Are we there yet?

We will be wearing our masks more than the CDC deems strictly necessary, but for some time now we’ve been making plans to do some of the things we’ve been denied for the past 16 months or so. First and foremost was a trip to see relatives and close friends who don’t live in the Bay Area. I grew up in Los Angeles, and still have two brothers and some very good friends who live in that part of the state. In addition, my father lives in San Diego County. Thus, as a treat for receiving what I call our “get out of jail, free” cards (our completed COVID-19 Vaccination Record cards), we recently took a trip to both Los Angeles and San Diego to pay them a visit.

Because even San Diego isn’t terribly far, and because we’re not going to fly any more than we have to, a driving trip made the most sense. And because when we were planning the trip my friends and relatives weren’t fully vaccinated, we spent a lot of time thinking about ways to make the trip as safe as possible. The solution my wife suggested — which we chose to adopt — was somewhat out of left field: to make the trip in a rented RV, rather than in our own car.

For us, an RV solved a couple of problems. For one, it eliminated the need to use rest stop or gas station restrooms along the way; we had our own private bathroom with us. Too, the fact that we were hauling along a full kitchen meant we could make our own meals, eliminating the need to enter restaurants or even buy fast food while on the road. Finally, the RV’s queen-sized bed — which proved to be surprisingly comfortable — gave us a safe place to sleep at night, reducing the amount of time we needed to spend in our friend’s and relative’s houses.

Thanks to a recommendation from one of my brothers, we ended up renting our RV from Road Bear RV Rentals and Sales, in San Leandro. We asked for the smallest they had, which turned out to be a 24-foot , 2022-model-year “Sunseeker” that had been thoroughly sanitized by the folks at Road Bear. I was impressed by our RV’s slew of modern conveniences, which included USB outlets throughout and a built-in inductive cellphone charger. The RV also had a huge television, which we never did use, and a nice-sized refrigerator and freezer, which we did.

As it turned out, by the time we made the trip everyone we were visiting had gotten vaccinated. Even so, we mostly slept in the RV. In all cases we either parked at the curb in front of the house we were visiting, or we parked somewhere on property. While we did use the RV’s toilet and sink, we never did try the shower, instead opting to take showers in the homes of those we were visiting.

Driving the RV proved to be easy enough once we’d gotten used to its size. Admittedly, it was a bit noisy while on the move — lots of creaking and wind noise — but the large Ford engine proved more than capable, even when climbing the Grapevine. It did gulp gasoline, though. We averaged about 9 miles per gallon over our roughly 1,150 mile trip. Twice I had gas pumps shut off before my tank was full, when the purchase reached $100. It’s been years since I’ve had something like that happen.

Although you won’t catch me rushing out to buy an RV — we wouldn’t get enough use out of one — I’m sold on renting. We felt safe and had a terrific time, and I loved not having to pack and unpack every time we moved between locations. Undoubtedly we’ll do something like this again, even after we’ve fully made the transition to our post-COVID way of life.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.