This article will be co-authored by myself and my sister. We'll refer to her as BK or sis.
Well, we wanted to feel the open road and see the country and thought that an RV cross country trip would be the ticket. Before we could hit the "open road" we packed all that we thought we would need but, silly us, no we didn't. I'll expand more on that later.
It was Friday morning and we both climbed in, I started the engine, checked the large over size mirrors and put it into gear when my nephew yelled, "You better unplug the electric cord from the house." We plugged it into the house current to keep the icebox running and, well, unplug and we were off. Within the first mile we found that it's not good when you leave things out that can roll around while you're tooling down the road. Also, did you know that the slightest wind can push those RV's back and forth from one side of the road to the other. BK had a fun time picking things up off the floor, (herself included) while I'm trying to keep it steady in the wind at 60 mph. I didn't know my 73 yr old sister could say such words.
We wont go into detail about every RV camp. There were some good and some bad and then there were those that were atrocious. The good ones had full hook-ups plus wifi and cable tv.
While on I-70 we came across a toll road in Kansas. Sis was driving and everything was going smoothly. There was a gas station in the middle of the medium and so we stopped, picked up snacks, gas and souvenirs. Well onboard again, my sis said, "MD which way do I go?"
I said, "that way."
She went that way and 14 miles later, we discovered, it was the wrong way. We made the turn around at the next exit and hoped we had our sh!t together.
While in Kansas, we saw wind farms, wind, flat open views and more wind. WOW, Kansas is flat. A good place for wind farms.
Colorado, the mountain state. Yep, that state has got some mountains. Big mountains. Huge mountains. Our first night in the mountains was at 8300 feet above sea level. We both smoke so it was interesting at first. Can you say, "light headed"? For dinner that night we cooked out on a small grill and sat down to eat our dinner. Then we noticed signs warning about bears and that all food should be kept inside so as not to attract them. We usually do things backwards like that.
As the road rolled on we found a few more things that we should have packed but didn't. Such as pots and pans to cook in, knives and forks and enough food. Were we ready? NO. We happened to see a Walmart and decided to stock up with what we thought would be sufficient. Well, now it seems, we over did it a little.....or a lot. When we got back home, I swear, that icebox had more food than we put in there. It must have learned to breed on its own.
The rest of the trip was farely uneventful if you don't count the times we would climb out of the cab and walk into the large rearview mirrors. They stick out at least two feet from the cabin and if you're looking down...BAM. Then you look around to see if anybody had seen how stupid you are.
Showers, do you know how small the shower is on an RV? It's a good thing I'm skinny. You could hear the water, me cursing and my elbows banging against the side walls of the shower. Plus, you only get five gallons of hot water so you have to make everything clean fast. You also have to be careful when stepping out of the shower too. The step is about 15 inches high and if you're not ready you'll fall head first into the toilet. Weeesh!
Well, we made our way to Salt lake city, Utah where we spent two nights. There, we got to see the Mormon Tabernacle chior, the Family History Library and more snow capped mountains. A high point! We found a few relatives that we didn't know about. We were very impressed with the library and the resources it offered.
I don't want to portray this adventure as one large pain. We did enjoy the trip in spite of ourselves. The views of the mountains and the country side was something, I think, more people should get out and enjoy. Get out and smell the roses, so-to-speak. Will we do it again? IN A NEW YORK MINUTE, as my sister would say.
