ANOTHER FACET OF THE RV LIFE

By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers

What’s happening to us?   We are full-timer RVers shanghaied by a project of our own making that has extended far longer than originally intended.

When we first set out on our endless journey in August 2006, we had two goals in mind:

First, to visit all 50 states in our RV (or a rental in Hawaii), and Second, to look for a place where we would eventually settle down when the ravages of age or a change of interests overcame us.

As for the first goal, we have thus far visited 36 states and three Canadian provinces in our RV.  We haven’t made it to the Northeast (as RVers), including the Maritimes yet, but we expect to be there in 2013.  On the other hand, one of the glories of retirement and/or working from the road is that you don’t HAVE TO fulfill your plans.  Dreaming is acceptable.

In searching for the perfect place in which to build a nest, we ruled out the cold climates, although we gave a lot of thought to buying a cabin outside of Sandpoint, Idaho.  It was as picturesque as they come and the price had been reduced to practically pocket change.

I’m not a numbers-cruncher by any stretch of the imagination, but I have kept track of our stops from 2006 until February 2011 – it comes to 380 camping places, with return visits to only about seven sites, always looking for the perfect stopping spot.

Nine months ago we passed through a small mountain village in what we call “an island in Southern California” that we had visited often in pre-RV days.  Two weeks later, I awoke one morning with a thought:  “Why don’t we return, explain to a Realtor what we would like and then interrupt our travels if he found a cabin and land that fit our description”?

Monique agreed … we climbed back up the mountain … he said, “I have that place and the asking price has been dropped three times” … and we bought it.

Since taking possession, we have been in the process of making the place livable when we eventually call this home.  That includes designing needed changes, choosing a contractor, getting plans through the building permitting process, and now construction.  At this point, it’s a race against the weather to have the framing enclosed before the first snowfall (we’re at 5,700 feet).

A little later in the article, I’ll mention our RV travel plans for the rest of this year … we can’t wait to get back on the road.  Oh, and just wait until next year! We have exciting plans for returning to full-timing (using the cabin as a regrouping point), which you will be able to follow through our rv.net blogs, just as you may have done when we were on our 5-week tour of The Grand Circle a couple of months ago.

THE RV AS A PART OF OUR LIFE

“Kokopelli,” as our travel trailer is known, serves several very important roles in our life at the cabin.  Until the build-out is complete, it is my office – one that I find very comfortable and inviting.  After all it is in our home.

For Monique, it has been a life-saver.  The cabin came furnished with a 1950s refrigerator, which I’m sure is the same model Betty Furness showed off in the earliest days of black & white television.   If you think the frige in your RV is small, this one makes your little Dometic seems like a deluxe cold storage warehouse.  Since it’s a 40-mile drive to the nearest supermarket, we are glad to have our trailer fridge that holds more food than the one in the cabin.  (Our stove is a 1930s era Buch’s range that works well, but will be replaced.)

Kokopelli has been host to several friends and relatives who have come for overnight visits.  The cabin does have sleeping room for guests, but since we don’t have any closets or storage space, it’s stacked with boxes, electrical and plumbing fixtures and much more, all waiting installation in the addition.

Another valuable asset of having the trailer parked on our land is that the cabin is set back among pines, cedars and oak trees 200 feet off the road.  We tell visitors to look for the white trailer sitting up on its pad.

Maybe most important, in a few weeks we expect the contractors to cut through from the addition into our loft-bedroom.  That’s the day we will return “home” to Kokopelli to live while the dust circulates in the cabin.  I am sooooo looking forward to that day, but for convenience, we continue to climb the narrow 20-inch-wide steps to the loft each night.

And if that prospect weren’t exciting enough, we leave for Death Valley, California, to return to the days of yesteryear for the 49ers Encampment [www.deathvalley49ers.org].  You’re welcome to drop by our 28-foot Bigfoot to say “Hi” And if that prospect weren’t exciting enough, we leave for Death Valley, California, to return to the days of yesteryear for the 49ers Encampment [www.deathvalley49ers.org].  You’re welcome to drop by our 28-foot Bigfoot to say “Hi” if you can find us among the 1000s of rigs gathered ’round.

We are thinking about another trip before the cabin work is finished, but it’s hard to leave when we take so much interest in the carpentry work being done.

ANOTHER VALUE OF KOKOPELLI

Every part of our nation lives under some threat from nature, whether it’s tornados, hurricanes, fires, blistering cold, heat, drought or flood.  For us in California, the major threat is earthquake.  Upon arrival in our little town, I was immediately pressed into service as a member of the mountain disaster team, trained to respond appropriately in case of an earthquake or other natural interruption in normal daily life.

While I’m on duty, what about Monique?  And when the emergency situation subsides, what do we do?  That’s when Kokopelli should be our refuge.  Having a self-contained RV gives us a haven to ride out most disasters for at least a few days.  While others find their own ways of contending with problems surrounding the disaster, we have a comfortable trailer in which to go on with our lives.

Yes, we’ve put down some roots after five years on the road, but even with a bricks-and-mortar base — actually wood — we appreciate being RV owners.  Kokopelli is still our home!

From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.

© All photos by Barry Zander.   All rights reserved