Well, we have been in the rPod for a month straight now and people constantly have questions about how we make it work. First of all, we chose this camper for its size, because 3 years ago we had a Toyota 4Runner and this was pretty much the most it could tow. We have a larger vehicle now, but we continue to appreciate the small size because we can always find a campsite, we can pull into almost any gas station and maneuver easily around the pumps, and it's very easy to keep it cool or hot. I had my doubts about how we were going to keep food for a longer trip, but it turns out the 3 cubic foot refrigerator is pretty adequate, and we have gone at least a week between grocery shopping at times. I did have to take out the freezer compartment, so we don't have ice.
The rPod (we have the 176) is 20 feet long on the exterior so we actually have closer to 16 feet of interior living space. On the one end is a set of double bunk beds and on the other is a dinette that converts to a bed, so there's basically just a little kitchenette and hallway that's about 6 feet long. We all fit around the dinette comfortably, and there is plenty of room for everyone to sleep, and the kitchen actually feels pretty adequate, although we are definitely limited to certain dishes. M did manage to bring along his sour dough starter, and not only keep it alive, but also make some sour dough English muffins, which were pretty darn good.
When it is cold we either turn on the propane furnace, or if we have an electrical hookup, we plug in a tiny electric heater and stay very toasty. When it's hot, we either use the vent fan, or turn on AC and it is cool within minutes. Solar panels can keep our batteries charged up pretty indefinitely to run the fan, lights and water pump if we are off grid. The fresh water tank keeps us going for 3-4 days when boondocking. When we are parked at a place with hookups, we can use as much water as we want, because we can flush out the gray and black tanks anytime. We even have a tv! It's really a pretty great little trailer.
The only real downside is the complete and utter chaos that occurs when we need to get ready for bed and all the closets and storage nooks are opened up. Messes get big fast. We're all tripping over each other and shouting and cursing. But then it somehow gets picked back up and shoved away and then we are all tucked into our beds with the lights out, listening to M read Travels with Charley. Magical!
We know that we are close to outgrowing this camper. We've been looking for a new one for a while, but the pandemic has made camping very popular and RVs very hard to get! If we can find one of the models we are looking for on this trip, we may try to get it. If we can't, we'll continue to happily use the RPod as long as we need it to do the things we want to. We have had the dream of a cross country road trip with our kids for years, before we even had kids actually. The dream was about seeing the places and going on the adventures together, not about the accommodations we would have on the way. And we are willing to take navy showers in a wet bath to make it happen.
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