Our First Month - Full Time RV Living

It was the first of February, 2021, and after years of planning it was hard to believe our dream was coming true as we drove to Snohomish, WA to pick up our 2018 Flying Cloud 27FBQ Airstream.

As complete newbies with no towing experience, the thought of the driving the hour home, towing Betty Jo behind us, gave us pause and set our nerves on edge. But as we hit the road and she obediently followed behind, we slowly relaxed into the drive home, checking our mirrors constantly to make sure she was still there. :-)

It all happened so fast once we made the decision to set forth on this journey. With not much time or experience to plan, we pulled her up in front of our home. Parked out on the street, she looked forlorn and lost. And my anxiety level spiked. I felt like an overprotective parent, watching her intently, making sure no harm came to her

The plan was to sell off everything we owned and to be out of the house we had rented for eleven years by the end of February. But what to do with Betty Jo in the meantime? I called around and found a close-to-home RV park with pull-through spots (we were not ready to back end yet) and full hook up. Friends accompanied us on our maiden voyage, to provide moral support and advice if we needed it. Luckily we had watched many YouTube videos on what to do upon arrival, we made a check list like many suggested (only we left the list at home), still we arrived and pulled in and hooked up almost as if we had done this many times before.

I will admit, it took some time for me to adjust and feel comfortable in the RV. I had never camped as a child, or as an adult, this was all so new. I had read advice from seasoned RVers to start out slow and simple, to adjust to RV living, not just jump in. Once she was parked and hooked up, we started to slowly move in. We spent the nights in our new home, but we still cooked and showered at our old home for almost two weeks, mostly because we were spending the days getting ready for the BIG estate sale and it was also a sort of mental transition

Betty Jo's first day with us.

She now looks like home.

We weathered much in our new home, including many weather conditions. Anacortes, WA does not see snow often, but this year it snowed for two days, we received well over a foot and Betty Jo was a trooper. As the storm approached, it was tempting to stay at the house and stay warm, but we decided this is our life now, it was time to get used to it, so we stayed with Betty Jo. There was a lot of advice online so we filled up the fresh water tank, unhooked the hose from city water, made sure the propane tanks were full and settled in as the storm approached. In the morning, we got up and immediately checked on Betty Jo to see how she fared, other than a lot of snow and a few icicles hanging from the roof, she did just fine. We brushed off the icicles and attempted to brush off as much snow off the roof as we could. It was a good lesson for us and taught us much about using the various systems and how they work in the Airstream. In the Pacific Northwest, this time of year we get a lot of rain and Betty Jo has passed many leak checks as Mother Nature poured outside. She also weathered high winds, bouncing and then shaking it off as if it was a strong breeze. On the sunny days, she shines in all her glory, reminding us of her strength and her beauty.

We had much to complete in our home town so it  has delayed us hitting the road, but to be honest I am so glad we did it this way. We needed the time to adjust, to learn to live in the Airstream, but now we are anxious to hit the road and really explore what this life style is really about.

Time to journey onward.  To explore. To create new memories.