1/22 What Do RVers Do All Day???

Most of those of us who are full-timing will probably say, "As little as possible."  But in reality, most of us keep pretty busy without doing a lot of anything.

There is a big difference between vacationing in an RV and living in one.  When you vacation, you rush from place to place to see as much as you can before you have to go back home. So you plan your trips out and try to do as much as you can.  You might even end up more tired when you get home than when you started out. 

You have probably noticed that I do not post every day. In fact, I typically only post every two or three days.  (I don't post at all when I am visiting family, for obvious reasons, which is why I hardly posted anything between mid-December and mid-January.) 

Since this is my life, I do not feel pressured to do a lot.  I am also supposed to be retired, although I am teaching a half-time load online.  I thought when I retired from my regular job several years ago and headed out on my adventure that I would have lots of time to read, so I packed several of those books I had bought and wanted to read but never got around to reading.  So guess how many of them I have read in the last almost-four-years??

Right.  Zero.  I just do not seem to have time to do much reading, even though I love to read.

A typical day, assuming I am not driving from one campground to another, begins at about 9:00 a.m.  I am not a morning person, as my family will attest, so that is fairly early for me. I get up, fix a light breakfast, check my email and my online class to see if anyone has any questions or needs anything. I also participate in a forum for women who RV, so I check that and post some things. (I've made a lot of friends over the years on that site and meet up with whoever I can when we are in the same areas, so I really do know many of the women.)  I have satellite TV, so that is always on, and I like to watch the History Channel and such.    

The rest of the day depends on the weather.  If it is cold and rainy, I will likely spend the rest of the day grading papers and getting things ready to post for the next week's class. I may also spend an hour or two planning my travels.  I am a Type A planner and like to know where I am going to be several months out, so I keep a spread sheet.  I have learned that you really need to plan ahead sometimes as much as a year for certain places and for holidays.  For example, a few days ago, I made my reservations for next December in Florida at one of my favorite campgrounds for the 10 days before Christmas. Tonight, I firmed up some plans for late May of this year for Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico.  Memorial Day is one of those holidays when I need to make reservations far in advance. I did a bunch of internet research on the area and found a narrow-gauge train trip that looked interesting, so I will call tomorrow and make reservations for the week after the Memorial Day weekend. 

I also often cook things like soups and make meals in advance that I can freeze for those days when I don't feel like cooking. My freezer is bursting right now, so I can't do any of that until I eat enough stuff to make room for more meals!

If it is pleasant weather, and depending on where I am, I might go out for a walk or a bike ride.  I don't own a car, so if I want to go out to someplace else, I will have to pack up and drive there. Usually, I have visitor centers, museums, or other places I will want to drive to, but I don't go out exploring every day.  Since I seldom have sewer hookups, packing up and getting ready to move this beast just involves putting away the television, tossing any loose stuff into the kitchen sink, making sure drawers are locked shut, putting my slides in, and unhooking the electric cord and water hose outside.  I don't leave a lot of chairs and outdoor junk lying around, so nothing to pack up out there.

There are also routine cleaning and maintenance stuff that takes up my time. I have no dishwasher, so I wash dishes once a day.  I vacuum once a week.  This place gets horribly dusty, so I usually try to hit a few places each day with a damp rag. I also am constantly putting things away. In a very small home, even a few things out makes it look cluttered, which also makes the place look smaller. I seem to be constantly sorting maps and brochures of places, and recording receipts for money spent and balancing my checkbook.

Every couple of months, I also have to do some sorting and cleaning of my outside storage bins.  I tend to toss things into them and then can't find stuff, so I try to keep things under control.  This past week, I cleaned out my camping and maintenance bin and the one where I store my papers and miscellaneous stuff like Christmas decorations.  I spent a full day last Thursday at the RV service place and had to pull stuff out of that bin so they could access and replace my water pump,.  When they were done, the area needed to be cleaned (because it had gotten dirty from some boards I had put in there), and then I had to put all my junk back in, hopefully in better order than before.  Boards (used for leveling) got brushed off and put in another location. I still really need to clean out the bun where I store extra paper goods and cleaning supplies because stuff has been moving around and it is a mess.

See what I mean about time going by?  Evenings are grading papers and watching TV, but they seem too short.  Laundry is building up, so when I get to the next campground, I will need to do a couple of loads.

I used to listen to retired people complain that they were so busy they never had time to get anything done.  And now I am one!