Well my vacation is officially over even after ten days off I could have used more time. We were able to accomplish a few things. Dakota had his surgery and is now fully healed, he still can't jump onto the bunk yet, but I'm not sure if that is because of the huge pile of laundry we didn't get to or because of his incision. I got the kitchen cleaned up which was no small feat. I found out whether I would be working in a different department (no, apparently finishing my degree is more important than I thought it was). We decided that I needed to go back to school, I'm still waiting to hear whether or not I can go back to overnights by the time school starts before I enroll. We also decided that Wynn needs to start back to grad school. We decided to buy a second car to facilitate this, this will also help with our credit scores. We decided to buy a house here and sell the Airstream, more on that when I know more. We found out that we fall just short of qualifying for a home loan, and we are trying to figure out how to remedy that until we can build our credit scores up, more on this later. We will be building our credit, starting now, but in the mean time we are trying to figure out how to get out of the Airstream and into the house we want, right now. Tricky very tricky.
I'm not sure how I feel about going back to work this afternoon after being so close to moving into a higher paying position that would have started Monday. The vacation helped, giving me time to deal with my frustration, but I'm still a bit bummed. However, if I can go back to overnights by the time classes start going to school full time will be a lot easier than it would have been if I'd gotten the 9-5 job.
Even after ten days I feel like I need "just one more day" to finish everything, I think I'd feel that way no matter how much time off I had taken. I'm pretty sure that if I had today off I'd be thinking the same thing tomorrow. I love most aspects of my life. I love Wynn and I love our dogs. I love my job even thought I thought I was ready to move on. But sometimes being an adult sucks.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Yeah You Caught Me
So I only updated about Dakota and his stitches and I didn't update about the loan stuff. Yeah, busted I know. Um... I really don't want to talk about it at the moment. Suffice it to say we are still trying to figure things out at the moment and when I know more, probably, hopefully this coming week I shall post about it. So we'll leave it at that for the moment. I'm currently reading the Life In a Prairie Box blog to keep my mind off of it.
Cone of Shame
Dakota's stitches came out today and he is ecstatic. He bathes himself much like a cat and has been unable to do so for almost ten days. I guess he has felt extremely dirty as of late, he is certainly doing a lot of bathing. He's a happy dog and that's what matters.
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| Dakota Benson 2004 |
Oh it's the "I love you mom" face.
Late Breaking News
We have an appointment at 3pm to find out whether or not we can get a loan. Yay! Step one. Oh and Dakota- Benson would like me to tell you that Wynn is on the phone with the vet to see if we can get his stitches out today. He is very hopeful that he will no longer have to wear the cone of shame.
Well Will It?
So we've found a house that we really like and the price is right. We are starting the process of getting a home loan hopefully today, I'm still waiting on Wynn to get home so that we can go meet our loan counselor. We are ready to move and I think we both feel that we have lived this way for long enough. As you can tell by the Carson House blog we love older homes, we have vowed that we would never live in anything newer than a 1930s home and so far we have stuck to that. Our home 190 miles away was built in 1925 and the house we a currently looking to buy was built in 1918. There is a lot of work and that goes into living in an older home and really it's best that you have a good sense of humor, but the character of the home makes up for the work and minor annoyances that go along with it.
This house needs work, it needs less work than other homes we have looked at and even less work than the house we still have. The carpets need to be ripped up and the wood floors need to be refinished. It needs central heat and air and possibly some electrical work. The rooms all need a fresh coat of paint and the library needs some serious seventies panel removal work done. The kitchen counter tops need replacing and the cabinets need refacing but these are all things that we can do while we are in it, well except maybe the floors. The garage apartment is move in ready except for a new shower surround and the yard is the perfect size for the Airstream dogs.
Will this be our house?
I really hope it will I am getting tired of finding a house and then not ending up buying the house. After the Carson house I'm a bit more gun shy and a lot more jaded than I once was, but here's to hope and new beginnings.
Full Disclosure
For the sake of full disclosure I must make one point very clear. This will be a hybrid blog of sorts. Once I finish recounting the two years we spent in the Airstream (The Tin Can) and the time we've spent as we wait and hope through the home buying process this will become a house blog. I will document the wait and the stressful steps it takes to buy a home, but as it stands as I write this post we are still in the Airstream. I am sitting the bunk with the dogs that have just come in from marking their gravel yard and until that changes and I am sitting in the living room of an old house this will still be an Airstream blog.
Once we have purchased a home this blog will transition with us. It will turn from RV park antics and Airstream moments to choosing paint colors and pulling up carpets. There will be photos of the progress and the happy homeowners and our pets. I'm sure I will still referrence our time here and remember things that I have left out of previous Airstreamer posts.
Once we have purchased a home this blog will transition with us. It will turn from RV park antics and Airstream moments to choosing paint colors and pulling up carpets. There will be photos of the progress and the happy homeowners and our pets. I'm sure I will still referrence our time here and remember things that I have left out of previous Airstreamer posts.
False Start
At one point we thought we had found the perfect house. We had been inside it on several occasions, and even my friend Matt and I used to visit after we'd come off of an over night shift and just sit on the porch for a while. It was in an awesome downtown historic neighborhood. It had a huge carriage house apartment for us to rent and the second story of the main house had it's own kitchen, so we could have rented that too. It was perfect, it needed some work but I was in love. I still feel a bit down when I think about the fact that we just didn't move fast enough. I just hope it's in good hands.
The 1915 Carson House... yes I still pine away.
Oklahoma Blizzard
So we made it through the first winter and summer and the fall was fairly uneventful aside from some entertaining RV park antics that I have recounted in the previous posts. The second winter was colder than the first and we could certainly feel the difference in our little tin can. Our water hose and pipes froze up almost immediately and stayed that way for most of the winter. We had to use jugs of water to flush the toilet and to do dishes but all in all we adjusted to it very quickly. The sewer tank only froze up once, when we ran out of RV antifreeze, yes they make it and it's best to use it frequently during the winter.
This was also the year of the huge Oklahoma blizzard during Christmas. We had gone home to our house to be near Wynn's family and to take a break from the freezing conditions in the Airstream and we got stranded. I missed several days of work as did Wynn. Our roommate at the house got stranded in a McDonald's parking lot on Christmas Eve and we couldn't dig out our 4wd truck to go and rescue him.
When we finally made it back to the Airsteam everything was fine, the furnace was running and we had enough propane in the second tank to make it for a few days without refilling. It was quite cozy looking from the outside with all of that snow snuggled up around it's base. Even so we were glad that we had been at our house during the worst of it.
