Reality Check…RV Life

I have been told that I am not writing enough. I am taking that as a compliment because the people in my life think I have something to say. Well intrepid fans, thank you for your patience. Hopefully the following is worth the wait.

My wife is so darn nice and optimistic, that her version of RV life comes out too…perfect. Everyone loves Sarah. But many want to hear the real story of RV life. Well, I really struggle with being anything but blunt and people love a train wreck, so here we go.

Driving: I tell anyone that will listen that the key to life is marrying well. I wish I could say I found the right one and I was so amazing I charmed her into marrying me. Unfortunately, I was just a stupid 21 year old that lucked into an amazing person who decided I was good enough to hang on to. All that said, Sarah has driven the rig 80%+ of the time. I took a brief 200+ mile stint of the first 1,400 mile we have driven so far. It wasn’t hard driving, but certainly not my favorite. So, I am very glad that she is a competent, independent woman that can manage almost anything.

NOTE: My driving experience stopped when I got over confident pulling into a gas station and set the RV up for a bollard catastrophe that required backing out of a rather easy pull through spot. We are still learning to back the rig up well, so this ended up with some terse language back and forth with my aforementioned love of my life. Gratefully the gas station on the semi side was close to empty and real truckers can spot a newbie RV owner a mile away. They all gave us a wide birth as we figured things out. Apparently I am going to learn humility on this trip.

Kids: Sometimes I think God put kids on this planet to test us. More time with them has been such a rewarding and frustrating time. Being mini versions of us, the kids know exactly what buttons to push to get us angry. Overall, I am learning to be more patient and they are learning how to deal with Dad in 400 SF of space.

Some fun kid situations so far:

During one of his first events using the rather small shower in the RV, one of them managed to shut himself in the doors. To which the rest of the RV got to hear “Ow my penis.” This has been an ongoing refrain for anyone that gets hurt (regardless of region).

The kids convinced me that since the Greyhound did not make it on the trip we had enough room for bikes. After Walmart provided fully assembled bikes for under a few hundred bucks I was convinced. Will got a nice Mountain bike that he can grow into and Nick got a classic BMX with upgraded handle bar brakes.

So, the kids are not expert bikers. They have only cycled in controlled suburbia sidewalks. So, after we got the bikes ready at the camp site, I gave them a quick tutorial on biking with hand brakes and on gravel. I would have been better to teach the various trees how to ride bikes as in retrospect I don’t think they could hear me over their internal dialogue of “YEAH BIKES!!!!!!”

Well friends, no matter how frustrated you get with your kids, you never need to reduce yourself to corporal punishment. Mainly, because kids do it to themselves.

Day 1 of bike ownership the older one learned the hazards of gravel as he lost most of the skin from both elbows. On the upside, this allowed me to use the nice first aid kit my mother-in-law made for us and to dust off my first aid merit badge skills.

Day 2 the younger one learned the hazards of the front brake as he flew over the handle bars. Luckily nothing was permanently damaged and he kept all his teeth.

POOP: I have gotten the opportunity to do some plumbing in my life. As a two time home owner and a dad to two rambunctious boys, I have replaced a number of toilets. It is never a fun job and often leaves me stinky and disgusted.

Well, RV life gets you close and personal to this exciting part of human life. On day 2 of boondocking we got to empty the black tank and remove the hose. Nothing can really prepare you for a 6:30AM poop shower/bath. Apparently we had a knife valve that was sticking. I haven’t seen much more that motivates me in this word than a 3″ open line of urine and feces under 30 gallons of head pressure. I found the strength within me rather quickly to “unstick” that knife valve and stop the cascade of fun. After a quick wash off, I even managed to smile long enough for a photo. Although, I have to admit the smile is slightly forced for the picture.

Money: Man is this cheap adventure expensive. It seems like everything we do costs more than I expected. $10 to park at Mt. Rushmore, $30 to see Crazy Horse, $20 Custer State Park, $10 parking Deadwood, $25 Buffalo Ridge 1880 Cowboy Town Museum, $6 for bundles of firewood, multi-hundred dollar RV campgrounds. Hopefully most of these are normal start up costs and this outflow of cash slows significantly. Some of the more expensive items we purchased to get started (besides the RV itself): TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring Sensors) for RV tires $327; Coach-Net insurance $179; backup camera for RV $546; EMS (Electrical Management System) to help manage potentially unreliable campsite electrical grid $387; telescopic ladder $120.27; RVLock door locks $290.99; Viair compressor $311.37; under mattress pad (keeps air flow, prevents mold) $106.95; blackout curtains for boys’ room (they broke the aluminum blinds night 1 of use) $73.39; wheel chocks/x-chocks/levelers $150; LevelPro $145; full time RV insurance $621; Good Sam roadside assistance $80; the list goes on, but it makes me tired just to write it all down. I factored in about $5,000 for start up costs and I think we will likely blow through this pretty quickly. I will do a later post mid adventure reviewing this gear and seeing if it stands up to full time living. In general, so far, I have really loved all the things that we have gotten.

Work: I was lucky enough to work for a company that let me go remote for a year to live out this dream with my kids. They agreed to this all pre-COVID, so prior to the huge swell of remote workers making this mainstream. They are a remarkable company and I am grateful to work for them. Based on perceived limitations of remote work, we decided it would be best to move from a Manufacturing Leader to an Operations Analyst. The Manufacturing Leader role is easiest done with a physical presence and has many direct reports that require regular interaction. The Operations Analyst position has no direct reports and allows for more independent contributor work. This has been my first week in the Operations Analyst role and it went very well.

Pluses:

When doing independent contributor work, I can retreat to an office with the best view of my career.

I thought the hardest part would be connectivity. I have been blown away by how good the coast to coast networks have been. I would say it is very similar to home. The only time we lost signal was deep in a National Park. We were even able to FaceTime my dad in Deadwood so he could see the staged gun fight.

Deltas:

I am still adapting to being an hourly employee. I have done this before and will get back in the swing of things. I tend to get lost in my work and time flies by. It is just a hassle to set alarms to make sure I do not go over my 40 hours.

Time zones are tough. We are currently on in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) and my work is in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). This translates to a 2 hour delta. This is a double edged sword. I start earlier (i.e. – 6:30AM/4:30AM EDT/MDT). I finish earlier (i.e.- 3:00PM/1PM EDT/CDT). So I am working several hours before the family wakes up and going to bed several hours earlier. It should be interesting to adapt to the Pacific Time Zone.

WRAP UP:

So far, I couldn’t have asked for more.

More time with my kids has been great. I am really getting to know them better and am learning a bunch of things over that I thought I knew about them.

Things break, smell and challenge me every day. I am regularly humbled by all that I do not know, frustrated by interactions with my family and the world and pushed to learn faster than I previously have. It is all good and really just part of life. We are living more now than we did and getting out there. Hopeful for the best that is to come.

Safe travels out there.

~Ben