2 Weeks

Two weeks to go. No RV.

Our house is virtually empty now. Sound echoes around the rooms and off bare walls. The living room resembles a college dorm, or maybe a foreclosure…two bean bags, no tables or lamps, papasan chair perpetually turned on it’s side, two video gaming seats positioned in front of the TV… which is sitting directly on the carpet next to the X-Box.

We’ve replaced all the carpet and painted the house. It actually looks better now than it has in years. Kind of bittersweet really.

So all is just about ready for the tenants (and good friends) to move in May 1. It’s just that, this whole RV adventure can’t really take place without an RV. It’s not for lack of searching. We’ve found some we like, but by the time we decide it’s the one we want, it’s already sold. So the search continues.

Two more weeks until we’re homeless. Out on the streets. Destitute. But not really. We’ve arranged to stay at my mom’s house for the month of May while our boys finish out the school year. Our beloved mess Beedo will stay with his brother Taz at our neighbor’s house. We’ll miss him terribly. We’d bring him to mom’s, but she’s old school…believes animals belong outside. She has a valid point. Beedo proves her right, time and again.

Aiden’s ball python Bowser has been relocated to grandpa’s house for safe keeping. The two leopard geckos, Yoshi and Little Girl, will be moved to our friend’s house in the coming days. Our two African Dwarf frogs, Goliath and Cookies and Cream (seriously), go to grandma’s last.

All of the utility companies have been notified; our forwarding address is in place with the Post Office; we changed our home insurance policy over to a “Landlord” policy. That was probably the biggest hassle. Apparently a lot of insurance companies don’t have “Landlord” policies. Our carrier (Nationwide) did, but they wanted to increase our annual premium by 80%! No thanks. After calling several big carriers, I finally ended up switching ALL our policies to Liberty Mutual and the price increase wasn’t bad at all. Ended up lowering my car insurance in the process. Added bonus: they cover RV’s… not that we own one.

We’re still looking for that perfect 38-40-ft. Class A diesel pusher with 3-4 slides. And bunks would be nice. Doesn’t exactly help that we know NOTHING about RVs. We’ve had some advice and help along the way, but ultimately we have to just pull the trigger and that scares the hell out of me. I have a habit of second-guessing my every decision, that is, whenever I actually MAKE a decision. And that’s partly the reason we’ve missed out on some great RVs…just can’t commit.

It’s been 9 months since we decided to do this. Like a pregnancy. Fitting really. We’re ready for this crazy stressful stage to be over, but we’re totally unprepared for what comes next. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to look back on all these months of planning and total life upheaval with a sense of peace. Or just laugh about it while I stare out of my giant windshield at the mountains/ocean/desert/back of a semi.