This was also the year of the huge Oklahoma blizzard during Christmas. We had gone home to our house to be near Wynn's family and to take a break from the freezing conditions in the Airstream and we got stranded. I missed several days of work as did Wynn. Our roommate at the house got stranded in a McDonald's parking lot on Christmas Eve and we couldn't dig out our 4wd truck to go and rescue him.
When we finally made it back to the Airsteam everything was fine, the furnace was running and we had enough propane in the second tank to make it for a few days without refilling. It was quite cozy looking from the outside with all of that snow snuggled up around it's base. Even so we were glad that we had been at our house during the worst of it.
Bang Bang
There are certain things you become accustomed to living full time in an RV park. You get your share of unseemly neighbors and you know that during the winter you will freeze during the night. These things just become a part of day to day life. You also know that if you don't run your air conditioner twenty four hours a day during the summer you will boil and that the occasional wasp will find it's way into the bathroom at the most inopportune times.
Depending on where your park is located you may be surrounded by good neighborhoods. I have mentioned before that we live really close to an airport, this is a general sign that your neighborhood probably isn't that great. Ours certainly isn't. There is a mobile home park across the street and a sewage treatment plant behind us. A major highway runs less than a half a mile away. The land the park is on was taken over by imminent domain in the seventies so no permanent structures can stand on it. This was done to build a reservoir to keep the nearby flood plains from flooding. So all in all it's not a great neighborhood to live in. There are gunshots and police sirens on a nightly basis, or what I find even more creepy, gun shots and no police sirens.
This isn't the worst neighborhood in the city, in fact it's nowhere near that, but it took some getting used to.
Depending on where your park is located you may be surrounded by good neighborhoods. I have mentioned before that we live really close to an airport, this is a general sign that your neighborhood probably isn't that great. Ours certainly isn't. There is a mobile home park across the street and a sewage treatment plant behind us. A major highway runs less than a half a mile away. The land the park is on was taken over by imminent domain in the seventies so no permanent structures can stand on it. This was done to build a reservoir to keep the nearby flood plains from flooding. So all in all it's not a great neighborhood to live in. There are gunshots and police sirens on a nightly basis, or what I find even more creepy, gun shots and no police sirens.
This isn't the worst neighborhood in the city, in fact it's nowhere near that, but it took some getting used to.
The Brothers
So we made it through the summer with the sort of working air conditioner and we made it through the meth lab incident and the shady neighbors. So on to fall and the changes that always come with the falling leaves. New rental neighbors, just what I always wanted. I awoke one afternoon to voices outside my open window. Something was being said about the rental trailer next door looking like a "new beginning". Okay there are plenty of great reasons for this, maybe someone just got out of a bad relationship, maybe someone's sister just left her abusive husband, maybe someone just got out of prison for a nonviolent crime. I'm the first person to say that we lock too many people up in this country and mandatory minimums are unjust and unfair.
So my new neighbors moved in, two brothers, the third brother also lived here but in another part of the park with his wife. His wife had rented the trailer for his brothers to move into after they got out of prison. Alright fine, I can live with that. They were nice enough, the older brother drank twenty four hours a day but he seemed harmless and the younger one seemed to be a nice guy just trying to get back on his feet.
I went to do some laundry one afternoon and was stopped by one one of my female neighbors up at the office. She had asked if I lived in the Airstream next to the two brothers. Yeah I sure did and they seemed nice enough. She then proceeded to tell me that one of them, had stopped her at the dumpster to tell her that he had just gotten out of prison and had been watching her for weeks. Oh great, two women living next to a man that stalks women and who just got out of prison for who knows what. I had just assumed it was a drug charge or a DUI, could I have been wrong? So Wynn decided to call the office and the office security decided to tell the brothers that their neighbors had called about the threats made to one of the other neighbors. Nice confidentiality there security guy.
Eventually the older brother moved out so that the younger brother could move in his "Old Lady", classy. She was very nice and so was the younger brother. They eventually moved not long after winter thawed to spring and I didn't give it much though.
A few weeks later I noticed that the office kept moving the trailer out and back in to the slot next to us. So I happened to be talking to our neighbor the Harley mechanic and his wife and found out that it was a roach trailer. Yay! Just what I always wanted, happy spring to me.
After that I was reading the news paper at the end of my shift waiting on my relief to show and noticed a mug shot of a beat up man. You guessed it, the nice younger brother had been arrested for assault. I'd hate to know what the other guy looked like.
So my new neighbors moved in, two brothers, the third brother also lived here but in another part of the park with his wife. His wife had rented the trailer for his brothers to move into after they got out of prison. Alright fine, I can live with that. They were nice enough, the older brother drank twenty four hours a day but he seemed harmless and the younger one seemed to be a nice guy just trying to get back on his feet.
I went to do some laundry one afternoon and was stopped by one one of my female neighbors up at the office. She had asked if I lived in the Airstream next to the two brothers. Yeah I sure did and they seemed nice enough. She then proceeded to tell me that one of them, had stopped her at the dumpster to tell her that he had just gotten out of prison and had been watching her for weeks. Oh great, two women living next to a man that stalks women and who just got out of prison for who knows what. I had just assumed it was a drug charge or a DUI, could I have been wrong? So Wynn decided to call the office and the office security decided to tell the brothers that their neighbors had called about the threats made to one of the other neighbors. Nice confidentiality there security guy.
Eventually the older brother moved out so that the younger brother could move in his "Old Lady", classy. She was very nice and so was the younger brother. They eventually moved not long after winter thawed to spring and I didn't give it much though.
A few weeks later I noticed that the office kept moving the trailer out and back in to the slot next to us. So I happened to be talking to our neighbor the Harley mechanic and his wife and found out that it was a roach trailer. Yay! Just what I always wanted, happy spring to me.
After that I was reading the news paper at the end of my shift waiting on my relief to show and noticed a mug shot of a beat up man. You guessed it, the nice younger brother had been arrested for assault. I'd hate to know what the other guy looked like.
Breaking Bad... Southern Style
So if you've seen the show Breaking Bad you know that RVs can seem like a good place to cook meth. Thanks a lot Hollywood as if my neighbors needed any help thinking up ways to do things illegally. In theory an RV meth lab does sound pretty legit. You know you can drive it off into the middle of nowhere and run everything off of a generator. Once you've finished you just clean it out and park it in storage or your suburban driveway. Okay sure, I understand how a screen writer can think this is a genius idea. Let me just say that if something is on television there will always be someone who tries to make life imitate art, they will inevitably fail miserably.
One morning after working an overnight shift I pulled into the RV park ready to let the dogs out and go to bed. I was not expecting to see a plethora of cop cars and news vans haphazardly parked across from the park office and I was certainly not expecting to see cops wondering around in hazmat suits. I knew what it all meant as soon as I saw them. Someone had been watching way too much Breaking Bad, but apparently they had not been paying attention.
