We Won't Be Doing This Again For a Very Long Time!

Our New Little House On Wheels

A move from one RV to another is not for old folks like us.  We are so exhausted and sore!  This RV has to last five years at least and then if we get a new one we will hire some young people to do the moving and putting away of "stuff."  

We are finished moving in, though, and the new place is looking like ours. We have everything put away (although, locations of some items may be moved to more convenient places at a later date) and added our personal touches such as Roger's woodworking, flowers, wall decorations, clocks, etc.  Now all we have to do is remember where we stashed everything.

We knew we were getting a smaller space, but I really didn't think that two feet in length would make much of a difference, but it does.  Some spaces are a much tighter squeeze.  The living room area is smaller, the kitchen is larger, the bathroom is smaller but has a full sized shower and toilet, and the bedroom seems larger.  There was a king sized bed in it but we asked that it be taken out and our queen sized sleep number bed (that we just bought in December) be put in.  That freed up about six inches on each side of the bed, which seems like a huge amount.  I no longer have to turn sideways to walk between the bed and the closet.  The bedroom closet is huge. Cupboard space is close to the same, but some spaces are narrow and deep and awkward to fill.  The pantry is wonderful! I no longer have to sit on the floor to get foodstuffs out of the cupboard and it has a light in it that has a motion sensor.  I love the pantry.  I have a handrail at the stairs and a small light on them that comes on at night.  No more falling down them when I miss a step.  We are back to a couch and two recliners. They call them theater seats and they have a heat setting for achy muscles and backs.  We've already used that feature!  We really like the combination of light and dark wood throughout.  

Roger doesn't have as much basement space, so right now it looks like Fibber McGee's closet but neatly packed in.  He's got some serious work to do when we get to Arizona to get it organized again.  

Yesterday we had an 8 AM appointment to do a walk-through of the new unit.  Maggie went with us, of course, and she was such a good dog and made lots of friends.  She even got treats. She was a bit stressed though when we started working and curled up in her bed in the old rig.  At one point she went outside and sat on the cold cement watching us going in and out with her ears down and looking very pathetic. 

Did I mention cold?  Yesterday was about 60 degrees and the wind was blowing at about 30mph.  

Once the walk-through was over, they pulled the old rig into the bay next to the new one and switched the wheels/tires for us (we just bought new tires in March and didn't want the Chinese tires that were standard equipment on our new rig ).  Once that was done, they put the two rigs outside, head to tail so that the doors were opposite each other to make it easier for us to move our things.  They moved the mattresses for us but after that we, of course, were on our own. Each RV has a four step entry and then three inside up to the bedroom.  We certainly got our stair stepper points yesterday. (read Sore Quads.)  At one point, Roger decided he would bring the stuff out of the old one and hand it to me to put in the new one.  He did a lot more steps than I did, though. We finally finished about 2pm after a quick sandwich around lunch time. Since we had our food with us, it wasn't a problem.

We came back to the RV park and continued the process of putting stuff away.  Rog would bring me a bag from the basement and I'd find somewhere to put the contents.  We finally quit about 7:30 and just crashed in our chairs.  Tired, sore, and still wondering what the heck we had done and why.

This morning Roger put away all the basement things that he had left outside at the campsite.  It was colder today.  It hovered around 55 all day with strong winds.  He was out there in his winter sweatshirt, hat  and gloves.  This afternoon he did things like put up the key rack, put the hand rail bar on the door,  put up our bedroom reading lights (the ones in RVs are too bright and not in the right place for us), and then he hauled the boxes and tubs that were loaned to us back to the campground manager's.  We both stayed busy until dinner time.

After lunch we went out for groceries for us and Maggie food, too. The bag of dog food we bought a week or so ago got put in the basement under a bunch of stuff so it was easier just to go buy a new bag.  As I came out of the grocery store, this dog greeted me!  


Prepping to move: 

  

Out one and into the other at the dealer.

We had a few things to put away:

Many hours later, everything in it's place - or close to it:

All Settled In Her New House

We start our journey home tomorrow with a short drive (about 120 miles)  to see how the new rig handles.  Although the rig is shorter, it is heavier. Rog now has a back up camera on it, so he can see behind the RV when parking it.  He's going to like that!  Hopefully the wind will die down and it will be a bit warmer so we can enjoy the trip without the stress of head winds.