Living in an RV for an extended period has been our dream.  Twenty years ago, before Aliyah, we had an RV; it was a great way to take a vacation with the family without worrying about food or hotel reservations.  Now, with the kids grown, and with kids of their own, it is just the two of us in our travels.  Being retired has the advantage of going where and when we like for any length of time that suits us.

For well over a year I have done my research.  There are many different types and sizes of RVs out there, from trailers to motor homes, sized large, medium, and small, with basic amenities and multiple luxuries.  With all the different manufacturers, the choices are endless.  We chose a Class B motor home built on a van chassis (Class A is built on a bus chassis and Class C is built on a truck chassis).  This is usually the smallest of the options and we chose it for the convenience and ease of getting around in a single, reasonably-sized vehicle.  It is the best on gas mileage and fits into a normal parking spot.

There are many manufacturers making Class B RVs; we chose Winnebago.  We were impressed with the logical way it was designed and the Travato 59K had all the amenities we wanted.  When viewing it, we had the impression that we would be living in a comfortable space that didn’t feel crowded.  There is no shortage of RV dealers and the interviewing of salesmen was an interesting process.  There were those with the hard fast sale: buy now before they are all gone, or the price goes up, or it is discontinued.  More interesting was when we started asking unusual questions related to Shabbat – when you open, or unlock, the door is there a way to make sure no lights turn on; can we get a key that has no electrical device attached (not so easy), etc.…  When asking these kinds of questions, there were salesmen who stopped corresponding, as they had no clue where we were coming from and no desire to accommodate such inquiries.

We finally found a dealer and salesman we felt comfortable with.  Lichtsinn RV in Forest City, Iowa has more, in-depth YouTubes on RVs than anyone out there.  After watching their YouTubes, we felt that we really knew the RV.  Another thing that appealed to us was that since they are one mile from the Winnebago factory; no delivery man lived in the RV during transportation.  We do not need to worry about koshering the kitchen, as everything is brand new.  In addition, the salesman, Reed Burkholder, is a very patient man.  When asked about locks, keys, and lights, he had a service consultant join in the correspondence to make sure we were satisfied.  Reed went out of his way to be accommodating.

When it came down to actually traveling to Forest City to see, test drive, and buy the RV, I was very impressed. The business manager, Brandon Mondt, had sent a copy of the sales agreement before I arrived and any reasonable changes I requested were granted.  Everything we agreed upon during correspondence was there; no pressure to purchase additional items I didn’t want and no games. Brandon was also very helpful in dealing with the issue of our not having a residency in the U.S. and in helping us find the most reasonable RV insurance.  If you get the feeling that we were suitably pleased with our experience dealing with Lichtsinn RV, you are right.  Ron Lichtsinn, the owner, has put together an impressive team.

Next, we take delivery of our new traveling home on June 12^th.  What to call it?

Take care and have fun,

Bill

Welcome to Kosher RVing; we are Bill and Sima Bozin.  We are a retired, dati leumi couple, originally from Chicago, living in Israel.  Recently, we bought a Winnebago Travato RV for the purpose of traveling the U.S. and possibly Canada. The purpose of this blog is so that family, friends, and anyone else who is interested can follow our travels and join in the adventure.  In the RV we have our own kitchen, refrigerator/freezer, bathroom, shower, beds, and a whole lot more.  All of the comforts we need so that we can travel self-contained.

Our RV is a Class B conversion van.  It started out as a Dodge Promaster cargo van and was converted by Winnebago into our home-on-wheels.  The Travato has many of the amenities of the larger RVs, just in a smaller, easy-to-drive package.  Yes, one of the basic tenets to making  this a successful adventure is that the two of us really do get along quite well, which will be necessary while traveling and living in such close quarters.  As Mike Wendland (a fellow RVer and journalist) has written, “small home, big back yard.”  And that is the purpose of this trip: to explore nature, see interesting places, and create new experiences.

After reading the above and if you are still interested in our travels, please follow us at www.kosherrving.com.  Not only will we write about where we are and who we meet, we will also discuss the process it took to fulfill our dream and how we deal with day-to-day issues concerning kashrut, Shabbat, and other issues related to Yiddishkeit.  If any of you decide to join in the travels, please consult your halachic authority, as we did.

Time to give credit where credit is due.  Without the valuable work of our daughter Tomi Mager, putting this blog together, it never would exist.  As anyone who knows me can attest, computers and I have a mutual non-aggression agreement.  I don’t attempt to program them and they promise not to blow up in my face.  I am limited to basic use and input.  I come from the days of pre-electric typewriters and never seemed to acquire the knack of switching to a machine that is smarter than I am.  Thank you, Tomi.

Take care and have fun,

Bill