#46 The RV Life…again…and we lived to tell the tale…barely

In retrospect, I should have written this in a more timely manner.  But the memories are still there.  It's been a bit of a journey, but I realized going back and re-reading the entire series that it is truly a diary of our recent life together.  I have been reminded of some pretty funny events and amazing comebacks. Time to update the blog to keep more of those memories alive.

First let me explain the rv mistake… what I wrote in blog 43🙄

“As if all that wasn’t enough drama, we are now the proud owners of a new RV that will love having its own garage.  Whaaaaaat???  I know.  We bought the new one for better creature comforts while on the road.  We sold our toy hauler and ordered the new one back in April before all this house stuff happened.  Perfect timing lol.  Might as well do all kinds of life changing crap at once, get it over with lol.   We pick it up in a few days, just in time for our new adventure.  Can't wait to post pics of the new travel home.  It's a Keystone Montana 3231ck.  Like a little apartment, lol, with wheels.  He’ll tow his atv trailer like he did with our original Montana back in 2017.  This one is less than 38’ so much easier to do.  Fortunately LJ is a fabulous trailer parking guy.  It’ll be awesome.”

Should have read blog entry 21🤦‍♀️

Crazy thing about all of this is the repetition of previous mistakes.  Blog entry 21 back in April 2018 talks about how we had this fabulous Montana fifth wheel when we decided to go full time RVing.  After living in it for about 8 months we realized there was no way we’d come out of this adventure alive if we didn’t get a toy hauler.  So we did.  Bought the perfect toy hauler for long term living.  No triple towing;  Two living areas with the garage; outside tv.  I mean we lived in the dang thing for almost two years.  It was great.  

So here we are again, going full time rving with another Montana.  Oh it was beautiful and perfect for short trips, and that was the original plan.  Yet history was repeating itself.  I would have given anything to still have the toy hauler.  Too bad we didn’t know in April that two months later we’d be embarking on another round of gypsy living.  But again, that’s how we James’ do things.  Bassakwards.  I’ve decided to blame Bruce Clark.  He bought a new Montana earlier in the year.  It was pretty…and new and I liked it. After all, LJ had cancer while we were living in the toy hauler so it held bad memories.  plus we had no intention of RV living again.  Perfect excuse to justify getting a new one.  There was some truth to that, but really the toy hauler was huge and we could do with a smaller one since we were planning on only going on trips without the toys.  When we found the Montana we bought, it was really nice with all kinds of amenities. Yep…and how’d that work out.  Sigh…

Because it was late getting to us (we had ordered it in April; supposed to get it in July; received it August 5th) we had to move out and move in at the same time.  We doubled our stress level and work.  We just threw crates into the rv for me to unpack once at the rv park.  Could have just moved right in to the TH.  But enough bitching about that.  What was done was done.  Move on.  So we managed to move from the beautiful house to the teeny fifth wheel.  But even that did no go as planned.  Wait for it....

In the middle of all this moving stuff, we went to pick up the new trailer.  We had about three weeks to go so that would give me plenty of time to get it loaded and ready to go.  Or would it.   The very day we brought it home things did not go as planned.  LJ backed it in like the true champ he is.  I wasn't paying much attention but then I noticed he had it too close to the tree so I wouldn't be able to open the slide out.  That was never a problem with the toy hauler but this trailer, the slide went almost all the way to the back.  Uh oh.  Of course he was in the middle of unhooking the thing when I brought this to his attention.  It would have to be moved forward.  "Goddammit" was the nice word he said.  I won't mention the other word with a capital F that was said numerous times.  Neither one of us considered that slide location to the tree, but of course it was my fault.  And as usual, right in the middle of doing something he had to pee. Never fails.  Start something, have to pee.  In the middle of something...have to pee.   Must be an old guy thing.  So off he goes.  I was sure he could handle this on his own so in the house I went to start gathering trailer stuff.

