RV Counterpoint.

I get the impression Wanky doesn't much like RVs. He's currently doing a bike Tour up and down the Pacific Coast, and has not had the best experiences with them.

For most of my life, I would have agreed with him. In some regards, I still do.

My idea of camping used to be a sleeping bag and a shower curtain, a camping taco sleeping arrangement that was compact and light. If I wanted to go high-zoot, I'd bring along a small tent. Cooking was done over the fire. I had a bunch of cookstoves and gadgets, but I rarely used them. Mostly, I was bare-bones as fuck.

Then I got married and had three small children. It rained every. single. time. we camped. A summer Southcentral Alaska rain usually means it's in the 40s or 50s, and camping kids drag all of the mud and wet into even the cleanest/driest of tents. Somebody gets sick. The wife gets irritable. The body doesn't respond well to sleeping on the ground next to a cold, soggy kid. Pretty soon, camping is something you used to do.

Then we got an RV.

This summer I've slept in the RV more than I've slept in my own bed at home. Being warm, dry, and otherwise comfortable is kinda nice. We can get out of town and away from most of society.

It ain't all perfect, though.

I hate generators and what they represent. While our old meth lab RV, Daisy, was charged completely by solar, our new RV has an onboard generator. You have to run them to keep them from gumming up and requiring expensive maintenance. So, the wife has a coffee pot and occasionally runs the microwave to thaw something. Otherwise, the noisy boat anchor stays off. Quiet solar does everything else. 

I hate open, gravel lot RV parks. The further I am from other people, the happier I am. People in these parks like their generators and their alcohol, so sleep is usually terrible. Then again, the people that frequent those sorts of parks aren't there for the peace and quiet. They're there for fishing or whatever. We have little to nothing in common.

I hate people. My wife likes inviting along half of the COVID-infected population of Anchorage, but I prefer more intimate groups. I like letting my dogs off the lead a bit so they can be dogs without conflict. I like quiet. I like putzing around camp, working on projects, hiking, riding my bike, paddling my canoe... you know, camping stuff that doesn't involve microwave popcorn, air conditioning, and a big screen TV.

So, I can see Wanky's point. However, for me the RV isn't the destination. It's a relatively comfortable base camp from which to embark on whatever adventure catches my fancy. 

I just wish more people saw it that way.