About the Adventure

This is the adventures of Bev and Chris – two friends from Columbus, Ohio who decided to liquidate most of our assets, quit our jobs and TAKE OFF on an RV adventure.  Bev and Chris met while working on a Habitat for Humanity Women Build house in Columbus, Ohio – we were co-leads with our friend Barb, and this is where we became friends.  As we progress through our adventures I’ll update this page to let you know where we are in the evolution.  We’ll have a few entries on the pre-trip process, a few on early trips, and eventually – THE TRIP.

• We create the IDEA of going on this trip.  We both realize we don’t want to live in Columbus, OH for much longer, don’t know where else exactly we’d want to live, and would enjoy taking the time to wander around exploring.    RV show in Columbus – we see the Winnebago View.  20 mpg, well designed.  Internet research.  See Considerations for the trip.
• Visit Farber RV – only local RV dealer who sells new Winnebago RVs.  Think through pros and cons of floor plans.  Drive [Winnebago-built] Navion Itasca home and then to its storage facility.  Happy to have made commitment to the trip and to have time to get to know the RV before taking off.  Thanksgiving in TN, respond to questions like “you going to pimp your RV, Aunt Be?” from relatives.  Ask if cat-loving niece Lauren would consider providing my cat Bobcat a Fostor Home for the duration of the trip.  After careful thought, Lauren and friend Hoyt agree that Bobcat will be a perfect playmate for Chow Meow Meow.
• Chris’s parents ask us to drive them out to Iowa for a wedding/family reunion in April 2007.  Sets schedule for an early trip across the Midwest.  Hope weather in April isn’t like movie Fargo.
• Expand the list(s) of things to research and plan to start the trip.  Plan trip to drop Bobcat off to his new home, with a whirlwind visit to each of my sisters prior to leaving.  This will involve a Southeastern tour of driving through Knoxville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Birmingham, and home to Columbus.
• Before heading north to start IOWA trip make a call and realize we have the trip weekends planned in reverse – wedding is other weekend.  Pick Bobcat up from boarding and do the Southeastern trip first, then the Midwestern trip the following weekend.  Have a few ISSUES in the Southeastern trip that are ironed out before the Midwestern trip.  Get WordPress suggestion from Lauren.  In between weekends, pick listing realtor for home sale.  While in Iowa, create Blog site on WordPress and research whether to try to run ahead or behind of a line of storms on the way home.
• May 2007:  House in contract, about 3 weeks to move out;  having surgery 2 days before closing so will move prior and recuperate in the RV – stay in town just long enough for the follow-up visit with the surgeon and then – on the road! Decision to leave is finally made, no turning back.
• June 2007:  Surgery successful (see scar – wasn’t the surgeon great?), home sold, packing the last few things in the RV before moving out of the house for good.  Bought and added a Bike Rack for the RV, Sold Bev’s 2006 Honda Accord to CarMax, have a reasonable offer on a 1999 Chevy Tracker, and a few more friends to say goodbye to.   Continue to go back to Alum Creek RV and Marine  to buy things just no one else has – and they’ve been very helpful to some new kids just starting out.  We leave Columbus at the end of the week!
• January 2008:  Tucson, AZ.  There are RV places all over town and we realize that in the winter we are relatively limited on what parts of AZ and NM and Utah we can see without freezing the RV.  Plus, Chris has been turned down TWICE for independent health insurance to replace her COBRA – just due to “incidental findings”, not even  significant health history issues.  This means she will have to go back to work by the end of 2008 just to get health insurance, which means we won’t spend this summer traveling Northwestern Canada (to let her have time to find a job she really wants).  Which means we will return to Asheville to establish residency there in the spring, which means our travel to CA and back is the end of the RV ride (since I’ve paid it off and the cash will be useful for a down payment on a house).  We decide to sell the RV, purchase a car, finish our trip to CA, and then return to Asheville via northern AZ and NM (maybe some of Utah, to be determined).  We list the RV on an internet group dedicated to Itasca Navion/Winnebago Views (and get a nibble) then get two nibbles just with people we meet while touring around in Tucson.  We figure out that waiting to get a private sale would take about a month or so and net about $5000 more than selling to a dealer, so we sell the RV, buy a Honda Element (future plans for two medium-sized dogs), ship many boxes of things back to Ohio, and try to sleep on that foam mattress on the floor of the Element.  So far, the only problem is that there’s still too much stuff in the Element since we haven’t received the roof storage box yet (Honda dealer had to get one from CA).  But once we can straighten our legs and don’t have to stick our heads between the front seats or between a front seat and the outside of the car – we’ll be fine.  Yes, we could get a hotel room, but where’s the adventure in that?  We saw a skunk rummaging outside one RV last night, and stars I’d never seen before, walking to and from the restrooms from the campsite in the State Park…