I'm in the house when I hear this very loud BOOOOOM!  Oh shit...  My first thought is he moved it too far forward and hit the block wall, but I was wrong, thank goodness.   So I go outside to see what the noise was and discover LJ forgot he had engaged the release lever due to his mad dash to the bathroom and believed the truck and trailer were still hooked together.  So when he moved the truck to pull the trailer forward it was juuuuuuuuust far enough for the trailer to land on the truck.  That was the boom. Geeeeeeesh.  How many times have we seen friends do that and we laugh internally.  Boy that was stupid.  Yes it was.  We were now proud members of "you’re an idiot club".  But this, too, was my fault since I interrupted him in the middle of his unhooking earlier.  He would have done everything right if I hadn't approached him precisely at that moment.  Ok.. I'll take the blame.  What are wives for.  Buuuuut that doesn't solve the problem we now have.  The truck was absolutely fine, mainly because he had a metal cover over the bed so the metal rails protected the truck.  The new trailer though?  It damaged the trim around the front cap and chipped the paint.  Did I mention we had full body paint on this new trailer?  Of course we did.  LJ said "well at least the truck is ok.  We can live with the trailer damage".  It's like he doesn't even know me.  We've owned it for five minutes.  What are you smoking?

Long story short, we took it in stride.  Nothing else was going right so far so why would this be easy.  We found a guy who repaired it, including the paint for $1500.  He had to replace trim and fix a couple things, then paint it.  Fortunately when covid started and the supply chain was affected,  being a smart guy, he stocked up on trim and other parts.  No waiting since he had everything he needed.  Still took over a week to get it done.  Time we couldn't afford to lose but no one to blame but ourselves.  Still managed to get it done on time.  Moving on....

We didn’t stay at the rv park the entire 19 months with those little excursions here and there.  But we were there long enough for snowbirds to leave and return, remarking "You guys are still here???"  Yea... cuz house building is fun...and timely... not.  We did make a trip to Utah to atv ride.  We took the rv to Chico for our granddaughter’s wedding.  Made a trip to Quartszite and another to Laughlin for more riding.  But we mostly just lived at Destiny RV Park.  We couldn’t find any openings closer to the new place so we just made weekly trips up to Wickenburg to check on the house progress.  No big deal…just a 100 mile round trip each time.

Once we got settled at the rv park everything was fine.  Felt that sense of being free again.  This time wasn’t as easy in other ways though.  We only had the main tv since we decided to go the cheap way with the satellite.  Previously we had a proper roof mounted satellite so it worked like at home.  Each tv worked independently (and in the toy hauler we had 4).  We now were using a portable satellite so the bedroom tv only had local channels while the main tv got everything.  We no longer had the luxury of a garage where I could do puzzles or crafting while watching tv.  We no longer had an outside tv so we could watch different things.  Usually it wasn’t a problem, but then lo and behold here comes Nascar season.  I finally bought ear phones so I didn’t have to listen to it 🤷🏼‍♀️.  

Top that off with only ONE bathroom.  Our last two trailers had a second bathroom.  We discovered early on with this set up that at our age ya need a second bathroom.  Many a race to see who could get there first.  Fortunately I beat him to the finish line,   All those years as a patrol cop taught me how to pee fast.  LJ never had to wait long.  But if he got there first….. 😳.  Damn we missed the toy hauler and its two bathrooms.

  

Speaking of the bathroom, one of the joys of rv living is cleaning tanks.  LJ usually did it, but once in awhile I did if he was gone or I was being generous with my time.   Of course there’s the time in Utah I got sidetracked while adding back in a little water to the tank so I could add deodorizer packets.  I’ve learned it helps to not forget to turn the water off, thereby overfilling the tank which then fills the toilet causing an overflow onto the bathroom floor AND down into the storage compartment then out the bay door.  It’s a miracle it only went to the side with the plastic crates so nothing got damaged.  So glad I had cleaned the tanks well prior to this stupid act.  I'm sure you can figure out why 😂💩.  I got it all cleaned up before LJ got back from riding.  Wasn't going to tell him, but he always enjoys a good laugh at my expense.  And laugh he did.  I got to wear the I'm an idiot label the rest of the trip.  

