Rainchecks and other stuff......

The rain continued on and off all day long and into the night Wednesday, and we were content to remain inside.  We haven't had a 'raincheck' kind of day in a long time.....a day where you just hang out doing essentially nothing.  No cleaning.....no fixing.....no organizing....no planning.....no running into town....no work......just stay inside, fix some popcorn and watch a few movies.....okay FIVE movies.  We're in kind of a 'slow broadband' zone here in Cape Blanco State Park so Netflix is out of the question, but we do have a DVD player, and recently whilst shopping at the Walmart in Grants Pass, OR I picked up a few DVD's out of their $5 bin......'Snow White and the Huntsman', 'Jack the Giant Slayer' and 'The Never Ending Story' part one and two.  Additionally our friends, Mike and Liz, loaned us a DVD called 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'.  So, that is how we spent our afternoon and early evening.....watching one movie after another.......just two good friends hanging out.  Would I watch any of those movies a second time....probably not.....that is, after all, why they were in the $5 bin at Walmart, right?

There is really nothing else to report about Wednesday so I'll continue with some of my thoughts from yesterday about living your life on the road, and how to figure out if it is for you.  I don't think I'm preaching exclusively to the choir here as I know a number of my readers are not yet fulltimers, but are planning to do just that in the future and probably would be interested in the process we went through to get where we are today.

The first thing I want to emphasize here is please do not rush into this lifestyle.  Take time to follow blogs of folks who have been living full time in an RV.....what kind of RV is not really important, but I would encourage you to follow blogs of people who live full time in all different kinds of RV's......5th wheels, Class B's, Class C's, Class A's, tent trailers, pop up trailers, travel trailers, truck campers, etc.  By doing this you will not only learn how they live their lives on the road, but you will also learn why they like the particular RV they have chosen.  The latter is one of the most oft asked questions by people who want to fulltime....what RV should I buy?  The first question you should be asking, and answering is "Can I live in a small space with myself, or can I live in a small space with another person day after day, week after week, month after month?".  Any personal, or inter personal issues you are having while living a 'sticks and bricks' life will not magically disappear when you move into a space 90% smaller.....in fact they will probably be exacerbated.  

TLE and I began talking about living full time in an RV at least 3 years before we actually did it.  We spent a couple of evenings a week sitting by our outdoor fireplace discussing every aspect of living full time in a smaller space. I followed a dozen blogs at the time and would share with her what I had learned each week.....blogs of single men, single women, married folks, unmarried couples, same sex couples, people living with and without pets.  Blogs of folks living full time in very small tear drop type trailers, large Class A's, truck campers, large 5th wheels, Class C's, travel trailers, etc. Blogs of folks living off the grid using solar power, or wind power to recharge their batteries.......of folks who moved from one RV park to another, folks living in one place for months at a time, folks who moved every few days, folks who only lived and traveled in an RV a few weeks, or months out of the year, folks who worked on the road, took part time jobs on the road, did volunteer work on the road.....in short every imaginable configuration.  

By the time we began living full time in our Newell back in February of 2011 we had looked at dozens of RV's, finally had purchased the RV we wanted, and had a very good idea of how our life on the road would look.....initially.  Even with all that preparation there were surprises that first few months, and there continues to be a gradual evolution in our lifestyle.  The only constant has been that we began as friends (and lovers) and are even better friends now.  For us the full time lifestyle has only benefited our relationship and broadened our worldview.

Once you have done your due diligence, and have decided this nomadic existence is for you the next question that comes up is 'How do we get rid of our stuff?', or 'Should we put our stuff in storage?', or 'What stuff do we take with us?'.  I'll write about our experience tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!