By Russ and Tiña De Maris
No matter where we travel, for some reason as RVers we want to somewhat “civilize” the world. At night we like to sit by the campfire (or out West, you sit by the fire pit without a fire!) and we’ll often bring along a camp lantern to provide a little more light than the moon and the stars provide. And just in case the moon and stars are too bright, we’ll roll out the awning and sit under it and keep shaded from whatever might come our way.
If you’ve got an RV awning, there’s just no sense in “letting it go” like that on ground level. No, somebody has to rustle around in the storage compartment and pop out a green “grass” carpet or some other sort of woven rug to put down under the awning. We confess, we do the same thing.
But here’s one for your “bring civilization” filethat might go a step better than your typical under-the-awning-grass-carpet trick. Instead of “fly away in the wind” carpeting, or “Drat! The stuff is too wet from the rainstorm to put away in the storage area,” here’s what one of our faithful readers suggests. Carol Boteler writes, “I bought several sets of plastic open-work patio tiles for setting on the ground around my trailer door.”
We took a look around the Internet, and sure enough, these versa-“tiles” may be just what the RVer ordered to make life in a dusty (wet) (gravelly) (grassy) environment more “civilized.” At nearly a foot square each, a set of six of these can make a nice “landing” area in front of your RV steps. Buy another set or two (six each), and you can “pave” under your awning in time for cocktail hour in no time flat. If they’re rained on, it’s a simple matter of picking them up, shaking them off, and stowing them away — they won’t mold or mildew because they’re made out of polypropylene — a lightweight, resilient material. You can find them on Amazon.
But wait! There’s more! No, we won’t send you a second set for just the added cost of shipping and handling, but we will provide you with yet another use for these little squares. Do you march off to the campground shower, shuddering at what sort of fungi and microbes might be lurking in the shower stall, just waiting for you? Take along a couple of these clever snap-together tiles and slap ’em down in the shower stall. When you’re done showering, move them out to where you’ll stand to complete your final grooming attempts.
You’ll find these using the search term, “interlocking patio tile flooring.”
photo: amazon.com
