Follow the Daze: 3•2•1 Take Off!

We had been sitting at Alum Creek Campground near Sunbury, Ohio for well over a week. Consider it as our “Launching Pad”. Originally we had intended to head out West on Monday the 16th and then, because of last minute logistical situations, launch day became Tuesday the 17th. Yes, we were all set to roll!

But wait… my son JT, who had been over in Europe for the past 3 weeks touring with Iggy Pop, was flying home on Wednesday the 18th. Yeah, there was NO WAY I was going to leave the day before his arrival and not get to see him one more time. So we hung around Wednesday and hooked up with him and Amanda, his girl friend, on Thursday afternoon. Had a nice time dining at Mudflats Bar & Grill in Galena and hanging out some at our Alum Creek campsite.

Friday morning arrived and after a short count-down, we were off!

As almost all of you know, this “living full-time in an RV” is a brand new adventure for Barbara and I that has been building for the past 7 or 8 years now. I thought perhaps you’d enjoy a short recap of how it all started. Hope you find it interesting.

“Camper Number One” for us happened not long after I had a deer/motorcycle accident and was still hobbling around with a broken ankle and hand. I owned an old 3-person dome tent that we pitched somewhere near Yellow Springs, Ohio and well; it rained, I couldn’t get up and down very well and the “3-person” tent was probably made for 3 Cub Scouts, not two full grown adults. One night and that was enough. On to “Camper Number Two”.

A few years later, while Barbara was out in Sequim, WA visiting her family I spied a 1999 Ford Conversion van sitting on a car lot. Well, most people would have seen a conversion van. I saw a camper! To make a long story short, I kept watching it and as I did, I kept noticing the price fall lower and lower. Once Barbara was home we went down and looked it over, had a mechanic check it out and then purchased what I lovingly called our “Van-de-Camper”. (I always had visions of Van-de-Camp Pork and Beans doing a vehicle wrap on the van and paying us to roam around, advertising their product. LOL)

After a few short trips around Ohio we ventured out on a two week vacation to New Mexico. The “camper” was set up with only 2 foam mattresses as our bed and a Folgers Coffee can for a port-a-potty. That was it. Bare bones minimum. Once back, I built in an elevated bed frame for the foam which also increased our storage capacity under the frame. It was great! Off we went for another 2 week vacation the following year to Yellowstone National Park and with that trip completed it became very obvious to us both that we were really enjoying the traveling and camping. If this is what we were actually going to be doing, we needed a few more amenities... like a bathroom. Yeah, a bathroom would be nice. Next stop, “Camper Number Three”.

After enjoying the Van-de-Camper for a few years, we then turned our attention to something a little more suitable for long term camping and finally found a beautiful Ford F-250 Super Duty Diesel truck with a Lance truck camper on the bed. Perfect.

We made trips to the Blue Ridge Parkway, to West Virginia, Pennsylvania and to several places in Ohio. While all the amenities were great, the cabin space was very limited and after a year and a half of camping in it, we sold the unit off in two pieces. One person from IN wanted the camper and another person from Ohio just wanted the truck. Worked out well for all, with the exception of us not having a camper of any kind. So, the hunt was on for “Camper Number Four”.

As you know, we ended up with what we feel is the perfect camper that meets every requirement and need that we have. Our 2004 Lazy Daze MBTK (Mid-Bath, Twin/King) is now what we call “Home”. We’ve only had two trips in her, one from New Mexico (where we drove out to purchase her) back to Ohio and one down in the Smokey Mountains. Both trips were around a month each with the maiden voyage being longer. We’ve dubbed our Lazy Daze “La Casita” which translates as “the little house” or “the little cottage”. The name suits it well and is quite fitting seeing as we are now, finally, actually on our way back to New Mexico to begin this new lifestyle of ours.