I had plenty of hopes but never imagined we'd be out of the RV and in a more normal living space this quickly. It happened so fast, our heads are still spinning. Here's the story:
Those of you who have been reading here for a while know that my husband and I have been living in an RV since 2011, traveling around the intermountain west, mostly Arizona and Utah. As I mentioned in 'End of the Road', having reached our sixties, we are getting too tired to keep roaming. It takes way too much out of my husband, with his fragile health (not to mention my own!) Having reached a location that was as good as it gets for us weather-wise, altitude-wise, landscape-wise and people-wise, we'd decided to park it here in southwestern Utah. Not a moment too soon for me, truth be told. Our next challenge was to get out of the RV.
Sounds easy enough if you are people of means, but circumstances have dictated that we are no longer those people. Fixed income, small budget and opportunities are tight and few. We narrowed our limitations down to the likes of park models and other trailer park type dwellings. Mom, who always thought I should live in a trailer, would be thrilled. Me, not so much. The thought of that at 18 horrified me, but my level of acceptance of such living spaces has changed drastically. When you're poor as proverbial churchmice, living on social security, that happens. And it's not the end of the world, I've found.
However, even the tiniest of park models was still a bit beyond our means as we have no intention of going into debt be it house or even a 250 square foot trailer. If we couldn't afford to buy it outright, then it wasn't happening. Yet even the smallest doll house of a park model is going for well over 100K around here. It's the California influence, no offense to anyone from that state, but it's true and any Utahn will tell you so. So we kind of gave up on any serious searching as everything was just more than we wanted to or could invest.
We heard a rumor that a mobile home located right here in the park that we've been staying in was going to come up for sale sometime this year. We were mightily interested. We'd heard the asking price was reasonable and within our means. And we love the park we're in. We asked the park office manager what she knew about it, but she didn't actually know that much. She thought it would be around the end of July. July seemed to take her own sweet time arriving this year. But arrive she did...and nothing happened. Second week, nothing. Third week, nothing. Fourth week, a miracle!
The home was owned by an old lady and her husband. He, sadly, had passed away in 2015. And in early 2016, the lady's daughter had to come and get her as she could no longer stay by herself. She is in her early nineties. That last week of July, her son, his wife and daughter, and his sister arrived to clean out the house and hopefully sell it. We were able to meet with them and made them a very low offer to buy the place as is, meaning we would be willing to clean out the house, etc. etc. An hour later, the son walked over to our site, where we were sitting outside, and told us they would accept our offer. You could have knocked us over with a feather because we thought there was no way in the world they would accept our possibly insulting low offer. Well, they did tell us they were highly motivated sellers! I guess so!
They continued cleaning out the house and packing up what they wanted to keep, hauling other loads alternatively to the dumpster or off to the thrift store. They drew up a bill of sale, we signed, and gave them the money. The son and his family left on the Friday night and the daughter remained to continue to clear out. On Sunday, she called me and said she was done and leaving and would give us the keys. So we popped over and couldn't believe our eyes. She had cleaned the place within an inch of its life! Everything was scrubbed, polished, dusted and shampooed. It absolutely sparkled! We were thrilled, to say the least.
The next day, August 1, we started packing and moving. We are so pathetically out of shape, it was quite an ordeal. I do not know how I ever packed up and moved entire households so many times in my lifetime. Just packing up the contents of that RV nearly did us in. It took two solid weeks. Why? you might ask. First of all, we had only had a small window of time each day in which we could work. We'd start early each morning, pack and carry over totes of belongings but would have to stop around 11 a.m. because it was getting too hot, hitting 99〫, 100〫, 101〫...neither of us can work in the heat. I also didn't want to fill up the house with tons of boxes and clutter that would have to be unpacked and put away later. So as we brought each load over, I unpacked and put away everything that very day.
We also had waaaay more stuff jammed into every storage nook and cranny that old RV had than we imagined. Many things, (like my never used portable sewing machine) made me ask myself "WHY have you been carrying this stuff around?" I still have no answer to that. So while having the least amount of belongings that I've ever had since I was 18 and just starting out in life, this move took the longest by far. Go figure!
I do not have words sufficient to tell you what it's like to go from living in a 130 square foot space for five years to a 937 sq. ft, 14'x 67' space. Most of you will think "937 square feet! That's tiny!" (No, no, it isn't. 130 square feet is tiny.) I lost my husband the first day we were in it! "Where are you?" I called from one end of the place. "Back here!" he called back from the other. Seriously!
I can stand in any room and spread both arms out to my sides and not hit a wall. We can pass each other without one of us having to turn sideways and hug the fridge. There is an actual kitchen with an actual stove and actual refrigerator with an actual freezer that will hold more than 3 things. It actually freezes ice and ice cream! At the same time! This means we can have ice cream for more than one day and not have to eat it before it melts. We can have ice in our drinks! I can buy a gallon of milk and have it last a week instead of the half gallon I had to get every third day. I can get the big jug of Arnold Palmer's Half n Half. (And be able to ice it!) I can get enough meat to last for weeks! I can cook on more than one burner at a time and actually bake stuff in the oven! The RV oven was such a pain to use that I gave up on using it after the first year and just stored bread and pans in it.
We can take showers now without having to leap in and out over the toilet. We can shower without banging our elbows on the wall or shower door. There are his and hers sinks instead of one miniature one. There is a linen closet instead of cramming stuff in an overhead cupboard. There are real beds that one can walk around instead of mattresses on platforms crammed up against walls. I can now sleep without fear of scraping my knuckles or incurring some other such injury in the night. We had a lovely time going to Mattress Firm and trying out all the beds and getting our choices delivered. Ditto to shopping for new linens and bedding.
My husband now has a recliner to relax in instead of the highly uncomfortable built-in RV type chair crammed next to a cabinet/table that he used in the RV. No more backaches for him! As for me, I can park myself on a couch instead of climbing onto his bed to watch TV. I don't have to sit Indian fashion any longer; I can sit like a normal person and put my feet on the floor. What luxury!
Instead of cramming our clothes in stacks in a 4'x4'x18" cupboard, we have actual real CLOSETS. Now I do have to tell you, I warned my husband that when we got to unpacking the closet in the RV that it would explode. And it did. But somehow the same clothing that was vacuum-packed into that little cupboard FILLED two closets in the new place. I will say, though, that at least now there is a little air space between the garments. Speaking of garments, we now have a washer and dryer. No more RV park or other type of laundromats! Do you know how much they charge to wash and dry a load of clothes these days? We were paying $2.50 a load to wash and $1.25 to dry. Sorry, but I think that's outrageous. But, no more. Thank you, Lord.
I could go on and on but don't want to bore you silly. We are just so thankful for the powers above that moved to make this happen for us. The place isn't new, and it's not fancy, but it was very well taken care of. The difference in our comfort level is like night and day. I feel like a human being again! It really was a miracle.
Never take your nice and beautiful homes for granted; I hope after reading this that you appreciate them ever so much more.
Till next time,
"Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach
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