TICKET TO ROAM
Couple’s remodeled RV proves perfect vehicle for pandemic travel
In the past year, Bridget and Tony Caletka were anticipating trips to mark their 30th wedding anniversary and her 50th birthday. They’d had to cancel a trip with their daughter to Fatima, Portugal, and they didn’t want to give up on their celebrations.
Facing a pandemic year in isolation, the couple from the Houston area decided to do something drastically different: Buy an RV.
The couple had never really camped, except for a 2018 trip when they rented an RV and drove to Big Bend National Park. Some friends started Rv-ing full time in retirement, and the Caletkas saw it as their only option, since hotel stays weren’t something they wanted to do.
They decided on a Lance brand they could pull behind their vehicles; they found a 2015 model in Conroe at the end of July. Dealers have lengthy waiting lists for new RVS.
On their first trip, they experienced three flat tires, trouble with a broken lock and propane tank problems, but they stuck with it, visiting state parks — including Lost Maples, Bastrop and Mckinney Falls — as well as Camp Gulf in the Florida Panhandle.
The Caletkas aren’t alone. RV camping has surged in popularity, making campground and state parks some of the hottest reservations around. RV sales have skyrocketed; in January alone, units shipped were up 39 percent over the same month in 2020.
The RV Industry Association projects that by the end of 2021, some 533,356 new units will be shipped, a projected increase of 23.9 percent over 2020, another
very busy year. And those statistics don’t count all of the used RVS changing hands among individual owners.
Despite the early glitches, the couple enjoyed camping. Their kids — 23-year-old Quintin and Shannon, a senior at Texas A&M University — even wanted to join them.
After four months of occasional camping, the Caletkas decided to take it a step further and remodel the RV’S stodgy interior. It had oak-stained wood cabinets, gray-beige upholstery and linoleum flooring. Beige was everywhere.
Bridget knew designer/builder Andee Parker from church, and she reached out to see if Parker could help her find professional help.
“It was still in great shape, but from the moment we bought it, I always had in my mind that we would update the cabinets,” and darken the upholstery, said Bridget, a licensed professional counselor in The Woodlands. “For a hot minute I thought we could paint it, then I realized we just don’t have time for that.”
She was surprised when Parker said she wanted to tackle the project herself. Remodeling an RV is somewhat like remodeling a home, involving upholstering furniture, installing new lighting and flooring, and choosing tile.
But it’s also filled with pitfalls: Anything electrical has to be RV size and suitable for 12 volts, furnishings have to be bolted down because they can’t move or fall during transport, and — maybe most important — the weight of everything matters.
Parker had never camped or used an RV, but she was intrigued by the space — especially in the context of the changing world. Adapting an RV, as people adapt to changes brought by the pandemic, seemed like such a challenging yet fun idea. Everyone on her staff wanted a hand in the project, she said.
One of the biggest changes was meant to brighten the dark interior. Parker painted walls and cabinets in Sherwin-williams Alabaster (the scrubbable Duration line).
The sofa and dinette — both of which convert into beds — were reupholstered in a creamy white vinyl with gray piping.
A small light fixture over the dinette had to go, but their options were limited. Parker found one she liked and painted its gold trim black to better blend with the new color palette.
Dated curtains were replaced with Hunter Douglas window blinds that have tie downs at the bottom, as if they were installed on a residential door. Curtains that serve to separate the bathroom from the bedroom and main living area were replaced with gray faux linen.
In the kitchen, the epoxypainted brown counters got a new paint job in a speckled light gray pattern, and the shallow sink was replaced with a deeper one. A tile backsplash was replaced with a thin veneer of stacked Cararra marble — a style that would look great in any kitchen. The same could be said for the brushed nickel hardware added to cabinets throughout.
As the Caletkas were getting ready for a weekend trip to the Onalaska KOA campground at Lake Livingston, where they could use their remodeled RV for the first time, Bridget reminisced about the advantages of traveling with an RV — not having to use public restrooms and being able to cook — while remembering other trips, too.
A funny thing happens on nearly every trip, no matter where they are: Someone inevitably compares Tony to Chuck Norris. He’s a dead ringer for the actor.
In fact, in the spring of 2019, Tony went to the Force Chuck Norris 5K in College Station and won the look-alike portion of the event. (He was awarded a Stetson hat and had his picture taken with the actor.)
“We were in Puerto Rico once, and someone from the hotel came up to us on the beach and asked if we had our own security or if we needed them to provide it. We had no idea what they were talking about,” Bridget said. “Then the next day these little boys were following him around and calling him Mr. Norris.
“Now he gets mistaken for Chuck Norris everywhere we go. We call it getting ‘Chucked.’ ”