Mike Wendland describes what to him and Jennifer is the ideal way to spend time traveling in their motorhome.
By Mike Wendland, F426141
June 2016
What makes a perfect day during an RV trip? I don’t know about you, but for Jennifer and me, it is a day doing what we want, on no particular timetable, and blessed by surprises.
Like today.
We travel “serendipity style.” Other than a vague idea of where we want to be come the end of the day, we just sort of let our RV days unfold. We try to keep ourselves from anything that has to do with being on a strict schedule.
Here’s a perfect example: Today. Let me take you with us. It’s Sunday morning, and as we often do when on the road, we sought out a local church. We are down in Destin, Florida, one of our favorite destinations. So, we drove our motorhome a half-mile down U.S. Route 98 from our spot at the Camp Gulf resort and pulled into the parking lot of the Destiny Worship Center. We got out, started locking the motorhome doors, and we found ourselves talking with a man on a golf cart who pulled up to offer us a ride to the worship center.
He was all smiles, very friendly, and impressed by our Roadtrek motorhome. “That’s a beautiful rig,” he said. “Do you two live in it?”
We get that question a lot, and I started to answer. The man looked familiar. He sounded familiar, too. He was alone, dressed casually in jeans and a yellow safety vest designating him a church volunteer.
I didn’t have to wonder long where I knew him from. The voice was the dead giveaway. It was former Arkansas governor and recent GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Gov. Huckabee now lives in the Destin area, and most every Sunday, he can be found schlepping folks from the vast parking lot to the church door.
He was interested in our Roadtreking lifestyle. He saw the front license plate on our motorhome, which says “A Journalist Discovers RVing,” and asked about my background. He delighted in knowing that the once-cynical investigative reporter known as “Bad News Wendland” is now traveling the country telling good news stories. We exchanged pleasantries for a couple of minutes, then he dropped us at the front door.
What surprised me most occurred an hour and a half later, as the service ended and some 1,200 people were making their way back to their cars. Gov. Huckabee passed by us as we were leaving. He was hauling some more folks to the worship center to attend the next service. “Bye, Mike,” he said with a wave. “Enjoy that RV!”
Wow. I was impressed. That is some kind of name recall. The encounter with Gov. Huckabee was one of those great serendipity moments we have while RVing.
We went from church to a nearby Gold’s Gym. Camp Gulf gives its guests free passes to the gym, so we spent an hour there, after changing from church clothes to workout clothes in the Roadtrek in the parking lot. After the workout, we returned to the motorhome and, still in the gym parking lot, pulled out our NutriBullet and made a protein smoothie with fresh strawberries. Lunch.
Then we headed to our favorite beach — the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
One of the things we enjoy about a Type B motorhome is its maneuverability and the ability to do what we call “day camping,” or hanging out in neat places not accessible to larger RVs, such as the parking lots and turnoffs at Gulf Islands National Seashore.
I set up my amateur radio station on the beach, using a special receptacle that fits in the motorhome’s bumper hitch to hold a telescoping mast that extends 40 feet. I attached a wire dipole at the top for an antenna system. In about two hours, I worked 115 stations from across the country, 35 states in all, including Alaska.
This is all part of a year-long promotion by the National Park Service and the Amateur Radio Relay League — the nation’s largest amateur radio organization. Like many amateurs, I’m operating by portable ham station from as many NPS sites as possible this year, drawing attention to the park service’s 100th anniversary in an ongoing event called National Parks On the Air. This was my third such activation this year, the first one taking place on New Year’s Day along Lake Michigan, the other on a snow-covered wilderness trail in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in mid-January.
The weather for this Florida activation, though, was perfect. The temperature was in the mid-70s, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I operated right on the sand outside my Roadtrek, just a few dozen yards from the Emerald Coast of Florida’s panhandle.
We hung around the beach there until late afternoon, and then made our way back toward Destin, stopping at the HarborWalk Marina, where Florida’s largest fishing fleet is headquartered. We strolled the half-mile-long boardwalk, marveling at the vast number of boats, watching the fishing boats come in and show off their catches.
Back at camp, we hit the beach again, just standing there in awe as the sun disappeared into the gulf, quietly chatting with some of our fellow RVers. Back at the campsite, we grilled steak kabobs and had fresh Florida strawberries for dessert. We ate on a picnic table at the campsite as the darkening sky came alive with stars.
It was a perfect day. No hassle. No timetable. Lots of fun.
See why we love this lifestyle?
What makes a perfect day during an RV trip? I don’t know about you, but for Jennifer and me, it is a day doing what we want, on no particular timetable, and blessed by surprises.