Getting back on the road heightens anticipation of adventures that await.
By Dana Helvey, F82102
May 2019
During my motorhome travels over the last 45 years, I’ve learned a lot about myself, and relationships. I’m amazed and humbled by those couples who “got it right” the first time and have been in love all of their adult lives. My life took a different course.
It seems no matter the size of your RV, residing together for an extended length of time shows what a person is capable of, or not. Let’s just say that repeatedly playing (and singing) the Alanis Morissette song “You Learn” (“You live you learn, you love you learn/You cry you learn, you lose you learn”) while climbing the Grapevine part of Interstate 5 in California with an overheating Dodge 440 engine pretty much sums up my past romantic history.
Then I met Kim. While traveling in a 1999 Gulf Stream Scenic Cruiser (my favorite), we experienced a rear tire blowout on a freeway in Phoenix, Arizona. We were new in our relationship at the time, and she was pretty shaken up by the noise and debris emanating from the motorhome. I stopped the coach inches from a 20-foot-tall barrier wall, just barely out of the traffic lane, and stepped outside to survey the damage. Before re-entering, I imagined I’d need to reassure her. But as the door opened, I heard the sound of “Days Of Our Lives” from the TV and saw that she was making sandwiches. There’s something about a nurse, I thought, with a smile in my heart. That moment still burns brightly in my dimming memory, more than 20 years of togetherness later.
There have been so many moments-to-memories over those years, like the cat deciding that downshifting the Allison transmission would be a good idea as he checked out a glass of water. However, I think my fondest memories always will be that first night on the road.
Living in Durango, Colorado, we travel during the winter, because we love our home so much the other eight months that we have a hard time leaving it. We now drive a 2009 Monaco Dynasty named “Barney.” Yes, it’s purple, like the dinosaur from the children’s TV show. As the years have gone by, we have had to plan our stays at favorite spots further in advance.
Some things, however, have remained the same. After the motorhome has been in storage, those first few hours on the road are always a test. Memories of old sounds reappear, and mentally comparing them to new ones seems to make my driving hours pass quickly. As we make our way to the first night’s stopping place, we make a purchase plan (we always buy something where we stop). The Walmart in Gallup, New Mexico, has been our most consistently expensive RV stop.
We leave Colorado right after New Year’s Day, so the weather is always cold that first night. We used to dive under sleeping bags as soon as we could, because the old battery in the Scenic Cruiser wouldn’t power the gas furnace for the entire night. The generator made so much racket, I imagined a trucker banging on our door, asking us to turn it off! Now, Barney’s Aqua-Hot heating system makes things toasty, and with DirecTV, our bedroom feels like home.
But like a child who can’t sleep on Christmas Eve, I have a hard time dozing off that first night. The dreams of a new adventure, the anticipation of meeting new friends along the way, and the reflection of all the “first nights” of the past seem to race around until sleep comes.
RVing is many things, for many people. I bet the “first night” memories are a common — and fond — thread among us all.