“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.””
Diane and I RVed (yes, that is a verb) for eighteen years. We lived full-time in our motorhome for eight years; this is what we learned:
If you want to survive living in a 40-foot house on wheels, you need rules! You will also have some stories to tell.
"What's it like owning a 38 foot long motor coach?"
I was asked that question the first time a few years ago. I had to stop and think for a minute or two.
Number 2: Keep your temper on a very short leash. Or, when owning a motor coach, patience is not only a virtue but a necessity.
number 4. Owning a motorcoach is a never ending learning experience.
And just when you think you know it all, you find out just how stupid you really are.
Over the last ten years, Diane and I have learned, discovered, or otherwise stumbled upon a few things that have helped us during our adventures on the road.
Well, I had so much fun coming up with a list of things that I have learned over the ten years that my wife and I have been motorhoming, I figured why not write down a few more?
Let me tell you all something. I gave this rally a lot of thought about how we could make it special. I really wanted all our friends who attended to have more than a good time. I wanted them to feel something while there. I wanted them to feel close to their other members. I intended for this rally to use the Christmas season and the It’s a Wonderful Life story to reinforce the need for friends and family.
The majority of us live our lives somewhere in between the sweet life and the habitation of dragons. We come into this world empty headed (and that is a good thing) and as we grow we learn that life has its pleasures and its pains.
We have all had them, those moments when we are so overjoyed to be motorhome owners and those other moments, the ones where you take a deep breath and ask yourself:
"Why did I ever buy this big blasted thing?"
Some of my dear readers and friends have heard or read this story before. However, many people keep asking me about it. Its short, not so sweet, but mildly amusing in a "can't believe that happened" sort of way.
Rule number 2, to be exact: Keep your temper on a very short leash. Or, when owning a motor coach, patience is not only a virtue but a necessity.
Diane and I are living full time in our Motor Home. It did not happen the way we planned it or hoped it would...the transition from part time to full time has happened but it was rough.
This subject pops up every now and then in the Internet forums where I hang about on a regular basis. It may be a post titled "Is your Class A a Money pit?" or "A motor home costs a whole lot more than you think it does!"
A bit of background and a few observations about the motohoming-rving lifestyle before I continue with my story, you don't mind do you?
Diane and I camped in a tent for 30 years before making the huge jump to a motorhome. There was no step in between.
All of us have our own story about how we ended up owning a motorhome company or, like most of us, just owning a motorhome.
This is my story.
I believe that there are signs that we should pay attention to that will help us in our day to day lives, on and off the road, from getting into trouble.
I believe that I am a pretty good coach pilot. I still believe that even though I hit my mailbox while making a sharp turn into our driveway. Obviously I didn’t pull up the street far enough and turn sharp enough but no long term damage done, except to my pride.
These kind of things happen so why have I kept Rving the last twelve years?
I promised some RV stories. Well I found a few. I doubt they are true, but they may bring a smile.
This is the story I wrote back in 2010, about that trip the four of us, five if you count Nicholas, our Cocker Spaniel, took together to Elkhart, Indiana.