Hi from Northern Nevada

[Awawego]

Hi everyone! Glad to find this site for RVing women and look forward to joining the discussion and getting some good advice! I've been RVing for almost five years now, but have camped in some form my whole life. Right now, I mostly do weekend trips and summer vacations but look forward to longer trips once I fully retire at the end of the year (58 yo). Though I am married, I mostly solo RV and honestly really like it and all the freedom that goes with. My husband accompanies me when he can, but I sure don't wait around until he is available.
I have a 2008 Winnebago View that I bought used a few years back that I really love and is the perfect size (Unfortunately I didn't know it at the time, but she's one of the few gas models made that year and runs on premium gas - ouch! - but she's mine for better or worst now. ). Honestly it was the second RV I looked at ever and just loved it and bought with no research so lesson learned. I tow a manual Subaru Crosstrek so I can go exploring once I set up camp. It's kinda like the "little View that could" going over mountain passes though when towing - chug, chug.... - not the greatest power. I've been through the trials and tribulations of owning a RV, and have done some pretty stupid things mostly because I didn't know. It's been a real confidence boost too learning to do all these things. I don't have to rely on anybody to do anything (now if I breakdown in the middle of nowhere that may be a different story - ha, ha...). Anybody else get the raised eyebrow at the dump station when they see a woman dealing with her own waste?
I almost exclusively dry camp either in campgrounds or out in the middle of nowhere. RV parks are okay every once in a while to just pull in and let the air conditioning run, but they are a little too close quarters for my taste. I do have 3 (yes, 3!) dogs that accompany me - golden retriever, yellow lab, and black lab X (I volunteer at a dog shelter and have little restraint.). I know 3 can be a problem at times and limits where I can stay so it's a lot of federal campgrounds and boondocking. We "work it out" inside the RV and they all have their designated sleeping spots. They love the adventure and getting out as much as I do, so it's hard to leave any one of them behind. I suspect I'll be on the pet thread a lot with some questions.
Anyway, hello and I look forward to exchange ideas with all of you. Thanks for the site.

[Bethers]

Welcome. Love your name here... Creative and fun.

Lots of us here learned by our mistakes and freely share some of them, which can be embarrassing sometimes. But this is a great group to share with and learn from.

We do like to gtg even in small groups, so keep that in mind. There will be a gtg in Quartzsite during the show in January, if that would be doable for you. We are pretty relaxed...

Jump in anywhere... You'll find lots more of us with dogs. I currently have just one. Others have several.

[JudyJB]

Welcome to this great group of traveling women!

Good that you don't wait when your husband is not available! I have some single (non-rving) friends that never travel because they can't find anyone to travel with. That is a shame. Sorry to hear about the premium gas, but at least gas is a lot less expensive than when I started out in 2012. And we do all make stupid mistakes, not only at first, but sometimes as we go.

[BirdbyBird]

Welcome to the forum from SW Ohio when I am actually at home. I bought my first RV back in the spring of 2005. I allow my husband, "the man in the recliner" to borrow my rig once a year to travel to a big pottery gtg outside of Asheville, NC., but the rest of the year the dogs and I do our own thing and he can make pottery and play his music. I still am showing one of my dogs but camping is their favorite travel time. Keep enjoying your adventures out there and be thankful that you have the curiosity and sensibility to keep on exploring, make a few mistakes now and again and keep on discovering more new adventures.

[MandysMom]

Welcome to the group. I didn't know they made a gas View! My B is a Leisure Travel Sprinter. I clearly recall the time we stopped at a dump site and hubby said my back hurts can you do it! Gulp. I did it, maybe slower but I now empty, fill, fuel etc with confidence.
Where do you call home? I'm in northern California.
Velda

[monik7]

Welcome from the San Francisco Bay Area. I understand how you love your View. As you can see in the pic below, I have a 2012 Itasca Navion iQ. While Views and Navions are pretty much the same with some differences depending on the model, mine is diesel. Mine was the absolutely ONLY RV I looked at before buying and with no previous RV experience. Kind of scary. Now after 5 1/2 years I finally feel pretty good about it all. Welcome to the forum. Hope you might be able to join us in Quartzsite in January (20 - 28).
Sandi

[snowball]

welcome to the forum look forward to you visiting with us
hope to meet you in Q
sheila

[Othersharon]

Welcome from PA. This is a great place for information! I travel with 2 large dogs and there are many of us that travel with our furry family members. Part of the reason I have an RV!

[Awawego]

Thanks for all the welcoming responses! (I don't know how to reply to an individual post other than a PM, so I guess you have to reply to the whole thread? (Sorry so used to FB at this point...). I live in the northwest portion or that populated portion of Nevada and will leave it at that for now - the eastern Sierra Nevada is my playground.

Is there a thread somewhere about the January Quartzsite event to learn more about it? I assume 'gtg' means get together? I know a lot of RVers head that way in the winter months.

[BirdbyBird]

I think you are posting very well and responding to individual comments on the public thread just means that all of us get to read the answer which may be from a question that several people were also wondering about. Sort of like listening in on a pleasant conversation around the kitchen table or the campfire.... I see the PM function used more for sharing personal information (as in I am about to drive through your neck of the woods and could you call me, here is my number sort of thing..." or sharing more private thoughts and feelings that a more private person might not want to share in a large public gathering.

I trick about PMs is that it helps to train yourself to glance at the line right under the Board Index that includes ( 0 new messages)......just incase it reads ( 1 new message) Don't bother asking how I learned this lesson..... Often if someone is sending a PM to an individual, they will post "____ , I just sent you a PM." to remind that someone to check for it.

[Bethers]

Is there a thread somewhere about the January Quartzsite event to learn more about it? I assume 'gtg' means get together? I know a lot of RVers head that way in the winter months.

Yes, in our Get Together room. If you have trouble finding it, post here and I'll go get the link.

[snowball]

I trick about PMs is that it helps to train yourself to glance at the line right under the Board Index that includes ( 0 new messages)......just incase it reads ( 1 new message) Don't bother asking how I learned this lesson..... Often if someone is sending a PM to an individual, they will post "____ , I just sent you a PM." to remind that someone to check for it.

a story on me was I never got pm's so didn't look not sure how it came to my attention but one had been
sitting there waiting for me for a very long time was so embarrassed. I try to glance at it daily now
you need to take yourself west young lady we miss your smiling face
sheila