Tuesday, June 30, 2020

motorhomes are selling like hotcakes

This actually makes sense because a motorhome (if you own it) is like your home away from home or your car in that you are in your own safe bubble staying in it sheltering in place while traveling in it. And if you have satellite radio and TV installed in it you are pretty much like home wherever you go if it is large enough for your family to get along in. Then if you have a smaller car or truck you could also tow it (especially if it is a stick shift) because if it is a stick shift you can put it in neutral and tow it fine with just a tow bar. But, if it is an automatic you might have to trailer it (at least the front wheels) for a 2 wheel drive or trailer it completely if it is an all wheel drive vehicle. A Stick shift 4wd vehicle would also be able to be towed just with a tow bar.

My wife and I were speaking about Yosemite National Park but realized that presently it would be difficult to go to and be happy there during the coronavirus for many different reasons. The first reason is we usually either stay at Yosemite Lodge or the Majestic (used to be called the Ahwahnee) and doing that won't work for us during coronavirus because she is in her mid 60s and I'm already 72 so sheltering in place isn't safe in a hotel for people our age. But, a motor home might be great. But, I'm thinking now is not the time for our age group to go to Yosemite at least right now.

But, places like Mt. Shasta and Portland where two of my kids live could work for us if we bought another motorhome.

My parents had a big Winnebago that they bought around 1980 and kept until after my Dad passed away in 1985 and then my Mom sold it because she didn't think she was competent to be driving that thing after she knocked one of the side mirrors off after Dad passed on. She was probably right.

My present wife and I owned a Leisure Travel Camper Van made in Canada which was nice because it was set up to be really warm in cold weather which we liked a lot and we bought this one around 2003. But, the problem with this one was that the inside roof was about 5 foot 10 and I'm 6 foot 5. My wife talked me into this one because it reminded her of the yacht her Dad owned (the inside of it) while she was growing up. It was a 40 to 50 foot really beautiful Concordia Wood Sailing Yacht. So, because she liked it we bought it anyway even though I didn't really fit inside of it standing up.

So, what I presently fantasize about a lot is the Mercedes Sprinter tall Camper Vans but I also know that they could blow over in a big enough wind. When I rented a 6 passenger Fiat Camper van in Munich we almost blew over in a storm in the Alps when it was snowing one night. So, I stopped it and the van shook in the winds while we all had strange dreams (my 10 year old daughter and my mother at that point heading back to Munich to return the Motorhome and fly to London then in Fall of 1999.

But, if I'm realistic at this present age my wife isn't going to be happy in anything smaller than maybe a Tioga Size motorhome of a week or more traveling.

One idea for those of you who have a motorhome or who are going to buy one because you are going crazy sheltering in place is to travel to the states with the lower levels of Coronavirus on a weekly basis to lessen your chances of getting it. If you have enough media or even the internet or radio you can keep track of which states are burning up with coronavirus and which states and areas aren't.

And traveling this way as long as you aren't going to movies, eating inside of restaurants or going to huge gatherings, you likely are as safe doing this as being at home and only going out a few times a day for groceries and things. I personally like to wear rubber gloves that I then throw away when buying gas at a gas pump but that's just me.

Another trick I learned because I wear hearing aids is that masks over the ears often flip off my hearing aids and then if our dog gets the hearing aid I have to rescue it before she eats it (this already happened once). So, a bandana that you tie at the back of your neck is better if you don't want to lose your over the ear hearing aids. I used to wear internal hearing aids but didn't like to ONLY hear electronic sound and nothing else. At least with an over the ear hearing aid my brain will also hear natural sounds in addition to electronic ones.

One of the hardest things to get used to wearing hearing aids is trying to figure out what some electronic sound actually is or means. So, being able to still hear normal sounds is nice with an over the ear hearing aid.

One of the things I have learned for myself is not to wear hearing aids while traveling in a car or truck because it is too hard on my ears to have it be as loud as a car or truck can be. I'm only hard of hearing not deaf and I want to be able to hear as long as possible.

By God's Grace

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