LTV – Workplace Navigator

I’ve just completed a solo 10,000-mile sojourn through North America in my RV, Abeona. It’s been quite the adventure and while this was some fanciful dream just 4 months ago, I’m amazed that I actually completed it without any major snafus and that I learned so much about myself and Abeona on the journey. I visited 22 states from the deep south to the southwest, up central California to the Pacific Northwest. I took a ferry from Bellingham, WA to Skagway, Alaska, drove through the Yukon Territory on the Alaska Highway and back down through British Columbia and Alberta, Canada with an incredible 5 days in Jasper National Park just days before the fire. I went to three countries, the US, Canada and a 90-minute trip to Las Boquillas, Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande in a row boat followed by riding a burro into the village. I’m happy to report that I can still speak Spanish relatively well.

Myself, daughter Natalie and son -in-law Kevin hiking in the Sammamish River Park

While I was planning the trip, I had a certain cadence to each week. I worked Tuesday through Thursday and would need to have WIFI and electricity since my air conditioning only works on “shore power”. I would find my campsites on an app/website called RV Life which shows reviews, the amenities available and the strength of the WIFI connection based on the carrier. I had each site reserved in advance and the app would show me the route and approximate time and miles between each spot. This was invaluable and outside of one or two changes in campsites due to visits with friends, I stuck to the route as planned. Spots that were a must see such as Big Bend National Park and Joshua Tree National Park were all planned out so I knew how much time it would take to visit each spot. I did some detours to visit a few spots when I realized how close they were like White Sands NP, Guadalupe NP and Carlsbad Caverns NP. In all I went to 11 National Parks and 2 Canadian National Parks. Many I had visited before but the stand out new parks were Joshua Tree NP and Theodore Roosevelt NP (where two bison were crossing the road and right by Abeona!). My favorite revisited parks were a hike with my brother Rick to Olympic NP with marmots, deer, wildflowers and snowcapped peaks, the stunning Crater Lake NP and the incredible Jasper NP and Banff NP in Canada.

I went to several state parks including Catalina SP in Tucson, Smith Rock SP in Oregon, Big Basin SP in California with my oldest brother Dave. Many adventures were completely unplanned and were some “might as well” sort of opportunities. I went on a glider plane ride in Tehachapi, CA because I was camped next to the runway for my workweek and decided I would be mad at myself if I didn’t give it a try. It was terrific and completely an analog as in nothing electronic which surprised me. Not even a radio between the guide plane and the glider. I saw signs for Shasta Caverns and decided to sign up for a tour which included a boat ride and hike through the caverns. The best adventure by far was taking a helicopter ride to the Meade glacier near Skagway AK. I signed up to walk on the glacier but the helicopter ride was terrific through the mountains and glaciers surrounding Skagway. I was fortunate to sit in the front seat of the helicopter and I felt like a photographer for National Geographic gliding above the glacier lakes and waterfalls.

Abeona handled like a champ on scary drives like the always windy Tehachapi pass, the 11 percent grade on the Klondike Highway out of Skagway and the countless gravel roads and unmarked portions of the Alaska Highway. I accidentally backed into a large boulder in Catalina SP which dented my sewer system. I was so fortunate that there was a remote RV repair guy in Joshua Tree that repaired it in 112-degree weather. I had a leak in my main water inlet but my brother Dave and a call to Leisure Travel Van (the manufacturer of my RV) helped me do a fix until I got home. I also learned to manually shift coming down the dreaded Tehachapi pass, I finally figured out my tire sensors after some help from a Facebook group for Leisure Travel Vans. The only other issue was a hitchhiking mouse I picked up in the Yukon but fell victim to a trap I set months before. I learned that tire places are perfectly happy to check and fill your tires for free (thank you Les Schwab!).

I had the opportunity to see many friends and family along the way. I have a dear friend Tammi and her husband Larry who took me to Saguaro NP and some fantastic Mexican food in Tucson. I visited an old coworker, Jeanne at my previous employer in Scottsdale and an old elementary school friend, Michael, in Mountain View. My brother, Dave, drove me to the Redwood Groves in the Bay Area and he and his wife, Judy, hosted me for several days in Palo Alto where I was able to see my nieces and my great nieces and great nephew. I met up with my daughter and her husband along with friend, James, in Portland for incomparable vegan food. The big celebration for my mother’s 90th birthday was a relaxed trip down memory lane and some great time spent with the entire family. I met with another elementary school chum, Jim, in Fernie, BC where we took an exciting drive up a mountain in his indestructible car (Abeona would not have survived). I was able to visit my dear old friend, Johno, from my NYC days in the mid 80’s. He has a lovely lakeside house with his husband, Jim, in Indiana. I got to see Johno do a back flip off a swim platform and I went tubing around “Lake Jimmy John” (first time I’ve done that in 20 years). I wrapped up my trip in Covington, VA visiting my Aunt Karen, her children, Craig and Kristin and her husband, Angelo, for a lovely meal in Lewisburg, WV.

I cannot tell you how many times I talked to Abeona and thanked her for being such a bad ass for getting me on and off the ferry, and for the air conditioning working for the massive back up I experienced out of Phoenix where it took two hours to go ten miles when it was 115 degrees. There were countless evenings where the air conditioner was on all night and it never quit! There were also the tight squeezes through road signs in Palm Springs, the pouring rain near Rusk TX, and windy roads of the Olympic Peninsula. Abeona never faltered.

