Another camping trip to reflect on around future campfires

[opnspaces]

Life sometimes gives us some strange twists. The place where I store my trailer lost their permit and I had to suddenly vacate. Since I was only a week away from a planned weekend trip I pulled the trailer home on Saturday with plans to spend the week securing new storage, then take the kids camping the following weekend.

Monday morning I get a message from my son that a Sheriff Deputy had left an unattended vehicle notice on the trailer giving me 72 hours to move it. Great I thought, that only gives me until Wednesday to get it moved, whereas I would normally bring it home on Wednesday to get the refrigerator cooling and the food loaded up.

So I had to unplug the shore power and move the trailer away from the house on Tuesday so I could bring it back home on Thursday (well within the 72 hour limit)to start loading. This change in routine threw me off rhythm and I never got to do some basic upgrades that I had been planning on doing the next time the trailer was home.

Friday was uneventful and we loaded up, drove out, and had a great weekend camping. It was a hot weekend though so I turned on the AC Friday night and left it on for the entire weekend. Come Sunday I repacked the trailer and kids and headed home.

About halfway home a guy drives by me and makes that dreaded motion of pointing back at the trailer. I immediately checked what I could see in my mirrors and nothing looked amiss. There road at this point was narrow with a guardrail on the right and a crash wall on the left so basically nowhere to pull over. I had to drive a mile before I could finally pull over. All the while I was running through my head all the possibilities of what the guy in the car was trying to tell me.

First check was tires, and they all looked good. I also checked the rear of the trailer and there was nothing wrong there either. So I hooked my fingernail under a window and it easily lifted up as if it had never been cranked closed. Now that I had a suspect I went in to crank the window closed and found a total of three including the emergency exit that were not secured. My guess is the guy saw the emergency window flapping and fortunately was kind enough to motion that there was a problem.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful and I parked the trailer at the curb and asked the kids to empty all the food out. While they were working I called and secured a storage space although at an additional $40 a month in rent.

Knowing that the rental office was closing in a few hours I did a rushed cleanup of the trailer. I also opened all the cabinets, the refrigerator, and microwave three different times to make sure there was no food left in the trailer and decided it was ready to go to storage. I stepped out of the trailer, closed the door and put the key in the cylinder. Then something in the back of my mind just gave me that feeling that I was forgetting something.

So I went back in the trailer, looked in all the cabinets, looked under the dinette seats (finding overlooked dirty laundry) looked in the bathtub and toilet. Everything seemed shipshape. Being hot from a morning of packing, driving and unpacking I sat down on the dinette cushion and just looked around the trailer one last time. I'm not sure what caused me to do it but I reached over and opened the oven and looked in.

There sitting in one of those cheap aluminum food trays was a pile of last nights leftovers including steak, lamb and potatoes. Knowing my camping schedule over the last few years, had I not found that tray of meat, it would have sat in the oven for months smelling up the trailer. :E

Finally the rest of the day went smoothly, I got the trailer nestled in it's new storage spot and finally got to just sit in my air conditioned house and reflect on an overall enjoyable weekend.

[pnichols]

Those responses from AJBert were indeed rude on the surface, as stated.

However reading between the lines, what he most likely was really inferring is that years ago he had figured out that he wanted to live in a rural environment for various reasons - one of them being so he'd have room to "spread out" with minimum hassles from his more distant, if any, neighbors. "Spread out' includes such things as (maybe unforseen at the time of establishment of his rural residence) being fortunate enough to be able to keep an RV right at his residence.

I wound up the same way - wanting to live "out in the country" early-on in life, for a whole variety of reasons. So I bought a piece of raw land as soon as possible and developed it myself while living in an old trailer on that land, when at the same time holding down a full-time career in a populated area 25 miles away. All of that was both a curse and a blessing: I can store our RV in the back yard ... but I have all the work that goes along with taking care of acreage myself because I can't afford to hire it all done - including taking care of it in my retirement years when I have less of a body and at times even less money.

It's nice having the RV out back, though, along with a dump station for it. 😉

[afidel]

AJBert wrote:

cross21114 wrote:

MetalGator wrote:

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

I bought my home 21 years ago. I didn't start RVing until 6 years ago. My house is paid for and I have great neighbors. Why would I move to another house just so I can store my RV? My rent at my nice RV storage lot is WAY cheaper than buying another house. Glad you are able to store your RV at your home.

X2 - great response.

So, short sidedness is a great response? I've known what I've wanted for well over 40 years. Once I could afford a house I knew what else I wanted. I waited until I could afford the house AND land, minus HOA fees of course, and then waited until I could afford the toys I knew that I would eventually get. What is so hard about this???

This may be the most rude and ignorant response I've ever seen on a forum and I've been doing this internet thing since 1993, congratulations.

[MNGeeks61]

Most extreme example of "thread drift" I've seen in months...

To get back to the OP, I am glad to be blessed to have the ability and the health to enjoy such a hobby. We are all lucky to have been able to have experienced it, or planned on it, or tried it. Life does strange things sometimes and the best laid plans, yadda yadda yadda. Mom and Dad stopped towing their 5th wheel at 79, they were both beating cancer. I'd sure hope that would change plans and "sightedness" had nothing to do with it. 😐

[MetalGator]

AJBert wrote:
So, short sidedness is a great response? I've known what I've wanted for well over 40 years. Once I could afford a house I knew what else I wanted. I waited until I could afford the house AND land, minus HOA fees of course, and then waited until I could afford the toys I knew that I would eventually get. What is so hard about this???

