Running in Place

So how does one stay in shape when living in an RV moving from unfamiliar place to unfamiliar place?

Currently, I run 3 or 4 days a week, 3 miles or more a day.  The time to myself is nice.  The other days I walk with my kids through the woods, work in our gardens and busy myself with general ups and downs of cleaning, laundry and craft projects.  Rarely do I sit for very long and the constant movement is good for me.  My husband walks to work, about 3 miles round trip and additionally walks and runs up and down many flights of stairs multiple times most afternoons in order to stay in shape. 

How will we keep this level of activity up when we are in new places all the time?  We will be hiking a lot as a family.  We should all be biking together by then as well.  And I suppose once we get to know the area we can decide what is safe to do.  Perhaps we will all be more active and healthy in general. 

One item we can take with us that might help a little bit is the curvy board (http://www.curvyboard.com/).  

(I got this for the kids last month but Jeff now claims that I got it for myself!)  I had no idea it would be so much exercise!  It is something that can be used indoors or out, for the kids or for us.  It is lightweight, aesthetically pleasing and also doubles as a footrest!

Maybe what I will miss more than the running is a little time to myself!  

A Fifth Wheel Trailer That May Work

So choosing a particular fifth wheel trailer (manufacturer, model and floor plan) seems rather easy considering, as I said in my previous blog, there are only several manufactures that offer trailers that can hold up to full-time living. But then something else entered into the discussion, size, specifically weight and length. Our full-time odyssey is to be as mobile as possible, able to take our “home” almost anywhere we want without too many restrictions. Problem is many places would not be assessable to us if our fifth wheel were too big. For instance, I’ve done some preliminary research into RV length restrictions at various National Parks and found that few allow RVs greater than 40 feet in length at their campgrounds and most restricted RVs greater than 35 feet. The last thing we want is a fifth wheel we can’t use in the vast majority of National Parks.

Early in this process we became interested in a DRV Mobile Suites fifth wheel with a 2nd bedroom, seemed perfect for our needs. However, the particular model was 43 feet long and weighed almost 20,000 pounds! This is a great trailer for heading down to Florida and setting up camp for four months at a fancy RV park, but not for us, mobility is too important. So then came the task of finding a shorter fifth wheel with extra sleeping space for two children. Sounds simple enough but it is not. There are several manufactures offering shorter and lighter fifth wheels with space for a 2nd bedroom but they are not full-time fifth wheel trailers. Carriage’s (a full-time manufacturer) Cabo has a floor plan with a 2nd bedroom but it comes with an extra bathroom, something we don’t want. And the Cabo is 38 feet in length, a problem. At this time it appears there is just one manufacturer offering something we think could fit the bill, NUWA’s Discover America fifth wheel and their 339 RSB floor plan. What this floor plan offers is a slide with bunk beds, not exactly a 2nd bedroom but it might work. However, there is a hitch, this floor plan was offered on the 2009 model but no longer is shown going forward. We are in contact with NUWA to see if the bunk bed option is still a possibility (many manufacturers will do custom floor plans).

NUWA’s Discover America (DA) is a well-built fifth wheel, manufactured for full-time living. NUWA has been around for a long time and is a reputable company. The slide-out bunk bed I mentioned above is located in the “hallway” on the way to the back bedroom. Not exactly a perfect scenario since in reality the kids would be sleeping just several feet from us! But hey, if it is a full-time life on the road, certain inconveniences are to be expected. The 2012 DA 339 RE RSB (equivalent to the 2009 339 RSB) is 35.5 feet in length and weights 12,260 pounds (dry). These specifications would work well for us. Here is the floor plan; the bunks would be where the closet glide is shown.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Yesterday I took my kids to Michael’s to look for some crafty things to make Valentine’s for the upcoming holiday.   Of course they wanted everything that we did not need. 

In the spirit of the Zero Waste Home, (http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com) I considered making my own potato stamps and using paint that we already have to let the kids stamp their valentine’s onto paper that we have around the house. 

I would like to think that our life in the RV would be relatively free of this unsightly aspect of civilization.  And while I am sure most parks are clean and tidy, I know from experience that they can also be convenient places to discard unwanted items.  Last year we spent three nights in Grand Canyon National Park and unfortunately the trail was littered with things that people did not want to carry out once they got it into the steep walls of the canyon.  We picked up what we could but the volume was insurmountable for the steep climb. 

I am tempted to return the items I purchased at Michael’s.  As I run and walk around my neighborhood I see and pick up litter almost on a daily basis.  This morning my neighbors’ garbage cans were full and overflowing.  Through the clear plastic bags I could see beer cans, cardboard boxes and plastic water bottles.  These items are all recyclable and if only they would recycle they would find that their garbage would fit neatly in the can.  Once in the can it would not blow down the hill into the bushes with the wind, or attract the local vermin.  More on what I am doing in my community about this later. 

Lamenting Winter

This year is shaping up to be the 2^nd warmest year on record in the US and the USDA has remapped its hardiness zones (http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/).   There are two sides to this coin.  It means you may be able to consider growing things you couldn’t previously grow and also that you might not be able to grow some of the things that once did really well in your area. 

This mild weather leaves me feeling conflicted.  I really enjoy skiing and playing in the snow with my kids.  The quiet days with snow falling are enchanting and I miss those.  Yet I can’t help but get excited about gardening and spring!   The hoop houses that we have been using for 3 years now stay warm and toasty and the lettuce, kale and spinach have stayed on so far.  I actually just replanted them the other day.  This is one aspect of our lives that will be sorely missed while we are on the road.  We have  considered window farming and things that can be grown in pots but with such limited space and without a piece of earth it will just will not be the same.

