In the late summer of 2008, we shipped Rover, our American RV, from Baltimore to Belgium for a leisurely 60-day trip around parts of western Europe. We then stored it in Amsterdam and in the spring of 2009 returned for another trip--90 days this time, but no less leisurely--and did it a third time in 2010.
We plan to repeat this cycle until we've decided we’ve had enough of it or the European economy no longer needs our help. Then we’ll ship it back to the US.
But not just yet: we have now set out on a fourth trip, this one about 10 weeks, to the U.K. and Norway in the spring and summer of 2011.
Rover is the third of that name in our lives. She is a 2002 Class C Born Free 24RB motorhome. We are David and Susan. Three years ago--but, ah, it seems like only yesterday!--we retired from untold decades of toiling in the vineyards of a mid-sized public university in Minnesota.
"FAQs" is probably self-explanatory. "Things They Don't Tell You" is based on various experiences we've had, pleasant or otherwise; Names That Won't Work in the US is a list inspired by signs on stores and trucks. And for those of you thinking about doing something like this, there's also a page of suggestions about useful features for an American RV in Europe.
If you're a real glutton for punishment, you can go to the 2008 Trip, the 2009 Trip, and the 2010 Trip links for even more, even older, weblog entries, photos, and Things We Have Learned. Throughout, we comment on what's happened to our various expectations about the whole idea: which ones have been exceeded, which met, which shattered.
And we welcome your emails.