WheRVe we been? Our travels, 1st quarter 2022

We were in only two places, but one of them was way more than one place, we did not get there by RV, and we lived for two months out of two carry-on roller bags and two backpacks — which makes us two crazies!

It was Mexico.
Mexico is way more than one place.

January ~ Texas

We began 2022 the same way we ended 2021, as guests on a friend’s property in Boerne, TX, helping out around the place to earn our keep. And because we unexpectedly bought a truck camper and had to pack and prepare for two months in Mexico, we spent most of January dealing — rather giddily, I must say — with both of those things.

Our fleet
Tex, the 2018 DRV Mobile Suites 38KSSB
Road Island, the 2013 Lance 1050S

February & March ~ Mexico

First, let me disabuse you of the notion that we packed suitcases and flew to Mexico to make our way around on our own. We are brave enough to do that, mind you, but that wasn’t our method for this trip.

Instead, we had places to land, and knowledgeable and experienced guides — specifically, Tim’s parents, who have been spending winters in Mexico since long before I joined the family 30 years ago. We traveled together with them, and also used their expertise to seek out adventures of our own, and it was the perfect blend of reliance and independence for our first lengthy international sojourn.

(Plus, this wasn’t our first trip to Mexico. We’ve flown down for brief visits over the years, walked across the border for dentistry, and even driven to the northern Baja in an RV caravan.)

We spent our first month on the mainland, in Ajijic, an hour’s drive south of Guadalajara, on the northern shore of Lake Chapala. From there, we also took a 10-day road trip with Tim’s parents to the towns of San Miguel de Allende, Angangueo, Valle de Bravo, and Pátzcuaro. Here’s the month in brief: food, people, landscape, architecture.

We spent our second month on the Baja, in San Jose del Cabo, where several members of Tim’s family gathered for a mini-reunion. All the cousins, siblings, in-laws, out-laws, etc. had flown back to their homes by the 10th, so Tim & I had the rest of the month (and the condo!) to ourselves. Here’s another little taste for you.

We liked this interlude so much that we intend to make it a winter habit. Maybe not next year, and probably not every year, but the more we explored Mexico, the more we wanted to explore, and the more comfortable we became with the idea of doing so on our own. The weather is fantastic, the tacos are cheap, the people are welcoming, and quite honestly, spending two months hopping around between inns, apartments and condos that someone else has to maintain? Pure gold. Respite we didn’t even know we needed.

Wait. Only 2 carry-ons each? EACH?

Pack less, do more.

We stayed in 12 different places, and went on two road trips (one of which crammed 4 adults in a small sedan) so being able to pack quickly and lightly was a necessity.

I won’t bore you with my detailed list, but I will tell you it was a challenge packing for two different climates. We needed winter clothes for part of our February visit to the mainland, during which we spent a week at elevations of 7,000-10,000 feet. Didn’t wear any of those the second month, on the Baja, but then my bathing suit, shorts and tank tops didn’t exactly make it out of the suitcase during that chilly first month.

Yes, there’s a third suitcase in that first picture. The blue one on the left contained items Tim’s parents had requested, as they’d already been in Ajijic since November, and shipping from the states is expensive and unpredictable. It was easier for us to fill a bag and check it — and then donate it to a charity resale shop before leaving Mexico.

Where to next?

We’re currently back at the ranch, preparing to take Road Island (the truck camper), into the upper right corner for the summer. First stop is in northern VA for a wedding at the end of this month, then we’ll travel through the northeastern states, including stops in the four we need to complete our RVing map of the Lower 48 (DE, NJ, RI, CT). Might even throw in a roll through the Canadian Maritimes if time and border policies allow.

As per our typical practice, we’ve made almost no reservations, and have only a vague mental outline of where we want to be and when. We are aware of the risks. But in nearly 7 years of full-time travel, we’ve never found ourselves homeless, even in Tex (our 41′ fifth wheel), even in northern states in the summertime.

Sorry if I’ve made you Capital-P Planners cringe. I just can’t do it your way, any more than you could switch to mine, so it’s a good thing we can all still enjoy sitting around the campfire together, swapping stories, sipping our beverages of choice, and by the way can I pet your dog?


