Rambling along back roads and absorbing local flavor adds to the joy of motorhoming for the Wendland
By Mike Wendland, F426141
August 2013
“Not all those who wander are lost.” So wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. This is so true when it comes to traveling across the continent in our motorhome. We love to meander, to take roads less traveled, off the interstate. But even the interstates can be fun, especially outside urban areas. As Jennifer and I made our way west in June to attend the Family Motor Coach Association Family Reunion in Gillette, Wyoming, we realized something about our wanderings: we find absolute joy in driving.
That is so weird for me to write, because when I commuted to and from my newspaper and TV jobs in downtown Detroit from my suburban home for more than 30 years, I hated driving. But in our touring coach, I absolutely love to drive. So does Jennifer.
We’ve tried to explain it to people. Their eyes sort of glaze over. But you understand, don’t you?
When we first began our motorhome adventure a year and a half ago, I was so focused on arriving at our destination that I missed the adventure and thrill of getting there. I drove mega mileage, 400, 500, even 600 miles a day. I’d arrive exhausted, cranky, and wanting nothing but sleep. I guess that’s part of the newbie’s RVing education — learning to slow down.
We set a couple of firm rules early on: no more than 400 miles a day and always arrive mid-afternoon. Since then, we’ve added more, and we can now say that meandering is the plan.
Whenever possible, we pick two-lane roads, off the interstate. I love the way small-town America shows up every 10 to 12 miles. Yeah, you have to slow down. A surprising number of towns have police officers strategically placed 100 feet from the “Welcome To . . . .” signs. That’s okay. I listen to my GPS, which I have programmed to warn me when I am five miles per hour over the speed limit.
We try to eat our on-the-road meals in local restaurants, avoiding fast food and chain restaurants. Truth told, some of the home cooking in those places probably is less healthful than fast food, but it’s the flavor of the towns and villages that we come to absorb, places where hair-netted waitresses still call you “darling” or “honey,” and the local boys in cowboy hats or old John Deere caps have their own table and drink coffee out of cups emblazoned with ads from the local insurance agent or the hardware store. We eavesdrop and hear them talking about high school football, farm auctions, local traffic accidents, and crop prices.
Inevitably, someone spots our Roadtrek Type B motorhome and asks us where we’re from, where we’re headed, and how many miles we get per gallon. Many times, we invite them to take a look inside. We sometimes ask what’s to see around the area, and they tell us. We’ve been led to some fun things, such as the annual Popcorn Days festival in North Loup, Nebraska, population 747, the self-proclaimed popcorn capital of the world.
From there, we heard about the Nebraska Sandhills, an amazing 19,600-square-mile region of grass-covered sand dunes that takes up nearly 25 percent of the state — the largest area of sand dunes in the Western Hemisphere. It was dotted with back roads, far from the interstate.
This summer, on the way to Gillette, Wyoming, and the FMCA Family Reunion, we discovered Le Mars, Iowa, the self-proclaimed “ice cream capital of the USA.” The little town is home to Wells Enterprises Inc., makers of Blue Bunny-brand ice cream, and more ice cream is produced in Le Mars by a single company than in any other city in the world.
In the spring, headed down to Florida, we overnighted in Louisville, Kentucky, and — at a local restaurant — heard about the Bourbon Trail, an awesome tour of a confluence of seven distilleries that produce the bulk of the world’s bourbon. In 1964 Congress formally designated bourbon as a distinctly American product, or, as the Bourbon Trail folks like to say, “America’s Official Native Spirit.” We visited all of the distilleries and learned so much about history that we stayed three extra days.
Near West Branch, Michigan, we discovered the Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Festival, off two-lane M-55 on a beautiful autumn afternoon. We learned about spinning wool, took a tour of a sheep ranch, and purchased some great wool hats.
Besides asking the locals where to meander, we rely on technology. I went to a Web site called POI Factory (www.poi-factory.com) and downloaded a bunch of POI files. POI is short for point of interest. These were installed on my GPS. One file lists roadside attractions, and I programmed the GPS to tell us when we are within five miles of any of them. The POI Factory Web site files work with many of today’s GPS units, including Rand McNally, Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom.
On my smartphone, I have a slew of RV and travel apps that help me meander. Here are five of my favorites:
I have really gotten hooked on Roadside America (www.roadsideamerica.com), a Web site with a cool $2.99 iPhone app that shows you what’s nearby as you travel. This is not the normal touristy stuff, mind you, but weird, unusual, and fun places to check out. The app knows where you are and what’s nearby and makes any trip super fun, alerting you to must-visit attractions that make for memorable travel.
Then there’s Road Ninja (www.roadninja.mobi), a free iPhone and Android app aimed at helping cost-conscious travelers save money as they travel the interstate system. Road Ninja knows your location and tells you what’s coming at the next exit. You can search by category or name to locate points of interest, and it tells you the best exit to take to find them.
The Weather Underground Road Trip Planner (www.wunderground.com/roadtrip) is very useful, too. Type in your departure location and time, as well as your destination, and it will give you a map and the weather report for places along the way.
The AroundMe app (www.aroundmeapp.com) identifies your position and allows you to choose the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theater, restaurant, supermarket, and taxi. AroundMe shows you a complete list of all the businesses in the category you have selected, along with the distance from where you are. It’s free for the iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows mobile devices.
Tripit (www.tripit.com), for Android and Apple gizmos, serves as a repository for all your travel details — organized and presented in itinerary style in a single place. It works on your smartphone, tablet, or through your computer on the Tripit.com Web site.
Meandering. That’s what we do. Slowing down, meeting people, asking questions, checking our smartphone for tips, and being willing to stop and change our plans. That’s how we roll in our RV. How about you?