Send a photo of your RV and a 150 to 200 word description of it, how and where you use it, and what you like or don’t like about it, to Diane(at)RVtravel.com. Be sure to include your name(s) and hometown, or if you’re a full-timer. (These are posted in the order received.)
The RVs of RVtravel.com readers and how they use them
Issue 53; Posted Apr. 30, 2016
From Carl and Pam Houston, Buena Park, California
We are owners of a 1998 Country Coach Magna (38 feet) and a Ford Explorer equipped with tow bar, air brakes, and a drive shaft disconnect. Our diesel mileage varies between 9.2 and 9.9, depending on conditions. We have owned MHs for 41 years, from a VW van, 18-foot Mobile Traveler, 27-foot Sun Sport, 29-foot Tioga, and now a big diesel.
We enjoy traveling all over the United States of America, including Alaska (2009 and 2014), and Canada. Fortunately for us, we know family and/or friends in 40 states.
Carl drives and maintains the “Big Boy,” as Pam puts it, and Pam is the stewardess/waitress and occasionally likes to contradict the GPS that we call “Maggie.” We can honestly (almost) say that we have not ever been lost, but we have done a whole lot of additional sightseeing.
Pam’s turn this year. We’ll cruise across the Atlantic and tour Europe with family. Next year, God willing, it’s Alaska again. Carl wants to do the Alaska Marine Highway after touring Vancouver Island. Of course halibut and salmon will be on the menu, along with creating more traveling friends as we journey.
From Gary and Christine Byler, Full-timers
T
his is our 2012 Arctic Fox 30U and Ford 350 Super Duty. We full-time and have volunteered for the U.S. National Forest Service, U.S. National Park Service and USAF FamCamps. At present we are in the Ocala National Forest, Fla., at the Doe Lake Group Recreation Campground. We are planning on trading in our 30U for an Arctic Fox 32-5M this summer. Anyone that gets the U will get a fine, 
outstanding unit. We are doing this only to go bigger. We wouldn’t live in anything but an Arctic Fox.
We believe volunteering is the perfect lifestyle. People spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to visit the places we wake up every morning — places like Devils Tower, N.M.; Canyon de Chelly N.M.; Cape Perpetua, Ore., in the Siuslaw National Forest; Stub Creek, Colo., in the Roosevelt National Forest; Joshua NP, Calif.; Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nev.; and, of course, the Ocala National Forest, Fla.
From Barry Zavah and Alicia Trillo, Alpine, Texas
We are full-timers from Alpine, Texas, traveling three to five months annually, including extended family stays in Buffalo, New York, and Dallas, Texas. We have a 2001 Forest River Sunseeker with 2004 Toyota RAV4. The picture was taken at Canyonlands National Park, Needles District, in 2014.
In 2014 we traveled from Pagosa Springs, Colo., (saw Durango and Creede); to Bluff, Utah, for Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley; Canyonlands NP (Needles District}; Moab, Utah, for Arches NP and Canyonlands NP (Island in the Sky District) and more; Jackson, Wyo., for Grand Tetons NP; West Yellowstone, Mont., for Yellowstone NP; St. Mary’s, Mont., for Glacier NP/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in Alberta, Canada; and Asheville N.C.
In 2015 we visited Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Painted Desert NP; Bryce Canyon NP; Boise, Idaho (new couch); Golden Spike, Idaho; McMinnville and Port Garibaldi in Oregon (visited Tillamook Cheese Factory); Gig Harbor off Puget Sound, Port Angeles, Washington (scenic drive along Olympic NP), Vancouver Island, B.C., to Port Hardy for ferry to Prince Rupert, then across to Valemount, B.C.; Jasper and Banff NPs and Lake Louise along the Icefield Parkway; North Dakota for Theodore Roosevelt NP (North and South units); St. Ignace, Mich., for Mackinaw (Mackinac) Island and drive to Sault Ste. Marie; Dakota County, Northfield, Minn. — including 9,453 RV and many RAV4 miles more before returning home.
Whew! Lesson learned! “Fewer places/longer times” in 2016.
MORE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS
