DAY 1: The Journey Begins

It was February 26, 2022, we parked the RV in front of the house and spent the day loading our last belongings into our new home on wheels. We left the keys on the kitchen counter for the new owners who will start their new memories in the house where we had so many. As we pulled away we started a new adventure and chapter in our lives. Scared? Hell yes. Excited? You bet!

This was going to be something completely new and different for the two of us. I worked in corporate America for 42 years taking a regular week vacation here and there. We normally settled in our homes for a long period of time, setting deep roots and getting into regular routines. This will not be that. This is our time, our schedule, our plans… and somedays we’ll go whichever way the wind blows.

Our first stop was at a campsite on a nearby lake. It was a week to get settled in and organized. We woke up the next morning to our new (this week) backyard. It was an open field with lots of trees leading to a hiking trail. White tailed deer, wild turkeys with the backdrop of a calm lake and a bright blue sky. This might just work!

When Shannon started opening the boxes (in her words) “it looks like a 3500 square foot house just threw up inside this RV”. Slowly but surely most everything found its place and it started to feel like home. Living in an RV is the ultimate challenge in organization skills. Everything must have its place and be stowed properly or it will rear its head on some rural highway going 60 MPH – not the time you want to see grandmas candy dish.

Our “list” got longer as the week went on, finding more and more things in need of repair, the most significant being the living room TV which failed. With some quick warrantee approval, I was off to Best Buy for a new TV and another project.

After 92 trips to Home Depot and Walmart and some visits with friends and family we were off and leaving the Dallas metroplex. Sticks and bricks gone, truck sold and leaving the town we called home for some time. Now it was real!