Spearfish, SD to Hardin, MT

Day 20: June 12

7th Ranch RV Camp, Hardin, MT

If I was reading this blog and did not have a camper and had never been in a camper, I might wonder what the “camper thing” was all about. We did a bike trip to SW Ohio when the boys were young and camped in the Lee Family pop-up camper. It had a small table inside and slept two on each side on the beds that pulled out of the box. There were, if memory serves, two burners inside. There was enough floor space that one person at a time could be on the little square of floor; two if you were slow-dancing.

We then rented (about 2004?) a C-class out of Henderson, Nev for a circle tour of those incredible parks in Utah. It was one of those with a Ford F-350 chassis and an overhang over the cab for sleeping. Andrew loved it up there but Matt found that he slept better on the sofa. It had a dinette with seating for 4 and a bed for Dan and me. I think we all look back on that vacation fondly. We saw incredible scenery, and didn’t have to pack and unpack. Our food and bathroom, such as it was, came with us. The downside of it was that whenever you went somewhere, you had to go through the “escape” procedure, unhooking from water, sewer, electricity, and then hook back up when you came back. But still, fun. 

We bought our Lance in November of 2019. As they say: timing is everything. To purchase a brand new RV now, there’s no negotiation and you have to wait 6-14 months after you put down your deposit.

Our life on the road in 2021: skip this post if you are familiar with trailer camping. This is for those who wouldn’t consider it or who are curious. 

We’re traveling in a Lance travel trailer model 2375, 2020 edition. It theoretically sleeps 4-6, but I’d say 2-4 of those bodies had better be little kids.  It is so luxe. Really. I pinch myself. It has more storage space than we need, and that is with me taking along my craft supplies for this trip, some wine bottles, books. Oh, and shoes—I think I brought along 9-10 pairs of food coverings and have so far worn all but one pair.  More importantly, it has a decent refrigerator, a queen bed that you can access from either side (one of my criteria; no more climbing out of the foot of the bed!), beautiful accent lighting and excellent task and general lighting. I did want a light wood interior but all that was available was one color of “brown” wood finish so having good lighting inside was a MUST for me.  The tiny bath has a toilet and sink, three cabinets for storage, and a curved-glass-door shower. When we shopped for RVs, I would stand in each shower and then close the doors and see if I could bend over to pick up something that fell to the floor. It’s close, but it passed the “pick-up test”!  A tv and radio/Bluetooth/CD player speaker system were not that important. I’ve used the Bluetooth with Spotify a few times, but mostly use it in downtime when I listen to the local NPR station. I’m sad when we camp somewhere where I can’t get NPR.  I liked the soft-close drawers and overhead cabinets in our Lance. And I thought the light fixtures themselves were appealing too. 

Dan, at the dinette. I have my iPad and he has his computer and if we have internet access, we are often seated here like this, checking the news and handling emails. The tv is over his shoulder. We successfully hooked up to cable at our last park, thanks to the help of the 2375 Facebook group; our ports were mis-labeled so we couldn’t have done it without them! I love the pullout drawers under the seats; no lifting up cushions and struggling to get to the stuff in the back. These are genius. Note the lamp above the table—it’s on a rheostat! 

Sink on the left, couch in the back of the trailer (the center and left seats have footrests that pop out) where, after Dan goes to bed, I lie down to read. Again with the wall lights—I like them and they give good light for knitting or reading.  I found out after one night of reading with the curtains and ceiling vent open (all are screened) that little annoying bugs come in, attracted to the light. So now I have to close the vent and be sure that the blackout curtains are down if I want the windows open with lights on inside. And then, if it’s windy (we’ve had a few of those nights), the shades rattle and bang around. You pick your poison!  The sink has that weird basket arrangement—I use that old basket from my former kitchen sink to dry the dishes. It fits perfectly and works great for the two of us.

