Our first big shakedown cruise began on Tuesday, February 16. We hooked up the Geo to the RV and off we went! It was quite a sight, the 30 foot RV with the little Geo in tow and the bikes hooked up in the middle. But it drove quite well and we made our trip without incident. We arrived at the Cape Disappointment State Park at the mouth of the Columbia on the Washington side just before closing, and set up at our campsite. We hooked up power and water and settled down for the night.The next morning we climbed on our bikes and went to the ranger station to register. The park is quite spread out, and the bikes were quite handy. The weather was terrific, blazing sunshine and cool, and it was lots of fun trying out all the gear and getting set up. The rest of the day was taken up with bike rides and beach walks.
The next day we hiked up to McKenzie Head, an old fort battery site overlooking the ocean, and then took a tour of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Cape Disappointment, of course, is where the Lewis and Clark expedition's westward trip ended when they reached the mouth of the Columbia, and you can get the same view that they got when they arrived (with a jetty and whole lot of sea traffic added in). Of course, they weren't too lucky in their selection - this stretch of coast is rated the most hazardous in the entire US coastline, and has been labeled the Graveyard of the Pacific for all of the shipwrecks there. In fact, while we were there the Coast Guard was carrying out practice rescues in the sea and on the cliffs under the North Head Lighthouse. I guess people come from all over the country to train here. 
LESSONS LEARNED - the shakedown cruise definitely gave us some new insights into RV living. Besides the inevitable equipment issues that came up and flaws in the packing and preparation, there were three major ones.
1) A year is not a very long time to do the kind of trip we're talking about. It seemed like a lot to us when we started out, but our Cape Disappointment visit was a good lesson. We were there the best part of four days and there were still lots of places we didn't get to see. It takes a lot of time to really explore a new place, and that really limits how many places you can go to. Limits, limits, limits.
2) Paradoxically, RV travel has a lot of lessons for green living. RVs come with quite limited resources and you have to be always aware of how much you're using and what it's costing you. There's only a forty gallon fresh water tank on our RV and a six gallon hot water tank. All of your resources are limited, the propane gas, the battery electricity, the water, the black and grey water tanks and so on. You have to be frugal with your use of resources all the time. But because you're living in about a 150 square foot house, your energy use for heat, light, etc., is quite a bit less than a normal home, which helps. It's sailboat living on land.
3) RV travel involves a whole lot of care and feeding of the equipment. Our rig is ten years old, and has already developed some unexpected problems. You have to watch all the time for leaks, because everything is moving all the time and things work loose. You need to carry your own tools and be prepared to fix stuff yourself, or patch it together until you can find some local assistance. Duct tape is an essential. It's the modern equivalent of covered wagon living, but without the wagon train. Fortunately, RV owners in every campgound are a resource for everyone and will help you out in need and provide advice and counsel as well. It's a kind of "smart mob" for RVers.
