Driving Along In Our Automobile Pt2

We have been home a week now from our adventure out West, and it has taken me that long to normalize and get used to re-entry. My mast cells are stable once again, so I hope in this post to add some tips and tricks we learned along the way while RV’ing with Mast Cell Disease. It was the ride of a lifetime, but we plan to do it again 😉

Choosing an RV:
New RV’s are full of chemical and paint finishes that make it almost impossible to offgas enough to be safe for a chemically sensitive person. Jay recommends you look for an older RV, plan to visit it when it has NOT been opened and aired out, so that you get the full effect of what you’re dealing with. Have a loved one go in first. Obviously, ask questions about smoke, pets, and even how much cooking they did inside their RV. We cook on an outside stove most often, just to avoid more smells in the fabrics. We never cook bacon or smelly meats inside.

We do love our 24ftMinnie Winnie as we are a family of 4 now (but a grandson is on the way!) You can find them larger and even with pullouts, but driving was what we planned most for this stage of life, so the more compact camper suited us well. We packed everything for this trip west and didn’t even fill the fridge or cabinets entirely. Plenty of room for us!

We prefer the Class C, so we can drive, talk, eat, and use the facilities at the same time. Well, maybe not ALL at the same time. haha Ours includes a bathroom with a shower. This became necessary for me to travel over the last year, as many public and campground toilets are cleaned daily with bleach, so I couldn't even use them without reactions.

Once you have chosen a safe RV, you could use an ozonator to “kill off” any lingering smells or mildew type issues. We bought one, and use it every so often.

As I mentioned in the last post, we use a Rabbit Air filter http://www.rabbitair.com for most trips and at home, but Jay purchased a heavier carbon based filter for the gasses we would encounter on the trip west. It adds weight to your travel, but was worth it to us. I also have a Vogmask and a filtered Vapor mask which always travels with me in an “emergency bag.” New asphalt on roadtops is a sudden trigger for me, so I don't leave home without those. Add that to huge pastures along miles of Kansas highway, and you will be glad you brought it along, and make everyone else envious in the camper. 😀

RV’s are not inexpensive. But traveling for us has become our only “out” and it was worth saving for and compromising on new and improved. Living with chronic illness is draining; physically, emotionally, as well as financially. I realize not everyone could even afford an RV, or the gas to put in them, so I am sensitive to that, and very thankful for mine. I would encourage you to dream, however, as we have found that even though we cannot attain something right now, in the present (we wanted an RV 5 years ago) that does not mean that we cannot dream, pray, and plan for it. We own a business, and its welfare has to come first, so we have waited. We were gifted with a wonderful pop up camper which enabled us to camp close by, and that has been a blessing.

Practicing camping in a pop up or borrowed camper is not a bad idea. Camping takes some getting used to, and is not always intuitive. Some good friends of ours are learning to camp with severe allergies, and they can tell you even though they are used to preparing everything for themselves, packing it all up and preparing it away from home is a challenge. But they consider it worth it, as we do, to learn. And it does get easier. Once you learn close to home, you can begin to dream of longer trips to see things you were beginning to think you may not be able to.

We have reduced our living expenses and moved into a townhome in order to travel more. For me, we cannot seem to truly find a “safe house” so we are not considering buying or building for a while (if ever.) We decided to keep our living expenses low, and travel in our RV as often as we can get away.

This is my sis’n’law and nieces exploring our camper.

My posts have been getting long lately, so I will close this one out and begin working on Part3, Cooking in an RV for over a week! Safely! Send me any questions you have, as I want to share as much as we can about our journey.