Through the night and in to RV day two at the Homestead campground

I was beat last night after all the day 1 activities, and once I had dinner and figured out the electric heater would be a better choice than the propane furnace, I fell sound asleep. It’s very quiet here and I woke up early before sunrise. When pulling out the coffee I realized that I had better make my way to the campground facilities for my morning constitutional (I won’t elaborate on what that means:) and walked out in to the chilly, clear air morning.

One thing I have found is a basic RV fact: you have to always be thinking about the essentials of life. It’s not just flicking a switch or turning on the heat: you constantly go over mental checklists to see if the underlying systems are in place to enable those very basic, usually-taken-for-granted tasks. With electric hook-up you really can replicate most closely your ‘stick home’ (I have heard traditional homes called that and it always makes me happy:) with the exception of the stove which requires propane. Now my thoughts preceding any action are ‘is the propane tank switch in the open position so I can turn the stove on?’, ‘is the small switch that holds the outside air vent open so that the overhead fan can expel the cooking fumes?”do I need to crack-open the windows even though it’s 30 degrees outside in order to avoid condensation from the heat and my very own breathing?’

So in terms of simplifying life, at this stage things are far from simple. But being a little uncertain, not quite knowing the entire picture of actual RVing is actually a welcome change from the predictable, repetitive rhythm of my work and personal life. I welcome the ability to problem solve, to try and remember that choice morsel of information I heard on some podcast or read somewhere in a blog or saw someone kindly demonstrate on YouTube. The vast array of systems and processes that are interrelated and dependent upon one another, and are now being overseen by a complete Newbie such as myself is kind of crazy!

Day broke and I continued to try my utmost to unload the 6 blue containers filled with stick house left-overs. For some reason I had the bright idea that I would select the things I don’t use all that much at home and bring them here to the small, ever-millimeter-counts travel trailer. Kind of stupid, but hey it seemed like a good idea at the time. So some too big knives and measuring cups that have never measured a thing are now in the recycling bin that will finally end up where it belongs – actually in the even bigger recycling bin.

But also got my various Amazon and Walmart shopping spree items put away as well. In the process I realized that the battery cut-off and hose filters don’t need to be inside, so worked on migrating external supplies to the pass-through storage that goes the width of the bottom of the trailer. I also realized that I have somewhat of an LED flashlight obsession – I mean these pull-up LED lamps are amazing!!!! I have one about every 5 feet in case I need it to be like midday at the Equator here in the RV.

I decided to take a shower as it was time to face the inevitable fact that you can pretend you can get by on a few gallons of water but not when you need a shower. The RV is winterized, so picking a camp with this accommodation was part of the plan. I ambled down to the lodge and entered the somewhat land before 60’s timeline of the stalls. The water trickled out and was cold for a very long time. I though it might have to be one of those ice plunge events just to get somewhat clean and then, thankfully, the warm water arrived.

This afternoon I planned on a walk around the small lake that the campground is located near but the rain came and didn’t let up for the entire day. I instead listened to recordings of a great world music show I really enjoy (I record it on Tuned In radio app – the show is called Odyssey and it’s on WUMB in Boston Sundays at 2pm). So it provided the backdrop for some reading, Facebook deep-dives (have I really joined THAT many RV groups?) and now as I write this blog post.

Tonight a little more of the same, and I head out tomorrow morning, back to the condo. Not in a rush at all, taking each aspect of RV life as it comes and already thinking about my trip out to Gettysburg at the end of the month.

#rv