 The RV life is one full of adventure, uniqueness, and surprise. As we’ve traveled this great country, a few unusual encounters stand out. Here are the seven strangest things we’ve experienced in six years of RV life. 1. Squirrel situation On our way back to the contiguous United States after spending a summer in Alaska, we stayed at a beautiful campground in Alberta, Canada. We enjoyed taking long walks, viewing color-changing foliage, and playing in fallen leaves.  What we didn’t enjoy was the intrusion of a squirrel that had made its way into the underbelly of our rig and even climbed up inside the back. Twitchy, as we called him, put us on our toes and gave us an incentive to seal any obvious holes in the corrugated plastic stretching across the underside of our rig. Thankfully, he didn’t stay too long. 2. Cat encounter While parked on the farm property of a Boondockers Welcome host in Yellow Jacket, Colorado, we had the place to ourselves — other than a horse keeping watch in a nearby pen. One morning, while sitting on the couch at the back of our rig, I heard “Meow.”  I had seen a cat outside, so I didn’t think much of it. But then the sound grew louder, followed by rumbling noises. I went outside but didn’t see the cat anywhere. Returning inside, I heard another “Meow.” Then I figured it out: The cat had found a way to climb up into the underbelly of our rig. Maybe it was after the nuts the squirrel had stored there. Or maybe it just wanted a respite from the cold April morning. I hit the underbelly with a broom and was able to scare the cat out. Then I had Bob reseal the corrugated plastic to prevent it from entering again. 3. Package vanishing Another day at the Yellow Jacket, Colorado, farm, we had waited hours for an expensive package to arrive so that we could go into town for dinner. Hunger overpowered us, and we decided to head out, even though the parcel hadn’t shown up. On our way to the restaurant, we received a call from a UPS driver trying to find the right place to deliver the package. Because of the cost of the item (a tuner for our truck), we turned around to retrieve the shipment. But when we arrived at our trailer — five minutes after the driver had delivered the package — there was no sign of a box. We went down the street to check with some neighbors, who confirmed that a UPS truck had been by, so we called the UPS driver. He offered to come back to show us where he put it. When the driver returned, he was flabbergasted not to see the package. But he told us he had seen a kid on an ATV. We called our host, who found the situation funny. She said that her grandson had picked up the package thinking it was for her, since it also had her name on it, and assured us he’d be right back with it. About 10 minutes later — but an hour after we had first left — we finally had the package in hand and were able to go to dinner. 4. Narrowest bridge Near Traverse City, Michigan, we encountered the narrowest bridge we’ve ever seen, as a result of construction. Approaching the structure, we saw a sign that said “9-FT BRIDGE.” Knowing that our rig is 8.5 feet wide, that gave us cause for concern, leaving only 3 inches of wiggle room on either side. White-knuckled, Bob tightly held the steering wheel, and we practically held our breath as we slowly made our way across the bridge to the other side, thankfully without incident. 5. Ladder ascent While parked at a Love’s RV Stop in Oklahoma, a van pulled up next to us one morning. It seemed odd, as the spot next to us was a designated RV site — and the vehicle was not a camper van.  The next thing we knew, a man was climbing the ladder on the back of our rig to our roof. I bolted out the door and yelled at him to get down. He obliged and apologized. As it turned out, he was a mobile RV tech answering a call for another camper three spots away.
6. Raccoon visit In Oklahoma, while we were moochdocking at our friends Norm and Susan’s place, we had a very strange occurrence in the middle of the night. It sounded like someone or something was trying to get inside our rig. I heard the doorlatch move. The next morning, we discovered three muddy prints on our door the size of raccoon fingers. If I had forgotten to lock the door the night before, we very well could have had an unwelcome visitor. 7. Noise disturbance One night, while camped near a baseball diamond in the small town of Dell Rapids, South Dakota, (population around 3,800), we heard sirens around 9 p.m. Having heard plenty of sirens in our travels, we didn’t think much of it. But then the sounds grew louder. I peered out a window and saw a brightly lit firetruck pulling into our campground, followed by a number of cars with beeping horns. The truck proceeded to the baseball diamond, as did the other vehicles. Then another firetruck and an ambulance, both with lights flashing and sirens blaring, joined. There didn’t appear to be any emergency, as this noise disturbance was followed by bass-pounding music at the diamond. Before long, the emergency vehicles turned off their flashing lights and left, followed by the cars. We never did find out what that was all about. You might also like Our most unusual experiences in 4 years of RV life.
