Leaving the Rockies in our New Home - Freedom Spirit by Thor Travel Trailer

This is our new-to-us travel trailer parked at our workamping gig in beautiful northwestern Montana. Everyday here as I look around at the majestic scenery, I am reminded of God's glory.

Our family has loved living here the last seven months, but in a few days we will be making the five day trek back east. Tomorrow is Ladybug's and Kat's last day of school at the public school they attend, which has a total of 162 students from grades Pre-K to 12. They have been so blessed to attend a school where they are a person and not just a number, where the teachers really care about their students, where they are free to participate in activities without the threat of being cut at tryouts, where they've made friends with pretty much every other student at school, and where their friends, teachers and administrators have become like family to them. Of everything we will miss, we will most miss the wonderful school here and those who make it so special.

We will also miss our wonderful co-workers who have also become like family to us as well as the beautiful, sweet and gentle animals we love and care for each day: our adopted nephew Ace the dog, our eight horses, and our four mules.

It's a bittersweet time for us. We are sad about leaving but joyful at the same time because we will be seeing our dog Mr. Poo again as well as the rest of our beloved family.

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From Class A to Travel Trailer - Aloha to Both

Aloha . . . it means both goodbye and hello. The time has come to say goodbye to our Holiday Rambler. It has served us well. Well, that is, except for my aching back from sleeping on the jack knife sofa. Yes, I could have put the kids on the couch. Everybody asks why I would let two kids have the bedroom while my husband and I sleep on the couch. I chose to give them the bedroom for two reasons: one, it's easier to contain the mess if they have their own space; and two, my oldest daughter's scoliosis causes her enough back pain already.

We also tend to stay in one place for months at a time, so for us a fifth wheel or travel trailer makes more sense than a class A at this time in our lives. Originally, we expected to stay on the roads most of the time, but life did not work out the way we planned. 

So, although we have loved our motorhome, we decided to sell it. My back needs a bed. My requirement for the new RV: it has to have bunks for the kids as well as a "real" bed (not a sofa bed, not a jack knife couch, not a dinette converted bed . . . yes I know the "real" beds in RVs are generally not really real beds but they're close enough) for Michael and me.

We placed an ad on Craigslist and five days later the motorhome officially belongs to a lucky new owner. Lucky, well yes, it's a great RV! It's just better designed for two people than for four people and a large cat.

I've heard people say that you buy an RV, learn what you really need, and then buy another one. After all the research and all the careful planning we did, I though that our family would get it right the first time. We didn't. I'm not so sure right now that we got it right the second time either, but once again we bought what we could afford.

And tomorrow the time will come for our family to say hello to our lovely new-to-us Freedom Spirit 27' bunkhouse travel trailer. It does meet both items on my list of requirements--a bed for Michael and me and bunks for the girls--as well as our other extremely important needs: all the major systems work, there have been no leaks or structural damage, and it is affordable. However, at just 27', it does not meet my two very important reasonable wants: adequate storage and a little breathing space.

No doubt it will be tough to organize our belongings into such a small space. The motorhome had about 400 square feet of space plus tons of bays for all our stuff. The travel trailer has only about 216 square feet of space and two spaces underneath to cram in what we can without exceeding the weight limits for cargo. We also have the back of a long bed Dodge Ram to store things we are not using at the moment, but at this time we have not yet managed to buy a topper to contain those items securely.

Fortunately, we are up for the challenge of tiny house (RV) living. We prefer to do most of our living outside anyway.

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From Part Time to Full Time RV Living - Dream Come True?

So much has changed since my last post.

For one thing, we are no longer in Tennessee . . . we have migrated to western Montana, just a few miles from the Idaho border.

For another thing, we are no longer part-timers wishing to be full-timers. We have graduated and now live in our motorhome full time. We even have the full-timers RV insurance to prove it as well as the added expense of said insurance policy.

Is it all I dreamed of? Before I answer that, let me just mention that I've had a bad day which I attribute to severe lack of sunshine.

Honestly, this reality I'm living is not what I thought full timing would be. As I mentioned, we are living in Montana, as this icy state is where our home is parked. It's cold here, and I have only seen one ray of sunshine in the last two months.

Our pipes have frozen more than once already. The floor covering is trying to buckle where the family keeps tracking in snow on their boots. There's more moisture in here than I would like, although we've done our best to control it. The coats and boots and sweaters and hats and gloves and flannel lined jeans are strung everywhere, even piled up inside the refrigerator (not currently powered on) because all our clothes are bulky and just won't fit in the closet. The cat has used our dash, leather seats, and sofa as his personal scratching posts, and I'm sure the damage will kill the RV's resale value, not that I want to sell it any time soon. Everything in here seems to be falling apart, and I don't have the time (work, work, work) or the cash to fix any of it.

What did I have in mind when I wanted to go full-timing? I dreamed of sunshine, travel, and spending time with my family. Where did all that go wrong? Well, the answer is one nasty four letter word: DEBT. We have bills to pay. We have to work. This cold,frozen tundra is where we found work. Then, there's the five letter word: SCHOOL. It turns out that my oldest daughter absolutely loves her new school here and does not want to homeschool or attend online school at all, ever.

On a positive note, it is significantly cheaper for us to live in the motorhome than to rent an apartment. For the most part, we also really like living in the small space. The five-day trip out here was completely amazing, and spending the nights boondocking at truck stops was no big deal, no hassle, and something I am sure we will do again and again . . . some day, like when we head out again. Also, Montana is a beautiful state which I very much look forward to seeing in the summertime, and the people here are some of the best people I've ever met.

Right now, I have a different dream. I'm dreaming of my husband going back to his old job where he made a good living,  paying off the debts, and training for a job I can do remotely. All the while, we would still choose to live in the RV because the reality is that it just makes very good sense for us economically. Besides, we like it. Then someday, perhaps the full-time RV lifestyle I had in mind might be possible.

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