[These are both writings from some time ago but I'm putting it all together here. :)]
Moving into a Camper
Now when you are moving from a 4 bedroom house with a full basement to a 30' tag along camper things get interesting. You have to decide what you will "need" and what you can't live without. Then you have to figure out where to store everything.
Our oldest son would not be going with us. He was attending Job Corps in Bangor and would go to my mother's if there were any problems. This made things a little easier because it meant his things could go to my mothers and to his school dorm.
Our youngest son did a really good job deciding what he needed. The only large item we had to deal with was his electronic keyboard and we definately found someplace for that.
John is simple. He really didn't have a lot of things that he felt he needed. Mostly his clothes, his sword collection and his bow and arrows. All of which could be stored relatively easily.
As for me I had to go through all my books and decide what I "needed" and what I could live without. Books are definately my weakness. This was very difficult but I did manage to cut down to just several of the most needed and I gave the rest away to good homes.
I won't go through everything but needless to say we cut down on our material goods in a big way. We did this as a family, deciding what we wanted and needed. Together we figured out where to store things within our new home.
Another issue was that John and I didn't like the bed in the camper. I wanted OUR bed. So, John took out the camper mattress and began bringing out our boxspring and mattress. Now I have no way of describing the events to follow but watching my husband and son try to get our queen sized boxspring into this little camper was terribly amusing. They did however finally get our bed in. It may never come back out without a saw but it is in here now.
Once our bed was in the camper, we decided to start sleeping in the camper to begin getting used to it. Immediately it began to feel like home. The more it felt like home, the less we liked the house.
With the foreclosure creeping up on us we decided it was time to move the camper to Wayne's. Wayne came over with his truck and hauled us down to our new lot behind his house. And so our new adventure had begun.
This was my post to my online update list that I was keeping from our first night in the camper.
"Well it's comfy here. We were staying in the camper already, even at the house, so it was already starting to feel like home. We have some work to do here though. The camper is not sitting level and so water is leaking in a few areas inside. I need a different TV in our bedroom as the one I have in there barely works.
We have both dogs with us and they are not yet comfortable with the situation. I'm hoping they adjust but we will see as time goes on. They were really good all day yesterday but last night they were restless and today they are antsy and anxious. Noita was achy this morning but I think she was stressed out last night and tense so her muscles tensed up and got sore.
The humans are fine though. Johnny and I stayed up and watched a movie last night when daddy went to bed. Both of them are now sleeping and I woke up early with the dogs so I am getting some writing done. I don't actually have internet access here (yet) but I can get all my writing done and send it out later. When I go into town I can pick up wireless there so I'll just take my laptop to town a couple times a week for now.
Anyway, I forsee a lot of small projects over the next few months to get this comfortable and livable for the winter. We definately did not get even what we paid for. John had to reseal the roof twice, the fridge had to be replaced, and there are a few water leaks in the water lines but we will make the best of it and make it work for us. I think we will need to put blueboard around the whole camper and plastic to keep the heat in this winter as well but again, we will make it work. Our family has never had a problem getting through difficult times and this is relatively easy compared to some things we have been through.
On a positive note, I seem to be able to get a lot of work done here. I managed to write my second chakra lesson this morning, that I have been having trouble with for some time now. I have written another article this morning as well. If this is the payoff then I'm all for it. Maybe I can finally get my spiritual book finished and published."
Our oldest son would not be going with us. He was attending Job Corps in Bangor and would go to my mother's if there were any problems. This made things a little easier because it meant his things could go to my mothers and to his school dorm.
Our youngest son did a really good job deciding what he needed. The only large item we had to deal with was his electronic keyboard and we definately found someplace for that.
John is simple. He really didn't have a lot of things that he felt he needed. Mostly his clothes, his sword collection and his bow and arrows. All of which could be stored relatively easily.
As for me I had to go through all my books and decide what I "needed" and what I could live without. Books are definately my weakness. This was very difficult but I did manage to cut down to just several of the most needed and I gave the rest away to good homes.
I won't go through everything but needless to say we cut down on our material goods in a big way. We did this as a family, deciding what we wanted and needed. Together we figured out where to store things within our new home.
Another issue was that John and I didn't like the bed in the camper. I wanted OUR bed. So, John took out the camper mattress and began bringing out our boxspring and mattress. Now I have no way of describing the events to follow but watching my husband and son try to get our queen sized boxspring into this little camper was terribly amusing. They did however finally get our bed in. It may never come back out without a saw but it is in here now.
Once our bed was in the camper, we decided to start sleeping in the camper to begin getting used to it. Immediately it began to feel like home. The more it felt like home, the less we liked the house.
With the foreclosure creeping up on us we decided it was time to move the camper to Wayne's. Wayne came over with his truck and hauled us down to our new lot behind his house. And so our new adventure had begun.
This was my post to my online update list that I was keeping from our first night in the camper.
"Well it's comfy here. We were staying in the camper already, even at the house, so it was already starting to feel like home. We have some work to do here though. The camper is not sitting level and so water is leaking in a few areas inside. I need a different TV in our bedroom as the one I have in there barely works.
We have both dogs with us and they are not yet comfortable with the situation. I'm hoping they adjust but we will see as time goes on. They were really good all day yesterday but last night they were restless and today they are antsy and anxious. Noita was achy this morning but I think she was stressed out last night and tense so her muscles tensed up and got sore.
The humans are fine though. Johnny and I stayed up and watched a movie last night when daddy went to bed. Both of them are now sleeping and I woke up early with the dogs so I am getting some writing done. I don't actually have internet access here (yet) but I can get all my writing done and send it out later. When I go into town I can pick up wireless there so I'll just take my laptop to town a couple times a week for now.
Anyway, I forsee a lot of small projects over the next few months to get this comfortable and livable for the winter. We definately did not get even what we paid for. John had to reseal the roof twice, the fridge had to be replaced, and there are a few water leaks in the water lines but we will make the best of it and make it work for us. I think we will need to put blueboard around the whole camper and plastic to keep the heat in this winter as well but again, we will make it work. Our family has never had a problem getting through difficult times and this is relatively easy compared to some things we have been through.
On a positive note, I seem to be able to get a lot of work done here. I managed to write my second chakra lesson this morning, that I have been having trouble with for some time now. I have written another article this morning as well. If this is the payoff then I'm all for it. Maybe I can finally get my spiritual book finished and published."
Living at Wayne's
So we were settled in our new spot behind our friend's house and things were different. We didn't have cable and only got like 2 channels. We didn't have internet access and missed our online friends. I had a cell phone but no signal in the camper. So I was feeling a bit cut off.
At first this wasn't a problem. We moved over to Wayne's while the weather was still relatively warm. We could get outside and walk or play horseshoes. We had lots of cookouts and I began to get pretty close to Wayne's girlfriend.
After about a month I realized that we needed to get our internet access. I got Wayne's permission to get it added to his phone service and I would pay for it. It took a little over a week but we did finally get it back. That made things much more comfortable for us. John and I felt more normal.
Our oldest son, Kyle, would come for a visit every couple of weeks and we saw many positive changes in him. He would stay inside Wayne's house at night, as there is not much room in the camper.
Then the weather was getting colder and colder. It became more and more difficult to heat the camper to a safe and livable level. We were going through so much propane that it was becoming financially draining.
John and I decided it was time to head south. Kyle and his girlfriend decided they wanted to go with us. I began doing research online for campgrounds in the south. I had to find one with all the ammenities that we needed but also one that did not have a problem with a family of 5 and a Rottweiler.
John had another difficult decision to deal with. We actually had 2 rotties. We knew it wasn't reasonable to take them both nor would it be fair to the younger one to be cramped in a camper most of the time. Sadly he found a friend he trusted and gave our sweet Loki up to a new home.
After much research I found a campground that was reasonable in price and accepting of our family. Now it was time to come up with the traveling money.
Funding the trip
Ok so we had the camper and the destination, now we needed the funds to make the trip.
After searching the internet and contacting several campgrounds we settled on a campground in Perry, Georgia. Fair Harbor RV in Perry, Georgia sounded like a great first place to go. It was within a city and close to everything yet set in a country like setting. They had no problem with our Rottie or the fact that there would be 5 of us. Not only that but the monthly price was $300 a month and included elec, water, sewer, 70 cable channels, and free wifi. This definitely sounded like the right place.
However we still didn't even have a vehicle that could haul the camper. We began our search for something. We considered trucks but there would be 5 of us and a dog so a truck might not provide the best comfort for us. John and I began discussing the possibility of a van. We searched the local classifieds and finally found one that we thought would haul us.
John and Adam went to look at the van and they decided that it would do it. John paid for the van right there and then. He then came home and we registered it and insured it for he and Adam to go pick up in a few days.
When we finally got the van home, the kids were very excited. It was so big and looked like it would be very comfortable for the trip and for Kyle and his girlfriend to use as a partial bedroom.
Then we discovered that we needed a very expensive tow package to haul the camper with. We got a price quote of $750, which was more than we actually paid for the van itself. If we purchased it we would not have enough money for the trip.
We became desperate. John still owned his truck and his van and about $8,000 in tools. We had been trying to sell them all but we had no interest yet. We discussed selling the whole thing at a discounted rate and then talked to a couple of people we thought would be interested.
In order to sell this stuff we ended up selling it all together for $2400. We definitely could have gotten more for it but we needed the money right then. We also sold my car back to the place where we bought it from so that we wouldn't have two vehicles to drive along the trip.
This gave us enough to get the tow package installed and new tires for the van. We also bought supplies for the trip.
So here we were, in the middle of January, with all our money for the trip, a vehicle to tow our home, and a destination ready. Now we just had to wait for a break in the snow.
After searching the internet and contacting several campgrounds we settled on a campground in Perry, Georgia. Fair Harbor RV in Perry, Georgia sounded like a great first place to go. It was within a city and close to everything yet set in a country like setting. They had no problem with our Rottie or the fact that there would be 5 of us. Not only that but the monthly price was $300 a month and included elec, water, sewer, 70 cable channels, and free wifi. This definitely sounded like the right place.
However we still didn't even have a vehicle that could haul the camper. We began our search for something. We considered trucks but there would be 5 of us and a dog so a truck might not provide the best comfort for us. John and I began discussing the possibility of a van. We searched the local classifieds and finally found one that we thought would haul us.
John and Adam went to look at the van and they decided that it would do it. John paid for the van right there and then. He then came home and we registered it and insured it for he and Adam to go pick up in a few days.
When we finally got the van home, the kids were very excited. It was so big and looked like it would be very comfortable for the trip and for Kyle and his girlfriend to use as a partial bedroom.
Then we discovered that we needed a very expensive tow package to haul the camper with. We got a price quote of $750, which was more than we actually paid for the van itself. If we purchased it we would not have enough money for the trip.
We became desperate. John still owned his truck and his van and about $8,000 in tools. We had been trying to sell them all but we had no interest yet. We discussed selling the whole thing at a discounted rate and then talked to a couple of people we thought would be interested.
In order to sell this stuff we ended up selling it all together for $2400. We definitely could have gotten more for it but we needed the money right then. We also sold my car back to the place where we bought it from so that we wouldn't have two vehicles to drive along the trip.
This gave us enough to get the tow package installed and new tires for the van. We also bought supplies for the trip.
So here we were, in the middle of January, with all our money for the trip, a vehicle to tow our home, and a destination ready. Now we just had to wait for a break in the snow.
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