A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

I started my RV adventures in 2011. I now live in my class C, 1998 Georgie Boy Maverick from mid February thru mid November with my 2 dogs. Rosie, my Service Dog (SD), a Standard Poodle, and Kato, my SD in training, an Anatolian x Armenian Gampr. I'll be turning 60 this year. My RV is my grandkid's favorite place to come hang out with Grandma. They like to bounce around in the cabover like superballs. My eldest grandson started staying with me for daycare when he was just a few months old (Mommy was still interviewing regular daycare ladies). I do 'sick daycare too, when I'm in the area, so he's grown up with RVing as a part of his normal life. I should ask him, he probably thinks everyone's grandma lives in an RV most of the year.

I spend a lot of time alone so was thrilled to stumble upon this forum. A whole bunch of RV ladies like me! Looking forward to picking up tips and tricks, amd making new friends.

Welcome! Glad to have you with us. What would you like to be called?

Feel free to jump in anywhere. At sometime each day someone starts a thread in the morning coffee room and we just join in to say anything or nothing lol. Some of the other rooms are for specific topics. Look around and join in anytime/anywhere.

I'm a full-timer currently workamping in South Dakota.

Welcome! Come John us around the virtual campfire ! Sounds like a fun life you have bout for yourself.
I'm a widow of just under 2years and retired with a disabled son living with me. I travel when I can in my class B rv. At home recently due to the restrictions .
Velda
Northern California

Welcome!

I (mostly) became interested in RVing after becoming a member of this forum. It was only then that I realized that "I can DO this!".

I like to visit the Cascade volcanoes, so my converted-to-RV (by me) cargo van was a handy place to stay, that was also guaranteed to accept dogs, during my remote volcano adventures. I now am the proud owner of a Jayco 154BH travel trailer.

Volcanoes I have visited:

California Volcanoes
Mt. Shasta
Lassen Peak (Lassen National Volcanic Park)
Medicine Lake Volcano (My favorite!) (Lava Beds National Monument)
Sutter Buttes Volcano
Mount Konocti (Clear Lake Volcanic Field)
Eagle Lake Volcanic Field
Mammoth Mountain

Oregon Volcanoes
Mt. McLoughlin
Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake National Park)
Three Sisters
Mt. Batchelor
Newberry Volcano (Newberry National Volcanic Monument)
Mt. Hood
Mt. Jefferson

Washington Volcanoes
Mt. St. Helens

Not traveling at the moment, due to the 'situation', but hoping there are more volcano visits in my future!!

Are there any volcanoes in your area?

Anne

Welcome to the forum from SW Ohio. Given your experience, you may be the one giving out the tips....and well sharing experiences!

Wow' thank you all for the warm welcome! I'll address some specific comments.

@Bethers, online I go by Toxed or Toxie.

@Cudedog, my mountain is part of the Blue Mountain Range in Oregon. They are a volcanic formation. While there are no specifically volcanic destinations/parks nearby, a knowledgeable volcanist can see the formations everywhere they look. I'm above the Grande Ronde Valley, an ancient, inactive caldera and mud flow. I'm in sight of the Wallowas and Elkhorns. Wallow lake is not too far. Its a deep, subterranean filled volcanic lake. Icy cold. NW of Elgin stands a knob. It is the beginning of a new peak formation. I've been told that a woman owns part of it that has natural ice caves in the dormant vent tubes. She occasionally used to take people through them. I'm currently camped on my property in an area that speaks of being the remains of a tiny caldera. The geologic formations and soil content back up my hypothesis. Sorry if I'm getting too technical for a lot of people here. My dad and uncle (both gone now) owned, during their time, the worlds leading geotechnical company. Rock formations and geology were frequent discussions wherever we went.

Did you visit the lava tunnels when you were in Central Oregon? So cool! Idaho should be on your list! When my kids were young we did a small part of it (pre RV days). We could have spent weeks there. I wanted to go back and do an opal mining day trip in an old vent, but never got to it.

@BirdbyBird LOL, some. I've been reading parts of the forum. There is an awesome amount of wisdom and experience here!

Hi, Toxie! I have been a full-timer for eight years now. I lived in Michigan most of my life, but always had the travel bug, so I am happiest when I am on the road. I do feel guilty sometimes because I am not a traditional grandma to my grandkids, however.

I am in Michigan now, but will he headed north and west along the northern tier of states in a couple of weeks. Will be meeting my California kids and grandkids in Idaho in late July, but will be in LePage and Plymouth Park August 7-17th.

Hi Toxie~~~
From Illinois originally, but currently fulltime, so home is wherever I'm parked. Been on the road 3 years already.

I never camped before in my life, so the ladies here are very helpful with info if you need it, but sounds like you've got it under control.

I've met quite a few of them, and if no one had mentioned it yet, none of us are axe murderes.