Renting a stationary RV in an RV park right across from the office is not the same genius idea as buying a motor home and driving out into the middle of nowhere to cook meth. Accidentally falling asleep and letting it all catch on fire isn't either. Oh, and having your kids with you, yeah nice one genius. If you happen to do all of these things and the police show up don't try and start a stand off with a small calibur handgun. Just surrender, unless you really want that Darwin Award. Let's face it, you certainly deserve it.
I will say right now that no one was seriously injured or killed in the above incident and the news coverage was mercifully discreet about the whole thing. Our genius went to jail and I assume his kids went to social services or to a relative. By the time I woke up that afternoon, the trailer had been towed off by the police and there were no signs of what had gone on that morning. Life went back to normal and so far this hasn't happened again.
Roach Trailer
No, I'm not talking about the kind you find in ash trays from time to time. That's what I was hoping it meant too. No such luck, I'm talking about the nasty kind, with six legs. You know the ones that could survive a nuclear holocaust. Yep, cockroaches. So apparently you have to look out for "roach trailers", generally these are the rentals that stay at the park permanently. Sometimes you can just tell by looking. There are signs. Just living next to a rental trailer is cause enough for alarm. I've heard horror stories about how the walls in some of these rentals have been black with roaches and no one could understand how the tenants could sleep inside at night. The worst part is the fact that the park used to fumigate the trailers where they sat, which would mean that the roaches would flee to the neighboring trailers. Now at least they pull them off somewhere to do it.
Cats
There are cats everywhere at our park. I've never seen so many cats in one place. Apparently just before we moved the tent camper here there had been a crazy cat lady living in our original spot. She was an older woman and from what we could tell she had started to deteriorate mentally at some point while staying here. From what I could gather she had about seventy cats living in a very small RV. These weren't your well manicured Fancy Feast eating cats either. These were your mangy feral type cats that would do anything to survive. They had somehow worn holes through the floor of the trailer and would come and go as they pleased. None of them were spayed or neutered so they multiplied exponentially. So eventually animal control and the police department were called out to remove this poor soul and her cats. The cats did not go quietly. Sure they were able to catch some of them, but the rest escaped into the wooded area a few feet away.
In the aftermath we have roaming cats everywhere. Things are better than they were two years ago however they are still there and sometimes you can hear them fighting in the woods. The biggest sign that they are thriving is that each time I go to the shower house there is a new kitten that someone has rescued. Let me put that into perspective for you. Two years ago there was one shower house cat, now there are five.
In the aftermath we have roaming cats everywhere. Things are better than they were two years ago however they are still there and sometimes you can hear them fighting in the woods. The biggest sign that they are thriving is that each time I go to the shower house there is a new kitten that someone has rescued. Let me put that into perspective for you. Two years ago there was one shower house cat, now there are five.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Rear Window
The window in the bunk gives me a perfect view of the neighbors. It was a lot more entertaining when it was a rental slot, but also quite unsettling. Our first rent-a-neighbor was a middle aged hard partying couple and a kid that didn't seem to be theirs but did seem to be underage. They had people over at all hours and it made it difficult to sleep during the day. I work third shift so sleeping during the day is essential. The couple looked like they had started partying at a Van Halen concert and forgotten to stop.
They were loud and they fought a lot with each other and their guests. Towards the end of their stay we were convinced that they were making meth. It wouldn't have been their first time in this RV park. I remember one cold fall night they had their heater screaming at full blast and their windows and roof vents open. I'm not sure why they would need so much ventilation if they weren't cooking. When I say cooking I'm not talking about dinner.
They left quickly the next morning.
They were loud and they fought a lot with each other and their guests. Towards the end of their stay we were convinced that they were making meth. It wouldn't have been their first time in this RV park. I remember one cold fall night they had their heater screaming at full blast and their windows and roof vents open. I'm not sure why they would need so much ventilation if they weren't cooking. When I say cooking I'm not talking about dinner.
They left quickly the next morning.
Neighbors
All in all we've gotten pretty lucky with our neighbors during our time here. I've mentioned Susan and her husband, I can honestly say that they were the best neighbors that we have had in two years. I still miss them sometimes. We also had a traveling insurance man and his pet corgi who lived on the other side of us, he was very nice also but he didn't stay long. After he moved on we then had a young couple from Alabama, they were also quite nice. The wife was from I believe Germany and from time to time you'd hear her sobbing on the phone to her family, I hope by now the longing has lessened for her a bit now that they have also moved.
Once we moved into the fenced slot our neighbors changed a bit. There was the guy who just stored his fifth wheel next door for a long time. When he finally came back he moved slots, we thought at the time he didn't appreciate living next to the lesbian couple, he certainly gave us some odd looks and was unfriendly enough. On the other side of him lives the Harley Davidson mechanic and his wife, both very nice people. They always keep an eye on our place when we are out of town and they always talk with us when we see them.
Our old slot became a place to park rental trailers for a while. Our RV park rents RVs to tenants without background checks so you can get some really nasty people. I have checked the sex offender registry and well to be honest, it's not pretty.
Once we moved into the fenced slot our neighbors changed a bit. There was the guy who just stored his fifth wheel next door for a long time. When he finally came back he moved slots, we thought at the time he didn't appreciate living next to the lesbian couple, he certainly gave us some odd looks and was unfriendly enough. On the other side of him lives the Harley Davidson mechanic and his wife, both very nice people. They always keep an eye on our place when we are out of town and they always talk with us when we see them.
Our old slot became a place to park rental trailers for a while. Our RV park rents RVs to tenants without background checks so you can get some really nasty people. I have checked the sex offender registry and well to be honest, it's not pretty.
Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel... Tense
So we started having issues with the air conditioner. The biggest problem with having things repaired on an RV is that you have to have them towed into a shop. Yeah, that wouldn't work for us, we live here and I don't think they'd have let us live in the shop. So we checked around and found a mobile RV repair man. We also found out that unfortunately he was the only game in town and he could charge whatever he wanted.
I've noticed that as a woman when I take my car to a mechanic I can tell if he's a crook just by how he treats me. If he treats me like an equal and seems to quote fair prices then he's not a crook and he can work on my car. If he talks down to me and treats me like a "mark" then guess what I can get in my car and drive somewhere else. If I use this technique enough I eventually find a mechanic that doesn't treat me like I'm a moron just because I'm a woman. That works great because generally there are many mechanics in any given town.
So we called the mobile RV repair man. He showed up in a box truck with a cherry picker attached, which was good because he was a really large man and I didn't want him crawling around on the roof of my Airstream. The Airstream roofs have weak spots and if you don't know where they are or just don't care you can do some serious damage. This guy didn't seem like the type who would care.
