One of the greatest things about the RV lifestyle is that we have been blessed with so many wonderful friends. And many times those friendships are stronger than the ones we had with people in our old hometown before we hit the road.
If you’re a fulltimer and have a problem or medical issue, don’t be at all surprised if some of your RVing friends show up to help out, or just to hold your hand and give you a shoulder to cry on.
Years ago when Terry was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer, she called her best friend back in our hometown and the woman brushed her off, saying she had a lot on her plate and cut the call short. But RVers we had only met a time or two were calling and e-mailing, sending her get well cards with dozens of signatures on them, even offering to come to Michigan to be with us, to donate blood, and so many other kindnesses that it still brings tears to our eyes.
It has always amazed us how often we cross paths with our RVing friends when fate puts us in the same place at the same time. And the longer we live and travel in our motorhome, the more friends we make and the more frequent are those chance encounters.
For fulltimers and extended time RV travelers, it’s not uncommon to pull into a campground and find yourself parked next to somebody you shared a campfire with a thousand miles ago, or to arrive at an RV rally and feel like you’re at a family reunion when you see so many familiar smiling faces welcoming you.
Of course, when you live and travel in an RV, you don’t have to wait for serendipity to bring you together with your friends. It’s not unknown for RVers to drive 50 or 100 miles or even more out of their way to hook up with friends. We know because we’ve done it many times.
Like all relationships, some RV friendships stand the test of time and last forever, while others fade out for whatever reason. Maybe somebody hangs up the keys and kind of drops off the radar, or interests that brought you together change. We have friends from our bus conversion days that we seldom see anymore just because we don’t go to bus rallies like we used to.
The other side of that coin is the number of wonderful friendships that endure all of the years and the miles. Last night we had a nice dinner with our longtime friends Ed and Alice Allard, their son Mike, and Greg and Jan White at Los Gringos Locos. We first met Ed and Alice fourteen years ago when we were all brand new fulltimers, and have hooked up with them at RV rallies and campgrounds across the country. Once, several years ago we were northbound on U.S. Highway 31 somewhere around Holland, Michigan when our cell phone rang. It was Ed and Alice, who were going in the opposite direction and had spotted our MCI bus conversion. They had read in my blog that we were headed for Fisherman’s Landing in Muskegon to visit my cousin Berni Frees and her husband Rocky and wanted to let us know that the RV site they had just vacated at the campground was available.
Ed and Alice bought a park model here in Apache Junction a while back and have downsized, but their Winnebago View is always ready to take them off on a new adventure. We look forward to crossing their path for years to come.
My friend Jason Deas, who isn’t a fulltimer but does love getting out in his 1979 Scotty camper, just released Brushed Away
Thought For The Day – Talent rarely beats sweat.