5 April 2005

Dear RV Diary,

"When one door closes a window opens...But these hallway's sure are a B&$%@!"

Or so the saying goes...I think i'm in the hallway at this time :(

Now that I am deep into the looking and ready to buy process for my RV...I would like to get some issues out into the open that I am currently experiencing just in case somebody else runs into these issues...Maybe you won't feel so alone....

#1. The bank is NOT your friend...Awesome RV loan rates are nothing more then a teaser to lure you in.

#2.  NADA value is never accurate (especially for used Airstreams).

#3. NEVER under any circumstances tell ANY bank that you will be living in the your motorhome. (Which makes NO sense...Because, even if you are only traveling in it for a week to Aunt Mabelle's house...Can't this be considered "living" in your RV?).

#4. Since I have lived in Alaska for the past 7 years I have pretty much lost touch with what's actually happening in the States...But it is VERY strongly becoming apparent that CHOOSING to live in your traveling home is NOT looked upon very highly by A LOT of people.
I was informed that this is because people are qualifying for motorhomes, moving into them, driving off and NEVER making a single payment...They get a free home and the banks can't find them.
Also, for lack of better wording (but much more rude and vulgar then what i'm about to say), "They are homeless scum that want hand outs...Drunk, mentally ill criminals...AND the reason the U.S. is going to S%$T!"

I occasionally like a margarita (especially watching the sunset on the beach), at times I admit I am pretty unstable...But PMS is never a joy for anyone...And yes, I will admit that my criminal activities run the gamut from speeding when I am jamming to some awesome music...To walking on the grass when there is clearly a "No walking on the grass," sign well within my view.

I'm dangerous, I know! But that's how I roll baby! I break ALL the rules! :)

Moral of today's story: Keep your chin up, be happy and confident in your own life plans...And NEVER, EVER under ANY circumstance let anyone dictate to you how you should feel about yourself or the life you choose to live.

Love, Vivi

3 April 2012

Dear RV Diary,

Well, it's finally happened...I have NO wifi!
At almost 11:00 PM last night I had to drive around and finally found connection at McDonalds. My Son and my Niece only told me where to find it after I agreed to buy them food there.
I gotta hand it to them...They gave me what I want...I give them what they want. :)

Now I am sitting at the food court at one of our grocery stores using up what I can in a short amount of time.


The hunt for my RV is right on target!
I found Poulsborv.com and have been working with Bruce.

So I am in the works of getting this lovely little Winnie :) More to come about that!

I am trying to wrap up some open ended stuff...Turns out nothing ever gets wrapped up so I will just the best I can.

More to come soon Diary when I scout out a good little cafe or book store with free wifi!

Love, Vivi

1 April 2012

Dear RV Diary,

Well moving day came and went and it took me a few days to get myself situated enough to where I can post.

Papers are signed and I officially have SOLD my little house.  I am SO happy it sold right away, stress and me don't get along very well.

I was briefly emotional, kinda on the verge of teary eyed when I was cleaning the last of the house for the new buyers....but I really didn't feel horribly attached to the little house that I worked so hard to update and do what I could to bring it up to par.
Probably because I physically couldn't deal with it anymore and I know that the new owners really love it!

I didn't have very much to move...Mostly last minute stuff of personal items that I was and continue to use. The rest of my belongings, once I accepted an offer on the house, I already had boxed up and took to my moms house slowly through the past few weeks to store in her extra bedroom until I am ready to load up the Uhaul and roll down the highway through Canada. (More on that later...).

I think I really did myself a favor starting around a year ago...Getting rid of stuff. At first I thought I didn't get rid of enough...Turns out I did a great job now that I have about 7 weeks until my "RV countdown begins," OFFICIALLY. :) (Actually it started awhile ago, more on that later)...

Having just said that, now that I have a better concept of what I have verses what I really need I plan on going through the 3 boxes or so out in my sisters garage and the 12 or so at my moms house to try to whittle down even more of whats left.

Since I am staying with my sister until I leave around May 17 or 18-ish I had to bring into fruition if my "hobby" was going to go with me....

I am an artist, watercolor and sculpting.

Watercolors can travel...But sculpting clays?  Can they?

Last year when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis in my hands, my doctor said that maybe I should get some clay and just roll it around to keep my hands from stiffening up (which is why I have taken such a long vacation from watercoloring). So being a professional artist I couldn't just roll a ball of clay around, I had to make something. AND although I am a professional artist I never took any sculpting classes, except briefly in high school 20 + years ago.

