I’m about to try something new – staying put for an extended time living in my small RV. Living in an RV is not something new or novel. Lots of folks do it. Full timers do it all the time. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling in RV’s. Over the past few years, I’ve spent the equivalent of several months away from home living on the road in my RV. But its been living on the road, which involves a lot of traveling, sightseeing, and moving to a new campsite every few days.
This winter will be a new experience for my me and my wife. We’ll spend 10+ weeks in Florida parked and living in our small 25 ft Winnebago View motorhome, which has about 200 sq ft of living space. If you look over at the right side column you’ll see a picture of the RV we’ll be living it. We’re doing this in lieu of renting a condo for part of the winter, which has been our usual wintering roosting method for the past several years. We bought a new RV last year and one of the reasons we bought this particular unit (see J. Dawg’s RV ) was to use it for our winter stay. So, this winter will be the test to see how my best laid plan works out.
Undoubtedly, staying parked and living in such a small space for several weeks will present us with a new set of challenges. Obviously, we won’t have all the conveniences we have at home and we’ll be living in very close quarters. I figure it will be somewhat like living on the road (see Living on the Road ) but without all the movement and exploring. Here’s some of the things we’ll have to deal with.
- The only vehicle we’ll have is the RV – there’s no car for 10+ weeks. My wife’s nick name is “Runaround Annie” because of her constant bebopping around in her car to visit friends and shopping. We’ll see how “Runaround” does being grounded with just a bike and an occasional untethering of the RV.
- We brought bikes so we’re planning to use them, walking, and public transit for much of our getting around. This will be a change for a couple of 60 yr olds used to driving to most places. It should be a good thing for our exercise regime.
- The RV has all the cooking essentials (stove, microwave) but it doesn’t have an oven or big cooking area. Meals will have to stay simple and hopefully we can do some cooking outside.
- TV reception will be on air and limited to the basic networks. There’s no cable, no Netflix, and the internet at the RV park can less than high speed. We brought lots of DVD’s and reading material. I figure we made it thru the 70’s and 80’s without a lot of these things so we’ll see how we do going back in time.
- We could only bring about a week’s worth of clothes. We’ll see how we do wearing the same sets of clothes for weeks on end. At least it will easy to recognize each other.
- The only “toys” I brought are camera’s, a laptop, a bike, and a mandolin. I can easily entertain myself taking pictures, shooting videos, writing, biking, and learning new songs. Not sure what my wife brought, though non-stop texting, listening to her iPod, playing Farmville, playing Candy Crush and Words with Friends keeps her entertained at home and these should still work while we’re in FL.
- We need to remember to take some solo downtime. I love my wife, but sometimes I need some male bonding.
The good thing about our location is that we’re in the tropical zone and near the ocean. Hopefully, we have warm weather and can spend a lot of time outside. We’ll also have lots of neighbors close by to visit with. I’m also hoping we enjoy the closeness and frequent togetherness. Otherwise, I could end up writing a post like “The War of the Roses”. So, stay tuned. I’ll post updates to let you know how it goes and what we learn.
