Spring Break in a Class C Rental
By Selaine Henriksen
T e winter of 2013 in Ottawa was harsh: cold plus lots of snow. So when March Break arrived it seemed like an excellent opportunity to try out RVing with the family and head somewhere, anywhere, warm. Something we’d been discussing and researching as a vacation option for a while. Admittedly, this winter may not have been the best for travelling by road in March. “Let’s head south until it’s 30 degrees,” said Hubby. He should
have specifi ed Fahrenheit or Celsius. Since we were planning to drive from Ottawa to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, whosoever heeds these prayers answered in Fahrenheit. We hit Myrtle Beach and if it wasn’t 30º F, it wasn’t above by much. We huddled by the heater in the RV, surfi ng the Internet on our laptops. We were beside the ocean though, so that was good. T is was our fi rst time renting an RV. Hubby had done his
research and drove two and a half hours from Ottawa to pick up a 30-foot ‘C’ Class motorhome for $100/day plus 17¢/mile. A Class C is the type of motorhome with a bed/storage area
over top the cab. T e kids fought about who would sleep in the “coziest’ spot and ultimately alternated nights. T e cab contains a driver’s seat and passenger seat that do not swivel around to become part of the living area. I had been worried about driving such a big vehicle. My fi rst attempt was just driving around the parking lot and I was surprised by how easy it was. It didn’t feel heavy or awkward. I drove my share on the highway and once I was used to using the mirrors I had no trouble, even in traffi c. By the time we transferred our luggage from the van into the
RV it was fairly late in the day. Tired from our early morning I took advantage of the bed in the back while Hubby drove. If those body shaker, vibration machines actually help one to lose weight I must have shed fi ve pounds. In my dreams. However, I did become intimately aware of every jubbly fat cell I own. On the return trip I found sleeping on the bench seats, rather than on the back bed, much more comfortable while moving, and certainly nicer than trying to sleep in a car. T e kids loved the jubblyness (to coin a new word) of it and fought over who would ride on the back bed. By bedtime that fi rst day we had only made it to Harrisburg,
PA. We needed to buy groceries and stopped at a Walmart. T en Hubby’s research kicked in; one of the “little known” secrets of RV life is that most Walmarts don’t mind if RVs park overnight in their lots. So we spent our fi rst night in a Walmart parking lot. Not too bad actually, and there was free Wifi . One might think that, on a vacation, one would leave the laptops
and Internet behind. One laughs. When travelling with a 12 year- old boy and a 15 year-old girl, Internet access is a necessity. We bought a Verizon Jetpack as Verizon has greater coverage therefore Internet access is steady when drivin. T at thing likely saved our
34 RVT 156 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
holiday, because, as the cold, icy wind howled off the ocean, we were still happy gathered around a laptop, watching our favourite shows, eating popcorn, and just chilling, literally. T e ads for the 30-foot Class C we rented stated it would sleep
seven. T ere was plenty of room for the fi ve of us. Yes, our family of four is actually fi ve. One of the reasons we wanted to RV was so we could bring our dog. He’s a 100-pound German Shepherd and is eff ectively a member of the family, although not exactly like another person. While we were moving, he was only comfortable when perched on the passenger seat. He was nauseous. He drooled, he shed half his coat, then some more. We gave up the idea of not being charged a cleaning fee because there was no way we’d be able to remove all the fur. Everyone had a dog at the fi rst campsite we booked into once
we arrived at Myrtle Beach. Being able to bring all the members of your family is probably one of the main bonuses of RV travel. It was a lovely site, full of tall pines and only a few blocks from the beach and main strip. We ended up moving to another site directly on the beach. Although the cold beach wasn’t the draw, the heated indoor swimming pool was. All the other amenities at this site, except the laundry room, were closed “until spring”, which is what the note on the door of the little store read. I have to say it felt like spring to us Canadians, but we were looking for summer. On top of the cleaning fee, we incurred an additional damage
charge. We had until 2pm to return the RV but we didn’t make it on time due to a, ahem, snowstorm in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Which posed its own particular driving challenge. At one point there was an accident and I had to hit the brakes hard. T e RV swerved a bit and it took some gentle braking to get stopped but, again, not too diffi cult. T e damage occurred because even though we had drained
all the water from the tank, it sat over the weekend outside and freezing damaged the sink. T e company was nice enough to not charge us an extra day. If we do this again I’d bring one of those little hand-held
vacuums. Good for sand, too. And I’d only have paper plates and cups, because riding in an RV is loud. T ose ceramic dishes rattle, as did the windows, fi t to break. And I’d bring kids who understand the concept of putting things away aſt er they use them and that a thing is not actually in the garbage when it is close to, or upon, the garbage bag. However that may be asking too much. It’s possible that that gene isn’t developed until one becomes a parent. Certainly all of our organizational skills were challenged. Most of all we learned it takes more than a week to travel far
enough south to fi nd summer in March. We all agreed we would like to make this trip again in the summer, mid-July, perhaps. k
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