pohick-bay-regional-park)
One advantage of Cherry Hill is that city buses come to the campground and will take you to the Metro. I think Cherry Hill also runs shuttles to the sightseeing areas.
Bull Run Regional Park on the west side of DC also offers camping, but we’ve never stayed there (https://www.novaparks.com/parks/bull-run-regional-park).
You’ll have to use your tow vehicle to get from either Bull Run or Pohick Bay to go into town or drive to a metro station and catch the train/subway into and around town. Metro’s web site is at https://www.wmata.com/ . Fyi, we’ll be in site No. 67 at Pohick April 12-22. DW does an amazing night-time tour of the illuminated memorials and monuments (while I drive).
Alas, the times and tribulations of rving have hastened the end of rving for many lifelong wonderers. Our generation was lucky to have the opportunity of a carefree lifestyle at its finest. Now it seems living in an rv has become more of a necessity for the less affluent while remaining an affordable pastime only for the more affluent.
After 13 years of fulltiming (200K+ miles), our desire to travel is still strong, though a little more challenging as we age, currently 78. We’ve parked our 5th wheel on an Escapees lease lot on the Gulf Coast in Alabama & bought a triple slide truck camper (very roomy) to continue our travels, including a fourth trip to Alaska for the 2024 summer. We can’t imagine giving up our travelling lifestyle, though we realize all good things must come to an end eventually. Once you’ve been bitten by the rving bug, it develops into a very enjoyable chronic condition that few people ever find a cure for (not that we’re even looking for a cure).
Probably my biggest frustration with the whole RV’ing lifestyle is trying to find a decent repair facility for when something breaks, like a slideout cable, that you can’t repair yourself. Camping season 2023 has pushed my wife and me to the brink of saying “Forget it” just by not being able to find a shop that can get you in, be honest, and have you back out on the highway in a reasonable amount of time. Even the expense, which this season ending 2023 be near the $15K mark, is as bad as finding someone to “fix” your rig.
I vividly recall planning to go to Washington, DC. I was in the Army, stationed at Fort Meade, MD, but TDY to Camp Drum, NY. It was April, 1968. Three of us headed south to partake of the festivities of the Apple Blossom Festival. We were about an hour away from Camp Drum when a radio broadcast announced that MLK had been shot and killed. A short discussion ensued and we decided the radio was broken and we didn’t know a thing about the shooting. Well, we got home and spent the weekend watching the news about the riots and looking out our south facing windows seeing plumes of smoke rising up out of the city. So, as someone commented, Washington DC can be a dangerous town.
Oof, that Washington Rally is $6600 for ten days ($5000 for single). Seems nice, with transportation and events and some meals included.. still, that’ll be $700+ a day in the end. I’m not even that old but I have to say “prices these days..”
A great article, Nanci. One of your best. You’re what I call a “Wagon Train lady”. My wife falls into that category – and I love her to bits for it. Never afraid to do or try anything, and always willing to pitch in on all projects.
We are not full time, and likely won’t ever be. But I can see the day when we sell our 117 year old house and rent a base home where somebody else does the heavy maintenance. The big RV gone. So long as we are able, we will keep something smaller and towable. The family has a lakeside summer only cottage – maybe our last RV experience will be a semi-permanently parked small trailer parked nearby. Our own bed & toilet with a coffee pot while the grandkid generation ‘owns’ the cottage, fire ring and rowdy late-evening board games.
Nanci- another great story! Thanks!
Pathetic v10 in Ford PU. Sounds like me and wife. In Showlow area of Arizona pulling 30 ft fifth wheel foot to the floor 15 mph. A line of traffic behind me. My wife said to me, when we get home you’re gettin a diesel.
Nanci, how about a review, once you have traveled with them….of the various RV travel, caravan or rally companies.
What a great story, Nanci! Thank you. 🙂
While not a full timer I have the same list of “disenchantments.” Trips can take an inordinate amount of work to plan as to avoid as many unwanted surprises as possible. Maintenance, camping, fuel, etc. costs climbing with no end in sight. An unending to-do list to keep a large and very complex machine maintained and repaired.
But I also then start looking at what the next adventure will be. Makes me wonder if Psychiatrists have a name for this mental illness!!! 🤔😆
As former tent campers. having a thin sheet of material between you and the elements makes you a better planner. My parents had a noisy class C with no room. A trip with my husband, child, my two brothers and my parents cured me of ever wanting to own a RV. Fast forward 30 years, my brother and sister had towables, his sister a 5th wheel, my brother stopped by with his 40′ Class A. We had been discussing a toy hauler for our motorcycles so we could adventure farther with them, we both still work. But we had a motorcycle trailer, and we realized the Class A was more suited for us – we bring our two 120+ lb dogs. We love State Parks/Harvest Hosts and our 32′, capable of handling many options.
