Maggie, it’s predecessor, Ty’s Class A 2001 Storm
Maggie, Too - our 23CB Airstream - the female inanimate of Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan)
Magellan…Maggie….
Travel, duh
Lisa Marie Calvet de Magalhães - Smith
Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze, A visitant that while it fans my cheek
Doth seem half-conscious of the joy it brings
From the green fields, and from yon azure sky.
Whate'er its mission, the soft breeze can come
To none more grateful than to me; escaped
From the vast city, where I long had pined
A discontented sojourner: now free,
Free as a bird to settle where I will. -Wordsworth
We were on the road for almost 4 months. I don’t want that to sound like we’ve been homeless, dragging ourselves from place A to place B for 4 months. This was a sound decision to snowbird in Arizona, meet our new grandson Caleb and visit the first grandson Luke, vend at the AZ Renaissance Faire, oh, and enjoy some sun in the winter season.
However, somehow in 2 years, Arizona became too big for us. Too much of this and way too much of that. Or maybe we became too big for Arizona? I hope we return someday…but it will be shorter and sweeter and less about purpose.
22 things I learned…while on the road in Maggie, Too
Don’t bring too much crap. We probably all say that as we are packing for vacation, holiday, long weekend at the beach…yet we pack 3 bathing suits (options), flip-flops, slides, mules and kitten heels, 2 jackets and 4 scarfs (options), for example. A travel trailer has limited size and storage and, well frankly, you are included as storage.
Avoid the shuffle of stuff. OK, this feeds off the first one but if you are constantly moving A over to B so you can sit, and now moving A from B back to A (or worst to C) so you can eat…uh, see 1 above and pick a spot. Pick your spot like you own it: there is a place for everything, and everything in its place. Find the place.. If it doesn’t fit it doesn’t go. The treasures you have matter less than the experiences you have.
Your health is one of your most valuable assets. When you get sick and you are away, potentially in a remote or unsatisfying comfort zone, you realize how good- good health is. Covid in a travel trailer is not recommended. Actually, any sickness in a travel trailer. On the plus side - a travel trailer is super easy to sanitize at the end of it all.
The floor is never clean and there are always dishes to wash. It doesn’t matter if you just finished cleaning the floor or the dishes. Within minutes you will discover that someone has walked in trekking stuff and placed something into the sink. Now, just so we are clear - that previous sentence is all about poor Ty having to deal with my trekking and shlecking of unclean footwear and items… but, he seems to love it?
You may have to walk through a fire; be prepared. Or, short showers suck. Wax on; wax off.
You are never in control: be here now. Probably a short paper and/or thesis could be written here. If you are impatient about things you may not be able to change, it really means you are not living in the moment, perhaps you are looking to the future- looking to what could happen vs what is happening right now. The trickle of wifi and waterfalls of work comes to mind.
"We equate comfort with happiness. And now we’re so comfortable we’re miserable. There’s no struggle in our lives. No sense of adventure."- Dean Karnazes
7. Living on the road is expensive. Discipline can only go so far. Gas, camping locations, and food. No matter how well you plan your weekly meals - you will be eating out - a lot.
8. RV Parks aren't much fun unless you are a social person. I say this with love and admiration for social people. We are not. I mean, we are, but we are not. RV parks typically have small sites, with elements that don’t write camping to us - like loud TVs, stressed out dogs that bark at wind, and well intentioned neighborly advice.
9. Personal privacy is not an option. There is no room in a travel trailer to hide from problems. For example, those beans you ate for lunch.
10. When you cook bacon, the whole trailer smells like heaven. See #9 but way better.
11. No, we can’t just park where we want to and camp. My worst nightmare. Not every place I wanted to just pull over at, drive up to, or escape into is available for boon-docking. Spontaneous camping at some cool looking spot is rare.
12. Routines and alone time are important. Just because you may feel like you are on a continual holiday- you really are not. Exercise, good eating habits, mindfulness and freaking brushing your teeth need to be a part of every day and not just for “when I get home”.
13. Perspective. It’s a beautiful thing. From the vantage point of peering out Maggie’s window, the cotton-candy sunsets just walking thru an RV park, or the dirt trails in some hot forsaken-cactus biting, rash encroaching…”I will show you fear in a handful of dust”*…perspective.
14. Love is not only a feeling, sometimes it’s a choice. When you live in 150 square feet with another human being, and it’s raining outside, and there’s no fresh air to be found: love is a choice.
15. All problems have solutions. The sewer hose had two holes. Purchase new sewer hose. The new sewer hose has a broken seam. Purchase newer sewer hose. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. We never had any bad days - but two sewer hoses in two days makes you scratch your head.
16. Cooking loses its romance in a space that’s 5% the size you are used to. Remember the “avoid the shuffle”? Our trailer has a workspace smaller than my house sink. I am not a tidy chef. I use every pot and pan and bowl and wooden spoon and whisk and knife and even every cutting board in my house when I cook. (husband rolling eyes in background)
17. Allow the Padawan in you to take over. You are not the master but always the apprentice. Learning is a lifelong adventure.
18. You are never as independent as you think. Your dependence is on connections. Even with a solar panel you will need a connection to sewer, water, cell service, wifi and electricity (if’n ya need A/C… or a hair dryer).
19. You will have meaningful experiences in surprising ways. Nightly walks through the park to check out the lawn adornments and say hi to ‘Lavern’ the crafted mannequin who sat in front of 23b or the ‘his’ and ‘hers’ dated toilet bowls that held cactus plants outside 44a. Our “neighbor”, Ty’s pool buddy, brought us lemons from her tree. Track-suite Jack walked by us every morning as I made my coffee. Karaoke in a senior center singing Delta Dawn. Don't be blind to the breadcrumbs in life.
20. Flexibility is key…or Ty would say, go with the flow. Flexibility in attitude. Flexibility in lifestyle requirements. Flexibility in social relationships, money, food, play, and day to day life. If you try to control every aspect of your life, you’ll miss out on a lot. Peace and serendipity seem to find you more when you let go and settle into the moments.
21. Your husband has ‘another’... The black stone grill. He glows.
22. A beautiful adventure at all crossroads
The north, the south, the east, the west
For with the thrill of life explodes
A thousand experiences at best. -lmc-Smith
*T.S. Eliot, Wasteland
Why 22? Why not 20?
Ty: “You set your alarm clock to 6:57am”. Enough said.
"Space, the final frontier"....
I had to count all your #1s and the lone #2 just to see if 22 was the real answer. It was like sudoku, but harder (scrolling made me dizzy)- and correct. Loving your shared life life lessons! We plan on being present next time karaoke takes place.