Wynn and I knew he was going to be trouble. The second he saw that we were two women we could see his eyes light up. He had that look in his eye like he could empty our wallets and we'd thank him for it. To him we were "marks" just because we weren't men. He was the type of man that scratches and snorts and spits while talking to you. He was all pit stains and beer belly. An utterly disgusting and chauvinistic man. I wanted to vomit just being near him, you could smell the misogyny wafting off of him like B.O.
He had a helper and it was the helper that did all of the work. The chauvinist stayed on the ground while telling us how we needed an new unit and how much it would be and that he could install it. All this without actually looking at the unit itself. His helper quietly took off the air conditioner shroud and removed a very large mud dauber nest and a ton of fall leaves. He then replaced the shroud and turned on the now working air conditioner all while his boss gave us outlandish part and labor rates. $1000 for a new air conditioner, they only run about $600. $1000 for the labor. Seriously? Come on man, we're not stupid.
We ended up paying for the debris removal and sending him on his way both of us needing a shower after just being near him and vowing to never use him again for anything.
I've noticed that as a woman when I take my car to a mechanic I can tell if he's a crook just by how he treats me. If he treats me like an equal and seems to quote fair prices then he's not a crook and he can work on my car. If he talks down to me and treats me like a "mark" then guess what I can get in my car and drive somewhere else. If I use this technique enough I eventually find a mechanic that doesn't treat me like I'm a moron just because I'm a woman. That works great because generally there are many mechanics in any given town.
So we called the mobile RV repair man. He showed up in a box truck with a cherry picker attached, which was good because he was a really large man and I didn't want him crawling around on the roof of my Airstream. The Airstream roofs have weak spots and if you don't know where they are or just don't care you can do some serious damage. This guy didn't seem like the type who would care.
Wynn and I knew he was going to be trouble. The second he saw that we were two women we could see his eyes light up. He had that look in his eye like he could empty our wallets and we'd thank him for it. To him we were "marks" just because we weren't men. He was the type of man that scratches and snorts and spits while talking to you. He was all pit stains and beer belly. An utterly disgusting and chauvinistic man. I wanted to vomit just being near him, you could smell the misogyny wafting off of him like B.O.
He had a helper and it was the helper that did all of the work. The chauvinist stayed on the ground while telling us how we needed an new unit and how much it would be and that he could install it. All this without actually looking at the unit itself. His helper quietly took off the air conditioner shroud and removed a very large mud dauber nest and a ton of fall leaves. He then replaced the shroud and turned on the now working air conditioner all while his boss gave us outlandish part and labor rates. $1000 for a new air conditioner, they only run about $600. $1000 for the labor. Seriously? Come on man, we're not stupid.
We ended up paying for the debris removal and sending him on his way both of us needing a shower after just being near him and vowing to never use him again for anything.
Sorry, I Can't Hear a Damned Thing!
Spring melts quickly into summer in Oklahoma and living in an Airstream is like living in a beer can. When it's cold inside the shiny aluminum skin even sweats like one. Also if it's over 75F outside it's around 90F inside. It's not really a problem RV air conditioners will freeze you out. In fact I'm freezing right now under a blanket and the current temperature is almost 90F outside after dark. Though that might be attributed to the fact that the air conditioner is almost directly above me in the bunk. I'm sure Wynn who is in the living room would tell you that she's still a bit warm but I haven't asked her.
The problem with RV air conditioners is that even though they are very good at what they do, they are also quite loud. The older they are the louder they are. Our air conditioner during our first summer was original to the Airstream so it was approximately 37 years old. We live near an airport and when I say it sounded like an airplane taking off I'm not kidding. It was cool though because it ran on a thermostat like the air condition in a house and would kick off once it got to a certain temperature, though it sometimes had trouble kicking back on.
That should have been our first sign that it was on it's last leg and it was but we couldn't afford to do anything about it at the time, so we babied it as best we could and prayed to the air conditioning gods that it would just make through the summer. Which it did, sort of. Let's just say the air conditioner that is freezing me out right now is not the same one that came with our Airstream, but that's another story.
The problem with RV air conditioners is that even though they are very good at what they do, they are also quite loud. The older they are the louder they are. Our air conditioner during our first summer was original to the Airstream so it was approximately 37 years old. We live near an airport and when I say it sounded like an airplane taking off I'm not kidding. It was cool though because it ran on a thermostat like the air condition in a house and would kick off once it got to a certain temperature, though it sometimes had trouble kicking back on.
That should have been our first sign that it was on it's last leg and it was but we couldn't afford to do anything about it at the time, so we babied it as best we could and prayed to the air conditioning gods that it would just make through the summer. Which it did, sort of. Let's just say the air conditioner that is freezing me out right now is not the same one that came with our Airstream, but that's another story.
Sleeping Arrangements
Before I move on I think it's best that I go over the layout of our Airstream. As I've mentioned it's thirty-two feet long, which is quite large as RVs go. It doesn't have any slide outs nor is it very wide. It's sort of like a large hallway with a living room at the front and a bathroom at the rear. There is a joke among Airstreamers that Land Yachts come with a bowling alley. I use the term living room very lightly as you'll soon see. There were many different layouts for Airstreams and still are our's is a rear bath with a midship twin bunk. Here's the problem Wynn, myself and the dogs cannot fit in a twin bed, so the living room is essentially another bedroom. I sleep in the bunk just in front of the bathroom, which has some interesting consequences and Wynn sleeps on the goucho or fold out bed in the living room. The goucho is also about the same size as a twin bed. Suffice it to say Wynn and I have not slept in the same bed in a very long time, it's taken some time to adjust after years of sleeping with someone next to you.
In the bunk area is an amazing amount of storage. There is a huge closet, an abundance of overhead storage that remind me of an airplane and a very deep built in dresser. It's quite nice and all of our clothes fit, with a little work. There are also closets on both sides between the bathroom and the bunk, oil heaters are hidden very nicely in them.
Between the bunk and the living room is the kitchen with a huge pantry, so huge in fact I'm not sure what all we have stored in it after two years. The furnace takes up some of the under cabinet space but there is still plenty of room. We have a double stainless steel sink and of course the refrigerator and the little dorm sized freezer.
You've noticed I've left out the bathroom. The bathroom is quite spacious and everything works together nicely. It also has an amazing amount of storage. You wouldn't think that a couple of butches need a lot of bathroom storage, but we do.
