#everydaylifeinaRV

[ourpositivelatitude]

Everyday Life in a RV

Another beautiful day in Florida!  I ABSOLUTELY understand now why snow birds make their way to Florida to spend the winter.  The weather here is second to none!  While we arrived in Florida a little early and caught the end of summer temperatures (in November) with slightly high temperatures and incredibly high humidity, the weather has since leveled out and is practically perfect every day.  

When Mark and I planned this venture, we vacillated as to whether or not we would tow a vehicle.  We knew we “wanted” a vehicle and having one would be more convenient.  However, we ended up settling on getting fold-able electric bikes (e-bikes) and to be inconvenienced by having to run our errands in the RV between stops or on our e-bikes.  That has turned out humorous on more than one occasion.  

As an example, we had issues with the drain in the RV shower and worked on that problem tirelessly.  Let me rephrase, Mark worked on that problem tirelessly.  My “work” involved paying for my very first “pay” shower at a park in Oklahoma where I had to choose between three showers.  One had a tarantula guarding the inside of the front door.  Nope.  The second had a wolf spider guarding the shower floor.  Nopity, nope, NOPE!   The third was just right.  More accurately stated, it didn’t involve any intimidating spiders or snakes so I took it.  I don’t remember how much it cost, but I would have paid serious money for a decent shower that didn’t involve creatures that could kill me.  

Getting back to the shower repair -- Mark got parts at three different hardware stores that didn’t end up fitting/working.  So, we eventually fixed the RV in the Home Depot parking lot so we could return parts as necessary.  It was hot as bejesus that day, but Mark didn’t complain.  He took advantage of the return policy and got our shower back up and in running condition before we left the parking lot.  While I don’t mind doing my part, I’d be happy as to not have to pay for another shower anytime soon.  But let the record reflect, I’m a giver.

Between RV stop locations, we usually plan a grocery store venture and/or a Costco run.  While our fridge isn’t Costco worthy by any stretch of the imagination, we do buy Costco dog food for Riley and Duke (and red wine need not be refrigerated).  This particular stop we are at for a full month and while I’m not out of red wine (yet), we did need a few necessities.  

On Sunday after church service, Mark and I ventured over to the local Winn-Dixie (grocery store) on our e-bikes, which is approximately three miles from our RV for some necessities.  We both take our backpacks to carry groceries, but on this particular venture we needed a few more things than would fit in both of our backpacks.  For example, we NEEDED the half ham that was on sale for only $10 (love those post-Thanksgiving sales)!!  Also, diet Coke was on sale, buy two 12-packs get one for free!  Our backpacks were full of salad, coffee creamer and other necessities, so I convinced Mark it wouldn’t be a problem to bungee cord anything else down to the back rack on our bikes.  He was a willing participant as long as he could get his diet Coke.  This is a picture of Mark with the half of a ham and one pack of diet Coke.  While this picture doesn’t represent the “Clampett look” I was sporting with the other two diet coke 12-packs AND groceries, it does give you an idea of how humorous such a simple thing as grocery shopping can be.   

Much of the rest of any given day is like everyone else’s, EXCEPT looking for stuff.  We have such a small amount of space and we kept very few things.  However, nothing is more frustrating than knowing you have something and in 31 feet of space, you can’t find it.  Many times I’ll be looking for something, like the dog’s nail clippers.  I know I have one ... but where in the 42 bazillion little containers, cabinets or under storage compartments it is, I have no clue.  I’ve lost these dumb dog nail clipper thingies TWICE now.  I don’t know what is up with that, but I’ve noticed that on a rig this size, that tends to happen.  You know it exists.  You know it’s in your possession...somewhere.  You’ve seen it in the last few months, weeks and sometimes days ... but when it’s necessary to find it, it’s no where to be found.  Grrrr.  I’m blaming this problem on the size of the RV and praying it’s not my old age kicking into high gear.  

Learning how to live in 31 feet of space has been interesting, fun and challenging.  I love our little space in life.  It’s portable and I can take it to any place I’d like.  I can enjoy the outdoors in any state, any weather, any place I desire.  That’s pretty cool.  It’s also easy to clean and doesn’t take too long to clean.  It’s such a little space, cleaning is done in a breeze.  With two dogs though, cleaning needs to be done more often than one would hope (definitely an argument for getting rid of the dogs, but we all know that is never going to happen).  