Long story short, I fell madly and deeply in love with sculpey clay...And the question my new passion was screaming..."Will I be able to sculpt AND BAKE my creations on the road."
I have a portable oven made just for sculpey and have been baking sculptures for the past two days with it in my sisters kitchen.

SO...From what I can tell SO far, yes, I will be able to continue sculpting on the road. (www.lostinthewoodsstudio.blogspot.com)

I wonder if I can use a solar oven...Then it will be free and I don't have to worry about using up electricity AND fuel or propane.

Hmmm....  A future experiment FOR SURE!  :D


Love, Vivi

Calm....

23 March 2012

Dear RV Diary,

Could it be?...Really?...IS IT really happening?....Is the house really going to close on Tuesday?

Although this is what is slated to actually happen we know we NEVER count our chickens before the eggs have actually hatched! (What a great pun, especially because Easter is right around the corner)! :)

I find myself typing this and getting all giddy at the same time. I am renting a uhaul tomorrow and moving what remains in the house, out, which is the larger stuff I am giving to my parents.
On Sunday I will scrub the house clean for the new buyers, because I think that is the right thing to do and i'm not a heathen.

Selling a house is NOT fun. It's stressful!
I am trying to not get sentimental about the house. I guess I will just suck it up. I will be living with my sister until James and I leave in May.
I promised James we would attend his best friends graduation. Dennis is my other son. The boys have been buddies since they were about 7 years old.
Now James is off to college and Dennis off to the Navy. SO proud of both of them...Both of my sons.

Time goes by Dear Diary...

I guess after Iraq, I think I have learned to never take for granted the moments we are given...This was not an over night journey to get to this point of understanding and acceptance...But I feel at peace.

Calm before the storm?...We'll see...

Love, ~Vivi

Bartering? GREAT idea!

20 March 2012

Dear RV Diary,

I like the thought of bartering on the road. It’s a great concept.

I read :

“The Frugal RVer: Living well for less on the road.” By Nick Russell

(Ebook........................Paperback.................Kindle Fire)


It reads a bit strange and refers every few lines or so to: “Fred and Franny Frugal.”

But I really did get some great ideas for saving money and I am glad I did read it.

Some ideas are common sense and others are things I imagine one would hear and see after being in the RVer circle for awhile.

 But for me it did bring a few things to the forefront that I hadn’t even known was a consideration as an RVer…Such as bartering (GREAT idea especially on my tight budget).

Bartering for things like a home cooked item or meal for something like installation on a water pump…Mending a pair of pants or shirt for lets say a gift/craft item.

I began to take inventory of my own skills that I to could barter for.

I can’t cook (although once in awhile I surprise myself…And others, good and bad).

I can sew, but don’t own a sewing machine (can’t justify buying one right now).

I can paint and write (great at painting, still working on the writing part) ;)

I can sculpt.

Computer stuff (also blogging, facebook, twitter, etc.).

I can also do some other things that qualify me for a survivalist or a mercenary.

(not anymore actually…My body is broken, I walk with a gimp and on a good day my body pain is tolerable, not to mention my arthritis…And my brain injury along with fibromyalgia…Those two right there combine on special days and I have very little capability to have a thought process that is very useful (and on those days it is wise to stay back from me for at least 50 feet).

Maybe I could clean, but I don’t even like to clean my own stuff (having said that, yes, of course I clean my stuff).

Pet sit while the owner runs a few errands (IF they get along with my own critters)….

I think it’s interesting to start a list of this sort and for me it’s a bit humbling and I wonder what else (legal) bartering skills people may have.

Love, ~Vivi

19 March 2012

Dear RV Diary,

Hmmm, well no real new developments. But possibly my realtor has fallen off the face of the earth, cause I haven't heard from him by email, or phone, or messenger pigeon, or Morris Code, or telepathy...Nadda, nuthin, ZILCH!

But on the up side the last boiler people that came out are actually coming back to try to get me back to where my hot water was before they stopped my hot water from working, at no charge.

This is good: 1. Because 30 seconds of luke warm water is painful to my arthritis and 2. I am BROKE no joke.
3. It's the least they could do since the guy should never have left a client with no hot water in the first place.

