COVID-19 threw a monkey wrench into our plans for this adventure in 2020. We had researched and purchased a motor home for the purposes of seeing North America by road. Given travel restrictions we were limited to travelling in BC for about 4 months, 3 months in the fall of 2020 and another month this summer. These months turned out to be a blessing in disguise, we now have a much greater appreciation of the wonder and beauty of our home province. These months travelling in BC served as the perfect shakedown trip to perfect how to prepare for and tailor our little home on wheels to suit our living and travel style. This in retrospect seems more important as the reality of living in a 21 foot tin can for 9 months begins to sink in.
Just a little about Klara, our home on wheels. We named her Klara in honour of Heidi’s German grandmother who lived to 99 years and 9 months. Our Klara is built on a Volkswagen Eurovan chassis (the actual model is a Winnebago Rialta 22HD), so we hope this German lady had the longevity of her namesake. She is 21.5 feet long and 8.5 feet tall and is equipped with all the features of a large motorhome, but due to her smaller size, she is much more nimble to drive and park. Heidi feels very comfortable driving her, which we felt was important should anything happen to Art along the way. This little beauty is perfect for two people and suits our travel style to a tee. We spend a majority of our time outdoors, (As and example, on last fall 3 month trip. we drove 5000 kms and hiked 800 kms), only relying on the interior for sleeping, driving or when driven inside by weather. She has a three way fridge with freezer, three burner propane cooktop, propane furnace, generator to produce 120 volt power (so we can run air-conditioning or charge our toothbrush), but can be plugged into shore power when campsites provide. We also have an onboard toilet and inside and outside shower. We choose to spend a lot of time boondocking, (camping unplugged, relying on battery power and onboard water and propane). We also carry outdoor cooking tools such as a butane cook stove and a grill for when boondocking and electric frying pan and hot plate for when we are plugged in. We also have an AC/DC 22” TV and an HDMI adapter for my iPhone so we can stream or watch downloaded content when we want. Klara does have a high definition TV aerial, but we haven’t really tried this yet. We will use it when we feel disconnected from the world news and need to our fix, but world news has been so negative and polarizing we don’t really miss it.
The reason we chose Klara over the many other RV choices is simple. At 20 years old she cost us a fraction of a new motor home. She get 20 miles to the gallon, where many other in her class only get 7-12 miles to the gallon. The most important to us was how open, spacious and bright it was and how good the visibility was while driving. Luckily we found a unit that had only one owner and only 67,000 miles on her. We found a fantastic mechanic and over the last year have systematically replaced most worn parts so I feel confident in her reliability for our big adventure.
We feel very fortunate to have become part of a North American Rialta owners group and benefit from the unselfish sharing of knowledge related to best practises on safety, upkeep as well as great DIY projects to make the Rialta even more comfortable. At the insistence of the mechanical gurus in our group, I invested in a scanner called a Scangauge, which plugs into the onboard computer and monitors things like my motor and transmission temperature, voltage (critical because we have three batteries, one for the chassis and two for the coach), mileage, etc. Even more important, it capture the error codes generated by the onboard computers ( the pesky check engine light), which allows us to be proactive about identifying mechanical issues that show up, reducing our risk of an unscrupulous mechanic preying in us in the case of a breakdown. Our owners group even recommends (and I carry) a parts kit with an inventory of sensors, belts, pulleys etc. that are likely to break down based on age and mileage. This way I go to a mechanic and say, “ I have this error code and therefore I need you to put this part in”. I sleep easier at night, because anyone who knows me knows I am NOT mechanically gifted.
Our current plan is to cross Canada and spend 6-8 weeks exploring the Canadian Maritime provinces with most time focused on Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. If the borders open we intend to head down the east coast of the US through the New England states and along the coast of Delaware and the Carolinas, cross over and follow the Gulf coast into Texas, and cross over into Mexico on the gulf side. We hope to stay in Mexico until March, then work our way back up the west coast of the US, arriving home late April. We have learned to be flexible throughout all our travel adventures, so all of these plans are subject to change given we have chosen to travel during a pandemic.
UPDATE June 2023
In the words of Scottish poet Robbie Burns, “Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” We did follow the route we originally planned, but when we ended up at the beach in Melaque, Mexico, we found a paradise that anchored us and we stayed for 3.5 months. The owner of our RV park asked if we wanted to return next year, to which we said, “why not?” We began our drive back home but only made it 300 km north before asking ourselves, “what are we driving all the way home for if we intend to return next November?” So we sought out a safe place for Klara to rest for six months and flew home for the summer and fall. In late November we flew back and settled Klara back into her spot on the beach and stayed another 3.5 months.
Bellissimo Travels 