January 23rd, 2017

Soooo, thanks to my sister and her beau, we were gifted tickets to an RV show yesterday!  Understand that we do not have one ourselves, but we have considered it a time or two.  And free tickets are free tickets!  Of course we went, why ever not?

 I'm not certain what we were imaging, but whatever it was, it paled in comparison. This place was big, it was huge, it was enormous! I'm running out of synonyms here.  Let me put it this way. We had a map and still got turned around.   Every shape, size, configuration and colour of travel trailer that you can imagine was there and ready to be admired.   The crowd was equal to the event too. People on foot, people with baby carriages, people with doggie carriages (true!) people in wheel chairs, people in golf carts. Suffice it to say this event was well attended.

I learned a lot of new terms:  Class A, Toy Haulers Bus, Stacker Trailers Fifth Wheel, Motor Coach, and Class B and I could even possibly tell you some of the differences between them.  They had everything from this adorable little teardrop shaped thing that, according to the sign, could be pulled by a motorcycle to these incredibly tricked out apartments on wheels that had two full bathrooms and a washer/dryer in them.  Truly amazing.

Names like Winnebago, Coachman, American Coach and Thor began to roll trippingly off my tongue as we wandered about.  I learned to ask questions about generators and storage capacity and tire safety.  After awhile, it was almost overwhelming.  It was a maze of machinery.  No matter in what direction you looked, these massive hunks of metal and fiberglass loomed. 

Still there was a festive air about the place. Probably the many concession trailers helped. Beautiful weather contributed to a great day. And the fact that everyone we saw was smiling and obviously having a great time.  There was even music. Everything from Barbershop Quartets to Marching Bagpipe bands. There was also, oddly, a miniature Connestoga wagon that appeared to be driven by an armadillo. (?)  Well it made me laugh anyway.

Unless you've been completely out of touch, you have probably noticed the trend toward living smaller, not just for empty nesters like Tim and I, but even younger people with families.  The idea is to focus more on quality of time together as opposed to quantity of possessions.  Anyone who has ever lived in a cramped quarters for any period of time knows how to live smaller and be clever about use of space, whether it's a college dorm, a NYC apartment, a boat or a travel trailer.  In a way, I admire that.

Moving here, to a much smaller home, we have already down-sized. And so far, I'm comfortable with where we are, what we have and what we no longer, apparently, need. Not sure how much smaller I'm willing to go. I'd like to say that I absolutely could do it. live even smaller, I mean. But I'm not sure.  I was feeling a little claustrophobic in a few of those units. On the other hand, my guess is that if you live in that limited number of square feet you A) get used to it B) learn to be even more clever about use of space and C) spend a great deal of time outside.  I don't know this for a fact, it's just conjecture.

My sister and her beau are currently living in their RV in a rather nice little RV park here in Florida.  They spend part of the year in Florida and part of their year as Rangers at Yellowstone Park.  When they do their Ranger Jobs, they actually do live in their RV. But, as Rangers, they spend a great deal of time outside.  Now, normally when they are not "Ranger-ing", they live in a real home.  But this year, they are in their RV still.  You see, they sold one home before the new one was ready and well, at least they had the RV, right?  Part of the beauty of RV life, bring your home with you so that, quite literally, no matter where you go, you are already home.  As you can see below, she is very happy with her home away from home which is already home.

I guess the most important thing here is to be happy wherever you are.  Home Sweet Home is still Home.