The problem with sleeping next to a bathroom aside from the obvious "traffic" that can occur is the fact that with any RV human waste sits in a holding tank until it is emptied. Some RVs can be used with the tanks open but Airstreams at least ours tend to clog up if you do that. So especially during the summer there is a smell, it's not too horrible but it's there. As long as you empty the tank as soon as it needs to be and you keep pouring your eco friendly chemicals down the toilet it's not really that bad. Trust me I know exactly when the tank needs to be emptied, even in my sleep.
In the bunk area is an amazing amount of storage. There is a huge closet, an abundance of overhead storage that remind me of an airplane and a very deep built in dresser. It's quite nice and all of our clothes fit, with a little work. There are also closets on both sides between the bathroom and the bunk, oil heaters are hidden very nicely in them.
Between the bunk and the living room is the kitchen with a huge pantry, so huge in fact I'm not sure what all we have stored in it after two years. The furnace takes up some of the under cabinet space but there is still plenty of room. We have a double stainless steel sink and of course the refrigerator and the little dorm sized freezer.
You've noticed I've left out the bathroom. The bathroom is quite spacious and everything works together nicely. It also has an amazing amount of storage. You wouldn't think that a couple of butches need a lot of bathroom storage, but we do.
The problem with sleeping next to a bathroom aside from the obvious "traffic" that can occur is the fact that with any RV human waste sits in a holding tank until it is emptied. Some RVs can be used with the tanks open but Airstreams at least ours tend to clog up if you do that. So especially during the summer there is a smell, it's not too horrible but it's there. As long as you empty the tank as soon as it needs to be and you keep pouring your eco friendly chemicals down the toilet it's not really that bad. Trust me I know exactly when the tank needs to be emptied, even in my sleep.
Spring Fool
Eventually winter thaws to spring and the blanket of snow melts to reveal wild flowers and new life. We made it through our first winter and I was happy to store the oil heaters and turn off the furnace for good. With spring comes pollen and even as allergic as I am I can't help but open the windows while I'm sleeping, though I regret it when I wake up. I love spring, I'm a spring fool. I've never appreciated spring as much as I do living in an Airstream. Spring is a time when it's cool enough that you don't have to run the air conditioner and so it's comfortable and most of all quiet inside the tin can. The original air conditioner did work and ran on a thermostat but I for one wasn't looking forward to turning it on. I don't know I guess I'm just not comfortable with things that run full time on electricity. I've never been. I'm not too comfortable with things that run on propane either which is why I was ecstatic when I could turn off the furnace and not have to worry about it blowing us sky high. It's perfectly safe, however I'm just weird about things like that.
Spring for me is reassuring because most things happen without incident. It feels safe, it feels like peace.
Spring for me is reassuring because most things happen without incident. It feels safe, it feels like peace.
Current Events
Wynn is taking a half day off tomorrow so that we can go see about a home loan. It has taken a long time for us to decide to stay here and quite a few false starts. Last night we sat down and did some figuring and realized that buying a home would save us a lot of money even with us keeping our other house. It's a nice relief to know that we probably won't be spending another cold winter here in the Airstream but I will miss some aspects of living in such a unique way. I will break in with updates to this process as they come along and when we know for sure that we are moving I will post the Airstream for sale. We would love to keep her but there just won't be room at the house we are looking to buy. I hope that we can find her a good home with someone who takes her places and keeps her well maintained. They day we move out and the day she is sold I will probably shed a tear or two. If it weren't for her I wouldn't have been able to finally appreciate the things I love in life.
Look Out Below
At the end of our first winter we had a bit of an ice storm it was beautiful and also unnerving. We were glad that we had purchased a 4wd truck a few years before, as were our employers because neither of us missed a day of work.
Our slot is actually quite pretty it's fenced, which I have mentioned before and has a bit of grass. There is also a very robust vine that has taken a liking to the chain link fencing and provided us some much appreciated privacy. The focal point though is the large tree that sits in the middle of our slot and provides shade for us as well as our neighbors. It's wonderful during the summer and it's beautiful during the fall especially since our park has a raking service that takes care of the thousands of leaves that carpet our yard.
During the ice storm the tree was glazed like everything else, we only thought to worry about a branch breaking loose and coming through the roof. Who knew we'd have to worry about anything else? The ice storm finally broke and the tree started to thaw. I had just come home from an overnight shift, as had Wynn and we were both sleeping soundly with the dogs, when suddenly we were jolted awake by what sounded like branches hitting the roof. I was freaking out thinking that either our beautiful Airstream would be dented beyond repair or that one of those branches would fall through into the trailer.
Wynn was brave, she is always brave. She opened the front door and peeked out. It turned out that the ice that had glazed the tree was now falling in hard jagged chunks onto us and the ground. It was as if someone was pouring big heavy chunks of broken glass out of the sky. It lasted for hours, during which we couldn't leave the Airstream, nor could we let the dogs out to do their business. Somehow we were able to get some sleep through all of it and our furry kids had any abstained from using the bathroom while we were stuck inside.
Our slot is actually quite pretty it's fenced, which I have mentioned before and has a bit of grass. There is also a very robust vine that has taken a liking to the chain link fencing and provided us some much appreciated privacy. The focal point though is the large tree that sits in the middle of our slot and provides shade for us as well as our neighbors. It's wonderful during the summer and it's beautiful during the fall especially since our park has a raking service that takes care of the thousands of leaves that carpet our yard.
During the ice storm the tree was glazed like everything else, we only thought to worry about a branch breaking loose and coming through the roof. Who knew we'd have to worry about anything else? The ice storm finally broke and the tree started to thaw. I had just come home from an overnight shift, as had Wynn and we were both sleeping soundly with the dogs, when suddenly we were jolted awake by what sounded like branches hitting the roof. I was freaking out thinking that either our beautiful Airstream would be dented beyond repair or that one of those branches would fall through into the trailer.
Wynn was brave, she is always brave. She opened the front door and peeked out. It turned out that the ice that had glazed the tree was now falling in hard jagged chunks onto us and the ground. It was as if someone was pouring big heavy chunks of broken glass out of the sky. It lasted for hours, during which we couldn't leave the Airstream, nor could we let the dogs out to do their business. Somehow we were able to get some sleep through all of it and our furry kids had any abstained from using the bathroom while we were stuck inside.
That's One Huge Icicle
For almost the entire two years we've been in the Airstream we thought that we had a slow leak in one of the pipes near the shower. We kept saying we'd get to it later and we didn't think much of it. We noticed the leak during the first winter when there was this massive icicle hanging off of the side of the trailer and attached to the ground. It would drip on occasion when it was warm out also. Our first assumption was that the cold made the leak worse and we'd deal with it later. It was clear clean water so it wasn't the black water take leaking so there wasn't any human waste on the ground. Awesome, so we just ignored it. It was strange though it even built up when the pipes were frozen. Yes pipes freeze but they don't always burst, thankfully.
