We have enjoyed our life in Ruff Road for six months now! Incredible. This month is special because it was one year ago that we took possession of Ruff Road. In that time, we’ve enjoyed several trips and finally moved in full time in July 2017.
So how has it been after six months of living in an RV and not in our sticks and bricks home?
In one word- GREAT! We don’t mind the space at all. Even though we haven’t officially hit the road yet, we enjoy short trips and even our weekly dump run. There is plenty to do in our county. Gary continues to be involved in our church music ministry and has been writing some great music. I have reunited with the Florida Trail Association in our area to hike and volunteer. Of course, having family close by is a bonus right now.
Do we miss our sticks and bricks home?
No, we do not miss our sticks and bricks home. My daughter and her family have done a beautiful job of decorating it and making it their own. We don’t even think of it as ours anymore, it’s theirs. We don’t miss the upkeep and the constant cleaning that went with a larger home or all the stuff that went with it. Truthfully, we only lived in our bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom anyway. As the children left home, the rest of the rooms were just there and prone to collect clutter.
How are RVs and stick/brick homes similar? Different?
I thought about what it was like before living in Ruff Road. Much of what we do in Ruff Road is similar to what we did in our house. Rearranging, decorating, purging, cleaning, and organizing took place in both homes, however in Ruff Road it is on a much smaller level which is nice! Rearranging and organizing seems to be the two that we have worked on the most as we continue to “squeeze” into our new space. Most recently, we removed the pedestal table from in front of the couch. We had contemplated this for some time but where would we eat or work? We finally had enough and bravely unbolted it from the floor. We put our long rug over the area in front of the couch and now use the top of one of the dog crates for our table. No problems! We talked about adding a hinged wooden table top for more flexibility but for now, this works!
The biggest difference between life in a house and life in an RV, is that everything in the RV is magnified due to the smaller space. For example, dirt gathers more easily in the small space of an RV vs the larger space a house offers. Things can accumulate more in a house but in an RV, the clutter becomes screamingly evident and you have to deal with it. In the house, if I wasn’t sure about tossing or donating something, I’d put it away in a closet to decide later. In the RV, space is limited so this is not an option. Even as I write this and everything is put away, we are aware that we have too much on board with us and we have a little RV purging to do. We have too many clothes. The dogs have too many toys. We have too many linens. So we’ll whittle these things down. Finally, we don’t have the anchor of a large yard to maintain. Anywhere is our yard. This was more freeing for me than I realized and there are no arguments from Gary about this. Here’s another bonus: We interact more in an RV. We like that. If we need our space, we have outside, one can go to the bedroom or to the coach area.
What has happened this month?
If you read our previous post, we sadly said good-bye to one of our ruffs, our 15 year old mini poodle Phoebe. We miss her and she will always be in our hearts.
We attended the Florida RV Super Show in Tampa, Florida. This event is huge featuring many vendors, seminars, RV types, models and manufacturers. You can view the bare chassis frames that are on display and learn how to maintain your generator. If you are exploring the RV lifestyle, attending an large RV show like this one provides the opportunity to see everything from pop-ups to large class A coaches and everything in between. Of course, if you are already RVing, you can see what’s new and how space is used in the different units. Also, I’m sure the dealers were looking to make a deal with new owners and with those willing to trade in their current RV. We spent most of our time looking at the vendor stations and attending seminars. We especially appreciated the seminar about maintaining your generator and diesel engine. We also attended a couple of seminars for RV newbies and full-timers which was helpful. If we were going to look at RVs as well, we would have needed a second day which was included in our ticket. Visitors with RVs could stay on the site with no hook-ups for a fee. Learn more about RVing in Florida by the group that sponsored this event, the Florida RV Trade Association at http://www.frvta.org.
What RV supplies did we purchase this month?
As trivial as it might sound, we were in the market for new pillows so we picked up two bamboo pillows at the Florida RV Supershow. They are super soft but can be used to prop up so you can read or work. Also, we found some stick on lights for a few of our dimly lit cabinets and bins. These were our two Florida RV Supershow purchases.
Other purchases were:
DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid): This is required for all diesel coaches to ensure that the exhaust from the engine is environmentally friendly.
Leveling Blocks: These are long overdue but we’ve only had one major problem not having them. Wood planks from a nearby dumpster provided the solution. In all other cases, we were able to maneuver the coach so all four tires were firmly on the ground.
Tank Tech Microbials: Gary says this is like RidX on steroids. This is the second month we have used this to minimize tank odor and ensure the right bugs are living in our tank to work on decomposition. All it takes is two ounces per dump. After using this product, we don’t have the pungent odor when our black tank is almost full and improves our tank’s health.
What’s next?
Watch for a link to be posted soon for our newly launched Ruff Road RV Life You Tube Channel.
Also, coming soon-
- What are our plans for 2018?
- Torreya State Park Review
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