Thursday, March 10, 2016

Planning and Preparing

Susanne is your driver for this post.

This past week has consisted of trying to meet our current obligations (work, hanging out with Sam, trying to stop the cat from going into meow meltdown mode in the middle of the night) while simultaneously preparing for our future RV lifestyle. Here's what we've been working on:

1. Setting up our mail forwarding service: We'll be using Escapees Mail Service in Livingston, TX. We're planning to become residents of Texas and want to have our mail service set up before then. The process should be relatively straightforward, but our post office lost our first application so we had to prepare a second one (a task that involved collecting numerous documents and meeting with a notary).

2. Learning how to properly clean our RV: I can't take any credit for this. Trent has been watching how-to videos produced by the RV Geeks to get the lowdown on RV DIY. He recently purchased a whole bunch of cleaning products for the exterior and interior and has been busy making Clark look his best. He also discovered an inexpensive desiccant (DampRid) that we placed in the RV to keep it dry during what is a very rainy season in southern Indiana.

3. Nailing down digital nomad jobs: Trent and I have both found flexible jobs that we can do remotely. I'll be working part time for an online college, and Trent will be working full time for a publisher. Given that both jobs are remote, we've spent the last few days wading through onboarding paperwork, obtaining more notarizations, and making even more trips to the post office.

4. Putting together a home school curriculum: My sister-in-law's kids are long-time homeschoolers, so I've been talking to her to develop ideas for how we want to organize Sam's 4th grade curriculum. For math, I've settled on Life of Fred: it looks fun, interesting, and relatable. I'm still trying to decide on grammar and social studies resources, so if you have any suggestions, let us know. Of course, much of the "curriculum" will consist of simply going out and experiencing life: visiting museums, listening to music, reading books, having adventures with other kids, problem-solving in the RV.

5. Figuring out how I'm going to exercise in the RV: I work out almost every day, and I love that part of my schedule. Because I'm kind of introverted, I prefer to work out at home rather than in a gym or outside around town. I've been using Beachbody at-home fitness programs since last summer; I like them so much, I became a Beachbody health and wellness coach. Now I'm trying to take note of how much space each workout requires and whether it will be RV-friendly or not. It looks like I'll be able to make it work, though I'll need to modify some of the routines.

6. Researching museum memberships: Related to item #4 above, I've been researching museum memberships that offer a reciprocal program. For science museums (which Sam loves), we think we'll participate in the ASTC Travel Passport Program. Another organization, the North American Reciprocal Museum Association, seems to have member art and history museums all across the U.S., so we may take part in that as well. We're open to suggestions!

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