on Travel in an RV

"No family should attempt an auto trip if the kids outnumber the car windows"
- Theresa Bloomingdale

What an amazing quote - it says so much. To me it says, ‘get more windows!’ When I travel with the family we get around in an RV. Sure, we joke about the "green turd” (for anyone who has seen the movie RV), but it’s still real and special for us.

Every August I rent an RV, and we choose a state in America. I try to have the kids choose. I try to ask them something indigenous to a state in America as a precursor to deciding to travel there. In Michigan, for example, locales range from Detroit, the rural inner city carnivals on the asphalt, to the Grand Hotel in Mackinac island. We golfed, fished, boated, kayaked, bumper car'd, and tented at the Jellystone Park, surrounded by the tents of other vacationing families. At these family tenting park sites, my kids run around looking to fill their water containers and bump into other kids doing the same, taking on those odd jobs to keep their campsite going. What a lovely shared camaraderie amongst the young! These little things are what make the summers special for my city children!

‘Cruise America’ is an RV company where you can rent an RV, drive where you wish and drop off at another stop! These are basic self-driven vans with refrigerators, bathroom, and cabinets for your luggage. Don’t attempt to sleep in one! For the trip, it’s your car - would you sleep in your car?

When we travel within one state we normally find a better quality rental through the local state companies, which are easy to find through a simple Google search. We were lucky enough to rent one that had a flat screen TV and a video gaming system (which I promptly hid so my kids never knew about it)! We line the bed with duffle bags full of supplies. We grab anything we need from these bags to refill of our small carry bags that we take into the hotels, leaving the rooms much less cluttered. The refrigerator is filled with fresh fruit to balance the fast-food diet we subject ourselves to at hotel pools, beaches and resorts, and at the roadside drive-throughs! It’s not expensive; it’s actually pretty darn cheap. A two-bedroom suite (which is the most expensive room), at a beautiful hotel on Traverse Lake in Michigan, deluxe by any standards, in nowhere near equivalent to the cost of any night at a Hamptons house!

Over the years we have travelled with an RV within the following States;

Kentucky
Lousiana
Mississippi
Michigan
Alabama
Texas
North Carolina
Maine (last year)

The RV is a tradition, a culture, if you will, within our family. It’s who we are and what we do.

Create your own summer traditions today!