Welcome to a great life; great for you, great for the kids, great for the family! We took our first motorhome trip a few years ago (well, actually it was in 1975!

• Leave early in the morning if you want to make some miles, even before the rest of the family is stirring. We'd often drive for an hour or two, and then pull over somewhere and have breakfast together.
• We park it early in the afternoon (2:00ish) which enables us to be sure of getting a campground site and also gives all of us an opportunity to experience wherever it is we're visiting. Can't go fishing when you're on the road!Encourage everyone to make use of journals or diaries. It's easy, when you're on the road day after day, for all of the days to turn into a big blur. Spending a few minutes each day writing about the experience gives a reference that will be treasured for years. One of our boys preferred to use a tape recorder, and we still get chills and laughs when we hear his tiny soprano voice so filled with excitement.
• Make sure each person, and certainly each young person, has their own inviolable "space", even if it's nothing more than a shelf or a drawer or a box, a place they can call their own. Communal living can only be pushed so far!
• Be flexible. If a road looks interesting, take it; if a tourist trap looks like fun, enjoy it. Don't get locked into a rigid itinerary. We always talk over with everyone where we're going the next day, and if something else comes up we'll all decide whether or not to do it. Travel light in spirit!
• Every three or four days, park it for a couple of days. Take your time and enjoy it, and them!

Posted July 14, 1998 to RV-Talk. Copyright © 1998 by Bob Cook. Reprinted by the RVClub with permission..

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