An RV Can of Worms

I am always up for a challenge, but just like regular home repairs, when you think something is going to be easy with a RV, just remember it will ALWAYS be more work than you intended. My husband and I are having to relocate rather quickly for his new job. Because of that we find ourselves with a house that has renters/roommates, an apartment under lease and a third living location TBD. With that in mind, the girl who is working hard towards a debt free, simple life so she can focus on her goals remembered her past living in the mountains and how much fun it can be to live in a miniature. I love RVs, the simplicity of them, the cute little communities, the month to month nature of choosing a place to live and the encouragement to be outside.

If you have never lived in an RV, you should try it out...way fun. Add to this some friends who have an unused RV that needed a home and we have a great combo of a solution for us and helping friends. Our new locale is too far away for us to live full time in the house, but close enough that we can spend lots of time there skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking and climbing. Sounds perfect, a double life! Chris was skeptical. I have to admit his objection to the plan until I crunched the numbers, showed him how it could work and how much easier it made the "you have two and a half weeks to uproot your life." He warned me. He told me the RV had not been used in quite awhile. Polyanna said, great, we are helping it live up to its full potential. A little TLC, a borrowed truck and we will get you up to your new home while I close out everything down here. (I still have every intention of working production in LA, and this leaves us much closer to meetings, etc than Tampa would! Plus, for all those concerned, I set out a firm plan of two year goals. I must admit to my diabolical plan to get more production to the Mammoth area as well, it's so darn pretty!)

I was away promoting my show at Comic-Con, Chris was here working and then I got back. He had diligently gotten all the supplies and gotten a big chunk of work done. We were about to embark on tackling the back wall of the bedroom/front of the RV. I got to take a little side trip to "Camping World" where they have EVERYTHING in miniature. My friend Carrie is jealous, she wants a mini coffee pot too, I have my priorities. The day started by simply removing the back panel, carefully to tackle the little leak in the corner. The leak, not so little. Entire back wall soaked, covered in mold and wet insulation. Not good, not good at all. The end result, removing the entire back wall and the outside fiberglass casing. The job today, rebuilding the edges of the frame, sealing the fiberglass, reinstalling the paneling, adding insulation and then putting the fiberglass back in place. Easy, right? HA!

Needless to say our few days worth of work has turned into a week. The new tires and the prepping of the inside has turned into a full blown remodel. BUT, in the end the RV will be perfect, it will keep it from any more trouble and we will have fully bonded with it before embarking on our next new adventure. Despite the occasional meltdown, we have all worked very well together and I think, despite the bone tired feeling at the end of the day, it has been fun. Problem solving on a building level makes me happy. I think John and my husband might bop me in the head for saying that...but oh, well.