Scooter loves his big bro

Jeff came to visit that Utah trip.  Again, one of those events that would have been so much better with the TH and its separate bedroom/bathroom.  But we made it work and he got to spend UTV riding time with his dad.  And he got the pleasure of working on the UTV when the doohickey thingy broke.  Of course them being stranded afforded me the opportunity to hook up the little trailer and drive the truck up the mountain.  You know.. the truck I had never driven before and had to figure out where the four wheel drive button was along with navigating unfamiliar territory.  He was so proud lol.

Jeff made shirts 😂😂

dad wouldn't let him drive cuz he wanted
him to get the full LJ experience lol

But I digress.  Back to the new rig....Rv had a nice kitchen though.  Upgraded stove.  Full size fridge.  Lots of storage.  Too bad I hate to cook, especially in the rv.🤣🤣.  We were still near civilization so we frequented the local Texas Roadhouse and Mexican restaurant.  You know you go out a lot when they see you coming and your drink order is at the table before you get seated🤣🤣.

LJ hated my GMC Acadia so in December 2021at the height of no new cars being available and dealers getting full price for them, we decided to buy a new car 🤣🤦‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️.  Actually it all worked out because we were able to work a great deal with a local dealer on a car they had just received, plus we got tons more for our used car than it was worth.  He’s pretty happy with the Hyundai Palisade.  I wanted something smaller, but LJ has trouble finding smaller cars that are comfortable for him. Is what it is.

 LJ also decided he needed a new UTV…which was true since the last one had been on its side or top more than once.  So he indulged himself.  I’m happy to say…knock on wood…that he has yet to mess up this one and it’s been a couple years.  He goes on an atv adventure monthly now so he deserved a new one.  I won't tell you the long story about how he ended up with this UTV.  Like how he drove to LA to buy a four place; had it for a week:  decided since he was triple towing he needed a 2 place... ... .... thank goodness he got the four place at such a good deal he didn't lose any money except for the cost of going to LA.  Men are stupid. 😂  But he loves it and has ridden it quite a bit so all is good.

We had an end slot at the park so, fortunately, we could park my car, the truck and the atv in the rv slot.  

Another true joy of rv living is doing it in Arizona in the summer…the record breaking hot summer.  115 outside…100+ inside.  We would have been fine in the toy hauler.  It had three strong air conditioners.  The new one had one in the living area that barely kept up and one in the bedroom that was useless.  We ended up buying floor fans to survive.  I’d take scooter to petsmart just to enjoy the car and store AC.  And because the house build was taking so long we did that TWO summers!  We’d go check on the house and invade the Roloffs since the ac worked at their place…except that one time their power went out for three days because of a wicked storm.  We didn't want to travel too much because the house build needed oversight.  That's the next blog. 

Speaking of storms.. Monsoon weather is also quite entertaining in the tin can.  Not only is it loud, but you pray you don't find water leaking through the windows or the roof.  Being a new trailer, that was unlikely.  Being a trailer built during covid?  You hoped it was unlikely.  And wind?  Good times.  Rockin and a rollin for all the wrong reasons lol.

We made it work, but it wasn’t always pleasant.   Hard to get alone time and you need that when you live in a 260 sf one bedroom, one bathroom tin can.  Fortunately we like each other so we survived.  I did really miss having an inside space to do puzzles or crafting.  Did I mention the toy hauler was far superior for long term living?  I might have mentioned that before.

Scooter was pretty sick of it, though.  I could tell he was depressed so we tried to get him out as much as possible.  He did get his daily trip to the dog park and a walk around the rv park where he proudly announced his presence to all who would listen.  Just wasn't the same as being in the house.  He really missed his yard.  His favorite days were visiting the Roloff dogs or Clark dogs.  I can see such a change in him now that he’s back in a house, poor little guy. 

