Because We Can - Fulltime RV'ing

 

RV Reflections

 

It hardly seems possible that it has been two years since we accepted the fact that life is not a dress rehearsal and set out in our home on wheels to live Life. Because anniversaries can trigger memories, we have been reflecting more than usual upon what Life now means to us. But rather than think of the RV Life as an antacid tablet floating down to the bottom of a glass of water, effervescence seeming to bubble up from nothing, a better analogy might be a bowl of gelatin. A mysterious powder stirred into a bowl of warm water, instantly changing color, then given time, solidifying into something satisfying, never quite permanent, instead displaying an innate ability to both mold and move at the same time.

Take something as innocuous as an electric skillet. Reading about this handy, dandy appliance before we set out on our journey, we learned that having one along would solve all our cooking problems. Boy were we ever mislead, it had sat in our cupboard for years at home, and it sat in the cupboard in the coach, or it did until we got we rid of it. Lesson learned, the saying that a leopard doesn't change it's spots is just as true in an RV as it is anywhere else.

The TV in the bedroom was certainly going to be something we would really appreciate, so what if one us was always asleep within sixty seconds of touching the pillow, while the other had to read for an hour before getting the least bit sleepy. We sure had to admit that TV certainly proved to be an eye opener, in more ways than one, especially since it had this nifty little timer gizmo that would automatically turn it off at night. It turned out one of us couldn't fend off the sleep fairy, TV or no TV, while for the other it proved to be the electronic equivalent of no-doze. Looking back, we both now have to laugh, here you had two people who have trouble seeing beyond the end of their outstretched arms without their glass on and they thought they were going to watch TV till they fell asleep at night? What's that saying about old habits dying hard?

Sometimes things turned out to be much better better than expected, take our kitchen counter for example. One of Linda's worries had been, would there be enough counter space to cook every night? It turned out there was more than was needed. That doesn't mean, sometimes we wouldn't like more, but then again we had the option of not choosing to lead this Life and limited counter space is one of the things that accompanies most RVs. Instead of complaining about it, we keep our meals fairly simple, taking note that simple and healthy seem to go hand in hand. Linda has come to really appreciate just how handy everything is. You also learn little things like preparing the salad while everything else is cooking, rather than first. Though you are certainly welcome to keep to the old ways so you can complain about the lack of space. Could it simply be a case of, if the shoe fits, wear it?

All those wonderful brochures extolling the ease and comfort that this or that option will provide have faded into a distant memory by the time two years have rolled by. That power cord reel to wind up that heavy, awkward 50 amp electric cable, the hose reel that winds the water hose up at a push of a button, or what about the RV Sani-Con Tank Drainage System, that negates having to fight the battle of the stinky slinky when dumping the waste tanks. Each in turn has proved to be much more worthwhile from the convenience standpoint than we thought it would be. Sometimes things are worth every penny you pay for them.

You can go onto the RV forums and find many posts that will espouse the opposite of what our experience has been. After all, each RV'er is different, so why shouldn't our experiences be different?. But whatever the post, it seems like they follow, in general, one of two ways of thinking. Either most of their experiences are positive, or most of their experiences are negative. Could it be that it simply reflects what kind of person they were before they set out on their journey. Some people go through life believing that things or people make them unhappy, others go through Life realizing the truth to Lincoln's words: people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. To live the RV life, or the RV Life, the choice is ours to make.

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