Does an RV feel like home?

Trent is your driver for this post.

Last Sunday we left Texas for New Mexico.  On the way out of Texas I got a weird feeling that we were somehow leaving home. The next day I told Susanne this and she said she felt the same way. I wasn’t expecting that feeling at all. When we left Indiana I felt like if we broke down on the side of the road we would already be home because we were in the RV. 

The overlook of Ohio River in Hanover, Indiana

However, in western Texas I got the feeling that if we broke down we would somehow not be near home. That doesn’t make a lot of sense because although we are now Fexans (fake Texans), we don’t have a home in Texas - we have a mailbox.  I guess I was starting to feel our home was in Texas State Parks.  It’s also possible San Angelo, Texas felt a little bit like home since I lived there for 9 months in the early 90’s.

However, now that feeling is gone. The RV and our new RV park feel like home. We love our new place again and just signed up to stay almost another week. When we are out and about in Roswell, it feels like we are just a few miles from home. If we at a park and it's starting to get dark we ask Sam, “Are you ready to go home?” and when we walk into the RV it feels like we are home again.

Home

We're leaving TOMORROW! Maybe! Or maybe not.

Our plan is to leave tomorrow, but we're waiting for a critical Internet-related package, so we may or may not head out then. We've already pushed back one of our campground reservations in Tennessee just in case. We figure we might want to take our time getting there anyway. 

Today was an interesting combination of busyness, fun, and relaxation.

We woke up in the RV, which is currently parked in the driveway. Here's Sam demonstrating how the over-cab bunk is supposed to work:

He loves that space. It's entirely his own and he's excited about organizing it as he sees fit.

We made huge progress in cleaning out our house. Two rooms are entirely empty, a third contains only the items we plan to drop off and store at my parents' house, the kitchen is less of a disaster than it was yesterday, and the family room now houses only the stuff that we haven't moved to the RV yet.

Biscuit freaked out at all the emptiness and spent hours hiding behind the toilet; to make her more comfortable (and bathroom use a little more private), we created a cat fort out of a folding chair and towels:

We finished cleaning out my office and turned in my keys:

And then we had some time for making a delicious dinner and playing Try-To-Spray-Me-With-The-Water-Hose-Good-Luck-I-Have-A-Moldy-Umbrella:

We're in a little bit of hurry-up-and-wait mode, but it's fine. At this point, what's the rush?

Two days to go, and here's where we're at...

Major furniture recycled or rehomed: CHECK.

Messy house achievement: UNLOCKED.

That's salt all over the counter. I had a little salt grinder accident at lunchtime.

Even the resident ants took part in the mess-tivities:

(This is a good time to be an ant in this house: there are plenty of snacks, and at this point we're too lazy to try to get rid of them.)

By late this afternoon, we'd made some progress in terms of getting items out of the house and into the RV. At least the kitchen is starting to look a little emptier and less frenetic.

Take away message: Moving is never fun - regardless of whether you're moving into a new house or a tin can on wheels.

Certified

(Susanne is your driver for this post.)

Things are a little crazy right now.

I'm teaching a spring term class - a one-month intensive course on volcanic hazards.

I'm training for my new job.

Trent's working two jobs.

Sam is finishing up third grade and has a seemingly endless parade of homework, meetings, and standardized tests to deal with.

And then there's the whole moving-our-lives-into-a-house-on-wheels aspect of things. We've been busy re-homing our belongings, dealing with paperwork, and cleaning.

As part of our preparation, we've researched numerous organizations and clubs that we think will be beneficial for our RV lifestyle. We now have memberships with Escapees mail service, Thousand Trails RV parks, Good Sam RV Club (for discounts on gas and campsites), and the ASTC Travel Passport Program (for access to science centers all over the country).

I think we're all eager to hit the road. Just one more month before Clark becomes our roving home! I'm glad we've taken so much time to plan and prepare, but at a certain point, you just have to go and do it.

The Great Stuff Purge, Part 1

On Sunday, fast on the heels of putting an offer on Clark the RV, Trent and I decided to start getting rid of stuff - the physical stuff that lies in between where we are now and where we want to be in a few months. Our current house is small - especially by typical American standards - but we'll have to give away, recycle, or toss most of our current belongings before moving out of our place and into the RV.

We started with clothes and quickly filled up five large trash bags of items to take to Goodwill. I thought this would be a painful process - mainly because I tend to hang onto things - but I quickly realized that many of my clothes didn't fit anymore anyway (I've lost about 20 pounds since last summer). That made the task more straightforward. Too big? Gone. I'm not hanging on to something just in case I gain the weight back.

See these pants and this shirt? I got the shirt in New York City when I was 13 years old - 24 years ago - and haven't been willing to part with it. Despite the fact that I've worn it maybe three times, I've carted it along on at least 12 moves. One reason is because the skyline depicts the Twin Towers, and after 9/11 it felt wrong somehow to throw it away... Like it was somehow my responsibility to keep it as memorabilia.

As for the pants, they have a story, too. In 2004 I went on an epic Outward Bound trip to Europe. We hiked in the Alps and sailed a tall ship from England to the Canary Islands. I bought the jeans during a stopover in London. For years, they were too small; now they're too big and have gaping holes in the knees. It was time to say goodbye, but again, letting go wasn't easy. Clearly I was hanging onto the denim because it represented a really magical time in my life. But I'll never forget that trip anyway, so keeping the jeans is kind of pointless.

Trent cleared out his closet, too, and then started in on old paperwork. We had copies of rental agreements and credit card statements dating back 15 years! (We're a little paranoid when it comes to keeping money-related documents.) We finally shredded and recycled them.

Trent also found a cute photograph that we definitely won't be throwing away. My mom took it in 1999, about 2 months after Trent and I first met. I'm so glad he's still up for adventuring with me!

We have a long way to go in terms of de-cluttering. The next step will probably involve giving away some of our cookware (especially the breakable stuff) and cleaning out the garage. But this was a good start, and it made us feel like we were taking an important step in making the dream a reality.