I also get to spend a lot of time with my husband.  I like him.  I love him.  I enjoy his company.  I find him hysterical even in the every day humdrum of life.  So I enjoy having him around.  We also have our subtle ways of getting our own alone time.  It may involve a walk, a jog, a bike ride alone or sometimes its as simple as putting in ear buds as a signal that “I don’t want to interact”.  We are both independent, so just taking on a project is usually a signal to the other that we are “good” on our own.  None the less, it’s been a great experience for us both and we still enjoy each others company.

The other thing I get asked about quite frequently is the bathroom situation.  Yes, there is only one bathroom.  Its not a Jack and Jill bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and a separate closet with a toilet.  It is a dry toilet with a small sink and stand-up shower, all in one small space - meaning one person can stand between the sink, toilet and shower.  There is a spray wand next to the toilet to fill the bowl with water and a foot pedal that is used for flushing.  The sink is small, like a doll house small, but large enough for the task of washing hands and face, and brushing teeth.  The shower is plenty big.  I’m 5 foot almost 2 inches and I can stand up in it.  Just kidding - my 6 foot husband can stand up in it, so it’s definitely functional (now that the drain has been fixed).  There is a vent in the ceiling with a push button exhaust fan and the toilet is like a regular toilet, except for needing to fill it with water yourself.  That’s the bathroom situation.  Nothing glamorous and generally no secrets. 

My husband and I don’t keep the same hours.  Meaning, it’s not all that uncommon for him to get up between 3:30-5:00 a.m..  At the same time, I’ll look at the clock, do a quick calculation in my head and then a happy dance over the 4 hours I still get to sleep.  When my husband gets up, he’s really respectful of the fact that most normal people are still asleep, including his wife and two dogs.  So he quietly relocates to the living room/dining room area and does his thing until the sun comes up.  We have levelers on the RV, so his movement is negligible.  

As soon as I stir, or when Mark gets stir crazy, he’ll take the dogs for a walk.  There is nothing subtle about that process as much as Mark tries to keep it contained.  Our 70 lb. black Labrador retriever, Duke, moves about the cabin like a bull in a china shop.  Between his wagging tail slapping against the cabinets and his incessant yawning, even the neighbors are ready for him to WALK ALREADY!  Riley, our 23 lb. Japanese Spitz isn’t all that cooperative either.  She gets a psychotic episode and is afraid to walk across the vinyl floor.  Yes, she’ll step out on it, and step back on her little piece of carpet, then back out on the floor and back on the carpet.  From underneath the comforter all I hear is Mark loudly whispering “Riley, come!” and the tap-tap-tap of Riley’s toenails on the vinyl floor several times until she drums up enough courage to make a break for it and hurriedly jogs across the four feet of vinyl flooring between her little piece of carpet and the door.  As my friend Wendy says, she was perfect until I got her.  

Everyday life in an RV is pretty much like everyone else’s everyday life,  with a few slight nuances.  Mark and I could have made different choices so as to not have to bungee cord our groceries to the back of bikes, live in a home that we sleep in and drive, live in such a small space, and/or waited until the dogs were gone to start this venture.  But for us we talked about the choices we were making in advance and collectively agreed while some things would be inconvenient, we would give it a whirl and see what we thought.  If we found we hated it down the road, we’d make a change.�� So far, we don’t hate anything about it.  Quite this opposite.  We are super glad we took this journey and in the way we did.  

As I mentioned previously, we are transitioning to a “newer” journey.  We found the boat that we would like to live on and have an accepted offer on that boat.  Because there are still many steps in the process (it’s sooooooo different from buying a house) and too many things could go wrong that it would be premature for me to talk about the specifics of the boat.  However, in my next blog I’ll talk about the boat purchasing process and hopefully we’ll be far enough along in the process that I can reveal a thing or two about what I hope to be our new home.  Stay tuned....

Until we meet again,

Sherri (and by contractual obligation, Mark)

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