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 I
guess the best way to begin this column, is to tell you
a little bit about us. I'm M.B. Your first question might
be, what does "M.B." stand for? When I married my wife,
Karen, in 1978 she thought it stood for "Multi Billionaire".
I quickly discovered that if I were to stay married to Karen
it would soon be "Mighty Broke", as you see my wife loves
to shop. If you ever run into me down the road (and I don't
mean that literally), just ask me to remove my hat and you
will see it also stands for "Mostly Bald". It really stands
for Malcolm Bruce, but don't call me Malcolm and don't call
me Bruce, I won't answer. I only answer to M.B. and to the
"Call of the Open Road".
I have been RVing since 1970. I was a member
of the Winnebago International Travelers Association and
was Rally Chairmen for the two biggest Winnebago Rallies
in Ontario in the 70s'. The second Rally had 377 Winnebago
Motor Homes at this RV function.
Karen had never camped before, and her
first RV experience was at the Rally with the 377 Winnebagos.
She didn't travel with me to the event and when she arrived,
she didn't think she would have a hard time finding my unit.
You should have seen the look on her face when she discovered
that the Flying W didn't stand for Wilson. It didn't take
her long to become part of the RV Community.
Today we have led Caravans to Alaska, Mexico
on the Piggyback, Newfoundland, Expo 86 in Vancouver, The
Wild West Caravan to California, The Great Southwest Caravan
to the Southwest part of the United States, just to name
a few.
We have run Rallies in Nashville, Branson,
St. Louis, Toronto, Kingston, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver,
Niagara Falls, Montreal, Quebec City, New York City, RV
Barge Cruise out of New Orleans, Disney World Christmas
Rally and lots more.
M.B. was born in Hamilton, Ontario and Karen
was born in Toronto. We have been married for 23 years and
we have 2 extremely well traveled teenagers. We live in
Brampton, Ontario and we run an RV Association called Wagon
Trains. In May 2002, our RV Association will also be 23
years old and yes, we are still running Rallies and Caravans
today.
Through this column we hope to show you
the fun and enjoyment you will have in traveling with others.
In addition, we want to give you some tips on RVing and
traveling to new places. Our column might not always be
here as we are still leading Caravans & Rallies all over
North America. If you would like to see where we are going
you can check our web page at www.interlog.com/~rvtours
OK, what is a caravan? A Caravan is when
a group of RVs travel from place to place for a certain
length of time. Many of you will remember the military trucks
traveling together on the highway. That is a caravan. In
an RV Caravan, you have a Wagon Master at the front leading
the way and a Tail Gunner bringing up the rear.
There is also another type of caravan, a
Scatter Caravan. This is where the Wagon Master leaves very
early in the morning and drives to the next campground.
The Tail Gunner will let just so many go out at a time,
usually 3 every 10 minutes. The Wagon Master will be at
the campground you are traveling to and will greet you when
you arrive. (Page Top)
When you arrive at the campground that your
Caravan will start at, you will be given a package that
contains Maps, Daily Agendas, a Who's Who List, and important
material showing some interesting places to see.
Usually the night before the Caravan is
to leave, the Wagon Master will have a Drivers meeting and
go over the next days agenda.
The Scatter Caravan is the best way to travel
on back roads. This way cars and trucks can get around you
if they need to. The old style of caravan is OK on four
lane highways. We have led both types of caravans, but we
find the older caravaner would rather travel with the Wagon
Master leading the way and know that the Tail Gunner is
not too far behind.
A Wagon Master is the leader, this person
knows the route, where to stop for fuel, rest stops, campgrounds
and what attractions you are going to see. The Wagon Master
looks after all arrangements.
The Tail Gunner brings up the rear of the
Caravan. If someone breaks down in the Caravan, The Tail
Gunner will pull over and assist the unit that is broken
down. If the unit needs a tow, the Tail Gunner will see
that a tow truck is called and the unit is towed in. Once
the Tail Gunner knows that the unit will be looked after
the Tail Gunner will leave and catch up to the Caravan.
Only the Tail Gunner will pull over, the rest of the Caravan
will continue on. The Tail Gunner will also assist the Wagon
Master when on tours with the group.
Caravaning is a great way to see things.
We have found that when you travel with a group, you will
do more and see more. We have seen many RVers in our travels
and when it comes to evening time, they go off to their
units and watch TV. With a group, you will go out and see
the village, town, or city you are in. We have had many
RVers tell us "We have travelled here before on our own
and never saw as much as we did with the Caravan" or "We
never knew that was here, when we came on our own". Another
Caravaner who had traveled on our Great Southwest Caravan
decided to go back the following year. He wrote us and told
us that he knew just where to go back to because of our
Caravan. He had learned so much about the area we traveled,
he knew the area to go to.
Caravans are great fun especially if you
have a good group. We had a couple from Calgary, Alberta
come with us on a caravan and a couple come from Halifax,
Nova Scotia. These people never knew each other until they
met on our Caravan. By the time that caravan was over, they
were the best of friends. For several years they would contact
each other and join us on one of our RV Adventures.
Many of our RV friends have told us that
we could write a book about our experiences RVing. We don't
have time to write a book right now, but we will try to
find time to write this column. Take Care and Happy RVing.
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