RV Livin!

So what's it like to spend 7 weeks sleeping in a van? Here are some snippets of RV living. We've learned a lot.

Like what it feels like to lift your head from your pillow in the morning and see morning light reflected on a misty lake. (This was our view this morning from Camp Weequahic, where we slept in the van.)

Or this...

Or this...

You take a few minutes to figure out where you are...

Make your bed...

And get your coffee. VERRRRY important. At every campground, Mark asks:

1) Do you have flush toilets.

2) Do you have wifi.

3) Do you have coffee.

While Mark puts in a few hours of work -- usually at a picnic table or, if the flies are going crazy, in the van. I head out for a 45-minute run. Sometimes dirt roads, sometimes paved streets, sometimes cornfields, sometimes sidewalks, sometimes just me and the trucks. Sometimes I'd run by cattle and they would chase me along their wire fence, sometimes it would just be me and a biblical swarm of locusts. My favorite runs would end picking wild blackberries or raspberries along the side of the road. I'd walk for about 10 minutes just stuffing my face with 4 or 5 handfuls. No joke.

Then I'd boil water for my decaf Folgers instant coffee (we have different coffee standards) and a pouch of instant oatmeal, sometimes with fresh berries or whatever we picked up at our version of a grocery store.

You see all sorts of animals you've never seen before...

Signs at the campground can make you smile, like this...

And this...

Then after we hit the road for 3 or 4 hours of driving and sightseeing, we see the welcome sign at our next KOA. It truly is a welcome sign.

After we scope out the toilets, Mark tries to get more work done while I cook dinner on the 2-burner propane stove. This night was quinoa with red dal and chick peas.

We enjoy watching RV life all around us. RV living is very laid back, as you would expect. Very simple and uncomplicated. Kids ride bikes at 6am, enjoying the freedom, not seeming to mind the relative solitude.

Dads shoot hoops while kids swing and daydream. No whining, no "pay attention to me," no disrespect.

A guy practices soccer moves, on his own, perfectly content.

Grandmas take out the trash holding hands with their grandkids, chatting, smiling, I hear no whining.

Men wait (patiently?) to get into the bathroom.

A typical shower. Yeah, we wear flip flops in them.

And a less luxurious but typical communal men's room. Admittedly hard to brush your teeth with a mask on.

Families sit around and just talk and play games. Rare to see phones or ipads.

Kids feed their dogs.

Kids take out the trash.

A wiffleball game that lasts almost an hour.

Some nights we get lucky and a neighbor breaks out a guitar. Meet Pappy. He's proud to tell Mark and I that he's recorded a few songs. Click here for a sample of Pappy on Napa Time, his "stage name" lol.

Then Mark crawls into bed and is amazed to see how limber he is becoming. If he reaches far enough he actually CAN touch his toes. Whaddya know.

More berry picking in the morning...

We call this photo "Still Life at the KOA": Laundry night quarters, the sock we always forget to wash, a Bloody Mary with an old sausage and a stray piece of celery we found in the fridge (where did it come from?), and enough ice for my water and his drink. Ahhh, a luxury.

Icing our dinner wine 'til it's just right. A bag of ice is the best $2.50 you can spend on a summer road trip!

And especially useful on nights that are SO hot you put ice in your already cold beer. Tastes awful but feels great going down, especially when it's 107 degrees at night.

Yes, we've learned a lot on this trip. About simplicity, beauty, patriotism, compromise, and companionship.

And automotive repair!! Made it the whole trip without any major breakdowns until today, at 4:00, when the van began to overheat (AGAIN) and we made an emergency pit stop at Pep Boys in Philadelphia. The van is tired and so are we. It's time to head home. Tonight we'll sleep in Tenafly. Will it be in our beds or in the driveway????