Sunday 26Jan20 Fellow RT Mate

Day 10

Pete woke me at 7. After the typical breakfast I noticed a nice stealthy mini van and went and talked with the owners an elderly couple. They were packing up all the breakfast items including a Coleman stove from the picnic table. I told them their rig was the perfect stealth camper and the looked puzzled, they had no idea what stelth camping was. They showed me the rig inside and out. It was a Mercedes-Benz Metriex with a pop-up top. The fiberglass top had a solar panel molded into it. It had a bed running lengthwise for about ¾ of the width. The other ¼ was cabinetry. It was very well done and they said they paid 17k for the entire conversion. They bought the van second hand. It had 11k miles on it when they bought it.

They lived on the beach just south of Santa Monica. They said they had lived there for 40 years otherwise they couldn't afford to live there. A very nice friendly couple in their late 70s. She looked and had the same mannerisms of Carol my X-father in law's wife.

I was back in the RT when I got a knock on the door. It was a lady who owned a RoadTrek that was camped next door.

Her name was Pamela. Her significant other Russell, came over after a few minutes. We talked for a long time. They were full-timers. They had been camp host in Glacier NP for 7 years and loved it but would not be doing it this year due to health issues. They met on line. He lived in Indiana and she lived in Kentucky. Their current address was somewhere in Montana. They had seven kids between the two of them. They were very knowledgeable about the full-time RV life. Their RT was a 1996 210 with a 454 engine. They were getting about the same mileage in their RT with a 454 as I was getting in my RT with a 350.

I finally left the campground at 11:15. I stopped for lunch around 2 and took a short lap afterwards. I then drove on to Tucson arriving a little after 4. I got fuel at a Sam's Club and had a hot dog root beer and 4 berry sundae. I then drove a short distance to a strip mall and parked for the night.