The View From My Window
Lucas Cichon
Welcome to my first column for RV Adventure Magazine.
For this first column, I thought I’d spend a minute to introduce myself.
For the past seven years my wife (Kathie) and I have been full timers. Well, we did spend almost two years in one location but still lived in the RV and got a little bit of traveling in. Otherwise, we have been on the move most of the time. Kathie and I are full time artists and travel is important for our work. We have a 36 foot motor home, no slides, and we pull a 4 wheel drive Jeep.
What I love about RVing
Like most of you reading this, we LOVE to travel. Probably, why we all have RV’s. Where we travel to isn’t so important, the freedom we have to travel is what’s important. The concept of moving whenever we want. If we are on vacation or full timing it we look out our window and say, “we want to see something different”. Within an hour or so we can be moving to someplace else. And when we get to where we are going we have most of the luxuries of home. Luxuries we probably don‘t need but I don’t want to do without. For me, RVing is about being pampered all the time.
For a number of years Kathie and I had to go back and forth between Colorado Springs and New Mexico. There is a lovely spot to stop just outside the little town of Fort Garland. It is a small pull over with nothing but a couple of picnic tables. When we first started traveling in our RV we would just pull over and enjoy the view for a few minutes before getting back on the road. It is right off the main road so it is a bit noisy but the view is fantastic. On one of the stops I decided I wanted some coffee, no, I wanted some cappuccino. The great thing about an RV with a generator is you can pull out your cappuccino machine and brew yourself some coffee. Maybe something from the fridge.
It was while sipping the coffee and enjoying and scenery it hit me - traveling in an RV is about making the journey part of the adventure. Between eating lunch, drinking coffee, and oh yes, having a bathroom to use, the little pull off became an enjoyable part of our trips. It was a destination. We did the same trip in a car and never stopped at the little pull off. In a car we are rushed. We always have to make sure we are getting someplace to eat, sleep, and use the restroom. What a different experience Kathie and I have when we travel in our RV.
Sitting at a Walmart parking lot, or a truck stop is my favorite example between the different experiences of car versus RV travel. It is pretty easy for RVer’s to spend a night in a Walmart parking lot and never go in the Walmart. I’ve never driven my car to Walmart just to sit in the parking lot, have you? The luxury of travel in an RV puts us into a different world. We are looking at the parking lot, not the store, as the destination. But, it isn’t just a different physical world; it’s a different state of mind. Staying overnight at a Walmart can be enjoyable in an RV partially because we are comfortable, food, heat, coffee, water, whatever we need is right there. No rushing around to find a restaurant. No need to leave the RV if we don‘t want, just sit back and enjoy.
That’s why I love RVing. I’d love to hear what you enjoy about your RV experience. Please feel free to drop me an e-mail.
Lucas
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