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Traveling in Close Quarters is Hazardous

Week three. After two soggy days on the Northern California coast, we hightailed it to Napa… where we spent two more soggy days.

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Don’t let the smile fool you…the Motorhome was feeling smaller with each passing day!

By this time it was POURING so I gave the Mr. my umbrella and took out my Zebra, Persole Umbrella.

Rainy streets of Yountville

Made in Italy, these umbrellas provide 50+ UPF, which is the maximum sun protection available. I’ve used it in the sun many times, but this was it’s first rain trip. Turns out, they are totally waterproof. Double score!!

I’m not being compensated for this mention, but I’ve had Melanoma, so take my sun protection very seriously. They’re pretty chic and work, so check them out.

We wandered around soggy Yountville then traveled down to Napa for some window (real estate) shopping. Every time we’re there, we peruse the local listings. It’s a great place to retire and we love the pace of life there.

Persole

We stopped by our favorite winery, Merryvale, for a small tasting.

Merryvale Vineyards Cask Room
The Cask Room was dressed for the season and looked more magical than ever!

 

 

We joined Merryvale’s Profile Club. Their Profile wine is an opulent, rich and elegant Bordeaux, we fell in love with last summer.

Merryvale Profile

I was fortunate to get a rare “Profile” Christmas Tree Ornament which looks perfect on our tree.

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As a funny aside…meaning this is totally off track…

I was sitting in a paper gown today, no dignity intact, as I got my annual melanoma check. She examinedĀ every square inch of me.Ā Ā I watched her pause several times, to look closer, when a light bulb went off in my head!

“I’ve just come home from 3 weeks in a Motorhome. A crampedĀ  Motorhome and all those fading bruises you see are from banging into cabinets, walls, jutting edges and other blunt objects.”

She smiled. “Oh that explains it.” I am literally yellow and pale green on most of my extremities.

Once home of course, we had to swap out all our personal china, bedding, mattress, cookware, flatware etc. Not nearly as fun on the back-end, but having our own things, made all the difference to our enjoyment.

As we revisit our trip, we realize there were many things we were not prepared for, and many things we would do differently next time.

We only ate out once, and the food was ghastly…so bringing pre-made meals and stopping for fresh organic produce was perfect.
We would plan to stay longer in places we loved and bring better equipment to balance the rig.

I would bring my own bike next time (Dear Santa…), and we would bring less clothes.
It was staggering how many clothes we brought that never got worn.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip/experiment and the good news is we are willing hoping to do it again soon.

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We took “selfies” along the way and think they might make a hoot of a calendar to remind us of our trip.

To be honest, I didn’t dress like any other woman I saw camping…but I’m fine with that. This wasn’t really camping, it was cruising.

Would you do this for a month? Six months? A year?

29 Comments

  1. You don’t say how big your motor home was. That can make all the difference. We’re thinking about buying one but can’t decide on size. If you get a big diesel pusher you have lots of room in the rig and below for storage but then you are limited to where you can park it, plus driving through cities must be a real pain. If you get a smaller one it would be easier to drive snd park but then you risk being cramped. Making this decision seems to have paralyzed us so we do nothing.

    1. We rented a 31’Joanne. I agree about size issue while driving. Weighing that against comfort when parked. We will rent a larger one next time. Off season the prices are very good and we wanted to be sure before we plunk down large $$$. We talked to a lot of people during his trip and the 5th wheels are apparently very spacious and actually more easy to move around. Cramped long term would not be my idea of fun!

  2. What wonderful photos! I agree about the clothes – I wear about a tenth of what I bring. Thats reminds me to get a skin check there is so much melanoma in NZ where the sun is unbelievably bright

    1. It’s a rising problem here too. I’m shocked whenever I see tanning parlors. People just don’t seem to get the connection or understand the seriousness of melanoma.

  3. Jen, What a fun adventure. I think you should definitely make that calendar. I did one last Christmastime on Minted for the husband and it came out so cute!!

