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The
Life of Bode…in a Concorde Liner
By
Mike McLeod
 For
most people, traveling Europe in
a 28-foot, German-made Concorde
Liner with your own driver/chef
and skiing at the best resorts in
World Championships would be the
dream of a lifetime. Welcome to
Bode Miller’s life since 2003. Not
bad work if you can get it.
Did
I say “work”?
Well,
let’s be fair now and put all this
in perspective. Sure, the mode of
travel, the scenery, and the snow-capped
Bavarian villages are to die for.
But for me, racing down a snow-and-ice-covered
mountain at 75 miles per hour while
swinging your hips back and forth
faster than Elvis—and hitting 40
or 50 gates at 75 mph—that’s not
work. That’s craziness.
 But
for Bode Miller, that’s not work—it’s
fun.
But
then, enjoying life on the edge
is not unexpected for a man who
was born in New Hampshire
in a cabin with no electricity and
no running water.
In
addition to his two silver medals
at the Salt Lake City Olympics in
2002, he also won two silver medals
in the World Championships in 2002,
two gold medals and one silver at
the WC in 2003 in St. Moritz, Switzerland,
and two gold in 2005 in Bormio,
Italy.
 Although
RV Free Wheelin’ did not have the
travel budget to fly me to Torino,
Italy, so I could bust into Miller’s
RV and take pictures, I have obtained
these from the manufacturer, including
one of Bode himself inside his current
Concorde Liner. (Looks like he needs
to hire a housekeeper in addition
to his chauffeur/chef.) The manufacturer’s
specs say it has a king-size bathroom
with a “…separate shower, larger-than-standard
wash basin, and carefully chosen
tap and shower fittings, all beautifully
laid out in four square metres….”
Going on, “The seating area benefits
from a swivel couch and all doors
and flaps are crafted in solid wood,
many with glass panels. We believe
the Liner's exclusive layout and
design is unrivaled in the world
of motorcaravans. It is the first
motorcaravan manufactured in Germany
that has its own specially designed
and built dashboard, incorporating
an integrated navigation system
and LED display. You will always
be on the right road with the Liner!”
That’s
good news for the driver. Those
Swiss road signs can be confusing,
and can you imagine navigating a
28-footer down a narrow cobblestone
street in a rustic mountain village
in the Alps?
Miller
seems to like this layout. He has
gotten a Concorde Liner for the
past three years. In fact, Miller
may enjoy his time in the Liner
just a bit too much—sorry, couldn’t
resist just one post-Olympics comment.
 Even
though it is technically Miller’s
RV, he never drives it. Tooling
around Europe, Miller’s chauffeur/chef
is also his boyhood friend, Jake
Serino. Jake picks up a Liner at
the Concorde factory every ski season.
During this past Olympics, he also
blogged for NBC Sports about the
daily comings and goings of Bode.
According to Jake, Miller spends
much of his free time reading, and
for about an hour a day, he plays
video games.
Not
every U.S. Ski Team member travels
by RV, but Miller chose RVing to
avoid having to spend weeks in different
hotel rooms and to avoid the hassle
of unloading and loading his ski
equipment and luggage all the time.
Having an RV also gave him the benefit
of quick access to his home base
right after an event. His Liner
is usually parked near the end of
the ski run so he’s home in a matter
of minutes. The other skiers often
have to wait for their team members
to finish their events before they
can load up in a bus and head to
the hotel.
In
Torino, Miller didn’t have that
luxury. For security reasons—mostly
for security from over enthusiastic
fans—his RV was parked in the secure
area with NBC’s and the other TV
networks’ RVs and work vehicles.
So
what does it cost to fill up the
tank in Europe? About $400.
In Italy during the Olympics,
it was reported that gas was $10
a gallon. And you thought $2.50
a gallon was expensive.
Now
that the Olympics are finally over,
Miller is taking a side trip to
Asia and meeting up with Jake and
his Liner in Sweden for the World
Championships.
Ah, the life of Bode.
(All
Liner photos, courtesy Concorde,
www.concorde-reisenmobile.de.)
For
more information and to see other
RVs by Concorde, visit www.southdownsmotorcaravans.co.uk/2006concorde/2006liner/index.html.
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