@JudyJB, Thank you! There are upsides to being non-traditional, too! Have fun with your family in Idaho. Plymouth
Park in WA? I've stayed there. Pretty, clean and wonderful hosts back then.

@IrishIroamed, thank you too. I'm sure I don't have every situation covered. I'm the gal to call if you need a Monkey Bridge built, a fire lit, fish caught or bears fended, but I don't have near enough of the RV stuff worked out yet. Not even close! About the axe murderers, good to know!

Yes, Plymouth Park in Washington. Nice place, except last summer the sewer system was broken so we had to go across the river to dump our tanks.

To explain the axe murderer comments: Many of us have had similar experiences being questioned about the dangers of meeting up with axe murderers along our travels. (Some people watch too much television or old movies.)

For example, I have often invited perfect strangers into my motorhome, to the horror of my sons. One example was a couple I met at a lighthouse who had two kids with them, maybe ages 10 and 12. They had been admiring my rig and commented that they had been shopping for a motorhome and were worried about one being big enough. So I invited them in to show them around. How dangerous can a couple with two kids at a lighthouse parking lot be??

Way back when I first got started, I joined a group of ladies in Texas at a get-together. Again, my kids were horrified and asked how I knew one or more of them were not axe murderers. Like a bunch of us old ladies fit the profile of likely axe murderers!! We spend most of our time at get-togethers eating, not running around in the woods at night with axes.

Anyway, many of us have had our family members (mostly our children) ask us the axe murder question, so at a get-together I missed, someone took a group photo with the middle person holding onto an axe! It is somewhere in the get-together area, but I have no idea where.

LOL I figured it was something like that. My father-in-law was a Forest Service Station Guard at Anthony Lakes outside of Baker for 30 yrs. They were always inviting strangers into the guard station (where they lived). My situation is a little different. I lost my immune system to the pesticide poisoning. I can't be around other people.

Welcome Toxie
I live in my 5th wheel full time have since 2007 when my husband retired we intended to travel but picked up a camp host position in Island Park Idaho part of a caldara thinking it would be just one season think we were there 3 more then prostrate cancer struck then my husband died in 2012 so pretty much this 5th wheel travels from eastern Idaho to Quartzsite AZ. one day it is going to surprise everyone and take a different route.. how much do you have to isolate yourself? when we first meet one of the gals from the forum my husband made the comment how do you know that they aren't axe murderer's? then after we would met one he would say nope that's not the axe murderer...
hopefully we will met somewhere
sheila
Judy what part of Idaho will you be?

Hi Sheila,
Sorry about your husband. My dad died after prostrate cancer treatment. It was the radiation and chemo, not the cancer that got him.

Where would you go different? Where would you like to go?

My isolation is pretty severe. I couldn't attend my father's funeral, my son's wedding, or visit my children's homes. My father-law just past away. I can't attend his funeral either. I can't go into public places/spaces at all. My RV and my car are modified to be Mobile Medical Isolation Units. I can't go anywhere where there are toxic Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Think 'Boy In the Plastic Bubble' only plastic is toxic to me. I don't have a problem with germs, or viruses, just toxic substances. What a lot of people don't know is that all synthetic fragrances contain insecticides. If they didn't you'd be swarmed by bees, wasps, hornets, and lots of insects. On average a synthetic fragrance contains 500-700 ingredients. Typically about 200 of those are known toxins. Since fragrances are trade secrets they aren't regulated by any government agency. Fragrances are designed to volatize, that means spring off of the wearer and float around in the air. When those VOCs encounter other objects they cling to those and revolatize. Fragrances are also transfered by touch. Think hand lotion or sanitizing wipes. If I were to touch a door handle that someone with fragrance had touched, I'm in big trouble. I can't get within 50 ft of a person who uses fragranced laundry products. I can only interface with people directly who go through a decontamination protocol. Really cuts down on my visitors.

wow Toxie that is a load to carry... I thought my friend has it bad you top her's she is allergic to yep sure we can come up with it... it will come how can a person some of the products and not come up with the term??? Latex knew I could do it it is a tough one as well as it's where you wouldn't think of it... the glue to glue down carpet some foods have the same chemical makeup and making it something she can't eat... so get it I have several friends that fragrance is a trigger for asthma I decided years ago that if my wearing perfume made it so they couldn't go to church then I shouldn't wear it... so haven't for years now I still have fragrance in my soaps ect unless I am visiting my friend then I use what she has so that my being there won't make her sick... I am sorry that you have to isolate yourself so much but hopefully being here on the forum will bring us into your home safely... we don't just talk about camping or rving but all stuff other than religion and politics so join in as much as you desire
sheilal

I sent you a PM as I can relate to your issues Toxie. I too was chemically poisoned when I worked in the Art Department at a University. I worked at home for 3 years and then retired. This was in the mid to late 90's and most people could not understand the issue as the Multiple Chemical Sensitivities problem was not very well known. I still avoid chemicals and scented products plus I eat organic products as much as possible, but other than that my life is manageable.