Full-Time RV Travel!
Over the past several years, petite_chaton (Erica) and I have worked on a plan to travel the U.S and Canada in a motorhome for several months, following my retirement from the Army. All that planning has finally come to fruition: I finished graduate school at George Mason University in May, took a six month sabbatical from Axiologic Solutions, where I work as a cleared project management consultant, and used the Army's final move to store all our belongings we didn't need in the motorhome, didn't sell in various garage sales, Craigslist offers, and OfferUp, or gave away to friends.
We are traveling in a 2014 Itasca Viva! model 23B we purchased new several years ago, which I have gradually modified to make it more amenable to our specific needs. I will create a separate post where I attempt to capture every modification I have made, but here is a short list of the biggest changes:
More details to follow.
We left our house in Lake Ridge, VA on Friday, June 8th, and drove to Gettysburg, PA, stopping off at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Frederick, MD, where Erica dipped a St. Bernadette coin into the grotto's spring:
We stayed at the Round Top Campground so we could visit the Gettsyburg Battlefield NHS. I also managed to ride my Stigmata twice in Gettysburg Park, which was really nice. Friday afternoon, I rode part of the Auto Tour, including riding up Little Round Top, where I spoke to a man dressed as a Union captain about the battle for Little Round Top (ride profile). Saturday morning, I went for a shorter ride, stopping at the memorial to Pennsylvania Union soldiers, and hitting a small section of dirt trail, as well. (ride profile)
We left Gettsyburg Saturday at noon, and drove ~7 hours to Monmouth County, NJ. My plan was to stay at the MWR camp at Naval Weapons Station Earle, but it was booked solid, so we diverted to Pine Cone Resort for a couple of days.
This morning, Sunday, we went to services at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County. The church was celebrating flower communion, and introducing new members to the congregation, which we did at Accotink UU Church last week. The homily was on Doing the Best We Can. The key point I took away was that we must continually struggle to make gains. Rev. Jarocha-Ernst noted that activists of color always expect to struggle to achieve goals, while white activists expect success. This reminded me of Jim Wright's recent post on Stonekettle Station: Hunting the Unicorn to Extinction, where he lambasts liberals for being too concerned with perfect to be active in achieving better.
I spent the rest of the day running errands, and working on various little projects on die Schnecken Hütte (we have decided to name our RV, in German in means Snail shell/house/hut). Today, I accomplished:
We are traveling in a 2014 Itasca Viva! model 23B we purchased new several years ago, which I have gradually modified to make it more amenable to our specific needs. I will create a separate post where I attempt to capture every modification I have made, but here is a short list of the biggest changes:
- Removed
- Loft bed
- Dinette
- Bathroom door
- On-demand hot water heater
- Second television
- Added
- Full-size murphy bed with Sleep Number mattress
- Splendide WD2100XC washer/dryer combo unit
- Yakima roof bars with kayak loader (including ATV winch to pull Hobie Oasis tandem kayak onto the roof)
- Custom front hitch for cargo rack
- Pelican case in cargo rack for tools
- Spare tire in cargo rack
- Custom 12" bars horizontally out back of bumper to mount Yakima bike rack
More details to follow.
We left our house in Lake Ridge, VA on Friday, June 8th, and drove to Gettysburg, PA, stopping off at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Frederick, MD, where Erica dipped a St. Bernadette coin into the grotto's spring:
We stayed at the Round Top Campground so we could visit the Gettsyburg Battlefield NHS. I also managed to ride my Stigmata twice in Gettysburg Park, which was really nice. Friday afternoon, I rode part of the Auto Tour, including riding up Little Round Top, where I spoke to a man dressed as a Union captain about the battle for Little Round Top (ride profile). Saturday morning, I went for a shorter ride, stopping at the memorial to Pennsylvania Union soldiers, and hitting a small section of dirt trail, as well. (ride profile)
We left Gettsyburg Saturday at noon, and drove ~7 hours to Monmouth County, NJ. My plan was to stay at the MWR camp at Naval Weapons Station Earle, but it was booked solid, so we diverted to Pine Cone Resort for a couple of days.
This morning, Sunday, we went to services at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County. The church was celebrating flower communion, and introducing new members to the congregation, which we did at Accotink UU Church last week. The homily was on Doing the Best We Can. The key point I took away was that we must continually struggle to make gains. Rev. Jarocha-Ernst noted that activists of color always expect to struggle to achieve goals, while white activists expect success. This reminded me of Jim Wright's recent post on Stonekettle Station: Hunting the Unicorn to Extinction, where he lambasts liberals for being too concerned with perfect to be active in achieving better.
I spent the rest of the day running errands, and working on various little projects on die Schnecken Hütte (we have decided to name our RV, in German in means Snail shell/house/hut). Today, I accomplished:
- Added a folding shelf above the toilet which Erica can use when she is getting ready in the morning, and the cats can use to look out the window.
- Repaired washing machine drain hose (it was leaking)
- Added a knob to the cover over where the dining table is hidden