Sunday, July 8, 2012

Learning to Live Differently!

We're back in the RV Park, learning to live in our new Winnebago Journey 42E.  Just surviving yesterday feels like a real accomplishment!

We were up Saturday morning at 5:00.  Our long-haired alarm clock never fails.  Steve made us a lovely breakfast of oatmeal and toast, and even did the dishes.  We worked hard Friday night trying to get as much as we could from the trailer into the Buick, thinking we'd have less to unload from the 5th wheel to the motorhome.  The Buick was packed full!  Saturday morning was about getting ourselves ready, getting to Beaverton in time to drop off Parsley at her "grandparents" for the day, and getting to Camping world by 9:00.  Everything went smoothly!  We got in and back out of my parents' short street with culdesac.  Steve's the master at maneuvering the truck and 5th wheel without popping out the back window of the truck, were he to turn too sharply.  We made it to Camping World in Hillsboro with time to spare.

Since our truck and trailer were trade-ins, their people started checking things out quickly, while Steven, our salesman & new friend, introduced us to all the aspects of the motorhome, inside and out.  We'd heard much of it before, but there is so much to digest.  It's really quite overwhelming.  However, Steven has been very patient with us, and wonderful to work with.

Eventually we went in to meet with the finance guy, to sign papers and give him a check for the motorhome.  That only took perhaps 20 minutes, compared to a couple hours probably on the motorhome.  During all this, various folk were scrambling around trying to have everything ready for us.  A few things didn't happen.  Work orders didn't get written up, some communications didn't happened.  If this had been 2 days previous, I probably would have been really bugged and disappointed.  Funny thing was that none of that seemed so important all the sudden.  I decided it was the relief of getting through our house sale that let me relax - even with few hours of sleep over the past several days.

My hard-working, helpful brother-in-law, Jim, joined us at the dealership.  He'd volunteered to help us move from one RV to the other.  I truly don't know what we'd have done without him!  Having turned in our truck, we wouldn't even have had a vehicle to drive to get over to my parents for lunch without Jim.  My mom fixed us a nice lunch, and my brother was able to join us from Vancouver.  He'd wanted to help us with the move, but had to get back home to get his wife to work, as they were down to only one working vehicle at the time.

It turned into a very warm day by the time we got back to the dealership and found the motorhome and 5th wheel perfectly aligned next to each other, so we could transfer things from one to the other.  That's when the really hard work began.  Steve was in the 5th wheel and I was in the motorhome.  Jim was hopping from the 5th wheel with whatever Steve handed him, and up the steps into the motorhome, saving my back from lifting, where I tried to find a quick place for everything.  It was crazy.

When we were done, it was time to leave.  Our salesman popped in saying he needed to get going.  I swear I almost grabbed his leg and held on, begging him not to leave us.  At that moment I felt panic well up - I was certain we didn't know how to drive this huge monster!  I didn't even know where to begin in closing it up to move!  Steven calmly walked me through the various things to watch for before pulling in the slides.  We got them pulled in, and then he left.

We now had to drive away in the motorhome.  Steve had decided that I would drive.  Isn't he a saint?  I wanted to, and was scared to death at the same time.  I'd done the test drive out at Rooster Rock that once, but I hadn't had to do it alone, without the assurance of someone who knew.  Suddenly we were on our own.  I was so thankful to have my "other brain" sitting next to me.  I wasn't sure I could get out of the parking lot.  It seemed a very tight fit to get between the other RVs on the lot.  Steve helped encourage me through, and the world did not end.

Soon we were on TV Highway, heading to my parents house on the pre-planned route, picked for it's less than tight corners.  How strange to be pulling up next to my parents' place in that huge thing!  I couldn't believe I'd driven it there!  I'm not sure how I didn't hit anything... it just kind of happened to fall into place.

Once again, my faithful brother-in-law, Jim, worked his tail off along with Steve, getting bin after bin of our stuff loaded into the motorhome.  Long before they were finished, it became clear it wasn't going to fit.  After all that down-sizing, we still have too much stuff!  That's okay.  This time the McMinnville Goodwill will benefit!

I'm kind of amazed at the things we have too much of yet.  Cleaning products!  Lysol, degreaser, Windex, toilet bowl cleaner, disinfecting wipes, hand soap, dish soap, etc.  Suddenly, it all seems like so much over kill!  How many different kinds of cleaners do I need?  Really.  I can't wait to unload much of this stuff.  In an RV we need to be more careful about what goes down the drain - as it goes into our holding tanks.  We don't use Drain-O or harsh chemicals.  I actually look forward to unloading much of those items that I apparently treasured at the "big house".

When we got up this morning - 5:00 again - after getting to sleep well after mid-night, we enjoyed a cup of coffee (at least we could find that!), and pretty much just felt tired and overwhelmed, while being so thankful to finally be in our new home. 

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