We started full-timing in August of 2015, but I didn’t think to do an annual review until the end of 2016, and it was just a listing on Facebook of places we’d visited. After that, I started using a quarterly format.

More True Tales from the Laundromat: 2021 edition

If you remember giggle-snorting over my 2018 compilation of Top 20 True Tales from the Laundromat, you are not alone. It has endured as one of my most popular posts, clinging to the top of the list like an acrylic sock to a fleece jacket.

And guess what. I’ve continued to collect these stories since then, and I’m giving you a quarter’s worth more — no scrounging for actual coins required!

To recap:

One of many “You Do You” facets of RV life is that some folks go for the in-coach washer and dryer, and others don’t. Although we’ve got dedicated hookups for them in our bedroom closet, we opted against installing our own machines, and here’s why: We didn’t want to sacrifice the storage space, weight allowance, or power & water usage, when we can do our laundry elsewhere — in a facility that someone else has to maintain and repair.

Top 20 True Tales from the Laundromat, OwnLessDoMore.us, November 2018

Wondering about the cost comparison? Well, we’ve been on the road for 6+ years, paying to do laundry nearly every week. Sometimes a nearby friend offers up their machines, or we get free facilities as part of a workamping gig, but we still probably average about $6/week.

A new RV washer-dryer combo would have paid for itself by now, with enough green left over for new wardrobes for both of us. We do not care. The entertainment value alone is worth it to this girl, and since Tim only does laundry if he absolutely has to (like if I’ve recently given birth, or had cancer surgery, or happen to be located several hundred miles away), he does not get a vote. We like this system. It works for us. End of discussion.

But one more thing before I get to the final spin: you cannot force True Tales from the Laundromat. They must rise organically from the lint trap, and reveal themselves like a stain you forgot to pre-treat on your favorite hoodie.

So are you ready to get sudsy? I’m starting with the one and only heart-warming story, and then you should prepare for the load to become a little more… unbalanced.

1
“Here. Let me buy you some dryer time.”
“You guys too. Here’s some dryer time.”
“Have some dryer time, on me.”
A man just walked around the room depositing little stacks of quarters into smiling people’s hands, and explaining that he’d found some cash on the ground, didn’t know whether or not it had fallen out of his own pocket, and nobody nearby had claimed it, so he decided to put it in the change machine and pay it forward.
I’m gonna pay mine forward too.
How unexpectedly fun is this???

(January 2020, Apache Junction AZ)
2
Today you get a tail from the laundromat.
Sorry.

#justsaynotocrack

(December 2018, Kerrville TX)
3
I’ve enjoyed unfettered access this week to our friends’ laundry room and its mega-sized washer and dryer.
I think I could wash every item of clothing and bedding we own in 2 loads. Three, tops.
Is it possible to have a crush on a washing machine?
Ack.
This time I’m the weirdo with the detergent.

(January 2019, Pensacola FL)
4
Wow. I don’t know why they’ve put a phone in this brand new facility at all, but you definitely know you’re doing laundry on a military base.

#looselipssinkships
#opsecaf

(February 2019, Barksdale AFB LA)
5
If I ever forget what part of the country we’re in, I can usually count on the laundromat bulletin board to offer up a clue.

(February 2019, Sturgis MI)
6
They were the same size when they went into the dryer.

(February 2019, Sturgis MI)
7
I literally walked uphill.
Through the snow.

(March 2019, Clarksburg MD)
8

(February 2019, Manassas VA)
9
My first thought was not, “Wait. Is this here because they’ve had problems with snakes? Inside this laundry room???”
It was, “Heh. MiSNAKEn identity would have been better.”
I sometimes miss the important part of the message.

(April 2019, Elmendorf TX)
10
Never — no matter how hungry you are — eat cookies that have been abandoned on a folding table.
The dude who left these behind admitted out loud to nobody in particular that they were terrible.
He had also recently informed his companion that he expected to be arrested tonight.
He did not elaborate.

