Snowbirding 101 for Nevada County Library "Travel Talk" June 18, 2018

Welcome to Snowbird 101

Retirement and owning an RV leads to the greatest freedom and the ability to escape winter weather. Head south for the winter as a "Snowbird," experience fantastic desert scenery, camp on white sand beaches, meet fellow travelers, hear of their adventures of what lies just over the next hill, make new friends.  Experience rejuvenation.

What a great feeling when you realize you are no longer tied to one spot on the globe, forced to accept whatever weather the prevailing winds and atmospheric forces throw at you  You can escape and take your mobile "home" i.e RV with you.  I'm going to assume you already own an RV...if not read on there will be links to learn more about all the options you have in selecting your RV

Hello, we are Rodney and Susan Raub.  We retired in 2011, bought a small travel trailer and have spent the last seven winters escaping from our northern California home (yes, we do get cold winter weather where we live in NC).  We have traveled across much of Arizona and adjacent Mexican border states looking for warm weather, beaches, fresh seafood and friendly fellow Snowbirders.

Oh, and don't let me forget to mention the third member of our snowbirding team, Bart the poodle.  A great traveler for the most part, but he hates the desert.  Too many sharp rocks, too many cholla thorns to step on (hence his desert high top sneakers, which he also hates.)

We presented a Travel Talk slide show to our friends and neighbors at the Nevada County Library back in October, 2017 sharing what we had learned about traveling in Baja Mexico, road conditions, travel permits, destinations and safety concerns (Baja is really very safe in our estimation).  We have since made another trip to Arizona and pressed on further into Sonora Mexico.  What we learned and experienced is the subject of this series of Blog posts and our Travel Talk, June 18, 2018 at the Nevada county main library in Nevada City.

When we retired we owned a small SUV which dictated that we acquire a small, light-weight travel trailer.  We looked for a used fiberglass trailer for a year and could never dial the phone fast enough so we gave up and bought a new Casita from the factory and took delivery in August 2012.  See our Blog post Quest for Casita on this blog for details. (See: Quest for Casita)  The 17 foot Casita weighs about 2800 lbs and can be towed by many small pick-up trucks or SUVs.

After four years of traveling in the 17 foot Casita, we decided we need a little more room, especially for our winter trips when you spend more time indoors.  The interior of the Casita was just a little too cramped.  We discovered the Escape brand of fiberglass trailers, which offered a 21 foot model, just the right combination of light-weight and spacious interior.  We upgraded our tow vehicle to a half-ton pickup truck with a small V-8 engine.

We loved that the Escape had a Queen sized bed that was easy to exit in the middle of the night without climbing over your sleeping partner.  There is so much more storage space than in the smaller Casita and every inch of the trailer was customize-able. 

Susan loved that there is ample counter space for meal preparation, a good sized refrigerator and I love that can make ice in the standalone freezer for happy hour cocktails.  And of course we enjoy hanging out in the dinette, taking in the view from the good sized side and rear windows.  The Escape is fully self-contained with enough solar power intake, storage batteries and DC to AC inverter to power the occasional use of our 120 volt toaster over or blow dryer.  We are delighted with our purchase from Escape Trailer Industries of Chilliwack, British Columbia.  See Escape Factory for information on their 17', 19' and 21' models.

Susan preparing breakfast while I laze in my corner of the dinette imaging what we will do today.