FUIVA: campervan RV living

If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be vacationing in a recreational vehicle, I would’ve guffawed. It turns out that it’s pretty awesome for glamping, for exploring national parks, and particularly if you like having the familiar/necessary comforts of home conveniently with you wherever you go. If you’re wondering what it’s like, here’s my best stab.

There are many different styles of RVs. Some are trailers towed behind another vehicle. Some are attached to the bed of a pickup truck, or are cleverly converted cars (like the Instagram-worthy ambulance-turned-campervan). Motorhomes (the ones that sit on wheels) are classified into groups. Class As are the huge behemoths, built on a bus or truck chassis, and fit more than my actual apartment in Bethesda.

Class Cs are what I pictured when I thought of RVs, a boxy home built on a van chassis, wide and lumbering. Then there are the class Bs, which appear to be a normal van on the outside, but whose inside has been converted into living quarters. This is what we rented, one made by the Canadian company Pleasure Way.

The advantage of the class B, besides the ability to masquerade as a work van, is that it is the width of a regular car, so we fit into normal parking spaces. The backside might jut out a bit, but it makes maneuvering in towns and in tourist parking lots really easy. Campervan travel is unique in that we really don’t need a home base. It is glorious freedom to just carry on, and pull over to the side of the road whenever we fancy a bladder break or a meal.

My favorite time in Yellowstone and Grand Teton is at dawn, when the critters roam. We drive away from the campsite as soon as we wake up, find a nice spot by a river, or a waterfall, and make breakfast, wash up, and have coffee. We are often the only ones there, and have had tourist attractions and panoramic views all to ourselves while we brush our teeth.

Likewise, when a traffic jam hits, we pull over and make tea.

All this maneuverability requires special management though. A moving hotel room needs to be battened down regularly, else contents will shift (and crash) as it accelerates to 65 mph. After a few mishaps that are funnier now than they were at the moment, we developed a system. FUIVA is our checklist acronym. Fridge, check! Unplugged from power, yep! Inverter off. Vents closed and locked. Awning shut. Onward, Ho!

Electricity is the most abundant utility in a Pleasure Way Lexor. The volts are provided from solar panels on the roof, battery power from the gas engine/driving, and power hookups from a cord if we’re lucky to have one at a campsite. We can charge all our devices, watch TV, and heat leftovers in the microwave. The 2 most indispensable appliances are the Instapot and the electric kettle. I learned it is much more efficient to cook this way, than with the propane burners in the kitchenette.

While I have made passable attempts at fancy food, like beef short ribs with pitted prunes, the best meals are simple, one pot concoctions.

Ground beef jambalaya and sausage-kale-brown rice have been favorites. As is shin ramen cooked in the sauté function of the Instapot. It turns out, eating processed foods is an indispensable (and delicious) part of the camping experience.

Water needs to be rationed, and its management is interesting. There is a 29 gallon fresh water tank, with which we take Navy showers, groom, do dishes, and occasionally do laundry (hand washed in the Instapot stainless steel pot, resourceful!). Every other day, we dump the dirty water, both gray (soapy used water from the sink and shower) and black (toilet contents) directly into a sewage line via a special pipe nicknamed “stinky slinky.” Not the most pleasant part of RV travel.

It’s a wonderful life otherwise, and gives us a lot of time to read, to talk to each other, and to enjoy each other’s company. As our trip nears its end, I’m already sketching out plans to take one of these for a spin to the Grand Canyon next year.

May 19, 2019