16 August, 2020 0 comments Leave a comment

It is hard to believe my husband and I have enjoyed 16 seasons exploring North America in an RV. And the last ten seasons have been spent with our Earthbound travel trailer, shown above in Quetico Provincial Park in NW Ontario a few weeks ago. Most of the reference photos I use to inspire my paintings are taken during these travel adventures.

This year we discovered that recreational vehicles (RV's for short) provide the perfect mode of travel for the current global pandemic. Having owned two travel trailers and a fifth-wheel trailer since 2004, and embracing the RV lifestyle up to 4 months each year, we fully understand why the RV industry in Canada and the USA is experiencing record sales since the pandemic began.

Shown above is our first travel trailer, an Award, camped in Nova Scotia in 2005.

People have become leery of boarding airplanes and cruise ships but still want to get away with their family to enjoy quality time together. RV travel is the perfect way to isolate with most of the comforts of home, while safely enjoying the rejuvenating aspects of nature.

In June of this year, the president of the Canadian Recreational Vehicle Association, Shane Devenish, said in a statement that recreational vehicles are more desirable now because people can prepare and eat meals in a private space, use a private washroom and bed, and have peace of mind knowing who is sanitizing the space and how.

He went on to say that "RVs lend themselves to outdoor activities where crowds are nonexistent, like hiking, biking, fishing, geocaching, photography, off-roading, rockhounding, exploring back roads, kayaking, etc.".

Shown below is our second RV, a 31-foot Wildcat fifth wheel trailer, pictured in New Mexico in 2009. This model had a small garage in the back that would transport either our ATV or two small motorcycles.

When the pandemic hit in March of this year, we assumed we would be spending most of this spring and summer at home. (That is why we decided to embark on a food-growing journey in our back yard, and you can read about it in these Garden posts.)

We were relieved when Ontario campgrounds opened in June with safe protocols in place, and since then we have taken some short camping trips.

Shown below is our current typical camping setup, complete with dining tent, pictured at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park on the shore of Lake Superior. We bought this 29-foot Earthbound travel trailer in 2011 and still love the layout, build quality, and amenities it provides.

We often refer to our trailer as our 'bubble', because it is a self-contained unit with its own kitchen, 3-piece bathroom, bedroom, and living room with TV and satellite radio. It is the perfect setup in which to isolate and entertain ourselves during the pandemic, while still being able to enjoy the outdoors.

When we are set up a campground with full hook-ups (water, electrical, and sewer connections), we have essentially a condo unit. Campsites have lots of open space, which makes it very easy to keep safely distant from other campers during this time of isolation.

If we need to, we can camp for up to a week without services, by using our solar panel, batteries, propane tanks, freshwater tank and sewage holding tanks. This 'boon-docking' capability allows us to camp in more remote areas for brief periods. Shown below is our rig stopped at a Lake Superior lookout on Hwy 17 a few years ago. 

The easiest way to explain what makes our innovative, eco-friendly Earthbound special is that it is built like an aircraft rather than a house. It was constructed aerodynamically with recyclable materials, has no wood in it, and only weighs 4,500 lbs (compared to 10,000 lbs for our previous fifth wheel toy hauler trailer).

All this makes for an easy-to-tow, extremely durable RV. It is short enough to park in most campgrounds, but long enough to contain the amenities we like. Let's take a look inside.

Shown above is the view from the entry door (which is in the living room), looking at the kitchen. The kitchen slide-out is in the 'out' position, which has expanded the hallway by a foot. The kitchen has a large round sink, 3-burner propane stove and propane oven, and a fridge/freezer that will operate on 120V, 12V or propane.

Across the hall from the kitchen is our little bathroom. The shower has glass doors and a built-in seat. We appreciate having hot running water and our own flush toilet.

The photo above was taken in the kitchen, looking back toward the entry door. The large living/dining room with lots of seating was a feature that attracted us to this model, which is called Copper Mountain. The extra loveseat on the left gives us additional room to spread out. My husband added the convenient illuminated shoe cupboard under the seat by the door.

Shown above is another view of the dinette and seating area. The dinette table can be moved to various positions and is where I work on paintings and drawings.

There are so many storage cupboards in this trailer that it holds everything we need for a 4-month stay. Recently my husband installed a microwave oven in the upper right hand cupboard, which is next to the kitchen.

The photo above was taken from the dinette, looking up the hallway. Underneath the TV is a very handy coat closet. Every surface inside and outside our trailer is washable and easy to keep clean. The Earthbound came with two flat screen TV's, propane furnace, air conditioner and radio sound system with three speaker zones (living room, bedroom and outdoor).

A feature I especially enjoy, being someone who loves to bake and cook, is the pull-out pantry (shown above) beside the fridge.

Shown above is our bedroom, with a queen size pillow top mattress that lifts up on pistons to access the huge under-bed storage compartment. The extensive closet space was another plus with this floor plan.

Shown above is the bedroom dresser and TV. We can run this TV from our batteries, connect our laptop, and watch prerecorded movies and documentaries, even if we are camped in the wilderness with no electrical services. It is a perfect activity for a rainy day. All the windows in the RV are double glazed, can be opened to let in the breeze, and have roll-up screens and roll-down insulated blackout blinds.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of our travel trailer and understand why I think of it as a perfect Corona bubble.

Are you a new RV owner? Or thinking of getting an RV? Had some safe RV adventures this year? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post. 

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