It was a leak but not in the traditional sense. There is no gray water tank on the older Airstreams so everything goes into the black water tank. This was easily remedied you would just open a valve and your gray water would run onto the ground. This worked fine unless your plumbing in the bumper had been rerouted, you guessed it, ours had. Unfortunately we had no idea where the valve would now be. So every time we did dishes or ran the sink for too long tank water would back up in the shower, eww. We got accustomed to running out and dumping the tank before it got too high. It was annoying but it was also something we could live with.
I'm skipping ahead a bit now but it's to explain the leak. So about three months ago I happened to actually look at the plumbing and discovered just how the changes had been made. There is the Thetford valve that keeps the black water tank closed and a new valve on the bumper where the hose attaches to drain the sewer. I had just assumed that since the Thetford was old it was leaky and hence the new valve. I was wrong. The valve on the bumper bypasses the Thetford and is only for gray water and the Thetford seals nice and tight on it's own. Suffice it to say the big icicle and the two years we spent dealing with back water were solved once we started keeping the bumper valve open full time.
It was a leak but not in the traditional sense. There is no gray water tank on the older Airstreams so everything goes into the black water tank. This was easily remedied you would just open a valve and your gray water would run onto the ground. This worked fine unless your plumbing in the bumper had been rerouted, you guessed it, ours had. Unfortunately we had no idea where the valve would now be. So every time we did dishes or ran the sink for too long tank water would back up in the shower, eww. We got accustomed to running out and dumping the tank before it got too high. It was annoying but it was also something we could live with.
I'm skipping ahead a bit now but it's to explain the leak. So about three months ago I happened to actually look at the plumbing and discovered just how the changes had been made. There is the Thetford valve that keeps the black water tank closed and a new valve on the bumper where the hose attaches to drain the sewer. I had just assumed that since the Thetford was old it was leaky and hence the new valve. I was wrong. The valve on the bumper bypasses the Thetford and is only for gray water and the Thetford seals nice and tight on it's own. Suffice it to say the big icicle and the two years we spent dealing with back water were solved once we started keeping the bumper valve open full time.
Is That Saran Wrap?
I came home from work one evening the winter before last and there was this coating on the inside of the windows. Wynn had been home from work all day and she is known for her creativity. So I being a bit daft from time to time asked her the following question. "Is that Saran wrap on the windows?" and the answer was obvious. "No, it's to keep the cold air out." No it wasn't Saran wrap it's actually something sold at home improvement stores to keep the cold air out if you have leaky windows. I was surprised but it did actually work quite well, I'm not sure why we only used it for that first winter. I guess it had to do with me tearing it down to open the windows when the first hints of spring arrived.
Cold! Did I Mention it Was Cold?
Okay so I won't sugar coat this for you, winter in an RV is cold. Even with a really powerful forced air furnace it's still cold. They just weren't meant for this. RVs are for fun summers on Route 66 and vacations by the lake, not snow and certainly not ice. Our first winter we swore we'd never do it a second time, but we did. We found that if we supplemented the forced air furnace with those electric oil heaters that looked like radiators we were much warmer. We had used the oil heaters for several years in our home due to the fact that it had a floor furnace that kept the house quite warm, unless you wanted to sleep in the master bedroom. So we just brought them to the Airstream.
A note of caution, an Airstream of this model only has two breakers so you have to get creative if you want to run to two oil heaters and trust me Wynn and I can get creative especially when we are freezing at night. So what to do? Run one oil heater off of a surge protector from the outlet in the kitchen, okay cool. Now how do we run one for the bunk and the ice cold bathroom without tripping the breaker? Because it will trip the breaker and the breaker is in the back of a deep dark bathroom cabinet where spiders could be lurking. Remember the afore mentioned phobia.
So here's the cheat folks, run an extension cord out the trunk to the shore power, most shore power set ups will have regular outlets on a separate breaker from the plug in for your RV. There is a nice gap that lets in cold air next to the toilet, but it is also just the right size for an extension cord plug to fit through. Close the truck lightly and don't lock it. Now plug you heater into the extension cord and eureka, heat. Do not run the heater any higher than medium or you will trip the breaker and have to go out in the cold, usually at night to turn it back on.
This trick has kept us fairly warm through two really cold Oklahoma winters and it has saved us a ton on propane.
A note of caution, an Airstream of this model only has two breakers so you have to get creative if you want to run to two oil heaters and trust me Wynn and I can get creative especially when we are freezing at night. So what to do? Run one oil heater off of a surge protector from the outlet in the kitchen, okay cool. Now how do we run one for the bunk and the ice cold bathroom without tripping the breaker? Because it will trip the breaker and the breaker is in the back of a deep dark bathroom cabinet where spiders could be lurking. Remember the afore mentioned phobia.
So here's the cheat folks, run an extension cord out the trunk to the shore power, most shore power set ups will have regular outlets on a separate breaker from the plug in for your RV. There is a nice gap that lets in cold air next to the toilet, but it is also just the right size for an extension cord plug to fit through. Close the truck lightly and don't lock it. Now plug you heater into the extension cord and eureka, heat. Do not run the heater any higher than medium or you will trip the breaker and have to go out in the cold, usually at night to turn it back on.
This trick has kept us fairly warm through two really cold Oklahoma winters and it has saved us a ton on propane.
Propane Pain
Let's count how many things run off of propane in our Airstream, ready?
1. Furnace
2. Refrigerator
3. Oven (Yes it has a Magic Chef oven that makes wonderful cookies.)
4. Stove
5. Nope just kidding no hot water heater.
So you can imagine how much propane you can actually go through during the winter. It's inevitable that you eventually have to stop using certain appliances like the stove and the oven. I mean it's cold, really cold in the winter and you need the furnace and you've got to have food so you have to run the refrigerator. It's not so much about the cost of the propane it's more about how quickly it's used up and how often the refrigerator defrosts without warning (there's no way to really tell when you're out of propane on this model).
So some concessions have to be made. There is a microwave so we use that a lot but in addition to that we have been using a hot plate and a toaster oven for more home cooked meals, it works and it's not as bad as you think. I love summers because 90% of the cooking is done on the Smoker (BBQ or Grill for you non southerners). We can go to the farmer's market and Whole Foods once a week and really eat quite well. I say once a week due to the fact that there is limited freezer and fridge space even though we have a small dorm sized freezer to supplement the Dometic freezer/ fridge that came standard on these in the 70s.
