Sheri’s Rants #40: A Mobile Life

I recently made a major lifestyle change.  I’ve been hanging out with an older, faster crowd.

Let me break it down for you:

Week 1:  David and I reach a decision to take our relationship up a notch, and actually RESIDE in the SAME STATE.  Then we figure out that we could probably live together, since we’ll be in the same state and all.  My lease is up at the end of June and we’d move into a larger house.

Week 2:  David starts tidying up business and doing closure in New Mexico.  I start planning for the Level 2 Coach Training in Montana.  My daughter decides I need to be in Montana by June 5, my grandson’s birthday.  I note that I have about 10 days.  I let David know.

Week 3:  David, just back from a spectacular mosey through the Gila Wilderness, makes a lot of noise about bailing on another wilderness trip, this one involving fish, just to make it to Montana in time for a 5 year old’s cake fest.  Somehow he works it out in his head and is not only polite but kind as I ramp up frenetic travel plans.  I set some things into motion to find a larger house to lease in CA.   He stores his household goods, moves out of his home in NM, and flies to CA, where we quickly pile 2 dogs and gear into my Honda CRV and spend the next 3 days driving to Montana.  I point out interesting fun places to get coffee on the way.  He thinks I should cut down on it.  I consider this but allow that travel time is not the right time for caffeine withdrawal.

Week 4: Arriving in Whitefish Montana,  we settle into a spacious 3 bdrm townhouse.   David meets my mother in Bigfork and attend Parker’s birthday smash (I made the grain-free, sugar-free train cake).  We hang on to the grandkidlets for a few days, and prep for the Level 2 training.  Also, we become involved in an elaborate plan wherein we agree to rescue a rottweiler in New Mexico.  We attend a flurry of ‘long term business planning’ meetings with the Team and Snowdog and we set up a photo shoot.

Week 5: Level 2 Coach Training.  A total blast.  We get word that the reality show is a ‘go’.  I promise Samantha I’ll be back up in Montana in August for the show gig.   After the training, we spend a day decompressing.  In this decompression, something vital happens.  I wake up in the morning with the strong and irrefutable realization that rather than haul our collective butts back to CA,  move into a larger home, then scoot back to MT for who knows how long and where else etc etc – that we could buy a large motorhome; embracing our already mobile lifestyle.   I lay this inspiration out to David.  He stares at me for awhile, and then says he thinks it’s best to go with it because he believes it would be somehow dangerous to get in the way.  Or something to that effect.  I collect RV books/magazines/websites and spend time doing research.  My ma and the grandkids come to hang out with us some more.  David’s got a glaze to his eyes but is still ambulatory and responding well with appropriate speech patterns.

Week 6: The Team has a fun and successful photo shoot out in Bigfork, thanks to photographer Noah Clayton.  David and I decide on a used 35-40 foot diesel pusher for our new home.  We collect our funds in one pile, continue researching brands and dealers, and decide to buy in Montana if at all possible.  David becomes a Montana resident by acquiring his MT driver’s license and starts whinging about a primal need to go fishing.  We send money to help out Mya, the rescue rottie.  We drive to Missoula and hook up with an affable salesman we like at Bretz RV.  Finding our perfect rig with all of our requirements (diesel, office, separate toilet, slides, inverter, generator, oven, large fridge, basement storage, etc) took less than 2 hours.  The paperwork took a day and a half.

Week 7: The proud owners of a lightly used 40 ft self contained 2001 Holiday Rambler Endeavor with a Cummins turbo diesel engine and towing the Honda CRV, we carefully work our way through MT, ID, UT and finally the mountains of the Roaring Fork Valley in CO to spend a few days in my  son’s driveway.  My kids call us every day to check on our progress.  David’s comfort with driving the big rig increases hourly.  He stops giving me that (only slightly accusatory) whelmed look after the second day.  Son Graham, salivating, gets behind the wheel to see what-all the turbo Cummins can do.  He approves and spends some time educating us on engine details.  Then we partied for a couple days and celebrated.

Week 8: Drove down into New Mexico to Silver City where David finished sorting through his effects and loaded his worldly goods onto the rig.  We hung out with my brother Lennie and assorted old friends; went on some hikes and enjoyed the monsoons.   Hosted a couple parties in the new rig.  Picked up Mya, who is about 20 lbs bigger than my other rottie, BabyDoll.  Mya is not leash trained.  Mya is what Rottweiler John referred to as ‘a Princess’ accustomed to being an only dog.  Mya was also quite surprised when the ‘house’ began to move.  She quickly figured out that David’s foot on the accelerator was responsible for the untoward lurching and focused her laser rottweiler attention on removing the offending foot.  That was exciting.   Saturday afternoon we left Silver City with promises to return in the fall.  We traveled across the hot desert – so hot that the dogs couldn’t pee because the ground was burning their feets! – and arrived in CA yesterday afternoon.  David’s driving skills are impressive.  He’s making it look so fun and easy that I’m ready to start driving, too…

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We’ll be in CA another couple weeks or so and then we’ll head back up to Montana.

RV parks are a new experience, and like I said – an older, faster crowd.  This mobile lifestyle is feeling more and more alluring to me and I’ve not had time to reflect yet on how that’s going to look.  I don’t know yet how long I’m going to do it for.  My guess is ‘as long as it’s fun’.

I do know that my previous immobile lifestyle was too restrictive and far too complicated of a lifestyle for what is currently on my plate.  I  know that the process of simplification is quite enjoyable.  I know that I like waking up in the same bed looking out the window at new views.  I love watching the peacocks strutting outside my kitchen window right now, and that I equally enjoyed the antelope out that same window a couple days ago.  I like knowing exactly how much energy I am consuming in this fully self contained system I live in.  I like that I can get my mail no matter where I am thanks to a trustworthy mail service.  I also like that I’ve hiked my ‘fun and excitement’ meter waaaaay up.  I truly thrive on all this change.

Oh, and I love that I have a patient, understanding, intelligent partner who trusts my instincts.  MWAH!