One of the things that makes me laugh about the whole thing is buying a house with an RV garage and full hookups so we could bring the trailer home and use it as an extra bedroom if needed.  Seemed like a good idea when we bought the 2 bedroom little house.  It’s funny because the RV never made it anywhere near this place.  We were so sick of it by the end that it went straight to the dealership for consignment.  The rv garage still works though since LJ can keep his UTV, truck and trailer in there.  A running joke is passing someone with an rv on the road and one of us commenting “hey that looks like fun!  We should get one of those!” 🤣.  We never say never about having a small toy hauler again.  But living in one?  Been there.  Done that.  No fucking way!  But as we have learned: never say never 🤣🤣🤣

Next up…Building this current house… OMFG.  Get the 🍿ready.

our trip to Oatman AZ where he got the cowboy bug

Oatman AZ donkeys

spoiled dog with his own camp chair

KT and G'pa

the whole set up... 

A common scene when riding with LJ

KT and John 

#45 What we did the summer of 2021..Selling and packing.. still traumatized

 Where do I even begin…?  

Well, if you read or re-read #43, you know that after two years in our 3rd forever home, we decided once again to sell and move on.  There’s an entire entry on justifying this decision.  But I mean really.  I think it’s a sickness we have that we move all...the...time.  We did spend 10 years in one house in Sparks, NV;  and 8 years in our house in Elverta, CA.  But in 2021 that only accounts for 18 out of 43 years.  We have rented three times, purchased and sold 9 houses and lived in the RV 3 separate times.  That is 15 moves in 43 years.  You can't say the James' let the grass grow under our feet 😂.  Each move had a purpose.  Two of the rentals and two rv stints were waiting for our forever house to be found or built.  I’m sorry... that’s forever houses, plural🙄🤦‍♀️.  I think, at this point, you could say we are true experts in the field.  Or so you would think…

The dream home pool

The dream home 

Lets start by reviewing the sale of our beautiful home in Goodyear AZ so we could move to our current place (the newest forever home) in Wickenburg Ranch, AZ;  where the Roloff's live.  

Ah, the house in Goodyear.  You remember.  The one that used to be a model home.  The one I filled my Facebook page with pictures of.  

Had a pool, Ramada, fancy landscaping, a zillion upgrades.  Even came fully furnished.  Yep, that one.  I remember thinking when we bought it that there is no way we will ever leave this place.  It's perfect.

But so we could live in small town cowboy country amongst like minded older folk, the latest perfect dream home went on the market.  Aaaaaand it sold in one day.  One freakin’ day.  I had planned on it sitting on the market awhile.  Waiting for it to sell would give us ample time to purge and pack what we didn't need for staging or living.  But no.  One flipping day was all it took.  We had to bust our asses to get out of that place.  We are too damn old for ass busting.

LJ rented a 5x10 storage unit, climate controlled, so we could keep valuable items, paperwork and other various things we might need access to while RV living.  Everything else was going with the movers.  Once again, like in 2017, he limited me to one storage unit.  Limit what we keep with us.  Only keep necessary items.  Just as a side note, about two weeks into it he rented a second one for his stuff…gotta take tools, ladders and atv stuff.  Plus he realized I left him no room in the original unit 🤣.  Hey, I decided to keep accessible craft stuff and puzzles in case I got bored.  Yep…that could have gone with the movers.  Good grief.

What I truly found interesting with all of this was LJ's willingness to hire the movers to pack everything.  Seriously?  In my mind I was thinking and maybe I said it out loud  (you know I did 🤣),  “What about allllll those other times we moved and you didn't want to pay for that?  OHHHHH that's right.  Those other big moves I did all the packing because you were conveniently on some ATV trip right in the middle of it all.  This all happened literally overnight so you didn't have time to conveniently plan one so now you have to help.  Sorry babe.”  Now having movers pack made perfect sense.  Men…😂👍.

In truth it was a life saver.  I'm too damn old to be doing this shit.  I get tired.  I hurt.  I get frustrated.  So hiring movers to pack was perfect.  However...me being me, I did pack up all my crafts and important things myself.  I just didn't trust them completely.  Plus they weren't coming in to pack us and move us until the end of the month.  Notice I said I.  

Anyway, scheduling them to come in was when we discovered another minor...could have been major...oops.  We always have “oops” or “wtf “or “gee, didn’t see that coming” when we make life changes.  It’s the James way.