What a great Odyssey- wish your article was in Substack so I didn’t have to scroll thru the lard of nasty ads to read it and the lovely comments
Perhaps there is “no cure” for our wanderlust…I, like you, have always had it, and am having a tough time with what we are calling a “slow down”. I had camped in tents, van and then got a small Class C for myself and my 3 kids when I got a divorce and loved it. When I remarried, it was always my dream that when I retired to go full-time and see this beautiful country. I had to talk my second husband into it, but once I did, he loved it and we did that for almost 8 years, camping in all the lower states and Canada. 2 years ago, at 78, he said he needed to slow down, and we got a “home base” and only do short trips now. I miss it, and I don’t, I yearn for past, but not the problems of today
Great nostalgic story Nanci. Thanks for sharing. (At 87 the time is drawing near – hopefully not for about 5 years yet!).
Very enjoyable read. Well written!
I don’t remember the forum but a wise person said, “Sooner or later, we all come off the road”.
The RV lifestyle provides fulfillments that just don’t exist with a stationary domicile. Unfortunately, those fulfillments don’t come easy nor cheap. They’re physically, financially, mechanically and mentally demanding. But at some point, the strength of the headwinds exceed the resolve of denial.
I’m not sure it’s “disenchantment” but rather “road fatigue”. The costs have always been tough but given enough experiences even new discoveries can start to become episodic. Don’t let something few can do end as a let-down, let it end as a celebration of a cherished opportunity.
Nanci, Sounds like you’re having a bad day (or week). Hang in there, things will get better. You started your article sharing what made you fall in love with travel and camping (converted van, pickup camper). Like many of us you’ve developed “Bigitis”. Tiffin Pheaton class A diesel pusher 40 footer, “with everything you could possibly want, and MORE!” More $$$ invested. More operating costs. More planning. More hassle. More, MORE, MORE!!!
Rent a class B for your DC trip, and rediscover fun and spontaneity!
I started camping young with scouts and my aunt. When dating my wife we camped because she grew up camping. When kids came along we bought a popup and started camping with them. That was 30 years ago. Easy to find a campsite. Rates were inexpensive. Folks were friendly and followed camping etiquette rules. The past few years it seems a majority of campers have forgotten the rules, prices have become outrageous and getting anywhere costs a lot more. It’s not fun anymore when kids run through your site, dogs never stop barking and it costs more to camp than a night at the Holiday Inn. We will be deciding this next year if we will continue to camp or sell our camper.
I think it was about 1945 when I was in the 6th grade I invited a boyfriend to go camping at our home and he thought it would be fun. Our house was, at that time, the highest one in the Verdugo Hills in Burbank, a southern California town where Disney Studio and Warner Brothers call home. I had a couple of sleeping bags and we went slightly down the hill to the level pad where our slide, swing and teeter-totter were located. It was beautiful under the stars. In those days the milky way was clearly visible. My friend had never been in the hills at night and he became frightened of the howling coyotes. We went back into the bottom floor of the house and bedded down for the night.
It was 1950 when I was a senior in high school that a boyfriend and I drive my 1946 Nash to Death Valley. We got there when it was really dark and didn’t know our way around. Found a side road that detoured up and back down to the road. There were picnic table there, Not knowing what sort of creatures might be on the ground we each rolled out a sleeping bag on a table, undressed down to underwear and went to sleep. We both simultaneously came awake with full sun and several voices. We were at the Old Harmony Borax Works, a popular tourist stop. It was not easy getting dressed. Despite an embarrassing start, camping and exploring in Death Valley was fun.
This comment is for Nanci Dixon- Say it ain’t so, Nanci! I can hardly believe you’ve never been to the east coast. Except for DC, which you really should see, campgrounds are MUCH more affordable and the beauty of New England, NY and PA, and KY-TN-WV-VA area is so gorgeous and different from the west! I really think you should give it a try. I promise you’ll love it!
Hey, very interesting article and well written.
That was a very interesting article to read. Thank you. We’ve been tent campers and then pop up tent trailer campers. At the campgrounds, the large RVs always looked so roomy and nice (from a distance) but also sure looked like a lot of maintenance. So we kept to our pop up tent trailer. Yes, prices for everything have gotten ridiculous. I wanted to go to Washington D.C. I was looking at hotels. Found one for $860 for 8 nights. I was so excited. It was a wonderful hotel. But my thinking was clouded and after a few minutes I realized as in most hotel reservations, the price was $860 per night! We didn’t go. Things are just way too expensive these days.
I’m tired of the constant maintenance and expense. I have far more activities and hobbies to enjoy at home. I sleep better and get far more exercise at home. An RV is cold when it is cold and hot when it’s hot. The house always works. I’ve thought of downsizing from our 5th wheel, but don’t like the thought of spending even more money for something smaller.
Would never think of selling the house. Feel we need a home base real estate in case of health issues. Otherwise we go when we can. Just need to install a bigger locking mail box so it can hold two weeks worth. Lol.