Monday, November 30, 2015

Three Month Nomadiversary

Already! Today we celebrate our 3 month nomadiversary! Three months of being nomads - full time RVing.  We've not made it as far as we envisioned - but it's been good.  We had a month of moving every two weeks, a month of moving every 3 - 4 days and a month of not moving at all.  I think we've experienced a wide variety of the full-timing lifestyle. Our perfect stride seems to be to move every 10 - 14 days; this allows for a solid week of book school in between sight-seeing and traveling.  IF you have specific questions, feel free to ask. Maybe I can answer questions at our 4 month nomadiversary!

 Just the Facts -  In our first 93 days on the road:
·         We've averaged $25.22 a night. Our budget was $30 a night for "rent."
·         We've stayed in 4 Fam Camps, 6 State or County Parks, 6 private parks and boondocked twice in family's driveways.  Fam camps and boondocking allowed us to come in under budget as most private parks are over $30 a night.
·         We've spent $162 in laundry. That's $54 a month we'd forgotten to budget.
·         We've traveled 2889 miles. We quit counting when we arrived back at Beale.
·         We've spent $1479.66 on gas. Our budget was $400 a month. We were WAY over on that at the start of November. Being stationary is really going to bring this number down. We spent $150 this month. Our lower space rent and gas expenditures are being banked for future adventures in the spring.
·         We've spent $169 on tourist fees - this includes a $90 membership which will give us entrance to science centers and museums around America. This isn't bad for all the things we've seen and experienced.
·         We used 66 gb of data a month on our mifi - and are grieving the loss of the plan on 30 Nov. Now what?
·         Our wifi range extender has helped "some of the time."
·         We can fit a tiny Christmas tree in here. (Guess who added that?)
 


Unexpected Observations
·         Campgrounds and RV parks are FULL - not simply with "snow birds."  The parks are full of 20 and 30's who have found RV's to be sustainable housing whilst the housing market takes too much of their paychecks.
·         It is easy to witness different generational ideas of boundaries in an RV campground/park.
·         It's surprising how much energy it takes to always be looking ahead to where you'll "park" or "sleep" for the night. This is giving us new insight and empathy into part of the life of a homeless person.
·         Weather factors in much more in day to day life. 

 Benefits
·         More automatic family time - it doesn't take intentional effort to find time to connect. Stacia volunteers that it takes an intentional effort to disconnect.  We've often laughed as we remember Jared's famous line - "There's togetherness and then there's WAAAY togetherness."
·         We needed a sabbatical - we're getting it.
·         Less time spent cleaning.
·         Great conversations with people from a variety of geographical areas, living in RV's for a variety of reasons, in a variety of generational seasons of life. These are people we most likely would not have met without staying in campgrounds and hanging out in laundry rooms.
·         Visiting different churches - though always being a visitor may be a drawback.
·         With small cupboard and fridge space much less food gets wasted. I buy what we plan to use - we use it.
·         I don't wash the same load of laundry four or five times because I forget to move it to the dryer.
·         While we forgot to budget for laundry - I DO think using a laundry room with many washers/dryers is a BENEFIT. I enjoy the conversations and it does save time.
·         WE NEVER HAVE TO PACK and we get to see new and fun places! It's WONDERFUL. Many of you know how I hate to pack - and how we love to travel. This allows for both.
·         When we were traveling, we enjoyed the variation of views outside our windows.
·         Catching up with old friends, loved family and elder Gherkins.
·         There are no flat surfaces for clutter to collect.

Favorite Places
·         Snoqualmie Falls
·         Grays Harbor Lighthouse
·         Mount Saint Helens
·         Skyscrapers in Seattle
·         Air & Space Museum in Seattle
·         Valley of the Rogue State Park
·         Oregon Vortex
·         Beach at Fort Stevens
·         Fort Clatsop
·         Chittenden Locks

Favorite Experiences
·         Geocaching
·         First time catching fish (10 fish - she says)
·         Bike riding in the Redwoods
·         Climbing the top of Grays Harbor Lighthouse
·         Kite flying on the WA coast

Drawbacks
·         Campground/Resort Wifi simply doesn't work well.
·         No "set" flesh and blood community when we're traveling. Though we do have lots of online community. I really miss being part of a body of believers and growing in Christ-likeness with a group of women. I miss mentoring.
·         Clutter  - a continual war must be waged against the caboose becoming filled with clutter. Everything has a place and needs to be put up immediately - this doesn't always happen.
·         We've had a few odd experiences at the showers here at Beale.

·         Some of the washers/dryers in laundromats are really grungy.