A Lack of Communication

Or...Making Excuses

Some of you may have noticed that my consistency with which I am making updates to this blog is flagging since I made the move into the RV. Well, you're not wrong. It's been difficult to find time, and wifi, and inspiration to write a passably well written (well, by my standards) blog post over the last week, and now I'll make my excuses.

The inspiration, and frustration, to crank one of these posts out is constant, but repetitive. If I were to write my feelings of the last week, I'm almost certain that the post would simply read "OHMYGODTHISISSOFUCKINGCOOL" over and over and over again, because that's the most accurately I can describe the feeling.

It's so different than what I'm used to, and there's so much to learn, and so much still to do. A smarter, and likely more industrious, person would have waited to make such a drastic move until everything was finished, but alas, I am not that man.

Let me tell you about my last week, since making the move.

The elation I felt when I first moved in was cut short, as the real world and the rest of my doings got in the way as they so often do. Just as I was taking my first stumbling steps, I had to abandon the RV for several days, first to travel to shows, then to make up for lost hours at work by working doubles. The obvious question is why didn't I just take the RV to said shows, and the answer is, logistically, it just didn't work. The RV, while I was away, was little more than a kennel for my dog, and when I got back, little more than a place to sleep.

Monday the real RV adventure started, and I started to see how deep the waters over my head really were.

I started by parking the RV on my old street, in front of my old house, for the night. I had previously been informed by a very nice police officer that I couldn't leave it there for more than 24 hours, so I counted on this 24 hour period to at least get some sleep and have a place to park while I went to work. I was wrong, and while I was at work, I received my first (of many to come, I'm sure), dreaded orange window sticker. You know the ones. The impossible to remove notices that they're going to tow your vehicle. After attempting (as we all do) to remove it, tearing it ribbons, and leaving half of the sticker still attached to my window, I decided that it was better still up there, as a badge of honor. A boondocking scar.

Monday night, I spent stealing electricity to charge my various devices and relax in front of a small run of MASH on Netflix, as I've written about in my previous entry. What happened after was of no real account. I left my truck parked where it sat, because I can only drive one at a time, and took the RV and it's new window decoration to a Walmart that was known to be RV friendly, parked it in the corner closest to McDonalds (almost close enough to use the wifi), went in, bought myself some flip flops (because what RVer doesn't look his best in flip flops?), and slept there, making good use of Walmart's Safe Haven policy.

Tuesday was when I got my first taste of what this life can be like. I had the day off of work, and no other obligations aside from some booking work that I could do from my phone. I still have a water line to fix, so from Walmart, I drove to the hardware store, bought some supplies, and back to Walmart's lot to do some handiwork. I made sure to park in a different spot, so they could see that I had at least moved some. A frustratingly unproductive hour or so later, I said "to hell with it", and decided that I would call my home improvement work for the day done, and get on with more tempting activities.

I parked on the edge of a movie theatre parking lot, and after seeing the new Avengers movie, had a picnic of movie theatre popcorn outside the RV on the grassy median separating one parking lot from another with my dog. Through the magic of Facebook and good friends, I secured my place to park for the remainder of the week, and then decided that, since I'd treated myself, I'd treat my dog, and we went to the dog park for the rest of the afternoon.

I met an old friend there, was vibrantly and all too late reminded of my old crush on her, then went to a different Walmart to relax, have dinner courtesy of the in-store Subway, and have a post-dog-park nap, since my parking place wouldn't be available for a few hours.

Last night, and for the remainder of the week, I parked my RV at an urban farm, tucked away in the middle of downtown Lexington. My host and I, and her housemates and friends, sat around a camp fire, and talked into the morning hours.

Today (as of writing this, yesterday for you reading it), I spent my day working on the troublesome water issue, and sitting under a tree talking to a cute hippy girl and her chickens and the dog with the really silly haircut, and that is how I plan on spending the next couple days. Chickens, working on the RV, and good people and their good farm.

This weekend, I move to an official RV campground for a while, and, this is my favorite part, I don't know what happens next. I'm floating from spot to spot, from activity to activity, never entirely sure where I'm going to land, and I absolutely adore the feeling. When I come across that wonderful combination of internet and time and the ability to construct words, I'll post again. Until then, I hope I see you out and about.

-Z

P.S. On a technical note, I've finally reached a spot where I might be able to stop buying so many things for the RV. The To-Do List is gradually becoming checked off, but the shopping list is almost done. Today alone I received 5 packages from amazon, carrying some of the last of the necessities. There's always progress, whether I'm writing about it or not.