A Fulltimer Reviews 2009

This past year was an adventure, indeed!  We’ve spent the past six months actually living in our fifth wheel RV, but three months before that we spent preparing for our move.  It’s not been one big vacation, to be sure, but this life has its upsides.  I want to take a moment to think about the bad and the good and to consider where we go from here.

The Ten Best Fulltiming Moments of 2009:

1) The decision to go fulltime was in and of itself exhilarating.  Just realizing that living in an RV was actually an option opened us up to a whole new way of thinking about our choices and gave us an entirely new set of opportunities.

2) Finally signing the financing contract for my RV was a thrill.  Of course, we didn’t end up getting our first choice of RV, and we ended up paying a higher APR than we thought, but we got it!  It was a scary few weeks wondering if, in these difficult economic times when banks have been tightening up lending guidelines, we’d even be approved for a loan.

3) Finding an appropriate tow vehicle was a challenge, but we did it!  We really lucked out, got a fabulous truck with loads of options for a ridiculously reasonable price.

4) The toughest part was actually finding a site to park our RV.  This was critical since we aren’t typical fulltimers.  We will be parked most of the year instead of on the road.  This meant that the site had to meet a number of criteria: roomy, pets allowed, affordable rent, good maintenance, cable, 50 amp, utilities paid, reasonably close to my work.  We got all of those.  I can’t speak to affordability.  There are NO affordable RV sites in Maryland.  Trust me, I looked.  I really looked.  Finding a site, therefore, was all the sweeter, especially as it was such a happy coincidence.

We’ve discovered our site has some downsides such as horrific mosquitoes in the summer and poor drainage during wet periods, but we’ve also been blessed by being right on a tributary of the Chesapeake.  The creek has given us idyllic views, daily sightings of waterfowl, the flashes of silver from the fish jumping.  We’ve reconnected with nature.  For the first time in my life, I’ve had the opportunity to become attuned to the rise and fall of the tides.  We’ve enjoyed watching summer become fall and fall become winter, and now I’m looking forward to seeing what life on the Chesapeake is like in the spring.

5)  Getting rid of all the stuff was SO liberating.  I’ve written quite a bit about this, so I won’t say more except that I’ve learned that I still have plenty I need to unload even now.  We really have done more with less.

6) The reaction of our friends and families has been priceless.  We’ve gotten everything from “Oh my God!  I’m so jealous!  I wish I could do that!” to  the highly skeptical “Are you sure about this?” Everyone who has visited has commented on how much more space we actually have than they imagined we would.

7) Finding places to put things is never easy, but I’ve had fun trying.  I learned that velcroing the remote controls to the wall keeps me from hunting for the damned things and is mighty convenient for travel.  I’ve discovered things like collapsible mixing bowls and colanders, the glories of adhesive hooks and battery-powered “spot” lights, and how to use a shower stall as a make-do cooler during partytime.

Speaking of partytime, our trailerwarming was a definite highlight.  We had friends, family (both mine and Alexis’), and coworkers here.  It was a perfect summer day, not too hot, games, food, drinks, and just a grand old time.  It marked the first time that any of my family had met any of Lex’s.  It took eight years, but it finally happened!

9) The blizzard was a real test for us.  Would we stay warm?  Would our pipes freeze?  Would anything start leaking?  We weathered it all beautifully, snug and cozy inside.  My winterizing of the outside of the RV held, so we had fresh water and were able to flush our tanks.  Plus, the snow was just beautiful.

10) Our new puppy, Ivy, has brought us a great deal of joy since we got her in October.  She has kept our older dog, Otis, company and has been a regular snugglemonkey.  She’s my first small dog in a number of years, and, like most small dogs, she’s chock full of personality.  She doesn’t seem to think there’s anything odd in living in an RV and has adapted beautifully to this small space, as have Otis and our cat, Motor.  The animals have gotten good at staying out of the way and finding all sorts of nooks and crannies in which to curl up and snooze.  We don’t have children, so our animals help round out our little family, giving us a reason to get up and go even on days when we don’t feel like it.

The Ten Lowest Fulltiming Moments of 2009:

1) The worst loss we suffered this year was that of our dear friend, Crystal.  She was a genuine light and died in April, just as we made the decision to go fulltime and had started searching for RVs.  We abandoned our search to drive back home to Texas and attend her funeral.  The bittersweet aspect of every funeral I’ve attended is that in the midst of our grief, we find great joy and comfort in being with friends and family we haven’t seen in quite some time.  I was so grateful to be reunited with so many wonderful people.  Our circle of friends, in fact, is the finest part of Crystal’s legacy.  She was the one who constantly drew us together for meals, parties, celebrations of all types.  Even in death, she is the  glue that has continued to bind us to one another.

2) We had another great loss this year, my greyhound mix, Baxter.  He developed excruciatingly painful bone cancer, so we had to euthanize him in June, just a week or two before we moved into the RV.  It was a mixed blessing, I suppose.  We missed him terribly, but that big, leggy dog would have felt pretty confined in this small space, I think, especially since he would have had to share his space with another sizeable dog.

3) After those two deaths, all other low moments pale in comparison, but if I’m forced to choose, the worst moment during our fulltiming experiences thus far was the loss of our awning in a sudden windstorm. I’ve written a lot about that as well as the drama that ensued (and continues to be unresolved).  Dealing with the awning, the insurance company, and the dealer in the aftermath was a real lesson for both of us.  We’ve since found a repair service we trust much more, and we plan to have him install new slideout awnings in 2010.