1. Furnace
2. Refrigerator
3. Oven (Yes it has a Magic Chef oven that makes wonderful cookies.)
4. Stove
5. Nope just kidding no hot water heater.
So you can imagine how much propane you can actually go through during the winter. It's inevitable that you eventually have to stop using certain appliances like the stove and the oven. I mean it's cold, really cold in the winter and you need the furnace and you've got to have food so you have to run the refrigerator. It's not so much about the cost of the propane it's more about how quickly it's used up and how often the refrigerator defrosts without warning (there's no way to really tell when you're out of propane on this model).
So some concessions have to be made. There is a microwave so we use that a lot but in addition to that we have been using a hot plate and a toaster oven for more home cooked meals, it works and it's not as bad as you think. I love summers because 90% of the cooking is done on the Smoker (BBQ or Grill for you non southerners). We can go to the farmer's market and Whole Foods once a week and really eat quite well. I say once a week due to the fact that there is limited freezer and fridge space even though we have a small dorm sized freezer to supplement the Dometic freezer/ fridge that came standard on these in the 70s.
Too Much Time on My Hands
Alright so I started this blog today and I have been posting like crazy. I am on vacation at the moment and watching Dakota Benson recover from surgery. I will probably never have this kind of time on my hands again. I go back to work in a few days and I'm going back to Uni in a few weeks. Wynn and I are also starting the paperwork and stress filled process of home ownership and purchasing a second vehicle. I will be lucky if I have time to post once a week after all of that starts up again. But I will continue to post, just be patient with me if I let long periods of time go by.
Also photographs, I have them on my IPhone and I'm working on getting them incorporated into the previous posts. Please be patient I've never used this format before so it will take me time to figure it out. I'm a bit of an anachronism and technology is not one of my strong points, I am getting better but it's a slow process.
Thank you for your patience,
Elaine
Also photographs, I have them on my IPhone and I'm working on getting them incorporated into the previous posts. Please be patient I've never used this format before so it will take me time to figure it out. I'm a bit of an anachronism and technology is not one of my strong points, I am getting better but it's a slow process.
Thank you for your patience,
Elaine
Not Every Dog Can Be an Airstream Dog
So in addition to Wynn and I when we started living in the Airstream we had three awesome schnauzers Penny Dawn (1995-2009), Dakota Benson (Penny's son), and Robert Asta (Dakota's son). You know, the dogs with the beards. We love our dogs, they're like our children and when we decided on the Airstream we took their comfort into consideration. We got lucky is all that I can say. Right before we bought the Airstream our neighbors who had dogs of their own decided to move back to Kansas. I do miss Susan and her husband. I can say that coming home and going to sleep after an overnight shift while Susan sang hymns to her dogs next to our tent camper was very peaceful. The plus side to them leaving was that they were in the only fenced lot in the RV park. We had made friends with them, I had long hair at the time because I had started working with teenagers and thought that if I looked too butch I wouldn't get the job and Wynn had her normal short haircut and well we let Susan assume that Wynn was a man. I digress, anyway they were moving and had taken a liking to us, so when they left they told the office that we were to move into their spot. Not a week later we found the Airstream. So the Airstream dogs were ecstatic to no longer have to go out and do their business on a leash. They had a yard, even if it was mostly gravel and not as big as what they were used to at home.
Robert- Asta in the bunk giving me the "I'm cooler than you mom" face.
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| Robert Asta, and his mohawk |
Wynn, You're a Braver Soul Than I, and I Love You
So I promised I would leave the messy parts of the toilet repair for this post. You may skip it if you wish, but keep in mind this is a cautionary tale about... toilet paper.
The title says it all really. She is braver than I am; much, much braver. I'm squeamish and I have an embarrassing phobia of spiders, but I digress.
Okay back to the mess and the dangers of heavy ply toilet paper. If you're an RVer you know that there special brands of toilet paper just for RVs and boats and eco friendly chemicals to dump down your toilet to make the waste breakdown more efficient. You might be thinking that this is a way for these companies to make money off of you. It's not, trust me, use the RV toilet paper and the eco friendly chemicals, you'll thank me later.
So we took the toilet off to put on the new part. And yes, out of courtesy and decorum we emptied the black water tank before removing the toilet. Well we thought we had emptied it. Surprise! Nothing is ever quite what it seems.
From what we could tell, since we were using the appropriate chemicals and toilet papers, the previous owner's son had not been. That fact alone makes this tale much, much worse. Once the toilet was off we could see into the black water tank and we could see that there was a problem, a big clogged up nasty problem. Apparently when we thought we had been draining the tank during the previous month or so only the liquid waste had been draining out.
We had to do something and no one involved wanted to do what had to be done. My father's hand and forearm were too big. I was trying not to vomit from just the idea of what must be done. So it fell to Wynn, the love of my life and my hero to do the deed.
From what I could tell from carrying the trash bags to the dumpster afterwards, it was the least I could do. She must have pulled out TEN pounds of toilet paper from inside the black water tank to clear the clog and yes if you're thinking she was up to her shoulder in it, she was.
Wynn I love you and to this day, I'm sorry you had to do that and I thank you because I couldn't have done it in your stead.
The title says it all really. She is braver than I am; much, much braver. I'm squeamish and I have an embarrassing phobia of spiders, but I digress.
Okay back to the mess and the dangers of heavy ply toilet paper. If you're an RVer you know that there special brands of toilet paper just for RVs and boats and eco friendly chemicals to dump down your toilet to make the waste breakdown more efficient. You might be thinking that this is a way for these companies to make money off of you. It's not, trust me, use the RV toilet paper and the eco friendly chemicals, you'll thank me later.
So we took the toilet off to put on the new part. And yes, out of courtesy and decorum we emptied the black water tank before removing the toilet. Well we thought we had emptied it. Surprise! Nothing is ever quite what it seems.
From what we could tell, since we were using the appropriate chemicals and toilet papers, the previous owner's son had not been. That fact alone makes this tale much, much worse. Once the toilet was off we could see into the black water tank and we could see that there was a problem, a big clogged up nasty problem. Apparently when we thought we had been draining the tank during the previous month or so only the liquid waste had been draining out.
We had to do something and no one involved wanted to do what had to be done. My father's hand and forearm were too big. I was trying not to vomit from just the idea of what must be done. So it fell to Wynn, the love of my life and my hero to do the deed.
From what I could tell from carrying the trash bags to the dumpster afterwards, it was the least I could do. She must have pulled out TEN pounds of toilet paper from inside the black water tank to clear the clog and yes if you're thinking she was up to her shoulder in it, she was.
Wynn I love you and to this day, I'm sorry you had to do that and I thank you because I couldn't have done it in your stead.
