The following was published in the Quad-City Times, a sister media outlet of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning for mid-March, Emily Michener sat down at a table inside a 21.5-foot Springdale comfort travel trailer that sleeps five.
Outside, her husband, Nick, received a walk-through tutorial from delivery coordinator Rich Matzen inside the showroom at US Adventure RV in Davenport.
The North Liberty couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Lenyn, checked out the couple’s newly purchased home away from home – bouncing on the queen bed, inspecting the two bunk beds, refrigerator, small stove, microwave, sink and dining table that converts to a foldout Murphy bed.
After spending most of last summer inside because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first-time buyers pulled the trigger on investing in a $15,000 camper.
The couple has been skittish about staying in hotels and taking their daughter to kids’ museums, playgrounds, water parks and other indoor amenities due to pandemic concerns.
“So we were just really kind of thinking the best thing to do was camping, and tent camping is really hard to do with a 3-year-old,” Emily Michener said. “It was very much driven by COVID” and having a safer, more affordable travel option that provided opportunities for family outings and fishing trips with extended family who live nearby.
Click here to see the full story from Tom Barton in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gazette.
“Having a young kiddo and really just seeing that she was spending way too much time on technology, we just wanted her to be outside more” and appreciate nature, Emily Michener said. “We were thinking of things that we could do that are COVID-friendly. And with a 3-year-old, there really wasn’t much of anything.”
