(This is the first in a series of columns by Sharlene Minshall offering advice based on what she learned as a full-time RVer.)

It was so exciting when I finally took “our” dreams seriously even though I would be traveling the Yellow Brick Road alone. To sell and/or give up all that we had accumulated in 26 married years to live a full-time RV lifestyle—in reality a “second” and very different life—was frightening, intoxicating, and in a way, dangerous.  The decision to alter my life so drastically four years after my husband’s death was spontaneous and not the result of any superb, detailed plan of action.  Although I do not and cannot regret the incredible travels, adventures and people I met RVing North America, a “plan” would no doubt have dictated better choices. Hindsight is helpful and I offer you mine.

When I started writing this column, I was “fed up to the back teeth” (extremely irritated).  I had read something on an RV website that soundly denounced RVers for following a “silly” rule that was very dangerous. The “rule” supposedly said that when you took something out of your RV, you could put something else back in. The writer suggested that RVers would actually be dumb enough to think they could take out a pair of socks and replace them with a heavy drill or that if they took out a shirt, they could add a rowing machine.  He said the “rule” was not only “silly” but also dangerous because of the weight factor. 

February is the month for love stories, and since I’ve been given more credit than I deserve for making this one happen, let me bring you up to speed.

If you read the weekly RV Life web blog on my 2009 summer travels, you will know I saw 11,623 miles of the U.S.A. in my Chevrolet and tent. From Arizona to the Pacific Coast and Washington State, I zigzagged east through the countryside, north to south through Michigan, eventually crossing into Virginia, my last stopping point before returning to the Southwest.