PP #14: Red House days are numbered :-(
Project: Pioneer #14, January 6, 2024 (Saturday 3pm)
Happy new year, pioneer readers! Ours was quiet, as we’re not drinkers or partiers these days. We did make a delicious steak dinner on the grill outside (Weber BabyQ, small and awesome for small spaces or campers!) compete with baked potatoes and white corn. After that we cozied up in our comfy bed to take in some entertainment. It’s like being at the drive-in theater every night. When the clock struck midnight, there were fireworks over the mountain range behind us and out across the plain, where civilization lies off in the distance. Also, some hillbilly gunfire, as is the custom in these parts! Hello, 2024, please be nice. As I write this journal post, the first winter snowstorm of this season is just beginning outside. Our first as full-time RVers. Buckle up!
Project: Pioneer is the live reality journal of a couple and their small dog as they leave their ‘normal’ life in a luxury apartment for a new semi-off grid life in a small recreational vehicle, just at the start of winter. We cover prepping, politics, spirituality, afterlife, RV life, and personal finance. (Audio at this link, Apple, and Spotify)
Our last post had a poll. 60% said to switch to a bigger RV now. 20% said wait until spring. 20% said, “How dare you, poor Red House!” Giavana and I each voted for choice #1 about a hundred times. Just kidding. Perspective: If you’re a vanlife person, Red House is a spacious palace. If you live in Red House, like us, and go to someone’s “cramped” small home or apartment, you marvel at all the space they have. On and on. People all over the world live in tiny spaces. They have no choice. As humans, we acclimate and adjust to survive, or we die. Darwin! Our closing quote is one my son (the US Marine machine gunner war hero) sent me this week. Our last post also provoked some interesting responses from dear friends and family members (hello, Alex and Mom…). Methinks we touched a nerve! Some quotes from those:
“This isn't the time to be playing Grizzly Adams. Try to uplift to Little House on the Prairie…“
“Before you lose what little you have left plus your health, go into a furnished studio apt for a few months“
“Billy you are 65 years old. Most of our men died in their 70s in our family. You already lived your pioneer days. You and Giavana should be sitting in that little house by the lake Now!!!!!“
Well, we are in a little house by the lake, so that much is true. We understand and appreciate the concern. This certainly isn’t easy. We’ve learned a lot. I said early on, you can have a plan, but that means nothing next to actual experience and whatever fate has in store for you. Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. That’s a big reason for doing this, as I said in the prepping post. Paper preppers are in for a big shock if something does happen. By the way, if you get nothing else on my list from that post, at least make sure you and your loved ones have the window breaker/safety belt cutter in every vehicle, and within reach (not tucked away in a glove box).
Today little Pia and I went for a nice long walk around this beautiful piece of land. There’s a rustic old wooden bridge to a small island on the lake with a wonderful white gazebo for wedding ceremonies. The lake was beginning to freeze—covered in architectural geometric glassine prisms in many shapes and sizes. It was pitch perfect quiet, other than the call of an occasional bird. We walked further along the shore and came across the lonely white sand beach, picnic tables askew and sad in the cold, waiting for the gleeful attention they’ll receive when it gets warmer. I promised to visit and meditate with them, to help us all pass the time. A miniature golf course poised by the roadside, it’s figured stilled in winter hibernation, pristine and clean, ready for overly competitive siblings to fuss and fight over this or that, small meaningless engagements they’ll remember long into old age. There were tall pine trees, still green, with soft brown needles below, just like the ones I used to lay on and read during my lunch breaks in Virginia so long ago and far away.
Anyway, as we alluded to last time, we think this is about to get easier. We believe we’ve found a more spacious used rig at a really good price. It’s still small compared to our neighbors, most of whom have huge fifth-wheel trailers. But, it’s big enough for us and will be a wonderful upgrade. Red House was bought at a very good price as well, so we should be able to flip it for a nice profit, to cover costs and more. This has been a lifelong practice of mine. I’ve bought boats, motorcycles, RVs, cars, homes many times by following a set process. That is, first, buy only proven quality stuff (big fan of Consumer Reports). Second, buy well cared for used items. Third, have them checked over carefully by yourself and by an expert you trust. Fourth, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate the price way down (several salespeople were hospitalized or retired after dealing with me). Fifth, care for them well. Sixth, sell for a profit after using for as long as you can. This falls in line nicely with the personal finance advice in the last post, and it’s what the guidebook Kiss Your Money Hello (and Financial Stress Goodbye) says and shows you how to do.
So, here’s the plan. We’ll travel on Friday Jan 12 early in the morning to pick up the new rig. We’ll bring it back, disconnect Red House from the water, sewer, and electric, remove the skirting and things underneath, dump the tanks, and pull it away from the space to winterize and put up for sale. We’ll insert the new rig, hook it up, and move our stuff over from Red House. There will be pictures of the new rig and the process for you loyal paid subscribers! Also, a poll for everyone to help us come up with a new name (it’s not red, so…). It does have a very excellent model name though, so it should provoke some great ideas.
The longer-term plan? We’ll see how much easier this gets with the new rig, more space, and when spring and summer come. We should know more by fall (certainly November) which direction our country will go, whether it will cease to be a democracy and fall to the authoritarians. That will drive our decision to stay in this full-time RV lifestyle, or move to Canada, or buy some land and start building a cabin, or something else.
On a sad note, it’s not lost on us that this is the anniversary of the first time in our nation’s long history that we didn’t have a peaceful transfer of power, and sadly a bunch of misled cult members attacked our capitol and went to prison for it, while the wealthy organizers paid no price (so far). Kind of like how the wealthy send our working class kids off to die in their wars, while they and their trust fund babies defer. “Suckers and losers,” our former President called veterans who died in combat. And, only a few days into the new year and a 6th grader is dead in a school shooting. Republicans send their thoughts and prayers! Trump said, “We have to move on…” But don’t you dare challenge their bags of income from the gun lobby. Statistically, your kids’ time is coming, I’m sorry to say. Yours too. Top cause of children’s deaths in our country, and so easy to start to mitigate (yes, other countries have mental illness and play violent video games, but almost zero events like this).
What’s next? Well, big week next week with swapping out rigs, so that’s the big item. I had promised a journal post on spirituality, religion, and the afterlife but it’s a deep topic and I’m out of space in this one. So, that will be soon. Hey, we’ve got all winter to spend together. Please share this post on your socials!
"It is not the strongest of the species that survivor, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change" - Darwin
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