RV Travel Reader RVs, September 16, 2017

George and Joan, Saskatchewan
 
Our RVing history goes back to the mid-1970s. It started with a tent then moved to a slide-in truck camper. From there to a 24-foot Prowler, a 36-foot Coachmen and a 32-foot Jayco travel trailer. Next was a 36-foot Avion, a 37-foot Keystone Everest and now a 40-foot Heartland Bighorn 5th wheel with four slides. Our tow vehicle is a 2011 Ford F350 dually diesel crew cab long-box 4X4 with the 6.7L engine. Lots of power to move our gross weight of 24,900 pounds.  

We have three grown children. The youngest, our daughter, started RVing when she was three weeks old. When the children were younger we camped virtually every weekend as our camping season in Canada is fairly short. Now, as empty nesters, we don’t have the urgency to get out as often as we are fortunate to winter in Arizona and live in our RV four to five months as snowbirds.

We take our 5th wheel down south every fall and back every spring and enjoy the drive. Over the years we’ve learned what we need to take with us and what we need to leave at home. I carry a small four-drawer tool chest and can do most any minor repair or maintenance needed. For me, the 40 pounds of tools is an absolute necessity. Since we use the RV year-round we find the four-door fridge a necessity, as well as the auto-leveling system.

As seniors, we love every advantage there is to not having to get down on our hands and knees to set up the stabilizer jacks. We’ve been to 35 states and five provinces and have met some wonderful and interesting people everywhere we’ve been. Our bucket list includes touring the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England states.

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Tim Resch, Alexandria, Virginia

I have driven a Winnebago Travato model G periodically since October 2014, from a home base in Alexandria, Virginia. It is a Class B called by Winnebago a Touring Coach. It is built within a Ram Promaster cargo van chassis, 280 hp V-6 3.6L gas engine, six-speed automatic and front-wheel drive. It gets 16 mpg. It’s almost 21 feet long, 9 feet tall and 7 feet wide, and gets 16 mpg.  GWVR is 9,350 lbs. 

I’m now at 36,000 miles with trips to Key West and back, to the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and back, around and between the Great Lakes, and most recently across the Midwest to Colorado and back – achieving my 50 states visited (not all in the Travato!). 

I seldom stay more than two nights at a site as the road continuously beckons. It’s easy to dry camp and boondock but I also enjoy periodically having shore power. It’s easy to park at friends’ and family’s homes. It is advertised as a three-season van but the water system can be drained. There is a propane heater and it is more comfortable than sleeping in the snow. Personalized license plate is MAGIN (as in “imagine”).

I was previously a car and tent camper. I tested the travel concept with two 2-month tenting road trips: one to the southwest parks and California, and the second across the Trans-Canada highway to Tofino and Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. But the ground got harder as I got older and sometimes it rained. 

We have a robust and active Facebook group called Travato Owners and Wannabees with over 3,000 members. 

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