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When my husband first proposed the idea of buying an RV I was adamantly opposed to it. It's not like the idea came out of the blue. There are two things Chip has talked about since I've known him - seeing the Grand Canyon and owning a big bus RV.
Neither of these items were on my own bucket list. But to be fair, when we saw the Grand Canyon, I was pretty damn impressed. I fell in love with northern Arizona and told him I wanted to retire there. So contempt prior to investigation may not always proffer the best results.
But the RV thing...I was far from convinced. He tried the "glamping" argument - air conditioning, satellite TV, recliner chairs... I was all, Does it have room service? I'm not really interested in staying anywhere without room service.
Because for many years - decades, even - that had always been our vacation experience. My son practically grew up at the Sandestin Hilton, where our days went something like this:
Breakfast at the hotel
Reserved chairs & umbrella on the beach
Lunch at the poolside café
Shower & clean up mid-afternoon - put on make up and a cute sundress and sandals for dinner
Dinner at a local seafood restaurant, or walking around Bayside
He won me over by saying, "We could take the dogs." Pitiful, I know. But we are empty-nester dog parents and we love our fur babies. And they love us...to the point that they're a little offended by the concept of "boarding."
Then again, we probably only had the one dog when Chip proposed this argument. Now we have three, which is pure insanity.
Anyway, Chip bought a tow-behind and a pick-up truck. He loved that truck, but the camper was always a compromise. He only ever wanted a driver. We took the camper out a few times - to the beach and to some state parks. Mostly it sat in our driveway.
This year, we upgraded and traded the trailer in on a driver. My husband is obsessed. I don't even want to tell you how many nights I've caught him just sitting in it at the house. He loves that damn thing.
Our dog Bandit is equally obsessed. When we start packing up the camper to prepare for vacation, he dances around and howls at us. LEZZZZZ GOOOOO. He can't wait to hit the road. He's a little hobo.
He sits in the passenger seat and co-pilots.
So far, we've only taken it to the beach, which is not that far from our house, so Chip drives the RV and I go in my car. Pretty sure I'm not getting that seat back when we get our jeep.
As part of our all-in philosophy, we've traded in my car - AND Chip's beloved pick-up - on a beautiful blue Rubicon. We can flat-tow it behind the camper so I can actually ride with. I'm guessing I'll be relegated to one of the recliners though, if Bandit has his way. It actually doesn't sound like a horrible way to travel tbh.
After having no vacations for a year and a half, we've taken the new camper to the beach twice this summer. It's a VERY different beach vacay than what we used to have. Here's what a day looks like now:
Cook breakfast outside on the grill
Load up beach chairs, an umbrella, towels, beach bag and an cooler backpack and head to the beach
Stay there all day until you absolutely can't stand it anymore
Come back to the RV park and grill something for dinner
Sit around at the picnic table in your swimsuit, eat dinner, watch TV outside.
Chip smokes cigars
I literally never get out of my swimsuit. Packing is like: Here's some t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. WHEN HAVE I EVER WORN T-SHITS AND SHORTS.
It's pretty great, actually.