I Hear Something Dripping... That Can't Be Good
A few weeks after settling in we noticed a leak in the bathroom. The fresh water intake for the toilet was leaking, and it was leaking a lot. It's a tight space back there, I could feel where it was leaking from but I couldn't see it. Luckily I was able to take a blind photo with Wynn's camera phone and take it to the local parts store. Luckier still it was clear enough for the parts guy to make out what the part actually was. Was it in stock? Of course not, but they could order it. Okay, fine, I'll put a towel back there and hope for the best. Hey at least we didn't need a new toilet to fix the problem. We could afford a part and we could wait for it to ship, we couldn't afford a new toilet.
So the part arrived and we removed the toilet to put it on, with help from my father, he's retired and he gets bored. This is about to get a bit messy so I will continue this in the next post. Suffice it to say once the part was installed and the toilet was put back in place it worked like a charm. It still does in fact, two years later.
So the part arrived and we removed the toilet to put it on, with help from my father, he's retired and he gets bored. This is about to get a bit messy so I will continue this in the next post. Suffice it to say once the part was installed and the toilet was put back in place it worked like a charm. It still does in fact, two years later.
Working Hot Water Heater You Say?
After a few weeks and some tinkering we found that the hot water heater was a total loss. Okay, so boil water to do dishes and cold showers in the summer, we can live with that. Actually those cold water showers in the summer feel pretty good and if you are patient and you scrub hard enough, dishes aren't really that bad. The reality of it is that we couldn't afford a new hot water heater and the fabrication of a hot water heater door. New RV hot water heaters do come with a door, but it is white and I feel that it clashes with the aforementioned shiny aluminum exterior.
So we have lived without a working hot water heater all this time and really we don't miss it much. It's summer as I write this and if it's a scorching hot day the groundwater warms up quite nicely by evening time and makes for a pretty good shower.
Don't try it in the winter though...
Don't try it in the winter though...
Halloween Airstreamers
On Halloween my father backed our newly purchased Airstream into the fenced slot that it sits in as I write this from the bunk. He helped us hook everything up and took a look at that possibly working furnace. The blower worked great and there was definitely propane going to it, however it wouldn't light. Crap, what do we do now? So he took apart the furnace and found that it was the "sparker" as he called it. We were able to find a place that could order the part and waited patiently hoping that once in place, the "sparker" would fix the problem. A week later and a furnace sitting on the picnic table later, he and I put the furnace back in place and fired her up. I'm not a religious person but I did contemplate a prayer to whomever is in charge of making furnaces work.
First the blower kicked on, great we knew that worked, and then click, click, click... success. The smell of burning lint never smelled so sweet. We had a furnace, we were good to go, almost.
So we had the furnace and the fridge running off of propane, by the way that's a lot of propane, but we made it work. We still didn't have a working hot water heater, but our RV park had a really nice shower house with heated floors and good hot showers. No harm no foul, who cares, we were out of the tent camper and warm at night, with the help of an electric oil heater or two.
Yes, Craig's List
Wynn set out to find an Airstream for as little money as possible while I set out to find a job. She perused local RV dealerships and the RV Trader and yes, finally Craig's List. We wanted something that was big, big enough for our things and for us to live in without killing each other, but we didn't have much money. Finally near the end of October, just after I landed my dream job, she found a 1972 Airstream International Sovereign Land Yacht, it was thirty- two feet long and had lots of storage, but most importantly it was cheap. The seller's son had been living in it on his property and it sounded like a good deal, that and it was starting to get really cold at night.
So we drove out to a small town I affectionately call Hooterville to take a look. At the end of several winding washout dirt roads, there she sat in all of her shiny aluminum glory in the driveway begging us to take her home. We did a quick walk through to get a feel for the layout and Wynn asked all sorts of questions, while I was too enamored with the idea of owning an Airstream to ask questions of my own.
Did the fridge work? Yes, but only on propane.
Did the forced air furnace work? Yes, well maybe.
Did the air conditioner work? Yes.
Did the hot water heater work? Yes, definitely. (Um no, it actually didn't.)
Sold! For $3,500, what a deal, and yes it was a very good deal and actually still is. In fact that is the selling price when we sell it, hopefully soon. I will post when we put it up for sale.
So we drove out to a small town I affectionately call Hooterville to take a look. At the end of several winding washout dirt roads, there she sat in all of her shiny aluminum glory in the driveway begging us to take her home. We did a quick walk through to get a feel for the layout and Wynn asked all sorts of questions, while I was too enamored with the idea of owning an Airstream to ask questions of my own.
Did the fridge work? Yes, but only on propane.
Did the forced air furnace work? Yes, well maybe.
Did the air conditioner work? Yes.
Did the hot water heater work? Yes, definitely. (Um no, it actually didn't.)
Sold! For $3,500, what a deal, and yes it was a very good deal and actually still is. In fact that is the selling price when we sell it, hopefully soon. I will post when we put it up for sale.
The Beginning
In June of 2008 my partner took a job in a city 190 miles away from our beautiful 1925 Craftsman home. I will say for the sake of full disclosure that she took this job for me. I was supposed to start working for a medium sized software company in the same city doing technical writing and project documentation. Unfortunately due to a buyout by a larger company and the subsequent down sizings that took place my job did not pan out, though it was too late to go back home. We were going to stay with my parents until we found a place here, but that didn't really workout either. So, we found a slot at a nearby State Park and moved into her grandparent's tent camper. Yes, I said tent camper. We kept the house 190 miles away and still visit every month or so to this day.
After a few weeks at the State Park we realized that we needed to be closer to a metropolitan area so that I could now find a job. We then moved the tent camper to the RV park that we are currently residing in. As summer turned to fall we decided that we could not live in the tent camper through the winter so we began the search for an RV. We both have always had a fascination with nostalgia, old homes, old cars and old RVs. So we decided to buy an Airstream.
After a few weeks at the State Park we realized that we needed to be closer to a metropolitan area so that I could now find a job. We then moved the tent camper to the RV park that we are currently residing in. As summer turned to fall we decided that we could not live in the tent camper through the winter so we began the search for an RV. We both have always had a fascination with nostalgia, old homes, old cars and old RVs. So we decided to buy an Airstream.
The End of an Era
I should have started this blog two years ago the day we backed our 1972 Airstream International Sovereign into it's fenced slot at the RV park, but I didn't. So now that we are nearing the end of our stay I've decided to take the plunge and document what we have gone through over the last two years or so. Living full time in an RV hasn't been as bad as it could have been but it hasn't been wonderful either. I can say that since we were full timers in an Airstream we did it with class. There are some things that I will miss about Airstream living and somethings that I don't want to remember. I know that my partner and I have grown from this experience and I can safely say that it has made our relationship that much stronger. I mean if you can share thirty-two linear feet with another person for two years and still love them at the end of it, your love can survive almost anything.
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