Travel
Tight Squeezes And Other Lessons Learned
By Dan & Laurie Dieterich, F488028
Let’s buy a motorhome. It will be relaxing. Isn’t that what everyone says? So, we bought a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star in the fall of 2018 and spent the next six or so months making it our own.
After a handful of shakedown trips, we were ready for something more adventurous; ignoring the dog days of summer, in July 2019, we headed out from our home in California across Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, making our way to Texas. Because of prior commitments, we had only 17 days to make the almost 4,000-mile round trip. We soon would learn that this may have been the poorest example of trip planning ever.
When we reached our first stop, in Boulder City, Nevada, it was104 degrees outside, over 80 degrees in the cabin, and our refrigerator was pushing 50 degrees inside. First lesson learned: The refrigerator can’t keep up in that kind of heat. We threw out the food in our refrigerator and headed to a restaurant.
Although the Dieterichs’ Southwestern journey included its challenges, they enjoyed memorable sights along the way. In Arizona, they viewed Sedona’s red rock formations.
Next stop was Sedona, Arizona, where we were able to spend a couple of days resting and seeing a few sights. We had no problems with crowds, since, apparently, most people know to avoid visiting Arizona in July. We got our refrigerator cooled down and restocked and then set out for Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Wanting to stop for lunch, we found the nearest rest stop closed, as were the next two. Now really hungry, we finally came across an exit, which oddly didn’t have an on-ramp that would allow us back on eastbound Interstate 40. We had a nice lunch next to a shade tree on a deserted lot and consulted our GPS for options. The GPS indicated that we could simply continue east on the very deserted Route 66 and get back on I-40 three miles ahead. Easy peasy!
In New Mexico, Dan and Laurie Dieterich savored the sunsets.
Laurie volunteered to drive on the nearly deserted stretch of road. Suddenly, the road came to a sharp right turn, which led to a pair of narrow tunnels under I-40, with no way to turn around. Because the road was deserted, we were able to get out and look things over. Dan was able to squeeze the motorhome through the tunnels. The only damage done was to Laurie’s nerves. Laurie has not offered to drive since that day.
As we headed for Lubbock, Texas, we began to notice water at the base of the toilet — and that odor no one ever wants in their RV. And, of course, the refrigerator temperature was still hovering around 50 degrees. So, now we had problems with the two most important appliances in the motorhome, and we still had another 10 days remaining on our trip. We would spend the rest of the trip eating at restaurants and running the bathroom exhaust fan nonstop. We also endured far too many consecutive days of breaking camp in the predawn humidity, driving all day, and then setting up in the afternoon heat.
We eventually made it to Texas and then back home again to California. We have since made upgrades for better cooling and refrigeration and replaced the leaking toilet. We’ve also vowed never again to ignore the weather forecasts, to travel in extreme heat, or to drive more than four hours per day. And we will only drive north during the summer and south in the winter!
Dan and Laurie are retired and currently based in central California. They hope to transition to living full-time in their motorhome in late 2021. You can follow along with their adventures on Instagram @viewfromthewindowseat, and they’ve recently started a YouTube channel, “You Can Too RV.”
App File
Don’t Forget
Airline pilots go through a checklist of items and issues before departure and upon arrival, so why shouldn’t RV owners?
Ultimate RV Checklist: The app begins with a collection of prebuilt departure and arrival checklists for all classes of motorhomes, fifth-wheels, travel trailers, and even towable cars. Those can then be customized for your needs. Additional lists include what you should do for winterization of your RV and what you need for emergency “bug out” situations. The lists can be exported to a PDF and printed, if you’re more the paper-and-pencil type. $1.99 for iOS and Android.
RV Checklist+: In addition to arrival and departure checklists, the app includes lists for packing ahead of time, campsite inspection, and annual maintenance. Free for iOS.
Togo – RV Companion: Checklists are part of a larger app that includes features such as annual maintenance tracking, travel information, and RV recalls. The basic app includes ready-to-go checklists, among them packing for trips with children and dewinterization, but to get the complete library of checklists that are customizable, the paid version ($39.99 a year) must be downloaded. Available for iOS and Android. FMCA.com/fmca-rv-club-app.