Even better… we didn't discover it.  Annie Roloff did.  Thank you ANNIE!  She apparently was gossiping about us to Tom when she realized we hadn't lived in the Goodyear house very long, just under two years.  If you don't live in your primary home for 24 months out of so many years, you pay capital gains taxes.  Depending on who you talk to it could be a lot or a little, but still it's money you give Uncle Sam that you don't need to if you're smart.  So we did the math and discovered we were a bit shy of the two years based on the closing date.  Fortunately our buyers were forgiving and let us push back the closing a few days so we could avoid any taxes.  Another "why do we always do this crap" issue avoided...truly thanks to Annie.  

The delay actually helped with another stupid move we made.  Had we known we were going to buy a house that hadn’t been built, we never would have sold our toy hauler to buy a fancy trailer.  The toy hauler with its two living areas, two bathrooms and outside tv was a far better full time living choice.  But no.  We sold it in April to buy a fancier “regular RV” to travel with since we were finally settled in the forever house.  Of course the new trailer wasn’t going to be here until a couple weeks before closing.  Timing is everything, and we suck at it.  Stress level would have been soooo much lower if we just hadn’t made that decision.  But that’s for the next chapter…

Destiny RV Park

Thankfully, our RV arrived just in time for the movers to empty out our house.  We parked it next to the house so we could load it up and so we had a place to sleep.   Plus we had to wait for the rv slot to open up.  Fortunately we were able to get into Destiny RV where we had stayed during LJs cancer time.  They were so nice (plus the gal that runs the place has a crush on LJ) so they found us a spot with no move out date.  We could stay in one place until the house was done. 

Back to the packing:

It’s amaaaaaazing how much stuff you can accumulate in just two years.  This house had storage so there was no reason I couldn't fill it!  Puzzles, craft stuff, knick knacks and what nots.  Seriously.  We moved in with a small trailer full of boxes and now we needed movers to pack us up.  

So I started in the closet:

Just like in 2015 and 2017 we would be rv living so I was limited in clothing I could take.  I remember going through the closet and thinking this should be quick.  Instead another WTF moment.  I have done this so many times and yet still had several bags of clothes to go to Goodwill.  Not good clothes, mind you.  Nope, just a plethora of Walmart t-shirts.   Blog #3 refers to my addiction to $9 t-shirts.  I obviously had not kicked the habit..  Somewhere there has to be a support group.  At least in Arizona there’s a happy thrifty wearing one of my lovely tees with an inappropriate saying on it.

And shoes....I wear one pair of flip flops and one pair of tennis shoes with the occasional slip on BOB's from Skechers.  Why do I have 12 pairs of tennis type shoes?  Many worn only once.  Probably because they were cute and on sale.  So some to the thrift store; some to pack and three that I’ll never wear to take..just in case.  

LJ wasn't much better with his stuff.  He had enough Levis that no longer fit him to dress a homeless village.  Shirts, too.  After he lost all his weight from the cancer diet, he just never purged his clothes.  By the time he was done even he had a few donation bags.  I have to admit I was smirking just a little after all the grief I endured last time.

On to the rest of the house.  Bear with me.  Theres a lesson here:

LJ called a thrift store and they bought outright most of the furnishings we had and a lot of the decor items.  It was all model home stuff so no monetary loss there.  That saved us from having to deal with garage sales or marketplace.  I set aside a few things I liked.  We kept a queen size bed and our King bedroom set.  Kept a couple of dressers and the couches.  Sold everything else.  Gave a bunch of crap away to the neighbors from the garage.  Literally gave our frig and Washer Dryer to the neighbor across the street for him to give a friend. Again.. was all model home stuff so we had no investment in it.  Later the neighbor did tell me he ended up selling them so we split the money.  He wanted to give us all of it, but heck...he sold it so he deserved some of it.

Kept some of the outside furniture;  left the fancy pool lounges for the new people.  Set aside all my tacky yard art for the movers.

Now, I know you are thinking yea.. so... 

