February 2013

We are here!  Today is day 4 of life in the RV.  A week ago today we were moving, the crew carried all of our furniture down three flights of stairs and loaded the Penske truck.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent making the 1179 mile drive from Dallas to Port Orange, FL.  The only issue was the lack of a key for the truck when I picked it up Thursday morning.  Of course, a short Dallas hail storm and severe rain came through while loading too.

Saturday afternoon we unloaded the truck with help from my kids: Haley, Marcella, and Jack.  We are happy to be united again as a family.  It is amazing it has been four years since we were together.  Finally, we are reunited and can spend time as a family.  Saturday and Sunday night we had to stay in Orlando due to lack of space availability in the Daytona Beach area (the Daytona 500 was underway).

Monday morning was a scramble – breakfast, pack, get to the storage unit to get clothes for my travels, and finally get to the RV.  We moved the RV from Sugar Mill Campground in New Smyrna Beach to the Clark Family Campground in Orange City, FL.  Since another event in Daytona is underway there remains no space…  We quickly setup and I unpacked a few items.  The only concern was making sure the power was running and the water was hooked up.  Disgustingly, I discovered the sewer hose had dry rotted and used duct tape to make some fast, instant repairs.  With confidence from LeeAnn all was OK we hit the road to go get the Jeep (in NSB) and I had to get to Miami.

Now the fun started…Monday night I got a call that the power was not working. LeeAnn did her best to explain what was going on: rain, sizzling, smoke, lights flickering, alarms going off, A/C not working.  We tried to troubleshoot the problem but from 300 miles away it was impossible.  She unplugged the outside power and went to bed — of course her phone was dead and I now had no way to get a hold of her.  The next morning all was OK and the power worked magically when plugged in.  go figure.

Checking the weather I knew crazy horrible storms were headed her way and called to let her know.  Finally around 1p she texted it was raining hard — and the roof was leaking!!!  A pot on the couch took care of that problem.

Tuesday night I got back from Miami and we settled in.  We truly settled, discussing how comfortable and relaxing the RV is.  We have had the “Beast” for four years and love it.  The mattresses have all been replaced, we painted and renovated the inside with new upholstery and floors.  It is like home and having it this long truly adds to the familiarity.  James has also taken to sleeping up top on the full size bed — which is where we want him.

Our conversations turned toward how long we can stay here – a month, three months, a year?  The longer we can stay the more we can put or fiscal house in order – incentivized by the book “America’s Cheapest Family“.  LeeAnn had seen a great link on Yahoo about living on the cheap.  I continue to believe the Great Recession is upon us and the more we can do to remain frugal the better our future.

Yesterday was amazing.  The windows were open, the breeze blowing, and the weather a perfect 74 degrees.  I managed to sit on our bed in the rear and work.  Peacefully, work. LeeAnn and I stored the rest of our belongings and finalized settling in.  The awning is out, lights hung, chairs on the porch.

Sunday is moving day again and we will make our trek back to New Smyrna.  We will be there for a month and can truly start to find a routine.

This morning we turned on the heat and the percolator brewed a perfect cup of coffee.  The boys are up and the sun is shining through the windows.

RV Living

Life throws us a lot of curveballs. I’m in the middle of moving from Dallas to Florida, my third move to Florida in my life.  My first move to Florida was in 1985 for college, the second 1998 to live at the beach and again now in 2013 to restart a life with my children. It is crazy to consider in 1985 I had all my possessions in the back of my Volkswagen.  In 1998 I had a full-size U-Haul moving van pulling a car and my wife driving another car.

I wanted to start documenting our next live adventure – living in a motorhome.  For this move there are too many unknowns in our life.  However, we needed to re-unite our family: a promise I made to Haley, Marcella, and Jack four years ago when I was relentlessly pursued and force to leave Florida due to craziness. Finally, nearly four years later we are able to come back to our children.  The most difficult part of this move is we have nowhere to live.  I didn’t want to rent an apartment and have to move again in a few months.  My wife is seeking work and James will start kindergarten in the fall.  Thus, we want to be selective as to where we finally plant roots.  In addition, Florida has what is probably the worst economy in the entire country driving a healthy foreclosure market.  Thus, if we decide to buy a home I believe we can be very biased in our selection.

To make this work we have made a decision to live in our motorhome the next three to six months! This will allow LeeAnn to find a job, us to find a house, and we can focus on a good school for James. The challenge will be sharing a small space.  Our motorhome is a 32 foot class C with a slide.  This means we will live in about 180 ft².  This is an experiment in lifestyle challenge showing less is more.  As Americans we live excessively.  In America we see our homes as an extension of our personality, like a badge of honor upon our sleeve allowing us to brag to our friends about our success. The irony: we go to work, come home, close the garage door and never walk out on the street.  Typically we don’t know our next-door neighbor.

The RV lifestyle on the other hand is quite different as we all typically share common areas, community bathrooms, and the community laundry room.  Is it glamorous?  No, but it will be an adventure.

I may be writing in a few weeks about how difficult this journey.  Full-time living is far different than the adventures we have taken in the past.  Our RV has traveled to Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, and New York.  We have taken the kids to Washington DC in it.  Two summers ago I took them to Alabama for a week.  I have used it with friends to attend the Petit LeMans.  I have previously brought it to Florida and to be with Haley, Marcella, and Jack.   This past summer we drove to Texas expecting to vacation in it.  Since buying it four years ago we have had many vacations.  Now it’s not just a tool for vacation, but it’s a place to call home.