Vacation on Wheels a mobile Airbnb Text by Nancy S. Moseley Photos by Christy Wallace It's hard being new parents. You bring home your new acquisition, stare at it incredulously with doe-eyed wonder, with equal parts joy and intimidation. "We got it home and said, 'What have we done?! We don't even know how to use it!'" Laureen Blakemore of Blacksburg offers, thinking back to the days when they hadn't yet figured out how to get their brand-new bundleof-camper up their steep driveway. Laureen and her husband, Mike, purchased the 2018 Thor Motor Coach Four Winds close to quitting time during a St. Patrick's Day sale. The salesman, anxious to clock out, took all of five minutes to explain operations. The two drove it to an interstate RV park, and actually paid for a spot, just to practice using the sewer system. Since settling into life with a camper, the Blakemores have enjoyed galivants up and down the eastern seaboard and as far west as Texas, mostly targeting state parks for 28
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the peacefulness and facilities. They've taken it to family reunions, to visit kids in college and currently, to annual escapes with friends to Gatewood Park in Pulaski. But their favorite destination is Carrabelle, Fla., where they belly right up to the sea. "It's a little bit of home that comes with us," Mike states. "And you don’t have to worry about how much you pack," Laureen adds. Now "Spudnik," named as a clever twist on the Russian word "Sputnik" meaning "traveling companion" and the couples' love of potatoes, sports 30,000 rental miles. "It's been back and forth across the country twice. Just not with us," Mike explains. The idea sparked when they were pricing out what it would cost to fly to California and rent an RV for the trip back. In the process, they discovered outdoorsy.com, a company that aggregates available RV, camper van and May/June
2022