4)  Having our front yard flooded with sewage anytime we’ve had big rains or snowmelt hasn’t been pleasant, especially since our maintenance man continues to deny that the puddles are actually comprised of sewage.  He must not have much of a sense of smell.

5) The mosquitoes from hell kept us confined to the RV during the warm months much more than I would have liked.  I envisioned lots of outside grilling, lazy days under the awning in lawn chairs watching the world go by, reading a good book.  Instead, we waged a constant war against the tiny pests, buying bug zappers and a variety of repellents to try to ward them off, all to no avail.  We spent most nights swatting the bugs that followed us in each time we opened and closed the front door.  The skeeters are the price we pay for the fabulous view of the creek, I suppose.

6) I learned the hard way what the capacity of our grey water tank is when the wastewater backed up into our shower, overflowed onto the bathroom floor, and drained down to our basement.  Ugh!  What a mess!  I’m much more careful now and drain that tank frequently.

7) The battle of the water filters was an exhausting one.  I’m so thrilled I finally resolved that issue and we now have normal water pressure.  I don’t miss being outside in the basement battling with wrenches and screwdrivers, trying to swap out filters every three weeks.

8)  We spent about two weeks with only three of our ten 110V outlets in the RV functional.  This is a particular challenge as we are “high tech” RVers, with four computers, two TVs, a TiVo, two iPhones, and an xBox all under one very small roof. It was tricky to keep all these things running without tripping the breakers.  We were especially angered to find that the cause of our electrical problems was  damage done to the RV by the dealership that replaced our awning.

9) Since the cold months began, I’ve been learning through trial and error about propane usage.  The most anxiety-producing crisis came just last night as I was in the middle of preparing for a New Year’s Eve party and ran out of gas.  The filling station that we use was already closed for the holiday, so I was forced to go drop a ridiculous sum of money on one of those Blue Rhino tanks so we could continue cooking and have heat.  Tragedy averted, but I’m hoping to get better at this so we don’t run out of gas at a critical moment.

10) I put this at the bottom of the list, but I suppose it is one of my foremost frustrations right now, and that is that even though we entered into this arrangement with high hopes for frequent travel, we have actually only taken the RV out one time.  What a disappointment.  The truth is that we’ve spent so much money, time, and energy repairing the RV that we’ve had little to nothing left to go anywhere.  Plus, when we’re paying $800 a month for a site, it seems crazy to go somewhere and spend another $50 a night for another site.  We’ve also learned that it’s not worthwhile to take this monster out for weekends, something I hadn’t really anticipated.  I’m looking forward to this coming summer when we will finally be able to hit the road and take a REAL, two-month trip! I’m hoping that nothing catastrophic happens between then and now to prevent that journey from taking place.   I’m also going to work to find a way to take little weekend trips without the RV, perhaps investing in decent tent camping gear that will allow me to spend the cooler months outdoors, even though I’ll probably be making those trips alone since Lex isn’t keen on “roughing it.”

My Top Ten RV Hopes for 2010:

1) Travel more.  Seen #10 above.  ‘Nuf said.

2) Avoid more costly repairs.  We’ve already dropped over $2000 in repairs to the RV in the six months we’ve had it.  Given that the RV itself only cost $18,000, that’s significant.

3) Replace our slideout awnings.  They are tattered and, as such, contribute to mounding of snow on top of the slideouts.  Plus, the noisy flapping isn’t fun, either.  I don’t want the slideouts to start leaking, especially since most of our electronics are located inside of one of them.  Have to protect the assets!

4) If I can scare up the funds, I’d like to invest in a screen room for under the awning.  I’ve seen some really nice ones, and I think having one would not only encourage us to spend more time outside, but would also provide a buffer against the weather between the world and our front door.  The extra storage space wouldn’t hurt, either.

5) Have a skirt installed around the fifth wheel (not the whole thing, just the bedroom portion).  When they are on sale, these skirts aren’t expensive, and I imagine the repairman wouldn’t charge much to have one put on.  This would help better insulate our bedroom and it would also allow us to stash things out of sight that we don’t want to have to dig out of the basement every time we use them (like lawn chairs and whatnot).

6) Become handier.  I’d like to learn more about our electrical and plumbing systems and become more capable of performing more of our repairs, thereby saving the $100 it costs each time our repair guy makes an appearance.

7) Do more decluttering. As I mentioned above, despite all the downsizing we did when we moved in here, we still are toting around things we don’t need.  I don’t want to end up having to rent a storage space because I can’t carry all my crap with me when I hit the road.

Join a group of some sort.  Whether a knitting, spinning, crocheting guild, a book club, or whatever, I want to get out of the house more often, be more sociable.  We joined the Y this past year, but I’ve not been going regularly.  That needs to change.  I need the exercise, and I think I’d better appreciate life in the RV if I can avoid “cabin fever.”

9) Speaking of hobbies, I want to do more fibercrafting this year.  As we prepared to move, we stopped doing a lot of things that we used to really enjoy.  Spinning, especially, is very relaxing, so I need to work on incorporating more of it into my daily routine.

10)  Prepare healthier meals in our little RV kitchen.  We’ve come to rely too much on convenience foods and fast food.  The nicest feature of our RV is our galley-style kitchen.  We have an unusual amount of counter and cabinet space, relatively speaking, so I need to make the most of it and get back to preparing more fresh foods.  I want to get back to going to the farmer’s markets on a regular basis.  I do have room for a sprouting jar, so I can grow “microgreens,” and I need to figure out how to install a mini herb garden in my kitchen.

So, that’s it, the year in retrospect.  I’m looking forward to a happy, healthy fulltiming life in 2010.  I wish you all the same.

Tags: 2010, fulltiming, New Year, rv