RV Chuckles and Chuckholes: The Confessions of Happy Campers

By Darlene Miller

Darlene Millers book, RV Chuckles and Chuckholes- The Confessions of Happy Campers, is full of amusing anecdotes, jokes, adventures and pot-hole experiences while traveling in a RV (recreational vehicle) throughout the USA and Canada. It includes stories about sleeping in a real bed when visiting relatives, how to get rid of your husband (for a little while), and special RVers such as the gentleman who had a complete heart transplant 19 years previously. She shares Rving tips and RVers secrets. She gives on the road advice and relates off- the- road experiences. Witty, poignant and insightful, this book gives you a delightful view of life on the roam.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roving Pen Publishing
• Release date: Oct 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9781594333170

Darlene Miller

Darlene Miller's first article was in the Banner, a church magazine, when she was only fourteen years old. Her more recent writing includes articles in such varied genres as Escapees Magazine, Radiant Native Health, The Knoxville Journal Express, The Pella Chronicle, and Smoke and Fire News. Her books include A Place in the Promised Land, RV Chuckles and Chuckholes – the Confessions of Happy Campers, More RV Chuckles and Chuckholes –More Confessions of Happy Campers, and The Search for Grandma Sparkle Darlene and her husband, Terry Miller, spend much of the year traveling in an RV to visit friends and relatives, explore nature and historic places and stay where they have good weather. Darlene Miller's first article was in the Banner, a church magazine, when she was only fourteen years old. Her more recent writing includes articles in such varied genres as Escapees Magazine, Radiant Native Health, The Knoxville Journal Express, The Pella Chronicle, and Smoke and Fire News. Her books include A Place in the Promised Land, RV Chuckles and Chuckholes – the Confessions of Happy Campers, More RV Chuckles and Chuckholes –More Confessions of Happy Campers, and The Search for Grandma Sparkle. Darlene and her husband, Terry Miller, spend much of the year traveling in an RV to visit friends and relatives, explore nature and historic places and stay where they have good weather.

Book preview

RVing

Chapter One

They Don’t Understand Us

We lived in a scheduled world and hardly saw each other. Terry went to work at 7 am while I went to work at 3 pm. As an engineer and writer of software and as a nurse, our lives were ordered by timetables and documents. Vacations were the only time we had to forget the clock. Even then, we had to spend days getting to our destination, with a few days at our vacation spot and then hurry back to our jobs.

We decided to take a leave of absence from our jobs and drive a pickup and slide-in camper to Alaska to try out the RV lifestyle.

My parents thought that we were too young to retire to RVing. They weren’t even retired yet. Others thought that it would be too expensive and we would be back to work in a couple of years. Wouldn’t we miss all the conveniences of our home? Wouldn’t we get lonely? How could you spend 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with your partner? What do you do all day? How do you get involved with other people?

This book answers these questions from my point of view and the stories of RV people I have met.

We joined the high tech gypsies, people with hitch-itch, people who spend their children’s inheritance, semi-affluent street people, snowbirds, and winter Texans.

In contrast to people who wake up to alarm clocks, start and stop work after whistles, and eat after hearing the dinner bell; we don’t know what time it is.

We usually know if it is Monday or Tuesday but don’t know if it is the fifth or sixth of the month.

Some people seem to think that we are lost and have never found our way home.

After a year away from our former home, the people from our bank asked if we had just returned from vacation.

I said that we were leaving for a trip to Texas when a friend asked, Are you packed yet? She does not understand that our clothes are in the closet. Our dishes and food are in the cupboards. Our medicines and cosmetics are in the bathroom. We pull in the slide, lift the jacks, disconnect from the water, electricity and sewer. We turn on the engine and go.

Things People Say That Prove They Don’t Understand Us Rvers

When are you coming home? The last place we lived, before we became fulltimers, was Raleigh, North Carolina. Our friends from Raleigh ask that question. Most of my family live in Iowa. They ask when we are coming home. Our address is in Texas. Once they even put up Christmas stockings in the clubhouse with our names on them because they knew we were coming home for Christmas.

We did not make reservations. How did you know we would be here? I inquired.

Your son sent a package to you, the manager explained.

The first time that I heard the phrase Home is where you park it, was in a publication written by Kay Peterson. She is a founder of the Escapees RV Club. I like that phrase.

Wouldn’t you like to sl a real bed? Where do they think we sleep?

After leaving a campground, the teenager took our pass and wished us a safe drive home. I wanted to tell her that I was already home but I didn’t.

Things That You Never Tell Your Homebound Friends

I slept at Wal-mart last night. They will never understand how you spent over 100 thousand dollars on an RV and then park it overnight at Wal-mart.

Our RV sleeps eight. Why? So you can bring your four kids and stay for a week or two but my RV will never be the same again. You will have to step over someone to go to the bathroom. Their teenager will not understand that they have to rise at 7a.m. so I can make the bed into a table to serve breakfast.

Yes, you can take a shower now. I’ll do the dishes later. They waste water. They don’t understand that you have a six-gallon hot water heater.

Yes, it would be helpful if you make breakfast. They don’t understand that you can’t make coffee, toast, and microwave sausage at the same time that the air conditioning is on with a 20 or 30 amps circuit.

You run out of things to talk about to your homebound friends after a couple of days. They do not relate to your life style. They are still worried about what the neighbors will say.

After you have heard for the third time about their ills, their children, their clubs, and their jobs, it is time for you to move away from them.

Even my computer doesn’t like the word RVing. It suggests that I want another word such as raving, riving, (what is a rive?) roving or ruining. Should I rev my motor as I rave about roving? That is too much.

Chapter Two

Moving Your RV

Before you move your RV, there are certain things that you must do.

1. Put down the lid on the commode. You do not want to hear it fall. It is really advisable not to move with the black tank full.

2. Close the refrigerator door. We were sitting with Mary around the campfire when she told us the story of when the refrigerator door was not latched.

"I was in a hurry as I put the chicken casserole into the refrigerator. We were on our way to a family reunion where we were going to show off our new RV. In a contruction zone, Pete made a sudden turn over a rough road. The refrigerator door opened. Out flew the casserole onto the floor. A ketchup