My wanderlust is definitely a gene imparted from my father and so is my hesitancy towards heights. I left my father’s ashes in places he had been to and other places where he wanted to travel and sometimes when I knew it was a view he would have loved. He said in his last few years of life that Peyto Lake was the most beautiful place on earth. I was able to travel there on this trip and leave his ashes from the overlook. I know he would be proud of me on this cross-country sojourn and I’m proud of myself for taking it on, doing it scared and always having Daddy riding shotgun.

I ordered my Leisure Travel Van Wonder RL in March of 2021. It was at the height of the pandemic and they told me it would be a 2 year wait due to supply chain issues. At the time, I was fine with a 2 year wait as I figured it would give me plenty of time to “figure things out.” Figuring things out like how to travel in a 25-foot RV around the United States and Canada, how to stock it, store it and, most importantly, drive it. Two years turned into almost Three years. I finally took possession on February 1st, 2024.

My new RV, Abeona, parked at Jekyll Island Campground

I have camped many times in my life. My family and I drove across the United States from Delaware to California, to British Columbia and back on an 8-week odyssey when I was 8 years old. My two older brothers and I with my parents hit the road in an old blue Ford station wagon (without air conditioning) with a 26-foot trailer behind it. I had my own bunk and, as I recall, slept outside a lot under a blanket strewn over a rope between two trees (I apparently didn’t think about snakes or bears or other things that move around in the night). I know we stayed in campgrounds for the most part and that many days were incredibly long. My father was a hero for driving almost the entire way, some 4,000 plus miles. My mother was the other hero. I don’t’ know how she cooked or how big the refrigerator was. I’m sure it was a wet bath (the shower and toilet are combined in a tiny room). There was no Wi-Fi, no air conditioning or television. Just a radio and a dining table that folded down into a full-size bed for my parents. So yes. Technically I have lived in an RV but, at eight years old, I had no concept on what was involved in driving cross country in an RV.

I have christened my RV as Abeona (goddess of the outward journey). It can’t hurt to have a goddess looking out for me. Abeona is equipped with all kinds of bells and whistles compared to the Coachman Trailer we traveled cross country in as a family. There is air conditioning, heater, gas stove, microwave/convection oven, separate toilet and shower, a fridge that is bigger than the one I shared in my freshman dorm and a roomy freezer as well. There is a Wi-Fi extender and antenna and two (yes, two) televisions. There is seating for four with seat belts and a separate lounge/murphy bed in the back of the RV. THIS is not my parents travel trailer. It also has about 20 different systems at work all at once from LED lighting, to lithium batteries, an inverter, a generator, tire systems, fresh water and gray and black tanks. To say I was overwhelmed after the half day walkthrough at the dealership, is an understatement. My son and I spent the night in Abeona at the dealership before I drove it home the next day. I was glad to have the experience of a night in Abeona before heading out into the great wide-open world but regardless of how uncertain and overwhelmed I was, I had to head out.

An issue with any RV that is not meant for 4 seasons (an RV that is insulated to be lived in below freezing) is the fear of freezing pipes. I didn’t want my brand-new RV to spring a leak in early February in North Carolina where freezing temperatures are the norm. The dealership helped me figure how to semi-winterize the rig and use the heating system and batteries to keep it warm enough at night. I quickly set up a three-week trip to get to the warmer temperatures of Tybee Island, GA, Sarasota, FL and Jekyll Island, GA. On February 10th, Abeona and I headed out and spent our first night on the road together at Santee, SC.

First of all, I have to say, that if you are going to drive a vehicle that is three times the size of your regular vehicle, driving on Interstate 40 and Interstate 95 is a really good place to start. I left on a Saturday when there wasn’t much traffic and the drive to Santee was about 3 hours so it wasn’t too taxing. I can’t imagine driving up a steep incline, mountain pass or narrow road on our maiden voyage. I also drove about 5 miles an hour below the limit. I was sensitive to every gust of wind and lurch and objects moving inside the rig. I have learned that I prefer a gas station that is by its lonesome instead of the confusion of a truck stop. I’ve also learned that Cracker Barrel and rest stops always have some pull through RV parking which makes it really handy for parking. To be able to pull through and not back up is a real gift when on the road. It’s also nice to just pull off at a rest stop, and in the pouring rain, to not have to get out of the RV to go the bathroom or grab a cold drink.

It’s been a huge learning curve. It took me three weeks to truly figure out using the fresh water tank versus tap water from the campground. It turns out that I need to turn OFF the water pump to use the campground water instead of the fresh water tank (along with all the dials being in the correct direction). I needed beefier, grippier gloves to deal with the sewer hose as well as every electrical hook up (also known as shore power) has a breaker switch that needs to be turned on (all of this seems obvious in retrospect!). I am constantly saying “righty tighty” to make sure I’m turning things in the correct direction.

It has truly been a journey and I’m happy to say that I was able to talk to each of my clients via video in all three locations, I was able to see 8 beach front sunrises that were amazing and I did this all while taking hot showers, eating tasty meals and sleeping in a comfortable bed. By my return home, I was driving the speed limit and brave enough to do an 8-hour travel day. Abeona is now tucked away in storage until we head out on our next adventure. It took a bit of trial and error, and patience, and turning down the volume on my inner critic, but I did it alone and I’m really proud that I did.