    I like how you guys travel with all your luxury accouterments! I want to so this one day! xx
    Kim

  4. You have beautiful skin.
    I would love to do that sort of trip, I prefer being self sufficient to staying in hotels ( aside from special birthday trips) your wide roads make it very appealing, we’ll defiantly do it one day, although neither of us can read maps, so…

    1. I can read maps, he can’t, but I have to drive so that leaves us pulling to the side of the road frequently!

      1. If there’s an issue with map reading, by all means buy or rent a GPS unit — Garmon or other brand. It takes a few minutes to key in your destination, then the machine speaks politely as you make your way to the destination.

  5. So glad you are posting. Am I wrong, or did you not post for a long while? I love reading your blog. There aren’t so many written by women of our vintage.

    1. Thanks so much. I love how you put it! Our vintage. And a fine vintage we are šŸ™‚ my blog was hacked last summer and I had to move to WordPress which left my feed dead on blog rolls. So glad you found me Maggie!

  6. Wow. What an adventure! I’m not much of a camper, but when my guy and I take a road trip, we generally cook several meals and take them with us.

    And we’re glad we did – every time.

  7. Jennifer, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and reading about your travel adventure. Yes, I would definitely do this for a month but I think that’s the longest I could be away from my home (I just love being in my home), and yet I crave travel and adventure as well.
    I think your idea of your selfie calendar is a must!
    By the way, which were your favorite places from your road trip?

    1. My personal favorite was Sedona. I’m not sure if I felt any of the energy vortexes, but I loved it there. Palm Springs was warm and perfect but we were there too short a time. Grand Canyon was mind blowing…but I have to keep going back to Sedona. It just “spoke” to me.

  8. Anita Rivera says:

    Good morning Jennifer! So good to see you, and your excursions here! My husband and I are going back to Carmel next year in May to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary at our honeymoon spot. To see your post of Napa reminds me of such sweet days in California.

    YOU LOOK FABULOUS! And may the moments of life be sweet and numerous to come. Much love and thank you for your visit! Anita

    1. Thank you Anita! Your trip sounds so romantic. Carmel is one of my very favorite places too!! Wishing you much joy and happiness the Christmas, and a wonderful trip out our way!!

  9. Bluebooby says:

    I think camping is a great way to see the national parks, in some places the only way. I still can’t get over the fact you did ALL the driving. Not sure I’m up for a month, but I’d do a week. You guys look great …so glad you didn’t kill him.

    1. There were some close calls for him:)It was only 3 weeks. A month may have been his downfall! It would be impossible to drive one of these beasts in a city so yes, perfect for countryside and national parks.

  10. I love the pearls as always. What a fantastic adventure !

    1. It was fun, but it’s also good to be home and spread out a bit:)

  11. carolyn thomas says:

    Thank you for your post on road trip traveling. I too like to “camp” in style! I was wondering if you could do a post on what clothes you took on the trip and where you bought them. You have great style!

    1. Thanks Carolyn! I’ll try to put one together. There’s a reason I’m not a fashion blogger. I don’t buy many clothes and the ones I do, I wear over and over. Several pieces were from Target, some were from boutiques, some from were from Eileen Fisher.

    1. My husband is a bit like that too! I can stay and relax much easier than he can.

  12. I’d love to do a month and see how I did but do it like a month out West, a month to the Florida Keys, a month to the Southwest. You look great J and those glasses are fab!

    1. Thanks GSL. I think spending a longer amount of time in each place would have been much more fun. You’d really get a feel for the place.

  13. I could do this on our boat but we would need to be at marinas every few days to charge our batteries!
    I get bruised on the boat too and by the end of the summer my legs look like then have been battered.
    Shopping for Real Estate sounds like fun!

    1. The battery charging is mandatory!! My favorite days were when we were hooked up to services:) !

  14. Jennifer, I would have brought too many clothes as well! So glad that you are having some wonderful experiences, like at Merryvale!

    xoxo
    Karena
    The Arts by Karena

    1. Merryvale is a wonderful winery to visit. It’s our very favorite, and so is their wine !

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