We first met Bob and Donna Steffey of Rockford, IL, in the Boulder Park USFS campground in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. It was the evening moose decided to graze within feet of our camper.
Bob, a retired teacher, and Donna, a business consultant, were heading back to the Midwest after a multi-week tour of the West in their 2012, 29.5-foot, Thor/ACE motorhome.
The ‘newbie’ RVers said they selected their class A about six months ago because “it is smaller at 29-feet than many motorhomes, but still big enough to accommodate 2-3 weeks of travel and a man who is 6-foot-3.”
“Ample elbow room and headroom notwithstanding,” wrote Donna in an e-mail, “we selected a motorhome over any other RV configuration because we wanted to tow our CanAm Spyder along behind us. This not only provides us with utility wheels for mundane travel errands but allows us to view the world and its scenery with unparalleled ease, proximity and exhilarating fun.”
In the brief time they have been RVing, the Steffeys “love it.”
“Living in the Midwest you have to travel some distance to find great riding roads,” said motorcyclist Bob. “Donna stays in hotels all the time for work so hotels were not an option.”
(Donna is an international performance improvement specialist and author of “Real World Human Resources Strategies,” and “Real World Communication Strategies.“)
Besides motorcycling all the scenic routes around Sturgis, SD, on their CanAm Spyder, the Steffleys were taken with the incredible vastness of the West and opportunities to see wildlife.
“It was amazing to watch a herd of Buffalo at Yellowstone decide to cross the road in front of us,” said Donna. “Apparently the 29-foot motorhome length was not intimidating to them. We got some great pictures since we sit up so high in the cab.”
She went on to say that their scariest camping moment came one warm night when they had their roof-top fan running.
“We suddenly heard a strange noise in the bedroom and knew that something had gotten caught in the fan. When we shinned the flashlight up we saw an unrecognizable, small green, messy, smelly mass of ‘whatever’ caught in the blades.”
Without hesitation, as the story goes, “Donna ordered Bob up on top to investigate and resolve this horrifying mystery. After extreme heroics by Bob in the middle of a pitch black creepy woods it was finally determined to be a small tree frog. The good news for frog and humans alike is that the frog expired instantly with very little or no pain. Bob promptly removed the little deceased critter from the blades and Bob and Donna are gradually piecing their lives back together.”
The Steffeys say that they enjoy “RVing because it enhances all realms of human experience for us at our age. It challenges us physically, mentally and socially in a most delightful way. We both feel truly blessed to have the rare opportunity to travel and enjoy life in such magnificence.”
Photos: (Top) From left: Moose, Donna and Bob Steffey. (Julianne G Crane); (Middle) Bob and Donna with Buddy, their faithful traveling companion in front of their 2012, 29.5-foot, Thor/ACE motorhome (Julianne G Crane); and Yellowstone buffalo (Donna Steffey).