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 Rain is a good thing, as a Luke Bryan country song says. It makes the beautiful greenery we enjoy in places such as Northern Arizona. It also creates mud, something we try to avoid as the owners of a truck without four-wheel drive. (We intentionally ordered our dually that way from the factory to save on gas mileage and gears to maintain.) After three-and-a-half wonderful sunny days boondocking at a Boondockers Welcome site in Northern Arizona, light rain and drizzle turned into something more substantial, thanks to the remnants of Cyclone Priscilla. We were parked near a gravel drive, so we didn’t think much of the situation — until we loaded into Gulliver in an attempt to go visit our friends Neil and Leanna and got stuck in the mud.  Gulliver needs a tow … again Rain continued to pour as we tried to determine a way out of the muddy mess. Our host heard us revving the truck engine and came over to say hi, as we hadn’t met him yet. He offered to pull us out with his Ford F-350 4x4 truck. Lew went to get his truck, and we retrieved the tow strap we had invested in after another time of getting both Gulliver and Tagalong stuck. Bob attached it to both trucks, and Lew climbed into his vehicle to take out the slack. With that done, Bob crawled into Gulliver.  I stood in the rain to communicate between the two drivers, a difficult chore given the revving engines and the sound of the precipitation. Lew’s truck successfully pulled ours, but our highway tires slipped in the mud, drawing Gulliver closer to the trailer and making Bob and me nervous. The three of us reassessed the situation. We relocated where the tow strap attached on each vehicle, and Bob closed his side mirrors. The second tow drew the truck even closer to Tagalong. Something had to change. We had Lew back up and reposition his truck in another location to tow Gulliver toward the gravel drive and away from the trailer. This time, it worked. With Gulliver out of the mud and on gravel, we thanked Lew and loaded up to visit our friends, an hour later than planned. I peeled off my saturated raincoat only to find my shirt sleeves wet. Apparently, the jacket wasn’t designed for an hour of downpour. After a wonderful time with our friends, we returned in the dark, with hopes of getting the trailer out the next day. Getting the RV out of a sticky situation Not wanting to get the truck stuck again, we took serious measures to prevent that. Bob cut and laid dead Juniper branches in the anticipated path of the truck tires for grip in the sloppy mud mess. He sent me on a hunt to find lava rocks on the property that we could use to provide traction under the truck when starting to tow the trailer. I dragged my bucket around like Igor in “Frankenstein,” watching for young prickly pear cactus along the way and discovering wild mushrooms in the process. After two bucket loads of rocks, we had accumulated enough to provide a good grip for the truck tires. Convinced we were prepared to move the trailer from its dirt perch to the gravel drive, we connected it to Gulliver. Then we went over our plan, wondering aloud if we’d be able to clear a small Juniper tree en route. Our original plan, before the rain had turned dry ground into peanut butter, was to pull forward and then back Gulliver onto the gravel drive to line us up to leave. That was no longer an option.  I was convinced Bob could clear the tree. He wasn’t so sure. We knew momentum would be key and discussed being willing to scratch the side of the trailer to keep from getting stuck. Arizona racing stripes never hurt anything. Equipped with walkie-talkies, Bob climbed into Gulliver and I tried to find a decent place to stand. From my vantage point, I could see the tree — until the trailer blocked my view. Bob pulled out. Everything looked good, so I told him to keep going. He stepped on the gas and succeeded in getting Tagalong onto the gravel driveway. But he heard a loud crunch in the process. I thought we had made it just fine. But as I approached the rear of the trailer, I noticed a tire mark awfully close to the tree. I moved nearer to investigate and found our plastic trailer fender lying on the ground in pieces, along with a light cover that had been ripped off the side of the rig.  Examining the trailer revealed remnants of the tree jammed into every crevice they could fit. The bottom right corner of the entry door had been bent up, as had the bottom right of where the fender had been attached.