How do you figure short sidedness? I am glad you knew what you wanted 40 years ago. 40 years ago I was in elementary school and surely didn't have a clue what I wanted. I never thought of RVing until about 7 or 8 years ago when we rented an RV to go to a sporting event. We really liked it and thought it would be a great way to travel. We started shopping for a travel trailer shorty after. I will have been in my current house 22 years this coming October and the house has been paid off since 2010. I have awesome neighbors and I love the location. Not worth moving to save a few $$ at the storage facility down the road. My guess is most people don't see into their future 40 years. Again I am glad you can park your RV at your home. If me not knowing I wanted a RV 40 years ago (or even 15 years ago) then I guess I am short sited.

Not sure how this turned into waiting until you could afford something and what that has to do with someone not storing an RV at their house.

Have a great day.

Burch

[AJBert]

cross21114 wrote:

MetalGator wrote:

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

I bought my home 21 years ago. I didn't start RVing until 6 years ago. My house is paid for and I have great neighbors. Why would I move to another house just so I can store my RV? My rent at my nice RV storage lot is WAY cheaper than buying another house. Glad you are able to store your RV at your home.

X2 - great response.

So, short sidedness is a great response? I've known what I've wanted for well over 40 years. Once I could afford a house I knew what else I wanted. I waited until I could afford the house AND land, minus HOA fees of course, and then waited until I could afford the toys I knew that I would eventually get. What is so hard about this???

[cross21114]

MetalGator wrote:

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

I bought my home 21 years ago. I didn't start RVing until 6 years ago. My house is paid for and I have great neighbors. Why would I move to another house just so I can store my RV? My rent at my nice RV storage lot is WAY cheaper than buying another house. Glad you are able to store your RV at your home.

X2 - great response.

[pnichols]

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

Well .... one main reason is because a house on a large lot is more expensive than a house on a small lot .... maybe even more expensive than the price of an RV and it's long term offsite storage costs.

[AJBert]

Grumpy Vet wrote:

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

Why ask why?

Ummmmmm...because this an open forum???

[Grumpy_Vet]

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

Why ask why?

[spoon059]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
Readers should realize that most/all *Firefighters* have more positive terms for the neighborhoods they serve - and/or "that you people live in"..:R..:o
~

Wow... way to blow his comment WAY out of proportion. He was simply stating that he is glad not to live somewhere that has such control and onfluence over what he is or is not allowed to do on his own property. Some people love HOA's and rules and regulations, some people love the freedom to do as they chose. Thankfully I live in a neighborhood without an HOA, but in a neighborhood where people care about their homes and their neighbors.

fireman41 wrote:
So don't you ever accuse me of not caring for my fellow man or my community because I spout off about some overbearing HOA.

I appreciate your service, all the more admirable that it is volunteer in nature. I'm a county police officer and when I was in patrol I had a close working relationship with our hose jockeys... most of them are great guys and would do anything to help someone in their community. Stay safe out there!

[spoon059]

The joys of having first world problems. Times like that are what make me stop and thank God for blessing me with these types of "problems" that so many other people in the world would LOVE to have! Thank you for keeping a firm grasp on reality while encountering these annoyances in life!!! Its a breath of fresh air that you recognize the humor and benefits with life's speedbumps!

[pnichols]

nineoaks2004 wrote:
I like to keep my toys, near and dear and all my neighbors feel the same way, we all mind our own business and help each other if needed.

The same here. We wouldn't have bought an RV if we couldn't have kept it at our residence. IMHO RV's cost way too much to store miles away, outside, not unattended to and otherwise maintained.

Whenever I drive past one of those areas where RV's are being stored out in the open I cringe at what the sun and weather are doing to them: Drying out and ruining all of the sealants and tires, heating up the interiors to well over 100 degrees for weeks on end, the cold and moisture causing mold to form in the interior, the furnace/air conditioner/generator/refrigerater not getting periodic exercise, etc..

We keep ours in the back yard as much as possible in the shade, plugged in 24/7 for battery maintenance and for heater/fan power, well ventilated with the roof vents (under vent covers) open all year, heated slightly in the winter and rainy periods, with one roof vent fan on almost 24/7 during the hot summer months pulling air through the length of the interior, and with the tires and exterior plastic items getting coated with Aerospace 303 regularly. We even turn on the appliances occasionally to help insure that they are operable when we need them. We do all this in an attempt to maintain the RV the best that we can short of storing it the ultimate way -> inside a building when not in use. We cannot afford to ever replace the RV we have with another one like it.

P.S. Our RV is a small motorhome, so for bug-out purposes we try to keep it's chassis fuel tank near full, plenty of water in it's FW tank, it's propane tank near full, and it's grey and black water tanks empty and clean.

[nineoaks2004]

After living in Navy Housing for years I decided that on retirement, I would never again live in an area that tells me what to do on my own property, and I have lived the rural life since. I like to keep my toys, near and dear and all my neighbors feel the same way, we all mind our own business and help each other if needed.

[AJBert]

wing_zealot wrote:

AJBert wrote:
I never understood why someone would buy a house and then turn around and pay rent to store an RV, boat, etc. Why not buy a house with the property to store one's toys or move if you plan on buying toys???

I never understood why anyone would spend their time try to understand why someone else does things differently then they do.

Exactly what time did I spend wondering??? Just enough to type out this post.

I spent MUCH more time when buying our house knowing in the future I would need room to park toys. We also made sure there was NO HOA, been there and done that and would never do it again. That was over 25 years ago, BTW.

To each their own I suppose. Just get tired of people moaning and complaining about what they can and can't do in their choice of where they live.