We Have An RV

[DEEP BREATH] We own an RV. [LET IT OUT SLOWLY]

On Monday morning around 10am we were chauffeured from Beverlywood to our motorhome in Northridge. Our first reaction on seeing the RV was happiness with its size. The McKenzie we nearly bought in May was 25’ long and 12’ high and seemed monstrous compared to our 23’ long, 11’ high Tioga. From the outside, the size looked perfect.

Now inside. There was a perfect amount of space inside to walk around, have separate lounging areas, watch a movie, eat a meal, or get some work done.  The RV layout is excellent, and Amy’s favorite part is the dinette/table area, which is comfortable and has more than enough space for two people (and two computers).

Parked In Yesterday's Overnight Spot

We did a once-over of the RV with the owner, making sure that things were in order and learning to use the RV. In hindsight we went through our checklist too quickly – it was hot out! – but everything checked out in the end.

[Side note: It’s always interesting to hear peoples’ questions about Judaism. The former owner of our RV is from the Midwest and hadn’t had much interaction with Jews. He asked if my kippa got annoying in the shower. I responded by sliding it off, which surprised him because he thought it was permanent.]

Driving off with the RV felt a lot more emotional for the owner than for us. He and his wife were both sad to see their motorhome go, but for us it felt like we had borrowed a toy for a little while. That feeling only began to change later that night.

We drove toward LAX, parking in the hotel’s driveway to load up our four boxes from the Sheraton storage area. In the process, we learned that our doorway was ~21” wide. (Our boxes were ~20” wide and just barely fit through.) There was ample space on the floor for our bags and boxes, and once we made sure everything was properly stowed we drove off to our first real stop: a Walmart in Chino, CA.

Both Walmart and the shopping plaza it was in were huge, but we managed to meet up with the guy who sold us our GPS. We bought a nuvi 265wt, which we are so far very happy with. (Particularly cool because of there “Where am I?” function, along with many other things like lifetime traffic and Bluetooth.)

Unpacking took only a few hours and left us with the relieving realization that our stuff easily fits in the RV (even Amy’s clothing!). Filling the RV with our belongings made it start to sink in that the RV is ours and is our home.

Unpacking

We set up the overcab bunk (total time: 1 minute) and climbed up into bed. The overcab is surprisingly comfortable and spacious – a queen size mattress in an area that can be separated from the rest of the coach. As we hoped, our first night in the RV was rejuvenating and unremarkable. The stories we had heard were true – Walmart parking worked out fine! (Though our next overnight spot was even better. More to come!)

The Overcab (Bed)

posted by jayhorowitz and amybetho