As we inspected the damage, we found ourselves grateful that it was mostly cosmetic. It hurt our pride more than anything. The situation could have been much worse. An important debriefing After leaving the property, we conversed about what we did wrong and what we would have done differently. The problem came down to being in a hurry. As full-time RVers, we know that most mistakes happen when we’re either tired or rushing. Our kids were coming up to meet us at our next destination about an hour away, and we wanted to get there before them. We could have waited longer for the ground to dry out, as the sun had cleared the clouds and was working its magic. Or we could have called our Coach-Net roadside assistance service to tow us out, even though it could have taken an hour or longer for a tech to arrive. It doesn’t pay to rush as RVers. We learned that lesson early on when we first marred the same side of our rig on our very first venture out. It hit home harder after this. Regardless, we had a wonderful time with our kids and granddaughter. Bob was able to clean the mud streaks off the side of the trailer, making the damage less noticeable. He also banged out some dents and fixed the door frame so that we could open the door. We’ll get a new fender and fix the light. And we’ll take our time in the future — and not stay on dirt in Northern Arizona if any rain is in the forecast. You might also like Our top RV lessons in 5 years of RV travel.  Utah is home to five of the 63 U.S. national parks, according to the National Park Service. The state also has eight designations as national monuments, recreation areas, historical parks, and historic trails. These areas present magnificent rock formations, alluring landscapes, and breathtaking views. We visited Zion National Park a number of years ago while staying in St. George, and we toured Arches National Park in Moab in 2023 as full-time RVers. This year, while boondocking in the eastern part of the state, we decided to explore CanyonLands National Park and had no idea what we were in for. 3 parks in 1 Canyonlands is the largest national park in Utah, but it seems to be much less popular than Arches, Bryce, and Zion, perhaps because it’s not as easily accessible. A 20-plus-mile drive from U.S. Route 191 took us to the Island in the Sky Visitor Center one afternoon in September, with only one vehicle in front of us at the entrance station. Wanting to get a stamp in our National Park Passport Book, we dipped into the visitor center. It paled in offerings compared to the visitor center we had investigated at Yellowstone National Park. Despite that, we watched a documentary there and learned that Canyonlands National Park is divided into three main sections, or districts: Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. Park officials consider the Colorado and Green rivers, which formed the park, another district, but visitors can get glimpses of them from various vantage points in the other sections. To get to The Needles, so named for its spire rocks, and The Maze, the most remote portion, requires entering from completely different locations. The entrance to The Needles is one hour away from the highway turnoff we took, and getting to The Maze is a five-hour drive in the other direction. Canyon sighting After leaving the Island of the Sky Visitor Center, we crossed the street to get a better view of the incredible Shafer Canyon Overlook. A canyon stretched out in front of us, seemingly all the way to the La Sal Mountains on the horizon.  We carefully watched our steps as we took in the panoramic vistas, not wanting to slip over the edge into the gorge. Seeing a winding dirt road deep in the ravine gave us a healthy respect for the distance between our stance and the bottom. Although Canyonlands doesn’t reach the abysmal depths of the Grand Canyon, it’s at least twice as expansive. In fact, Canyonlands National Park spans nearly 340,000 acres, offering varied scenes of red rocks, deep canyons, and weaving rivers. Awesome overlooks From Shafer Canyon Overlook, we journeyed on, stopping at Buck Canyon Overlook, which left us even more in awe, as it spread as far as we could see into the distance. Light sandstone dotted with short green plants gave way to red rocks and brown chasms set against a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds hanging in midair, giving us great appreciation for God’s amazing artistry.  After taking in the view for a bit, we hopped back into Gulliver and moved on to Orange Cliffs Overlook, the farthest we could go before we had to turn around. Although the scenery there wasn’t quite as far-reaching, it gave us a glimpse of the Green River, but just barely. We headed back the way we came, this time going the other direction when we hit the fork in the road. This gave us an opportunity to explore Green River Overlook, where a couple was getting married against a gorgeous backdrop. We caught sight of the river, but the sun was starting to set, making visibility less than optimum.  On our circuitous way back to the park entrance, we passed a gigantic rock that looked like a whale and visited a small campground, spotting stunning rock structures and sheer cliffs along the way.
