Well, We Did It!

Well, we did it! It was a L-O-N-G journey figuring out what should come next after we sold our Chinook camper last summer, and as often seems to happen in our marriage, I went kicking and screaming all the way. But we flew to Florida two weeks ago and just like that, we have an RV again! (Is anybody surprised? )

I took a cold shower the first morning because we couldn’t figure out the hot water system, but now that we have the camper home and are figuring out how everything works, I think we are really going to like this rig! It’s a 2018 Hymer Aktiv 1.0. At under 20 feet long, this is the smallest and shortest of our campers so far. It will park anywhere a regular van could park and Ken says it drives like a dream. I haven’t driven it yet, but I think I would feel very comfortable driving it on the highway. (We were thrilled to find that it gets almost twice as many miles to the gallon of gas as the Chinook did.)

We named our first camper van Meriwether after explorer Meriwether Lewis. We never named our next camper, but just called it “the Chinook” since that was a pretty cool name already. I wanted to call our new camper van “Journey” because it was such a journey for us to come to agreement about what to buy, how much to spend, when to buy it, etc. Ken wasn’t crazy about that (he’s probably just going to call it “the camper”) but at 2 a.m. on our second night in the new camper, I was thinking about our other vehicle at home, a Honda Odyssey minivan and suddenly I just knew what this one should be called: Meet the Iliad (and the Odyssey). We think our adventures in the Iliad are going to be epic! (See what I did there? )

The inside is very compact but very cleverly arranged to make it live nice and big! Both front seats swivel to face the back and create a nice seating area for working, eating, playing games, etc. (That TV has already been taken out and sold since on the rare occasions that we watch a movie while we’re camping, we just stream it on one of our laptops. We’ll probably put a bulletin board where the TV was—a place to pin postcards, family photos, tickets, etc.)

Above are the views from our almost queen-size, very comfy bed. At our campground at Manatee Springs State Park near Orlando, FL, we felt right at home when we looked out our “bedroom” window to see deer grazing near the Iliad.

The previous owners are no longer camping so they left us tons of great supplies, including that pretty basket below, towels, dishes, and a great Cuisinart 4-cup coffeemaker, along with many of the hoses and other equipment we would have had to buy. I’m having fun making the camper our own with pretty bedding, new rugs, and a Walmart pillow I added beads to to get a little pop of red. I can’t wait to put it all together once the camper is clean and organized and ready to go on our first trip.

Poor Ken is suffering a common camping malady called “I bonked my head ten times-itis.” But don’t feel too sorry for him. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so happy. And that makes me happy.

I’m also thankful that I was able to write several thousand words on our trip home. It was a good test because this camper is our office when we are on the road and I’ll be on deadline all summer with my next novel. After a little two-day “shakedown” trip to make sure everything is working as it should, our first real trip will be to Texas where our two sons and their families live. After that we have trips planned to Kansas, North Carolina, and New England in the fall. Let the adventures begin!

How do YOU like to travel? Are you a camper, a road-tripper, an Airbnb-er, or comfy hotels all the way? Or maybe, like me, you’re more of a homebody and would really just prefer to stay home. (God knew I’d need a husband who would drag me out of my comfort zone, and I must admit, the traveling has inspired many a story!) I’d love to hear your stories!