RVs to the rescue

MOST OF us buy an RV with one idea in mind: vacation travel. We're tired of the headaches that come from struggling with advance reservations for musty, overpriced hotel rooms and the dreary menus of roadside restaurants. What owning an RV offers us is a rare freedom no other form of travel can begin to match.

But there's more. Beyond the obvious, an RV brings further dividends--a wide variety of uses that perhaps you haven't yet discovered. Over the years, we've found that ours can perform many functions, sometimes odd and unconventional, that were never mentioned by the salesman or any brochure. In a variety of emergencies, both big and small, our RV has literally saved the day.

Hospital Room

Two years ago I required minor surgery and selected a doctor, nationally known for his expertise, whose office was some 100 miles from our home. Though I was to be treated as an outpatient, my doctor was firm in his decision that I must remain in the area, close by his office, for 24 hours. The only option seemed to be a nursing home. Then we thought of our RV. With the doctor's approval, I spent the night before surgery in our motorhome in the parking lot next to his office, conveniently available for the pre-op procedure to begin at 7 the next morning.

Following surgery, I was able to retire to the comfort and privacy of our motorhome and the care of my solicitous spouse. The following day, the doctor stopped by our RV on the way to his office, checked my condition and gave his OK for us to return home, with the understanding that I remain in bed as we traveled. Thanks to our RV, what had promised to be a complicated ordeal was actually accomplished with unexpected ease.

Looking at the other side of the picture, an RV can be the ideal solution to housing anxious relatives when a loved one is hospitalized. Neighbors of ours, the parents of a young child hurt in an automobile accident, camped near their son's hospital for two weeks.

Later, the boy's father told us, "It was a real help to be able to come and go whenever we wanted, to collapse on a familiar bed when we were exhausted and grab a bite to eat when there was no time for restaurant meals." Some hospitals now set aside RV space on the hospital grounds for patients' families.

Guest House

When our daughter's wedding brought family members from as far away as Canada last year, we wanted to provide beds for all. The only problem: to accommodate everybody, we needed one additional bedroom. The happy solution: our RV.

But instead of turning the vehicle over to guests, we used it ourselves. First, because it has the most comfortable bed we own. Second, because we could escape for the night from the happy confusion of children and grandchildren to the peace and quiet of our own private guest house. Our RV again becomes a guest house when we visit our children in their homes. Wonderful as it is to be together, a little separation from time to time makes such visits run more smoothly for everybody.

At Christmas, we've used our guest house to accommodate grandchildren so that parents and grandparents could play Santa unobserved. On other occasions, such as Thanksgiving, the RV has become a playhouse for excited, active kids and provided a welcome break for their weary parents. One year, when it was raining too hard for a planned Easter-egg hunt in the garden, we even hid the eggs and other goodies in our RV for the kids to find.

House Hunting

Because of my husband's work, we used to move every year or two (often across the country). That usually meant spending colossal sums of money on motels and restaurants while we hunted frantically for a place to live. But once we acquired an RV, much of the desperation disappeared. The kids could lead a more normal life in the RV while we could take our time finding exactly the right house.

Shelter in a Disaster

Twice in the last several years, our area has been hit by catastrophe. The first was a major flood with deadly mud slides. The second was a devastating earthquake. Both times our RV proved to be a godsend. Without light, heat or water in our house, we took shelter in our RV. Warm and comfortable, we could prepare coffee and hot meals for ourselves and for others who were not so lucky.

Hotel Suite

Class reunions can be a lot of fun, but when they're held in a major city, they also can be expensive. This year, we learned the going rate for a decent hotel room in the city where my husband's class reunion was to be held ranged from $190 to $250 a night. For a two-night affair, that adds up to real money]

Checking the 1996 Trailer Life Campground/RV Park & Services Directory, we discovered a midcity campsite (with security guards) for $20 a night. A short cab ride took us to the reunion dinner-dance and, next day, to the various planned activities. More comfortable than most hotel rooms, our RV offered the advantage of a kitchen where we could get a quick breakfast.

Private Office

With a laptop computer and printer, a supply of paper and necessary reference material, an RV can become the ideal office. The joy of an RV office is that you can escape all the usual distractions--telephones, kids, uninvited visitors-and concentrate on the job at hand. After the research is finished for a difficult writing assignment, I head for our RV to get it all onto paper without interruption.

If there's a teen-ager in your family with the usual load of homework, you might suggest your RV for a quiet place to study, away from the temptations of television or telephone.

Hobby Shop & Showroom

A longtime friend, who has created a brisk business from her hobby of making dried-flower wreaths, uses her RV as workroom, storeroom and showroom. She takes both her home and her shop with her whenever she attends craft fairs around the state.

Another woman I met recently specializes in dolls, the collectible kind. In her RV, she moves in comfort to the various doll shows, knowing that she can present her dolls in perfect condition, nary a wrinkled pinafore nor a curl out of place.

What Your RV Can Do for You

Visiting friends overnight? Conducting a small business? Working on a thesis for your Ph.D.? Having a house party? Fleeing a hurricane? Whenever you need a Safe, quiet space that's exclusively yours, take a second look at your RV. Who knows? In any one of its multiple roles, that RV just might save the day.

Margaret Lane is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in most of the major women's magazines. She and her photographer husband are avid RV travelers.

Copyright T L Enterprises, Inc. Apr 1996
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved