Once upon a time, in a small house in a regular neighborhood, there lived a couple who had a dream. Theirs was a dream that seemed impossible in the middle of raising a family, working two jobs, maintaining a house (and keeping up with the laundry) and other normal life responsibilities. This couple had a dream of travelling around in a RV which would allow the man to pursue his love (and gift) of photography while feeding the woman’s love of history and places.
This was our dream. Our far, far away dream. Until now……
Just knowing how much RV’s, travel trailers, trucks, equipment, etc, cost was overwhelming. How on earth could we make this work? John and I are pretty practical people. We knew that “new” was not going to be our path but even “used” was well out of sight for us. Or so it seemed.
We haunted the RV sales yards and special events. I can’t tell you how many RVs we climbed into and out of — from crazy smelly ones to the ones that weren’t set up level and gave the Fun House, off-kilter experience. We talked pop-ups. We talked travel trailers. We talked toy haulers. We talked with sales people. We talked with fellow shoppers. We talked with friends and pseudo-acquaintances about their campers. We dreamed and talked and talked and dreamed.
All that time did allow us the ability to really figure out what we liked, what we could live with and what was not going to work. Random people gave us bits of information which allowed us to not be wooed by pretty or fancy and to look at “rainbowing” of the outside paneling (a sign that the trailer has been overloaded) or water damage or seams that have not been taken care of.
One day we realized that we are currently in a perfect little moment of time in our lives — nobody is dependent upon us and we don’t have grandchildren (yet) to spend time with. If we didn’t move into our dream now, there would never be a more “perfect” time. And so we moved our feet. Or our feet were moved for us…..
My dad has a “guy” who sells used vehicles in the small town they live in. My dad convinced us to “just go talk” to Ed. Six months later, John received a call about a truck. Well, once you have the truck, it doesn’t make any sense to not have the trailer. So here we are…. on January 31st, in the beginning of a pretty big Colorado snowstorm, buying a travel trailer and pulling it in our “new to us” truck.
It’s been 3 1/2 months since we brought it home. We’ve done a lot to it and I imagine down the line, there will be more to do. But I can’t wait for this adventure to begin!
This is our story. We’re just beginners and we’re willing to share our successes and, I’m sure, the failures.
I invite you to join us in our experiences.
And if you have any tips, tricks or advice, John, the consummate researcher, will be glad to compile, research or burn (as appropriate) so I’m not bogged down in the details.
Welcome to our Little House of Big (on wheels)!
