We have known for many years that we wanted to embrace a campervan while empty-nesting. This journey started a couple of weeks ago and the fun is just beginning.
We both love the outdoors and our nomadic tendencies have dissolved any interest in a conventional second home. Our first campout together was after just three months of marriage, and we subsequently had many great tent-camping trips in Texas, and rewarding times car-camping with our young kids in England. With adolescent kids, we appreciated the flexibility of a pop-up camper, the freedom to move of rented motorhomes, the simplicity of hotel-based road trips, and the added adventure of staying on self-driven boats. We love the sense of accomplishment when inn-to-inn hiking. Peter and Samuel continue to backpack into the wilderness while the girls prefer not to sleep on the ground.
We started considering a second home on wheels over five years ago. It enables a special type of North America exploration and we’d learned from rentals that drivability, sleep-comfort, and a “dry bath” were essential. Our research quickly converged on Leisure Travel Vans (LTV), a small Canadian manufacturer with a few dealerships in the US, including one near our home in Houston. While we continued to look at alternatives and visited RV shows and other dealerships, we always came back to LTV. The increased demand and supply chain challenges after COVID led to very long wait times, but we were not in a rush. We placed our order in May 2022, expecting a two to three year wait.
Three years after placing our order, we picked up our 2025 Wonder Rear Twin Bed. Below are a couple of videos about it!
Our van spent the first week squeezed into our driveway while we checked out everything. I was expecting this to take some time but it was almost overwhelming: We were understanding and setting up a new vehicle, a new multi-“roomed” home with many appliances, and a hi-tech Lithium battery system that will enable us to camp off-grid. It’s not rocket science but the electronics have quirks. The most problematic step was connecting the unit to our home’s internet. The most frustrating and time-consuming task was setting up the TVs! The task that I appreciate the most was working out the sewerage-dumping system while it still contained clean water.
We tried to heed my sister’s guidance to try it for one night before buying everything at the camp store! The challenge is working out what is essential, valuable for comfort, important for safety, or won’t suit your camping style. While I checked out all the equipment, Janet jumped on her sewing machine and made quilts. We tried to limit our daily Amazon purchases, making do with some items from home. Saydee quickly warmed to it, probably because of the proximity to her humans!
We look forward to staying at sites that are part of Harvest Hosts. They are generally commercial sites that allow self-contained RVs to stay overnight in return for giving them some business or an optional donation. While we expect to stay on farms, we found one in Houston at the Open Cross Prayer Park which became our first “shakedown” night. It was a perfect site for some initial learning while experiencing a tranquil “campsite.” The following morning, we met the very welcoming hosts, who also own an LTV campervan.
Select photos to see their captions.
This style of camping has a slow pace and I look forward to taking more photos. Here are a few more from this site.
After our first night, we headed to Camping World to check out their supplies. They had a big sale on but I think we showed fairly good restraint! Then, it was back home for another day or two before I took her to the storage garage we are renting to allow room in our driveway for cars. Leaving the van all alone in the garage was like abandoning a new child! I returned a couple of days later to check on her, and all was fine. We look forward to having a house where we can keep her on site.
We are asked what our first trip will be. In the next few months, we have ideas for trips to visit family in Louisiana, Midland (where Samuel is doing an internship), and Nashville (where Jett is doing an internship). These will be good “build-up” trips for longer trips. Our bucket list includes trips to Newfoundland and Alaska, both of which would be multiple months with stops on the way. There is so much to see in North America and we look forward to lots of exploring. We are realizing that this is not “easy” vacationing, but it will be very rewarding as it gives us the chance to escape the crowds.
One remaining dilemma is what to call her. We look forward to camping in our “campervan.” We love having a mobile second-home, a motorhome. We plan for this Recreation Vehicle (RV) to be the base of much recreation. We sometimes refer to her as an LTV after the manufacturer, but we realize she needs a good name. We are open to suggestions!
The Adventures of the Cajunlimeys 