First 10 Days of RV living

Let me begin by saying, I’m so happy I don’t have kids! Of all the things I’ve been taking care of, it would have been a million times harder with a kid running around, getting in the way.

Okay, now that that’s out of my system, here goes.

We bought the RV from my man’s mom and stepdad, so it’s obviously used and has been sitting out in the Nevada elements for a good long while, so that will take quite a toll on any vehicle. But, it took us three days to drive from Texas to Oregon, and three long days at that, considering the moving truck only being able to come over mountain passes at 35mph.

We filled a 26 foot Penske moving truck (Penske really took care of us for the costs of the truck and car carrier!) with our stuff, and we had some stuff in the back of my man’s personal truck. When we got to Nevada at the end of the second day to pick up the camper, we unloaded most of the bulky things we had in his mom’s garage so we wouldn’t have to get a big storage unit, which will save us money.

So, we got here and we had already had an RV park accept our application so we knew where to set up. We got checked in, and we immediately had to go get a small storage unit for the rest of our things so we could return the moving truck to Penske. I had an interview that day, so I wasn’t here to help load the storage unit or start setting up the camper, but my man graciously did that. So I came back and started to unload the boxes of things we were going to keep in the camper, and my man started hooking up our resources. Lo and behold, most of the water fixtures leaked and the electricity wasn’t cooperating. So we had to go out and buy some parts (which are expensive!) and we got it functional for the night.

The next two days were also filled with repairs and part replacements and an interview for BF, which led to him getting a job! While he worked on the repairs, I worked on organizing our things and trying to find places for everything. The camper we have has a full size bed, which fits our queen sized mattress but it overhangs at the bottom. There are two bunk beds across the length of the camper, which we are using for storage thanks to not having kids. The bottom bunk holds our deep freezer and my nightstand and our vacuum, and the top bunk holds towels and small miscellaneous items we couldn’t find a place for. There is a floor-to-ceiling pantry which we loaded with food and we put our plates, bowls, and coffee mugs in the cabinet over the sink. We bought a set of utensils and put them in the drawers under the sink, along with some packaged spices. (Note: we have a whole box of spices that are sitting on the floor near the couch because we haven’t found a spice rack at the store yet.) Our rifles and pistols are under one of the bench seats by the table, and our pots and pans are under the other bench seat. We’re obviously keeping the couch area free since there is no storage under it, and we bought a coffee table to sit in front of the couch. Our drinking glasses are on the counter between the stove and the exterior wall, along with the knife set and coffee maker. Cookbooks and some cleaning stuff is under the sink. Clothes are…. just about everywhere actually. There’s a closet, drawers under it, a smaller floor closet near the door, and two closets and nightstand space near the head of the bed, all of which we have stuffed with clothes. You never really think about how many clothes and shoes you have until you need to find space for them in an RV.

Long story short, we got a place for almost everything we have with the additional room in the storage unit and a tough box under the camper.

We’ve been having issues making the camper level, and with all the water fixtures over the last ten days. I have no idea how to fix them, so I’ve been letting BF do that, which he has done without complaint. Even when we have to go out and spend MORE money on parts, even when I’m concerned about the RV not holding enough weight, he hasn’t complained. He just finishes the job. He’s been so patient with everything, and I greatly appreciate him for that.

The cable is free here at this park, although it’s analog channels so we don’t get up to date times on everything and we have a very limited selection. Wifi is also free but the area we’re in is in kind of a dark spot so we’ve been using BF’s mobile data for netflix. I’ve been using the shower at the office provided by the park so I don’t run out of hot water, but the shower in the rv will work just fine for short rinse-offs.

So far, that’s been about it. Lots of small issues that we’ve taken care of, except for me getting a job.