Welllll… the movers packed it all up using twice as many boxes as I would have.  They killed an entire forest with the amount of brown packing paper and boxes they used.  Made no sense to me but they are the professionals…and they charge by the box 🤦‍♀️.   They wrapped and protected the furniture we kept, loading it all into crates on the big ol semi parked out front.  I’m sure we paid a shitload more to have our stuff packed up than if I had done it.  Just in retrospect half of it should have never seen the inside of a box.  I should have taken photos but I was busy directing every thing.

Let me explain the drawbacks of saving and storing things with the movers.  You see, you think you are saving money because you don't have to rebuy stuff...but in reality it costs money.  They charge you for the packing material.  They charge you for their labor.   Once on the truck, they go by weight.  The more they take, the more it costs. The fact is we paid monthly storage for what was supposed to be 12 months, that ended up being 19 months (another story), for furniture and crap we didn’t need to keep.  At least half of what we stored has since been donated or given away, and most right after we moved in 🤦‍♀️.  In fact we sold some of the stuff to the moving crew🤣🤷🏼‍♀️.  In retrospect alllll the furniture should not have been stored.  All the cheap ass yard art should not have been stored.  If you are moving from one place to another with a month or so in between, it makes sense.  For what we paid in storage we could have all new stuff.  Oh wait… we do have new stuff.  So, in reality we paid to store stuff we have replaced with new stuff.  Brilliant! Follow us for more stupid choices🤣.

Another recommendation:  If you live in Arizona, I suggest not cleaning out garages and making moves during the intense heat of freakin' August.  And I double that during record heat of 115 for days.  You'd think I would have lost weight sweating as much as I did, but of course I did not.  Fun times.

And poor Scooter!  He is OCD like me.  He was not happy with the boxes and crates everywhere.   He’s not a fan of change.  I felt so sorry for him.  He loved his yard.  I mean he’s very happy now but dang that was rough on him.  Poor little guy.  All we could do is show him love.  He’d been through this twice before so he kind of understood it.  But he didn’t like it.

We finally finished, making it just in time.  Got the house emptied, cleaned and ready for the new people on closing day.  Well almost.  We were finishing up the garages when they came to get the keys.  They were really nice about it.  I think they felt sorry for us since that day was so far the hottest day of 2021.  Record breaking.  Of course it was.  I'm not ever one to leave anything undone for the new folks.  But sadly I broke my perfect streak with this move.  I was sad for about a minute.  Then I was just happy to get the fuck out and move on.

Next stop: the joys of rv living and house building.  Write that later.  I need a drink.  This remembering makes my head spin as I look around at all the crap we’ve accumulated over the last year of living in the new house.  Yep…slow learner 🤣🤣🤣

#44 oh look… she’s writing again! Only been 2 years 🤣. So what’s new

 I know.  It’s been over two years since I have written anything.  And it’s crazy because it was a busy two years, lol.  Our new house was built.  No drama there…oh please.  Could have written about that.  We had to live in our RV for 19 months waiting for the house.  Nothing to see there… oh but there was.  Could have written about that.  Moving in to the house was fun..part of the time, lol.  Could have written about that.  And getting settled and having the landscaping done.  Certainly could have written about that, too.  Oh and saw our daughter and family for the first time in 6 years!  Apparently I didn’t write about that either.  WTF.  There was enough stories to fill a Walmart 99 cent composition book, but I was lazy.  I plan to change that.

I was reminded of the blog and went back and read it.  It was the perfect reminder of life, good and bad, funny and sad.  I liked the reminders.  Like a public diary, lol.  So what better thing to do in 2024 but start again.  Life in retirement here at the ranch is fun.  Retirement in general is a blast.  Shit still happens…So here we go…  coming soon (I still have to write it lol)

I’ll do the last Two years in rapid review…in case you missed it on Facebook:  first, might I suggest you read #43 to set the scene and remind you where this chapter began.  It’s all the Roloff’s fault 🤣.   Then I’ll continue on with frequent blog entries about our retirement life.  Based on past experience you just never know what might be happening🤣.  

So standby to stand by…

In the meantime, here’s Scooter❤️