It's finally here

We are officially getting ready to leave. It's been a six month project, and fun all of the way.

We bought the camper before we were married, realizing that we both had dreams of a "road trip." It was a sad, old rig--the camper was over 40 years old, and the pick up 15. We did three practice trips in the camper, working between each trip to make it safer and more to our liking. I think it is ready.

We had the pickup checked by two different garages, both of whom found different problems we should fix. We fixed all they found, plus a couple of others that I did (new pump for the windshield cleaning fluid and repair of the plug so we could use our electronics while we drive).

We have made lists, trips to hardware stores, trips to RV stores, and trips to Amazon.com. We have a lot of storage, and creature comforts. It is not like most campers we will come across, in that we don't have hot water, a bathroom, or a refrigerator. We decided to sacrifice those comforts in exchange for room and simplicity.

For the past few days we have been packing and loading. Quite an interesting ordeal--trying to anticipate the minimum one needs for two months. Of course, there are male-female differences in the definition of "minimum one needs for two months," as I discovered when I noticed a small bag Vicky had packed with 22 (not a typo) hair ties in it. She responded to my laughter with "but they're all different colors!"

We have to plan for our house, cats, birds, and plants. We have a house sitter, and have all of the instructions for her.

Packing is not like packing for a week-long trip X 8. We are packing for hiking trips, biking trips, and dancing evenings. This is in addition to all of our kitchen necessities, toiletries, and clothing for two months. Because I am also the camper repair person, we have all of the tools that I believe we could need in case something needed fixing. We also will have our bikes, which will take up room in the camper while we are traveling.

We have made lists of things to check before we move--much like in a modern jet (I think).

Our camper looks like a home--not a new one where everything matches, but a real home where furniture is acquired over a long period of time. It will be cozy, and it will be ours.

It is dry, and as safe as we can make it. We hired a man who taught us a lot about our camper, and fixed some things for us.

We are leaving in two days. Heading south to warm weather where we will hike, bike, dance, and see family.

We are so excited.