Unlike Arches National Park, where most of the scenery is visible from the road, Canyonlands — at least the part we saw — offers mystery and intrigue, with most of the sights hidden below the surface. You might also like Visiting America’s highest suspension bridge.  When we learned that our friends Jim and Jenny had booked a trip to Scotland and Ireland, we jokingly asked if we could tag along, having always wanted to visit those places. To our pleasant surprise, they said yes. They were going with a few other friends who did most of the planning and welcomed us. All we had to do was pay, book our flights and lodging, and enjoy. We spent four days based in Edinburgh and five days based in Dublin. Here’s a rundown of our adventures in Scotland and Ireland, where speakers’ accents tickled our ears, cars drove on the left side of the road, and rain made a regular appearance. Castles When you think of Scotland and Ireland, you may picture towering castles, and rightfully so. With a lengthy history of conflicts that required places of defense, castles abound: more than 2,000 in Scotland, according to Juniper Tours, and 30,000 in Ireland, according to IrishCentral. With that many to choose from, exploring a few castles is high on most visitors’ to-do lists, including ours. Full of history and intrigue, these fortresses take guests back in time. Stirling Castle, for example, was the childhood home of Mary Queen of Scots, who lived in the 16th century, long before electricity and automobiles. Strategically located at the junction of Scotland’s Highlands and Lowlands, the castle played a key role in numerous battles, as depicted in exhibits taking space in some of its rooms. In Craigmillar Castle, narrow stone staircases beckoned us upward, leading to assorted areas, including a large dining hall where jesters performed and a suite where Mary Queen of Scots was believed to have recuperated during an illness after the birth of her son.  Standing majestically at the top of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, the largest in Scotland and one of the easiest to get to, gives guests a glimpse into early military prisons and prisons of war, as well as weaponry of that time period and a dungeon. But the most alluring sight there is the oldest crown jewels in Britain: a crown, a scepter, and a sword.  Attracting about half the number annually as Edinburgh Castle, Ireland’s popular Blarney Castle popular draws more than 400,000 a year for a chance to kiss the storied Blarney Stone and gain the gift of gab. Not wanting that gift or to wait more than 1.5 hours to see inside the castle, we enjoyed touring the expansive grounds, which were incredibly beautiful.  Cathedrals Both Scotland and Ireland are also home to numerous cathedrals, in recognition of their religious heritage — both Protestant and Catholic. The Gothic architecture of Protestant St. Giles’ Cathedral in the center of old-town Edinburgh lures visitors to explore its inner beauty. Entering made our jaws drop in awe. Gorgeous stained glass windows illustrated history and culture. And huge archways stretched to the ceiling, designed to encourage viewers to look upward, toward Christ.  In Dublin, Protestant Christ Church Cathedral stands only about one-third of a mile from Catholic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which appears to be more of a museum than a working church, even requiring an entry fee. But services still take place there. The massive building is divided into various areas that house interesting artifacts and together form a cross shape. It’s an amazing sight to behold. Countryside and critters Getting out of the city to view the lush, green countryside is essential for a true appreciation of Scotland and Ireland. A tour to the edge of the world-famous Scottish Highlands greeted us with bright green grass, bushy trees, and expansive bodies of water that gave us a breath of fresh air after a few days in the heart of the city. No trip to the Highlands would be complete without a sighting of the legendary Highland cows, or coos, as the locals call them. Covered with long hair, these cattle are well equipped to handle the harsh cold, wind, and rain that are common to the area. Outside Dublin, we saw grassy panoramas dotted by sheep and cattle in every direction. Dry rock walls separated fields, and houses dwarfed in the expanse. One of our favorite experiences was watching a working sheepdog (a border collie) demonstration. After the dog’s handler explained the process, he put his eager dog to work. She took off running to the far end of the field. The next thing we knew, sheep were running toward us, herded by the small dog based on her handler’s whistle signals. Depending on what the dog did, the sheep would speed up and slow down.  A spectacular excursion in the Irish countryside is a trip through the Burren, or “rocky place,” to the Cliffs of Moher, which drastically drop 700 feet into the Atlantic Ocean. A rare sunny day gave us stunning views of the cliffs against the contrasting blues of the sky and sea as we navigated the far-reaching paved walkways and stairs for different perspectives of the magnificent wonder that’s a UNESCO Global Geopark.  Cuisine Because cows and sheep are the main livestock in both Scotland and Ireland, they’re also major food sources. We found lots of options of beef, lamb, and potatoes — and very few nonroot vegetables. Wanting to immerse ourselves in the culture, we bravely sampled unfamiliar cuisine. A full Scottish breakfast introduced us to black pudding (blood sausage), tattie (potato) scones, and the infamous haggis. We didn’t love the black pudding, but we did like the other options. Because of the spices and grains cooked into haggis, it has an appealing flavor. While in Scotland, we also tasted:
In Ireland, corned beef was nowhere to be found, although I did see a reuben sandwich on one menu. We didn’t find shepherd’s pie like we had hoped to. What we found instead was lamb stew, beef and Guinness stew (delectable!), bangers and mash, fish and chips, and seafood chowder — all of which we enjoyed. You might also like From open roads to the open seas. |
AuthorThis is the travel blog of full-time RVers Bob and Lana Gates and our truck, Gulliver, and fifth wheel, Tagalong. Categories
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