As described in my March 20, 2016 post "RVing Family--From Tent Trailers to the Edge to the Sunseeker and Beyond," my family and I spent years RVing in a 24ft Heartland Edge Travel Trailer. It was a great little rig, and provided numerous enjoyable trips throughout the US and Canada. We would pile three adults (the mother-in-law, as well as the wife and I), three kids, and two dogs in our 24ft travel trailer. Along the way, we learned a few things about crowded RV vacations.
Lessons Learned
(1) Maximizing Space--The longest trip we did in our 24ft travel trailer was a little over three weeks. During the trip, we traveled from Alaska to Kansas, with a couple day stop in Oregon. On half of this trip, my father accompanied us. Then we substituted my father for my mother-in-law for the remainder of the trip. The effect was the same--within our small travel trailer, we crammed three adults, three kids, and two dogs for a trip that lasted a little over three weeks. It goes without saying that the key to making this trip successful was to maximize the little space we had. The first and most important step for maximizing space was getting rid of the dinette table. For the whole trip, we kept the dinette table and its legs stored in the largest storage compartment in the trailer. We never once used it. This provided a lot of crucial movement room for multiple lanes of "foot traffic" throughout the trailer. Often, we opted to eat outside of the trailer. But sometimes we would be chased inside the trailer by rain or mosquitoes. When we ate inside, we just didn't use a table. Yes, our seven year old boys would sometimes spill stuff; but let's be honest, they would have spilled stuff even if we had used the table. The second "most important" space optimizing step was managing dirty laundry and shoes. The kids hated to wear their shoes and would inevitably kick them off at the first opportunity. Plus, they had multiple shoes--a pair of sneakers, Crocs, and a shower shoes each. This made for a minefield of shoes to navigate through. In order to solve the shoe problem, my wife bought a bunch of the plastic hanging shoe racks, which we fastened to all the beds. This is where the shoes went. As for laundry, the best solution we could figure was to give everyone a small mesh bag to put dirty laundry in. Other than bed time, these mesh bags would remain on the end of everyone's bed. At night, they'd be put on the trailer floor. These bags also made doing laundry easier, because I could just dump the entire content into an RV park laundry machine without having to figure out whose laundry was whose (I usually do the laundry when RVing, and I refuse to sort it--white, colors, don't care--it all gets washed on cold).
(2) Managing moisture--Three adults, three kids, and two dogs produce A LOT of hot, wet air. This hot air, coupled with outside moisture, can quickly create a lot of moisture build-up within the trailer. The key to managing moisture is leaving as many windows as possible partially open when in the trailer, as air circulation helps keep the moisture down. Add a fan if possible. The A/C will also remove moisture from the air, though far up north it might be too cold to run it at night (even in the summer). In order to manage moisture, you can also find small kits that absorb moisture from the air, such as Damprid, or you can use a small plug-in dehumidifier. Additionally, cook outside if possible, as cooking adds moisture to the air. My wife loves cooking on a fire. Finally, don't store anything wet in the RV. If you have wet clothes, leave them outside hanging on the awning at night. If you have wet clothes that you need to put somewhere while driving, I recommend putting them in your vehicle if possible. If you're running the AC in your vehicle, the AC will help remove the excess moisture from within the vehicle.
(3) Develop a routine--The best way to efficiently utilize small spaces with a lot of people is by developing a routine were everyone knowing where they are going to eat, where they are going to sit, etc. Effectively, everyone gets their own assigned space.
(4) Spend as much time outside as possible--This really goes without saying. The whole reason we RV is to spend time outside. Who wants to RV just to stay in the RV?
(5) Enjoy yourself--Let's be honest, you don't need a lot of space to be happy when you're having fun. But when you're not having fun, well, things really start to feel cramped.
Happy Rving!!
Scipio
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| The Edge Crossing Into Shoshone National Forest |
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