As you may recall, we had a new couple of neighbors show up a couple of weeks ago. Today, our second set of neighbors showed up. These folks are actually Bill and Jeanne’s parents, and they have their own travel trailer. There have been a couple of extra pickups parked outside for a week or so, and it turns out they belong to the parents who left them here while they waited to be able to move their rig in.
Lex was home when the new rig arrived, and she watched them pull in. Grumpy Groundskeeper Chip was on hand as usual to stand around, look sullen, and provide absolutely no help. Neighbor Bill has about had it with Chip who apparently announced to Bill and his wife that he’s “the boss around here” and suggested they should pay their rent to him. WTF? No way, no how. We deal only with Diane at the main office, and all rent checks and requests go through her. I wouldn’t dream of giving that devil one thin dime. Alexis told the couple as much, so they called Diane who confimed that, in fact, Chip was not to receive any money from residents. Creepy McCreeperson best watch it. He doesn’t want an English professor writing a nasty letter about him to his employer.
So now all three sites here are occupied. I have yet to go over and meet the neighbors in person. I still haven’t bothered to cook something to take to them. Bad form to visit someone empty-handed. I will have to remedy that soon.
There is a little girl who lives at the house here at the end of the street. She’s maybe four years old, a tiny little thing. Her grandparents live with her, but apparently they don’t feel the need to keep a very close eye on her. She quite literally spends all day outside, just running up and down the street, walking through people’s yards, and getting into things she ought not to. This is a particular worry because we live right on the water, and there are no fences separating us from the creek. The little girl seems to like to go take peeks at the water from time to time.
I’ve spoken with her grandmother once before, but if I continue to see the little girl out and about, I think I’ll have to go knock on their door. I don’t want to be a buttinsky, and I do think kids should be free to run and play without constant parental supervision, but there is a difference between a reasonable amount of supervision and none at all. None is what I think she’s getting right now. Anyone could snatch that child up off the streets, and it’d be hours before her grandparents even knew she was gone! This community has a rather notorious reputation for being home to a disproportionate number of sexual predators. Ugh. I hate even to think about it.
On a completely different topic, I went outside today to try to lower our awning. It’s been hot recently, and we could use the shade. One of the arms is now completely busted. It just fell apart in my hands! That and the roller spring mechanism still isn’t fixed. I called the RV dealership that screwed up the awning in the first place, and they said they might get out here by September 18. Geez, thanks. I appreciate you rushing right on over! I’m hoping they actually do show up this time because I want this to be the final time I deal with these people.
Right now, I’m so disgusted with the thing that I just want to rip it out of the side of the house and burn it! It’s nothing but a worry, quite frankly. When we have rainstorms, the winds are usually too high to leave an awning out, so it can’t even keep us dry. Between the snow, freezing temperatures, and violent windstorms we get in the winter, we can’t use it then, either. What’s the damned point? I wish I just had an over-the-door awning like Class A motorhomes have. That’s all I really want. Something to keep the rain off my head while I’m standing outside trying to unlock the door.
Since we completed our summer trip, part of me feels sort of done with this whole RV adventure. It think it’s because I know now that it’s not really viable for us to take short trips, and the only time we can really take long ones is in the summer. If Lex ever has to move to a regular office job, we may not even be able to do that much. For traveling just once a year, I’m not sure anymore that it’s worth the hassle. But we’re stuck here for now. We can’t afford to rent a house or apartment and pay for RV storage. Maybe when I get my car paid off and free up the extra cash, we will, but until then, we’ll sit here at the end of the road. It’s not like we’re miserable or anything. I still find our little nest pretty cozy, but I really wish we could travel more. That’s just not going to happen anytime soon.
My new dream involves us selling the fiver, moving into a stick-built place, and buying a nice little Class B that we can jump into and drive away any old time we feel like it. Ahhhh…how lovely that would be! While I’m waiting for that dream to become reality, we’ll continue to be fulltimers, and my Class B will be my VW Golf with its car tent attached.
Tags: fulltiming, neighbors, repairs
