We're on the road again
Travels with Dave and Elaine Violette
Phoenix, AZ - 8/20/2009
Author: David A. Violette, David@Violette.com
Keywords: Dave Violette, Elaine Violette, Itasca Sunrise, travel, Arizona, Utah
Description: We are taking a short trip in our motorhome first to E Carbon UT for a granddaughter wedding, then on to Mesa Verde, Four Corners, and Window Rock.
Here we are with our motorhome, ready to take off. Notice we advertise our web site right up front so people can know where to follow our travels.
We are taking a little vacation time and traveling in our motorhome. We have not been out in it since last fall, and miss the traveling. So we took the occasion of our granddaughter Stacie getting married in East Carbon UT to expand it into a short trip. After we leave East Carbon we will visit the Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Gallup, and Window Rock areas on our way home.
It did not take long for Kerby to assume his usual riding position, on Elaine's lap.
Kerby's other favorite place to ride is on the dashboard. Notice he has a cushy spot.
The map on the back of our motorhome shows the states and provinces in which we have stayed.
We spent some time in getting prepared for this trip. We keep the motorhome stocked with linens and towels, full set of kitchen items, and other motorhome travel needs so all we have to do is add our clothes, food items, and personal items and we are ready to go. However, since we had not been out in the motorhome for a while we did some cleaning and had the engine and systems serviced as well. We needed repairs to the onboard generator and a couple of other things and had those done as well.
Having spent 14½ out of the 17 months from June 2006 through October 2007 living in our motorhome, we are very used to it. Our motorhome is a 36-foot Itasca Sunrise and is large enough with the slides to not feel cramped. We enjoy not only the travel and exploring, but also being together. I am always amazed when someone, usually a man, says they cannot imagine being retired because they and their spouse would not get along. Living in a motorhome has a closeness much different from living in a house, and Elaine and I fare quite well.
We have our systems worked out and organized. When setting up upon arriving at an RV park it takes us no longer than 15 minutes to unhook the car we tow behind, set up the motorhome and get it leveled, connect the utilities, and get the slides out and everything arranged for living. Breaking down for leaving takes no longer.
Our dog Kerby, a 5-year-old Shih Tzu, loves to travel as well. He has his own patterns that work together with ours, though some are different in the motorhome from in the house. For example, at the house he waits in the bedroom for quite a while after I get up and have gone out to the kitchen to make my breakfast and gone into the office to do my morning things to come out and want to go outside for his morning pee. jSometimes he waits until Elaine gets up before coming out. While in the motorhome, however, he gets up just as soon as I am through dressing and when I start opening the window shades in the living room area. We go out and then when we come back he will often want to get up on the bed again until Elaine gets up.