(April 2019, Kerrville TX)
11
In a room the size of a large storage unit: 21 signs
Nine of them deal with pet bedding.
These humans, under close supervision of their dog, put their laundry in the only machine available, which is the one designated pet-free for allergy sufferers.
Dogs are terrible at reading signs.

(July 2019, Hanscom AFB MA)
12
I don’t always judge the amount of laundry a gal tries to cram into a dryer, but when I do, it’s because I’ve had to pull out every single abandoned piece in order to use that dryer myself.
I dried and folded my two loads, and there was still no sign of her when I left — other than the mountain of laundry, of course.
Someone has an affinity for neon mesh undies.

(August 2019, Hanscom AFB MA)
13
Ohmigaw, I love these things!
I was just in here on Monday, and either it’s been installed since then, or I failed to notice it because that was the day I was apparently and inexplicably giving off some sort of “Hey, everybody, please come talk to me” vibe.
Two perpetrators were representatives of my usual gray geezer fan club.
The younger of the two watched me try to rebalance the load in my thunking washer no fewer than three times before informing me that I shouldn’t feel bad because it’s the one that always does that.
The older one, at 86, is still working 16-hour days, says he’s found the secret to longevity, and I can ask anyone in Alamogordo how to find him if I want to talk more about it.
There was also an old Asian woman who didn’t speak quite enough English for me to understand her, so I just smiled and nodded until she left.
It later occurred to me that she might have been saying some version of, “You just put your stuff in the washing machine that always thunks through the spin cycle, unbalanced load or not.”
The fourth and final one was a grandmotherly woman who leaned over toward me as she was walking by, and confided in a low voice, “I know you told that gentleman that you don’t usually talk to men in laundromats, but I met my second husband that way.”
I bet none of those books contains shit like this. Not one.

(January 2020, Alamogordo NM)
14
I bet he likes pinna coladas.

(March 2020, Borrego Springs CA)
15
Your mother doesn’t work here.
Left you a note though.

(August 2020, Kanab UT)
16

(October 2020, Seguin TX)
17
Wearing the pants you can’t figure out how to wash, fluff and fold on laundry day?
You have to admire that boy’s sense of logic.
Maybe try a car wash for those?

(April 2021, Sturgis MI)
18

(April 2021, St. Croix Falls WI)
19
Ew.
It’s one of the dirtiest I’ve patronized, but at least the name is amusing.
Note to self: check dates of last tetanus and hepatitis shots. Maybe google “cholera symptoms” too.
Sandra Dee would not approve.

(April 2021, Wagoner OK)
20
Why the quotation marks?
Why is it not emblazoned over the sink?
Wouldn’t “Wipe your butt —seriously” be a better option in this location?
I have so many questions.

(June 2021, Lake Dallas TX)
21
Teen photo shoot in the laundromat.
Can somebody please help me find my eyeballs?
They’ve rolled out of my head and under a washing machine.
Sheesus.

(July 2021, Coeur d’Alene ID)
22
Threw our stuff into an empty dryer.
Hit start.
Opened it five minutes later to pull out a couple of shirts. (I don’t iron.)
This bright green pet bed jumped out like a Muppet freed from captivity.
We do not have a pet.
I did not put the furry thing in there.
Guess it had been clinging to the top of the drum like Tom Cruise doing some stunt in Mission: Impossible.

(August 2021, Chimacum WA)
23
When the laundromat is attached to the bar…

(September 2021, Bend OR)
24
Based on where we are, I know that they mean the greasy clothing worn by local oil field workers.
But I still couldn’t help wondering who would stuff Danny Zuko — or any other T-Birds for that matter — into a top loader.
And don’t even get me started on the apostrophe.

(October 2021, Hobbs NM)
25
Although it sounds contrary to my posts over the last six years, there really is no drama in laundromat.
Spelling matters.
That is all.
(September 2021, Garibaldi OR)

Author’s note: Just like last time, these posts came from my personal Facebook account. I don’t think it’s plagiarism if I copy & paste my own work, but I thought I’d better explain myself to those of you who are thinking, “Hmmmm. I’m pretty sure I’ve read this before…”