Motorhoming is an adventure, a passion, quite often a tale unto itself. This month, we asked for the drama! FMCA members had very different answers when addressing the following question:
What book, movie, play, or TV show title best describes motorhome travel?
***
John Steinbeck, in Travels with Charley, gives the best description of motorhome travel when he writes: “A trip . . . is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, and uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.” I had camped in-state as a child with my parents, but it was not until I read this book that the urge for the all-American road trip took hold. Steinbeck conveys the American tendency to take to the road, stop or move on, explore, and enjoy. Although he used a truck and camper rather than a motorhome, he understood the traveler’s need for independence and flexibility.
Virginia Hendley, F262954
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
The movie RV best describes our travel. We started RVing in 2008 (my husband had never camped before) with a 33-foot fifth-wheel toy hauler. Once we started out, the shower plumbing separated and all the water ended up in our basement compartment. Our next stop, the awning fell off the side of the camper. Our next stop, the bedroom slideout extended, but the bed didn’t. During the next stop, we took the motorcycles out, and as we set up our living quarters, the sofa, which was attached to the wall and folded down, fell off the wall. Next we had two blowouts, one on each side, which tore the sides off the camper. When we got home, we traded it in for a 36-foot gas-powered Fleetwood Southwind motorhome. We pulled a cargo trailer with our bikes in it, and the RV just crawled up the hills. Everywhere we went that year (2009) was up (Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, North Carolina). Five days before our 2010 trip, we attended a camping show and came home with a 38-foot Fleetwood Bounder diesel. We are finally happy!
Rick & Travis O’Leary, F406519
Haines City, Florida
If you have ever been stranded alongside the road or waited days on end for a major repair to be done while you are traveling, you would probably consider “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as best describing motorhome travel. Here’s a small excerpt:
“Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.”
There are times when we refer to the old Dolphin motorhome as the Albatross. However, the Ancient Mariner should have had FMCA Emergency Road Service (Coach-Net), for it has been our salvation on more than one occasion when “idle as a painted ship” alongside the road.
David & Patty Bendt, F377081
Pekin, Illinois
Future questions:
1. What’s your favorite snack to make and/or enjoy around the campfire?
2. Complete this sentence: “Don’t leave home without (BLANK) when you go motorhoming.” Explain.