By Living Room Realty, November 24, 2020
My family and I took 7 weeks to tow a small camper trailer across the country and back to see family and have some adventures.
In fact, I’m writing this from an RV park about 4 days before we get home. The word “about” in the previous sentence is key. We’ve been planning on the fly, changing trajectories and lengths of stay as we see fit. Aside from 2 weeks with family in MD and NY, we have seen nobody. Sure, there have been a few grocery and laundry stops, but for the most part, we’re a mobile bubble. In fact, we drove through the south and I was excited for my kids to try sweet tea, BBQ and hear some excellent accents. Instead, we made grilled cheese in the trailer in parking lots, interacting with no locals anywhere.
We all miss home.
I think my 8-year old JUST realized how little personal space she has, “At home I have my own room; in the trailer, all I have is this tiny bed and all my stuff is piled in it.” Yep.
We’re all taking on each others’ verbal tics. A certain way I take the lord’s name in vain has slipped effortlessly out of my cherubic 6-year old’s mouth. We all sing Eddie Vedder-esque answers to each other in the most annoying way. We have inside jokes and I’m mildly concerned about how co-dependent we’ve become.
The way we’re traveling is a privilege. We’ve come across many people who seemed to be falling on hard times. RV parks house retirees in their luxurious motor homes as well as folks who seem to be running away from something or another.
We often found ourselves surrounded by folks who were only too eager to show their political affiliation. It was not always comfortable.
As we round the corner to home, I’m feeling relief at knowing we have a solid (stationary) roof over our heads and friends and family we love and trust. This is a big country and coming hoe to Portland has always felt exactly right.
