Gaining momentum

I have been looking forward to this trip so much. The last few months have been filled with yard sales, donations to the VA and closet purges, in order to get rid of as much junk as possible. I have not done this in a few years, and forgot how freeing it is to give things away. The less clutter I have the better I feel. What time that has not been spent in school or in downsizing has been spent looking for the perfect RV. We had a crush on an 84 Itasca 23 foot, with the bed in the back, but it was way out of our price range. Jamie found our 78 Tiffin Allegro on craigslist one night after we had been out to pizza and beer at Hub brewery. We drove straight up to Longview Washington in the dark to look at it. We bought it, the price was right and it was a little one like we wanted. I have to admit at first I was excited about buying “die Fledermaus”, but by morning I began to wonder what we had done. The guy we bought it from had kept it overnight with the promise of emptying the tanks for us. Unfortunately he got high and managed to overflow the toilet back into the coach. By the time we arrived by train he was using a shop vacuum to suck water out of the carpet. So the carpet was shot, the floor was wet, and it all smelled like piss, yay! But we had already paid, and taken the train, and well, we were in it too far to back out.
He is old, his tires are almost old enough to legally drink. He has water damage in various places, he smells weird, and the bathroom is vaguely mustard colored. After a few days of panic and regret, and visions of Berlin escaping in Yellowstone only to be eaten by bears, I am beginning to come around. Die Fledermaus is cute, I drove off one day and saw his one little headlight eye peeping out from under the blue tarp and it made me smile. He is stumpy, awkward and badly neglected, but hey we can’t all be perfect. I think with some love, a serious tune up, and some new tires that he might get us where we are going. He has a mismatched bohemian charm, and he is actually newer than 80% of the cars I have ever owned. My 1973 Impala Vahlhalla never let me down, can’t say the same for my 1976 Cadillac hearse “Vanity”, as she had the tendency to burst into flames on evenings out.
I think my initial panic had more to do with the overwhelming amount of work we have to do, not just on the coach, but on the house, and in the next semester at school. I am also nervous about moving to yet another place where we know no one and we have no safety net. It's not the first time, all of my previous moves have been adventurous to say the least, but I guess i'm just older now and I worry more. I also have our fuzzy anchors Berlin and Moscow to worry about. With every day we spend tearing apart and repairing the RV I feel a little bit better. Pinterest and thewinnebagodiaries.blogspot.com are helping with the inspiration, and Volk Vodka & Session beer are helping with the anxiety!


~Christy