Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Weird Temporary In-Limbo Part-Timer Phase Begins

It's sort of weird.

Now that we've had our maiden voyage of only two nights, it seems strange to be back in our temporary apartment with Bill going to work. Our time at Lake Tamarisk was way too short, a quick tease of what our lives will be like in the rig.

Time to enjoy the many colors of a single eucalyptus
 
There are still undeveloped lots on the water
 
The unknown gem that is Lake Tamarisk
 
Camp Gravel
 
Our first stop, leaving one small mark
The drive home we tackled a few more "firsts" - filled up with diesel at a regular station, descended a long grade with the wonderful engine brake, and stopped for lunch at a rest area with the generator running the a/c and having everything we needed without stepping out the door.

We thought we had two items on our shakedown run list: sewer hose won't attach to pipe, and no key for the outside tv. One of these being much more critical than the other......  But when we stopped at the dealer to pick up the Jeep, Bill found the key and the tech was able to turn the sewer pipe at the right angle (it was tight enough for us to think we'd break it if we "forced" it).  So nothing to be fixed and we were on our way home.

I don't know that I'm ever going to be comfortable in the passenger seat so Bill took advantage of our need to move two vehicles and drove the rig the rest of the way.  Following behind in the Jeep I thought "Wow, that thing's pretty big!"

Our son Travis saw it pull into the apartment complex so he got a quick tour and helped unload. We dropped it off at Camping World for the night.

Monday morning I was back at Camping World with the keys, confirming the tire monitor installation, and feeling much better than I did at the RV dealer!  They knew who I was (you're Tessa's mom......), what needed to be done, and were fine with me bringing the Jeep back later for its tire monitors.





Also known as "Tessa's Word".

They insisted that she just make herself at home, and techs and salespeople came in for their doggie-fix during the 30 minutes we were there.

If anything goes wrong with the installs I am confident it will be something Tessa breaks on purpose just so she can go back to her other home!




In between monitor installs I had a somewhat important task to complete.  When we picked up the rig at the end of the day we had nowhere to "put" it.  Sort of important for a small house on wheels in a metropolitan area.  I had already checked the rv storage places and was pretty sure I knew where we would be taking it, but I had yet to reserve a space. As expected, they had a perfect pull-through spot for us, and with a boat trailer on one side there is even room to open the driver side slides far enough for access to everything inside.

On the way to the lot I noticed the camera screen was blank.  It's a short drive and the mirrors were more than adequate. Once parked we found that nothing worked but the frig and the microwave. I remembered that it is usually something simple but we were baffled for a while.  House battery switch off by the door - not much simpler than that :-) 

It felt wrong leaving it at the lot.  We just picked it up!  We're ready to live in it!  We feel like full-timers. 

There are a couple planned trips before our June launch, and we hope to find time for some unplanned ones as well.  Still, it's only part-time. 

All the wonderful events that are happening in the next few weeks could be attended from our motorhome!

Our apartment feels too big now (although our refrigerator is about 2/3 the size of the one in the rig). 

Bill's remaining five weeks of work seem like something that should be behind us. 

It's very weird.



26 comments:

  1. Only five weeks..time will go by quickly..trust me ..I am down to 3 2 1 ..done!..after almost 39 years of working at the same place
    ..it will be here before you know it 😄

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    1. Even though we can't go fulltime until June 3, I'm thinking that once Bill's retirement is here it will feel "less weird" :-)

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  2. Glad you had a great first trip!! There is always something for awhile that you have questions about. I can so relate to your feelings of leaving your home in the lot. We had to leave ours for a whole school year. We use to go out and get it out of storage, drive it to the local elementary school and watch a movie or a sporting event and have lunch or dinner. We called our weekend vacation home:)

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    1. Love that! I was really glad to see the slides could move out so we can go "visit" :-)

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  3. You will experience many firsts in the next few months. I hope they are all good ones.

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    1. Thanks Merikay. We're sure hoping for that too :-)

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  4. I imagine you'll be dreaming, planning, mapping and more thoughts of travel will certainly fill your day. It's just around the corner.

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    1. You're right - read parts of the manual today and started looking at routing for June :-)

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  5. Five more Mondays :-) ! And June will be here before you know it!

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    1. Can you believe it's been five months since we met up in Pomona? So four months should fly by too!!

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  6. I know you know that 5 weeks is but a blip of time! I'm sure it doesn't feel like it though! Be glad you have time to really pack all your stuff in the rig before you live in it full time...That is a luxury!

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    1. It's faster for me, Bill is suffering through the "short-timer syndrome" though. We are enjoying the getting things ready part for sure - and if we had to go in two weeks we wouldn't be ready :-)

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  7. Time will fly by, Jodee! Glad you are having good experiences with your Camping World. We love the one near us in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Have fun!

    Jim

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    1. Thanks Jim. I'm sure hoping we find more of them in our travels :-)

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  8. I totally understand the weird in-limbo phase -- we felt that way for months before we actually took to the road. Five weeks might seem like an eternity right now, but it truly will FLY by. So glad your new home on wheels really feels like home to you. :-)

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    1. Thanks Laurel! It was very gratifying to feel so comfortable so quickly.

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  9. Yes, but it also sounds glorious. Best of both worlds for a bit. Time to work out any kinks and get used to it, pack it, decorate, whatever. Soon enough there'll be nothing holding you back!

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    1. Oh that does sound wonderful! We really do need to take advantage of the relatively short time to get everything just right :-)

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  10. I had the same impatience to be on the road. We bought Winnona, took her to an RV Dreams rally and came home and put in our resignations but we had to wait and that was harder than anything we've done since. I hope the 5 weeks fly by but I'd be lying if I didn't say those weeks dragged for me. I actually marked each day off on the calendar. Talk about watching a pot boil. Hats off to you for claiming the driver's seat. Most women never drive and I seldom drive. David loves to drive so he does. Plus he's way better at backing her up than I am but that's probably just lack of practice. You go girl!!

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    1. Yep, Bill has a daily and weekly countdown.....his coworkers are pulling their hair out :-) I'm just such a horrible passenger and really enjoy driving. And Bill is comfortable being the navigator so it works for both of us. It will take a while to get used to backing it up, and I still have to get used to towing the Jeep.....but I have time right?!

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  11. It WILL happen! And in the meantime you can dream. Glad you are both getting a chance to get comfortable driving your new home.

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    1. Thanks Gaelyn - the dreaming is grand! I might never get comfortable being a passenger :-(

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  12. Congratulations on surviving the first outing. Before you know it the 5 weeks will be done and you'll be living the dream.

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  13. Thanks! Bill's retirement is a huge milestone and then we can play until going fulltime in June :-)

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  14. The time will go quickly. I bet you can sneak out for several weekend trips before you go full-time.

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    1. We hope to do that for sure! Once he retires we want to get out there mid-week if we can :-)

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