Living in an RV

Mostly it's great. You have everything you want right there with you all the time. It's very much like camping in the most part. With the weather still being chilly and in some cases freezing, getting out of bed, washing and getting dressed are the most difficult things to do. Sometimes they don't get done. You just go to sleep with what you have on (or more) and wake up the next day and keep going.

Those of you who have followed our lemonade diet blog (www.londonboards2.blogspot.com) will already be familiar with some of our bowel movements so I have no shame in telling you how it is in an RV. With an RV you carry with you everything you have or had. So when you go to the toilet it ends up in a tank at the back of the van which you then carry around with you until you decide to blow the tanks. This job is particularly unpleasant so it is to be avoided at all costs. Consequently we (the adults in our party) have no freedom in using our on-board facilities as their presence may suggest. So it's back to the camping regime. You don't go when you have to but only when it's possible. And it's only possible depending on how fussy you are with the cleanliness of the current facilities. Each campsite (or RV) has a different level of cleanliness depending on the type of RVer in residence. It seems that there are many parks that masquerade as RV parks (for tourists and visitors) but are actually trailer parks for the huge numbers of people in the US who live in mobile (or "once" mobile) homes.

The only way to get the bowels working really well is to check into a brand name motel for a night. Even then it takes the body and mind some hours to "thaw" from it's naturally retentive position of not letting go. But by the next day one is usually purged.

For the boys being stuck in the RV is not the best thing in the world. Some days when we have had to drive all day it had been difficult to keep them occupied. The amazing scenery no longer keeps them amused. Story tapes have been a great hit and we loaded up the iPod before we left Canada and the UK with tons of stories from library CDs and tapes. We have a little gadget (cost $29) that plugs into the iPod earphone socket and then broadcasts the output over the car stereo system. Very effective.

We also did well to hire a set of bikes. When the boys get to a campsite we can release them on the bikes for a while to get rid of some of their energy.

The RV itself has everything you would ever need except a washing machine. So we are well catered for on the cooking and food front. But then again, Julie would be able to make do with anything or nothing.

Parking can be quite good fun, especially with the 4 bikes on the back. I usually send one of the boys to the back bed to open and look out the back window. They enjoy the responsibility and to date we have had no problems. All the car parks for any store are bigger than all the car parks in London put together so there is never any trouble finding a place to park when going to a store.

Finding a place to stay at night is not a problem as RV parks are everywhere. Travelling in the summer would be a different experience as you would need to book some of the more popular sites before you left the UK. This would rather put a damper on the possibility of making up you itinerary as you go along. This is the part that Sammy and I like best and Julie and Julian are not so keen on. We have distinctly different attitudes to roaming. She would like to know where she is going and how long it will take. I just like to go and see what happens. But we manage a bit of both and are enjoying it immensely

The cost of RVing is huge. We managed to get a deal to rent for a month during the off season for around $45 per day. During the summer this is likely to be around $100 per day. On top of that you have to pay between $20 and $40 per night for a campsite. Camping by the side of the road in illegal in some places and not recommended in others.
If you don't camp you have to pay the motel fees but these are often as cheap as the campsites!

Then you have to pay for the petrol. These rigs do less than 10 mpg (US gallons) and we are spending about $100 to do 400 miles. I expect our total petrol charge to be around $700 for the month. On top of this you have to pay a mileage charge. Usually this is .29 cents per mile. So for our trip (estimated 3,000 miles) is would cost another $900. In our deal we got 1,700 miles free and further miles at .39 cents per mile. So I will pay another $500 for this.

Then if you start in one place (we started in Denver) and end in another (we are ending in Los Angeles) you pay a "one way" charge of $500. It has been waived for us as we are in the off season.

A month RVing in the summer would cost up to $6,000 but we will end up having spent in the region of $2,500 to $3,000. It is not a cheap holiday if you add on flights and food. A week in the summer would set you back about £2,000 including flights.