If the RV's a rockin...it's Cliff doing jumping jacks. Seriously. I've woken up to him getting his fitness on in the living room twice so far. The first time I swore we were in an earthquake. Um... but there are no earthquakes in Texas. RV life is hilarious.
We've been running more and more and it feels amazing. This is post run. 3 miles for him. 2 for me. 100 degrees at 10 am. Oy!
We've finally got the whole composting toilet thing down. We empty the liquid tank every 3 days or so and the solids tank every two weeks or more. We've been taking turns emptying the liquid tank, basically whoever notices that it's time does it. And post poo in the face Cliff has been cleaning the solids tank (which I ADORE him for) though it is MUCH easier now that we've got the right combo of composting material in there. We're using 3 gallon zip lock bags full(ish) of coconut coir and 3 cups diatomaceous earth. That seems to be the sweet spot for us. The diatomaceous earth has gotten rid of the gnats that were seriously trying my patience.
Oh the door. So we have one door to get in and out of the RV (which I like). We joke and call it the front door, side door, passenger door, driver door, back door but it's all just the one door.
Our favorite things about living small so far :: - We always know where everything is. It's pretty awesome that we have everything we need plus some in these 40 feet. - Simplicity. I used to feel a bit of a panic (sometimes exciting, sometimes overwhelming) when I'd go into stores and want to buy everything. Now I feel at peace and I know if I'm buying something it's gotta be pretty amazing. Everything we purchase gets held to the useful and or beautiful standard. We don't buy it if we don't absolutely need it or love it. I have started the 1 in, 1 out rule for clothes and so far that's working really well. We still don't have our winter clothes in the RV yet. There's all at my moms so I'm not exactly sure how that's going to work when we really hit the road. We're likely going to keep a couple of bins in the 'basement' of seasonal clothing. - Mobility. We can literally go where we want to, when we want to and we're always home. That's RAD! - Being close to nature. At night when it's calm and still around here we open the door and let Ned venture out. He's been so brave lately exploring the field behind where we are parked. Little fella is getting a bit of an RV belly from stress eating. We're excited to get on the road and do some wild camping so he can go out more and more. It's that or he's going to have to start doing jumping jacks with Cliff in the living room!
- I don't miss TV! I thought I would but so far, nothin. We HAVE been watching more movies and this week watched Casablanca. I'd never seen it! I knew the famous lines but had no idea what the movie was all about. LOVED IT!
- I'm loving adding greenery to our home. Air plants are everywhere! I have hot glued them into the backs of canvases onto pieces of wood and in empty frames. Yesterday I put together this little succulent garden using a piece of Mema's vintage enamelware. It will sit on the front dash board. Yeap, plants on the dash.
- On days when it's just the two of us I have a Ned shadow all day. He moves with me from room to room (even in this tiny space), waits patiently and then we move along. He's such sweet company.
Small living challenges :: - Umm it's small. Cliff has hit his head on nearly every cabinet. And I keep running into the bathroom door when it's not open all the way. We bounce off each other daily. Some days it's hilarious and others it's the last straw. - Odors. If the laundry pile is full of workout clothes after a week of running in 100 degree weather, or the trash is full of juice pulp, out or the composting toilet fan stops working it's a full on situation around here. I have the most sensitive sniffer in all the land and there aren't enough expensive candles in the world to remedy a smelly RV. That said we now have great smelling candles on our short list of things for a well stocked home. - I'm flexing between totally excited to hit the road and a nervous wreck over the endless to do list. I'm in that phase where I'm making up things (that will likely never happen) to be worried and stressed out about. It's wildly illuminating to step back and watch myself. So far what's helping is to be able to talk it through with Cliff. One of the stories that I notice I play out and identify with is that I tend towards withdrawing, ruminating and letting the issue fester. That's not really me, it doesn't feel loving to worry and fester so talking it out when I feel my body tense up has been and is good, good medicine and I seem to be moving through it pretty quickly.
- When the RV goes into the shop so do you. We spent half a day this week at a local shop getting new shocks put on and testing the alignment. Getting your home worked on is way different than having your car serviced. It was actually pretty delightful except for the fact that Ned was utterly traumatized. He hid in the corner cabinet in the kitchen ALL DAY and didn't come out until we opened a can of wet food at 5 pm. The shop had a little room for "drivers" where we could sit in the a/c, everyone took off their shoes before coming inside the RV and Cliff had some really neat conversations with some of the guys working on our rig. The RV was doing something called Porpoising which means it was bouncing up and down WAY TOO MUCH on the road and the new shocks seems to have fixed the issue. YAY!
That's life in RV land lately! We leave for California on September 5th to go and do some serious healing work. I'll keep you posted from the road! If we're not friends on Facebook yet and you'd like to follow along on the journey you're welcome to friend me (just leave me a little note that says you're following along on the RV adventure so I'll know you're indeed a friend).
Hope this finds you well, Lacy
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