Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 11:31:09 -0700
Reply-To: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Beyond Vanagon-Keeping older vehicles!
In-Reply-To: <20130323170823.2ES3H.709620.imail@eastrmwml303>
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I'm with you. RVs and campers are different lifestyles. We've been camping and travelling in a VW camper of one type or another since 1975 and stay exclusively in state, county & national parks along with a few forest service campgrounds. We also like to go into the big cities and sometimes spend a night in a nice hotel and have a fancy meal. The Vanagon Westy lets us do all of these things, and even find a place to park in many downtown garages. Done this in Vancouver BC, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Salt Lake, and Albuquerque.
Some folks have a strong aversion to public restrooms and showers, and for them an RV or trailer is essential.
Stuart
'68, '84, '97 & now an '85
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 10:08 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Beyond Vanagon-Keeping older vehicles!
Don, I do not have a motor home. I don't want one. I go where I go to get away from things that people with motor homes take with them. If a campground has electrical hookups, I look elsewhere. When the National Park Service started "privatizing" camp grounds and allowing generators, I found that a bad thing, not a good thing. I carry a bucket, biodegradable plastic bags, and poo powder for a toilet, and until recently I just carried a shovel for that purpose. I wash clothes in a bucket, though I haven't tried your method. On occasion, if I am out for weeks, I will visit a laundry. A bath now and again is good too, but if I have been doing a lot of swimming, I can go longer than otherwise.
My sister and brother-in-law recently "downsized" from a giant motor coach type motor home to one built on the largest Sprinter. Now they complain that the bathroom and the dishwasher are too small, and that they don't have a laundry. However, they like the television they have now better.
When I asked why they didn't just rent a hotel room when they travel, they said they like camping better, and that they are "saving money" this way. They paid well over $100K for the Sprinter based RV, and they stay in RV parks (never in National Park or other public campgrounds because they don't have the amenities they want), where they are jammed up with other RVs in a kind of parking lot environment. But, there is a restaurant on site, a "dog park," and paved walkways throughout the park. Pretty much like being in the city (and in some cases one is in the city). They have membership in some commercial RV club that runs such parks all over. They have visited National Parks, but always stay in the "club" park outside. Their experience with the National Park is to drive through them.
Oh well. mcneely
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