Ahh, I see right along with common sense, common courtesy is out the window...It is a mere tale your parents told you about as they reminisce about the good ol' days of their youthful years.

Let's see what else...

Starting to have some medical issues that once again need addressed. I was and am still trying to hold out until I can get to a good VA hospital in most likely Arizona this Fall. I just hope any damage that's being currently done is not irreversible.

My Aunt Telly and I got to talking this afternoon (Aunt Telly has always been the one who got me hooked on the whole RV thing, ever since I was a kid and we RV'ed to Valdez in her Winnebago). She was telling me about a motorhome show she watched on TV about million and multi-million dollar motorhomes and how AMAZING they are...Which they REALLY are a marvel! She was most impressed with the one that you could boondock with for up to 6 months!! Then you would have to come back in to empty the tanks and get more water.
VERY cool!
I saw a motorhome on TV onetime where you press a button and a lamborghini comes out from underneath the Class A behemoth.
It sure made your eyes light up in delight and I couldn't help but "ooo" and "awww."
Hmmm, I guess that's how the wealthy party, not sure, I have never been amongst their ranks

My aunt Telly used to live about 100 miles from me in a small fork in the road called Delta Junction, but she now lives in Colorado and ventures to Arizona when the winter months start drawing in.
Long story short, she was telling me about Veteran ONLY RV parks all over, and not just in Arizona.
So I have been researching them today, I know about the MWR but I wonder if this is what she was talking about.
I am compiling a list of the Veteran/Military campgrounds (even though I already know there is a publication and website dedicated to this information). I am including: State, website, GPS coordinates, phone number and address of each location. I will also list out any and all Veteran friendly RV parks.This will be great in my arsenal I think. More to come on this subject Dear RV Diary.

Love, ~Vivi

Darn YOU Mercury!

17 March 2012

Dear RV Diary,

Today is Saturday….And on Tuesday, when I said: 

“Can my week get any worse?”

It was a rhetorical question…Not a challenge.

               

Then yesterday I read a headline: “Is your week going bad? Mercury in retrograde.”

YES, it is! YES, this MUST pertain to me!

Ok, well then that explains everything! 

So I read the article which would tell me when my woes would come to an end.

April 4^th

It is now March 17^th.

It also highly recommended aginst signing any paperwork and avoiding at all expense any legal situations.

There is NO WAY in this world I can avoid either…At all.

Lovely.

So getting back to you on the boiler sitiation…

I suppose maybe since I am military trained and learned to get squeaky clean in the matter of a mere minute if that long was needed (which my showers I felt were of a good length). 

The hot water was indeed not up to par with whomever. 

AND knowing that makes me really ponder: “Just how much water are people wasting?” And, “No wonder there are water shortages throughout the US." 

I too try to solve my life changing issues in the shower...But how many problems do you have?!

*(Diary…Did you know it is illegal to rain harvest in several US states…They said even the rain belongs to the government…Next it will be the air!).

So, my realtor sent out three different “Boiler Specialists.” 

I have shelled out nearly $800.00 of borrowed money from family to pay these people for their shenanigans!

NOW….I have only seconds of luke warm water and an empty wallet.

The solution they say will be to pay them each varying amount of sums to fix “my problem.” 

And the sums range from $6,000 to $13,000.

I would say that when I told my realtor I wanted my home sold “AS IS,”

He did not selectively hear me and this is NOT what I signed on for.

Bottom line is I cannot afford their solutions, not even to have it compensated out of the loan because I have to pay the realtor for his outstanding job about $12,000 to $13,000 dollars while I myself will only be getting around and if all goes as it is now: around $4,500. 

If it is $4,500 and not less it has all got to go towards: renting a U-Haul trailer, tickets for the ferry ride for me and James to Washington state (gas is FAR to expensive to drive Canada), my pets their shots, food, gas, a down payment on a motorhome, hotel until I find a motorhome, etc…And I will be utterly stuck if my SUV breaks down.

See my dilemma here?!

Now I am entirely lost. 

They made my water problem worse, now I can’t even have a decent shower (to figure out a solution) and the whole sale of the house I believe literally hangs in the balance.

As a buyer I would be VERY unhappy and probably cancel the whole deal.

As the seller, I am mad that the realtor didn’t and isn’t listening and probably lost the whole deal.

DARN YOU MERCURY!

Love, ~Vivi