Wednesday, August 26, 2009

It's Official: We're Full-Timer's

Well, this afternoon, we are driving our new RV over to the home of some friends and will begin sleeping and living in our new rig. Although our house belongs to us until Monday the 31st, the mold remediation specialists have begun their work in the attic and we are loathe to be exposed to the fungicides that are being applied up there in the eaves.

Most of our stuff that we need for travel is now packed in the rig, and some of it is in our nearby storage unit waiting to be sorted through before we really hit the proverbial road in late October. Even more stuff is waiting at Mary's workplace down the street for a massive yard sale that will (hopefully) net us several hundred more dollars and a decreased burden of physical possessions. Whatever is left over will be jettisoned in one way or another.

And what have we gotten rid of? Hundreds of books, sheets, towels, vases, dishes, glasses, shoes---all manner of flotsam and jetsam that naturally accumulates in a house. Nature abhors a vacuum, and our current "vacuum" has been crammed with stuff since 1998.

While many "full-timers" living in RVs are actually on the road, we will be "cheating" for a bit, having access to our friends' sweet apartment, helping with their baby in the mornings, using their laundry and enjoying an extension to our new mobile home. In fact, we will do the same whenever we pull into friends' driveways along the way......and isn't that simply convenient and lovely?

Living in our rig for six or seven weeks will afford us some time to get used to the space, figure out what works and what doesn't, and how to negotiate our new lifestyle. These next weeks will test our mettle, help us detox from homeownership, and simultaneously embrace our new chosen living environment.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, and we will be posting more often once this moving out process is completed on the 31st of August.

Cheers!

----Keith

4 comments:

  1. If you ever feel up to sharing what you are doing to make your RV MCS-safe, I would love to read it!

    Happy travels :-)

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  2. Hi Liberty,

    We'd be most happy to share what we're doing to further green our machine! Please do stay tuned as I will return with a piece on that later because we are still in the midst of making it safe.

    You see, after our first night as full-timers, we had an MCS nightmare experience this morning. I woke up with a serious cough attack and headache only to discover that the refrigerator was leaking ammonia! AMMONIA! And we both already have MCS! I am having a hellish day as the result, but will be happy to let you know the good stuff we are doing to make the rig safe once I recover from this costly incident in terms of health and money.

    Sometimes it feels like there is nowhere safe left in the world to be--the house we are moving out of is being remediated with heavy chemicals for mold we did not know we were living under the roof of for a decade, the new home, our rig, is leaking ammonia as the fridge dies, and my fragrance-free workplace is far from that. Few people understand, thus I find refuge in social network friendships through The Canary Report, Planet-Thrive, EI groups in FaceBook and so on.

    Well, I am off to seek some healing and recovery. MCS really sucks!

    Love,

    Mary

    Peace, mary

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  3. Hey, Mary. Hope you're feeling better. I look forward to all the details of your "excellent adventure." Godspeed! My little phrase lately is, "Savor each moment." I saw a license plate cover today that really got me: "Expect nothing Appreciate everything." Pretty good 4-word philosophy. Now, with twitter, I will be counting everything in characters! Remember the scene in Albert Brooks' "Lost in America," showing the front of their Winnebago and the soundtrack is "Born to be Wild"? That always makes me laugh!

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  4. Recently, I just had to rent that flick from Netflix, Paul, cus Keith had not yet seen it. That scene IS pretty hilarious! And almost too close to home. Are we really doing this? Keith keeps asking if we are crazy! A small voice in me asks,"My God, what have we done?" It has been no small feat, this letting go of excessive space, possessions and other creature comforts, not to mention the forested landscapes and those we love within them.

    I love the pithy quotes and will bear them in mind and heart. Thanks for being there, Paul.

    Love,

    Mary

    P.S. Thank God that, unlike the wife in "Lost in America", neither of us are gamblers cus the only Las Vegas we'll be visiting is in New Mexico!

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