About Us

My name is Miranda Bordat-Van Etten, and I’m married to my favourite person, Michael Van Etten. Born in Paris, France, to an American mother and a French father, I’ve always had a wonderful blend of cultures and traditions in my life. You could say my roots are a little bit of both worlds!

We have two dogs: Max and Maddie, aka Princess FouFou Buttercup, who have learned to finally settle down in our “Pocket Bus”.

This is our fifth rendition of RVs, but by far, the best. We have tried everything from the smallest Class A (Thor Axis), Class C (Entegra Odyssey), travel trailer (Grand Design 28′ Imagine), to finally our 2021 Unity Rear Lounge. Boy, it took a while to get here, and let’s not go into the financial part of all those “try-outs”.

My career path took me from fashion school to department store retail, with management and visual merchandising, to brick-and-mortar retail, and finally, I retired here in Oregon, where I dabble in fiber arts through my Etsy shop. My husband was a contractor, general manager/house designer, builder, and finally a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory franchise store owner. Did I marry him because he had access to some really good chocolate? I’ll never tell. But don’t get me started on those caramel apples.

Here we are embarking on a wonder-filled adventure with trials and tribulations, I am sure, in our future, but what fun to be had.

From Kicking and Screaming to Loving the Journey

I wasn’t born in this country, and when my mother decided to relocate to the United States, I had to follow, since I was only 16, but I did it kicking and screaming. As a child, I traveled with my mother to Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Corsica, and the South of France. The only time I had traveled to the U.S. was to visit my aunt and uncle in California.

We settled in New York City, still not really seeing a lot of this country. Not until I met the man of my dreams (chocolate had nothing to do with it, I swear) did I consider traveling by vehicle to see the country, but I had always loved driving.

So when we retired to Oregon, the wheels started clicking, and our RV odyssey began—Axis, Entegra, and so on and so forth. My husband always fancied the Leisure Travel Vans after a very short stint owning a 2012 Free Spirit, but at the time, we had three dogs, one of them weighing 120 pounds, and it just did not work. It was way too tight, and the dogs would start growling at us when we had to shuffle over them, under them, or, if we dared, move them. That’s when we got the Class C.

Mike still had a twinkle in his eyes every time he watched the YouTube videos with Dean—the rest is history. We were finally able to make his dream come true! The Unity Rear Lounge has the best of both worlds. It has a dedicated living space, the rear lounge, so we are not constantly on top of each other. It is beautifully appointed, and we are so enjoying making it our own, slowly but surely.

Life on the Road, Snakes and All

My husband and I are pretty finicky about our sleeping environment, and our RV had to have a dry bath. Just the thought of a wet bath makes me shudder. Plus, we have two dogs who consider themselves a very integral part of our family, if not better drivers (if we would only listen, because you know that is what they think when they sit there in the middle of the vehicle and give you those side eyes). We tried boarding them, but when we went to France for 10 days, the RV was just the better option. It is also so much fun to drive down the road, and the views we have seen so far, you couldn’t see from an airplane. We have also enjoyed the many different types of people we meet at the various campsites and Harvest Hosts. Most RV parks are worth mentioning. In the very least, revisiting some is best forgotten, like: how did they ever get that shot with the trees and the blue sky and that beautiful grass when you are staring at synthetic turf, a shed, and some mangy bushes? The best one was: Please close the bathroom door behind you so as not to let the snakes in. Can you imagine: here you are at your most vulnerable, and a snake is watching and passing judgment on whether that was the best use for that shampoo and conditioner set you just bought! I hate snakes. I was out of there so fast, I left tread marks.

We love going on longer journeys. We need to get better at slowing down and not rushing through RV parks to get to the next RV park or Harvest Hosts. I am sure that with much practice, we will improve. As far as boondocking, we have done a couple of Harvest Hosts, but we haven’t, per se, gone into the true wilderness and boondocked. We need to figure out the darn solar system, and by we, I mean my husband, who is the researcher in this duo. Once we are competent in all relevant systems, we will go boondocking, and I mean it!

You mean other than waxing lyrical about our Unity to anyone who dares to walk within a foot of our site? We have had a couple of people curious about the interior layout, and it is so easy to maintain that we have no compunction about letting them in and showing them all the bells and whistles this pocket bus has.

Making the Road Our Own

The impact has been that we are chomping at the bit the minute our trip has ended for our next adventure, which I am hoping will be the rally by Evergreen Leisures in Anacortes, Washington. From there, we will explore the Olympic National Park (thank you, RV Atlas, for that amazing podcast on Washington and Oregon) and the surrounding areas.

Our “Pocket Bus” has added another chapter to our lives, and I like that we are learning together to make this lifestyle on the road fit into this stage of our lives. Our last two houses have been large in square footage. This one is not, and it is fun to rediscover my best roomie (and the ups and downs that come with that) in this space, and the fun of how to make it work and what doesn’t. This is why the Unity Rear lounge is the best of both worlds—space in the back and space in front, and both have seating to lounge, read, converse about what’s for dinner, for example, or wait- was that a tea shop? We have to stop! This has been one of the best purchases we have made, and I can’t wait to share with you all the stories that have happened and the ones yet to come.

Favorite Travel Destinations

Mount Kidd, Alberta

The sheer majestic scope of those mountains means that every bend on the highway brings you a different awe-inspiring mountain. We had the opportunity to stay at the Mount Kidd RV Park in the beautiful Kananaskis mountain range in a site right by a river.

We finagled a three-day stay that turned into almost five days because the roads were washed out by sudden, violent rainstorms. The park rangers finally let us go through, and we reluctantly left—it was the most beautiful spot we had ever been in.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe Skies RV Park is a quirky, very well-run RV park on the outskirts of town. They have a metal sculpture garden sprinkled throughout the park, and some trees in the back offer shade if you can snag one of those spots early on.

This RV park is minutes from one of the most charming towns with its iconic adobe houses and beautiful mountain range (that seems to be a theme). You are minutes from some of the world’s best Native American museums, sprinkled with a generous helping of rather fabulous galleries, and OMG, the art and the jewelry, and don’t even get me started on the pottery.

You can’t miss Tesuque (right outside of Santa Fe by the opera house), which has the best restaurant with homemade prickly pear margaritas and Chile Rellenos with chorizo. Oh, and let’s not forget the world’s best dog park—100 acres of frolicking furriness and wet noses. Complete with dedication benches (for those gone but not forgotten) and water bowls/water stations with poop bag stations everywhere, even with dogs everywhere the eye can see, the park was well-maintained and very clean. We love Santa Fe.

Sedona, Arizona, Bonners’ Ferry, Idaho, and Mendocino, California

Hiking in Sedona—the colours alone were stunning, and then the backdrop of those mountains and Montezuma’s Castle; I have no words. The intricacy of the architecture with those cliffs left me speechless.

Bonner’s Ferry is an adorable little hamlet of a town with the world’s best tea shop and bookstore, where the staff is so attentive and friendly that I stayed and shopped there for three hours, to my husband’s dismay! The Wellness Tea shop has so many teas, but the best Gunpowder green tea I have ever tasted, which reminds me I need to reorder…yes, that’s right, they ship.

Mendocino, California, the quintessential California coastal village, is just as picturesque as Carmel, but less busy, so more time to endlessly wander the hiking trails, the galleries, the restaurants, and the shops. Need I go on?