Day to Day Life on the Road

We've been asked to tell a little about our day-to-day life as we travel. We've described living in our coach as having a five star hotel room anywhere we want it. Perhaps we are on the move today. Travel in a motorcoach is really a treat. Sitting high as we do, the scenery can be far more spectacular. The coach itself is quite easy to drive, and we both do. The GPS shown above (Jason, as in Jason and the Argonauts) has many of the campgrounds through out the U.S. in its memory. This makes it quite easy to find the next place. We seldom drive more than 200 miles in a day, and often far less. When we arrive at our destination, setup usually takes thirty minutes or less, then we go about enjoying our new locale. When we rise in the morning, we usually go through our morning exercises, consisting of calisthenics, aerobics, and/or weightlifting usually followed by a nice bicycle ride.

This is followed by a good shower. By the way, that is real ceramic tile on the floor. We have one sink near the shower,
and a second in the commode room. Very helpful when we're both trying to get ready to go somewhere in the morning.

Some days, we choose to just relax in the coach. Penny has her sewing machine and stash of fabrics; electronic keyboard, large tackle box full of cardmaking supplies, tub of genealogy records, and lots of yarn and embroidery thread for knitting, crocheting, and counted cross-stitch. Her Kindle satisfies her need for a library. I have woodworking and mechanical tools in the "basement". That is the compartment underneath the living quarters of the coach. Note the table behind the chair to the left. That is actually the steering wheel. We have a plastic cover that converts it into a table. Penny made the covers.

We like to be as open to the outside as possible. Here in Naples, Florida, that isn't too difficult. If the weather doesn't cooperate, however, we have two air conditioners/heat pumps, and two propane furnaces that keep us comfortable in the most extreme conditions. The coach has enough room that we have accomodated ten people for dinner.

Although we make it a point to sample the local cuisine wherever we are, we do eat in more than we eat out. We have a nice freezer/refrigerator with ice maker that can run on 120v AC or 12v DC power, or on propane. Not exactly frost free, but still convenient.

We have a three burner stove and a microwave/convection oven. We eat from real dishes and glasses. When we travel, we use curtain spring rods to keep them in place. When we're finished with a meal, we simply put our dishes into our dishwasher. All the conveniences of home.

Usually, we use the water, electricity, and sewer connections provided by the park,

but we have tanks that hold our water and sewage when those connections are unavailable, and this is a diesel generator that can supply sufficient electricity to power everything in the coach, and it does it all on half a gallon of diesel per hour. A couple of years a go, we were caught in a blizzard in Spearfish, SD. When the power to our campground went out, we fired up the generator and drank hot cocoa while the town around us struggled to keep warm.

When we decide to see our surroundings, we jump into our Jeep and feel comfortable going nearly anywhere. It has been everywhere from Jeep trails near Sedona to the beach at the Padre Island National Seashore. Note the awnings on the side of the coach. They make a comfortable place to sit outside the coach on a sunny day, or a convenient place to set up our grill on a rainy one.

If we're going in different directions, we also have a motorcycle, so we can each have transportation. The device at the bottom of the photo is the tow bar which enables us to tow the Jeep when we are on the road. It's much nicer to travel together. Since our coach engine is in the rear, we can carry on a conversation at normal tones, listen to a book on CD or music while traveling.

Often before we leave the coach for the day, we toss some laundry into our washer/dryer.

When we return, we simply pull out our dry clothes and fold or hang them in our cedar-lined closet.

In the evening, we close all our curtains and blinds and retreat to our comfortable little den and read, watch TV, surf the net, or do whatever pleases us.

When night falls, once again, we retreat to our comfortable king bed and read, watch TV, or talk until finally the lights go out. One of the benefits of being retired is that it doesn't much matter when that is.

Despite the fact that we aren't ready to leave the road, we've now purchased house above the Columbia River with panoramic views of Mt. Hood, but still love hanging out in our coach. More about the house later. This doesn't mean we're leaving the road, far from it, we just now have a home base. More on our new house later.