And I have been so motivated to get outside with my kids.  The other day my little guy and I hiked for an hour and a half in state forest near us, then he played at the local arboretum with his sister for 2 more hours after school.  I try to get them out no matter the weather but I’ll be honest, it is easier when it is warmer!

One project that I have gradually worked into over the past couple of years is building a small trail for the kids in an overgrown lot adjacent to ours.  Every year I can see that there are berries growing there and then the sumac and greenbrier grow up so much that I can’t see or get to them.  I have one part of it walk-able now and would also like to get a NWF Backyard Habitat designation for it.   If I can keep at it then it won’t get too overgrown and should still be usable this summer!

So while I am excited about the mild weather, I also know that the warming trends are indeed changing the way winter looks.  

"We parkschool our kids."

Have you ever watched Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report?  Now there is a guy with some nerve!  During the intro to his show there are words that pop up on the screen around him. Words like authoritative, honorable, strong, bold, all-beef and uptrodden.  Uptrodden? I looked it up – uptrodden is not a word.  Here is another one – Häagen-Dazs.  I bet you thought that was something fancy.  Nope, just a made up word that sells ice cream.  I don’t know why it has taken me 38 years to realize that people really do just make up stuff.  You make it up and then make it happen! 

And so I am taking this opportunity to coin my own term.  Parkschooling.   If all goes as planned our oldest daughter will go through 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grades and our little guy will go through kindergarten, 1^st and 2^nd grades while we are on the road.  We hope to stay primarily in National Parks, and so our kids will be parkschooled!  Doesn’t that sound fantastic! 

Close Quarters

When Jeff and I first married, I moved into the house Jeff had been living in with his two older children.  My lifestyle coming into this was very different from theirs; I lived primarily alone in a house that gave me more space than I needed indoors and all of the space that I could possibly love outdoors.  I did not have television.   I had a wood stove and did almost all of the work to heat my house myself.  I loved the hard work and the rolling hills and fields of the farm and the pond over the hill where my dog and I swam almost every day in the summer. 

Jeff’s house with the kids, on the other hand, was small, in town and had three TV’s which, to my ear, sounded blaring and invasive.  The kids sprawled on the small couch and I had no space of my own.  Needless to say, it was a shock for all of us. 

Some years later, we have all adjusted fairly well.  At times we now have 4 kids, a dog, 2 cats, a guinea pig and two adults all in the same small house. Even still, considering the move to an even smaller RV is intimidating to me.  Originally we thought we would be looking for a 5^th wheel that would have a small room in the back for the kids to have their own space.  We have now learned that a smaller RV is necessary so that we can really enjoy the places we want to see – many National Parks for example, don’t allow RV’s over 35’. Last weekend Jeff and I had a long, heated and emotional discussion on this topic that nearly drove us to scrap the idea altogether.

I am trying to come to terms with this floor plan.  Instead of their own space, the kids will have bunk beds in a slide, each with their own small shelving space.  Any desk, tabletop or storage space will be shared with toys, books, schoolwork, Jeff’s work and any projects I may take on.

While it will be a challenge for me to deal with living with 3 other people in a 35.5’x 8’ space, I want to make it work.  The experiences we will have outside of this RV will make up for this loss of indoor space. And while the challenges that present themselves in this lifestyle can be overwhelming, we both agree that the benefits are worth the sacrifices we might make.  

Full-Time 5th Wheel Manufactures

Wow, my last Blog entry was almost a year ago! Way back in March 2011 I finished with the promise of more to come on manufactures of Fifth Wheel Trailers that would fit our needs. As I said back in March, it was surprising that so few manufacturers offer true “full-time” 5th wheel trailers (products that can hold up to daily living). In fact in my opinion there are only five (I’d imagine the industry might argue though). In our investigations and study these are the manufactures on our list: NUWA Industries, DRV Luxury Suites, Carriage Inc. (they just went out of business actually), New Horizons and Teton Homes. Carriage Inc. may be out of business but their 5th wheels are still available so they remain on our list. All of these manufactures warrant their trailers for full-time living (or at least as far as I know, this RV business is a tricky thing to figure out).

Now that we know the manufactures it becomes our task to pick a particular model from one of them that has a floor plan we can live with. And this is no simple matter. As I said in my previous post we want a floor plan with a 2nd bedroom. Several reasons of course, biggest being so we have room to live sanely! 2nd bedroom floor plans are available but at a price it seems, length and weight. More on those two issues in my next Blog (and I promise it won’t take 10 months for this one).

Children and Nature

The best days I have as a mother are the days that I can get my children outside, releasing them of the boundaries and rules that games, play structures and toys create and allowing them to revel in their own sense of wonder. I become a child again during these times when I also renew my own sense of wonder and truly enjoy these adventurous, carefree moments in nature with these little people who depend on me for so much. It is such a wonderful feeling.

And so it is through relating these moments to Jeff that I have come to realize that our RV life can help others reconnect with their own sense of wonder with their children playing outdoors, free of societal constructs. It is with this inspiration in mind that we move forward with our tentative plans.

The last entry I wrote had to do with budgets. Jeff has done a great job reviewing and planning ahead in that regard and now we know exactly what we are dealing with as far as depreciation and such goes and that makes it much easier to wrap our heads around, and while the loss we will incur is still not easy to stomach, we think we can get to a place where it will be manageable and worth it.