The Beginning

Getting used to living in an RV has been far from seamless, but the kids are finally starting to develop a routine. From the routine, they are starting to feel normal. Normal comes just before safe and happy and, ultimately, relaxed. Can’t wait to get relaxed.

They have consistently been asking when we were going back to Maine. The answer, “We live in the RV now,” was met with confusion and suspicion at first. Now they see we’re serious. We keep heading west. Who knows what they’ll think when we reach the Pacific.

Pros & Cons

Cons:

No one likes their bunk bed. I thought that would be the biggest hit… each kid has his/her own space to decorate and nice big beds to starfish on at night. Wrong. Most nights one or both of them make their way to our bed. It has gotten so bad that Scott and I have started sneaking out to sleep in their beds while they are in ours.

We’ve caught ourselves comparing the travel trailer to the Chief a lot… a lot more than is necessary. There are things we miss about our old Class A. Top of my list? I miss not having to worry about everything. You couldn’t hurt that old battle axe. It caught on fire. I ripped the back bumper off it. Everything fell out of the overhead cupboards a couple of times. No worries, man. It was all good. The ORV is new. New means having to worry about everything all the time. Scott will be hard pressed to get me into something from the current decade again.

You can’t use the bathroom when you’re driving down the road. This is monster inconvenience with 2 little people. It’s a giant time suck… on the order of “take whatever Google says for time and double it”. That’s rough when you’re only planning to travel 2 or 3 Google hours a day.

Pros:

There is far more space inside the trailer (especially when the slide out is out). It’s also more comfortable living space. I miss having a normal sofa, but even that doesn’t bother me too much any more. I have plenty of reading nooks.

Although we have more space, the rig is much shorter so we can fit into places we wouldn’t have tried before. For us, that means mostly national forests. We’re 23′ now so we can fit into almost anywhere (if Scott and/or I can figure out how to put the trailer in the spot).

The kids get to play on a new playground almost every day. The beach, if there is one, is different every time. Change is the only constant in life… and they’re becoming BFFs with it.

Kid Commo

The Littles are enthusiastic users of their walkie talkies. The Williams helped us remember that I, quite intelligently, bought 4 walkie talkies for Christmas last year. They had largely gone unused until Owen and Lana demonstrated how to use theirs. That was followed up by a lesson from Scott on proper radio etiquette. There will be no “Evie, where are you?” in our family. Likewise, “Jack, can you hear me now?” is considered poor form. We’re all, “What’s your 20?” “How do you read?” “I read you Lima Charlie.”

This afternoon, when the kids were within eye sight but not within ear shot, I heard Evie come up on the channel in response to Scott, “Roger that, Daddy. Over and out.” She was collecting Jack for an immediate RTB to a hot dinner. {RTB is Return to Base for those of us not from the Army.}

Next up, we’re to be issued call signs. Scott insists that call signs are “earned” not chosen. Stand by for that post when we’ve each earned one. I’ve already threatened to call Evie “Methane”… because she continuously produces so much of it.

All in all, life on road life is good. Dinner happens every night around 6:30. Homeschooling happens over breakfast. Everyone has chores that vary depending on whether or not we’re driving that day. We’re moving a little bit faster than we want to be, but we really want to make it to Vancouver this time. So far so good.