Our gas oven/stove has an active recall on it, so I put the old cutting board from the kitchen counter on the top and it about doubles the counter space. We have a wastebasket that drops into the counter to the right of the faucet/basket, but you can’t see it very well because the cover is on it.  Note the microwave. Deluxe. I love having it. Makes warmups so easy! I grabbed the mesh bag idea from a YouTube video. It just hangs there and makes it easy to go on the road with our fresh fruits and vegetables.  Note: there is a map on the front of the oven—we’re ping-ponging all around so that Dan can get his map filled up. Now that we’re kind of in the middle of “not much” in Montana and the temps are going to be over 100F the next few days, he has decided that we can move on more quickly. No complaints from me!! haha....

View to the living area from the bedroom; the drawers close softly—love that feature!

Our bathroom cabin...it’s tiny, but it’s ours! Note the microfiber cloth towels. Last year, when we were camped for a month in Estero, FL, my bath towel was never dry. I got this idea from a YouTube video as well. These have never taken more than a couple of hours to dry. They are weird to dry off with and I do like the feel of terry cloth better, but, love not having we towels around!
A thank you to Debbie Heida for the handmade soap and holder. I think of you when I get cleaned up!

Queen bed. You can tell which side is mine because of the chargers plugged in. There are USB plugs so I really don’t need to plug in to the electrical outlets, but I just kept it like it was at home and transferred it to my bedside table (which I actually DON’T have at home). I LOVE the indirect lighting in the bedroom (and the living area has it too—it’s a great touch) and the window at the front of the camper. We can look up and see the stars at night! Since Dan goes to sleep an hour or so before I do, I never use the reading light on the side of the cabinet, but it’s pretty slick.

When we drive on the road, I have my cell phone plugged in and we listen to audiobooks on the speaker. Or radio. Or have it quiet and just talk. On this trip, so far, we finished the last half of A PROMISED LAND (Barack Obama) and read Malcolm Gladwell’s THE BOMER MAFIA: A DREAM, A TEMPTATION, AND THE LONGEST NIGHT OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, and now we’re 2/3 of the way through THE CODE BREAKER, by Walter Isaacson, which is turning out to be a wonderful synopsis of the recent history of genetics breakthroughs and not as much about Jennifer Doudna herself as I might have wanted (a female Berkeley researcher and  Nobel prize laureate...). I’m really enjoying this one in spite of that, given that this topic has always been something I’m interested in. Plus, I like Doudna’s nonapologetic competitiveness and general smarts. I knit, listen, navigate. Dan will have me drive after lunch when he gets a little cat nap. I thought I would be a co-equal partner in towing the RoadHouse all around but I find that I get really NERVOUS. (More so after our blowout on this trip!) And going through construction zones, which are everywhere (they have vehicles that guide you with “follow me” signs on the back), I worry that the RoadHouse will scrape a barrier on one side or the other....I’m nervous changing lanes on the freeway. I’m just happy to hand the wheel back to Dan when he’s finished his nap!

For food, we eat out several times a week and cook and re-heat leftovers several times a week too. It’s fun to try local brews—I’ve been on a citrus ale kick lately and given the high heat we’ve been dealing with, they’re refreshing. We have a Blackstone griddle (thanks a million for that rec, Annette!), a hot plate, and an Instant pot, plus we have frozen meatloaf and chili in the freezer to thaw as needed. Our recent success story is marinated protein (pork or chicken) with stir fried onion/peppers/minced garlic and possibly ginger, over rice from the Instant Pot with a bottled sauce—we’ve had both sweet and sour and Korean BBQ sauce and both were good—plus, the leftovers are just as good as the first day!  (If I’ve had any weight loss, it’s been from sweating....water loss!)

Let me know if there is anything in particular you have a question about or are interested in.  It’s hot as heck outside right now and we have a real good internet connection, so that makes it a ton easier to post. 

For reading this far, here’s a funny photo of yours truly, taken a few days ago at Wall Drug.