Home Sweet Home

King and I made it back to Michigan and are spending day three in our new home.

So far we are quite pleased with it. Our little Shasta was 18 feet long. This one is 24 feet long. It's amazing what a difference six feet can make. No, it's not a fancy trailer. It's a 1983 model and has a few quirks. One of the windows was replaced by a previous owner. It doesn't match the rest. I'm not even certain it opens. I may try, but not today, or this week even. King and I have been driving cross-country together for three days and then spent a day loading stuff into our new home. Now would not be a good time to try to open a window and not be able to close it. I'll wait until neither one of us is crabby any longer. Maybe August.

We are staying at a seasonal campground outside of South Haven. It's not fancy but it is very, very nice. The owners are a young couple with young children. They have been very helpful and friendly and have gone out of their way to make sure we have what we need. (Their business prospect for the coming summer have to be pretty scary for them). It's a clean little campground with water and electric (no sewer, but there is a dump station on the grounds) as well as primitive campsites. The sites are nice, grassy spots (no shade). There are also several cabins to rent as well. It is located next to the Kal Haven Trail. If I were so inclined I could walk along the trail to either South Haven or Kalamazoo. Like opening the trailer window, it probably is not going to happen.

Although we are one of two trailers here early in the season (and the other one doesn't appear to be occupied at the moment) the campground has the potential to be rather busy. I am guessing this season will depend upon how people feel about camping this summer and the lifting of restrictions in the state. The place is booked for Memorial Day weekend -- people are banking on the State of Emergency being lifted by then. We were told after Memorial Day we could have our pick of campsites. We have no desire to hook up the trailer and move again so this site is where we will stay for the summer.

At a time when social distancing is becoming the norm, living at a campground will have some challenges. But we tend to be isolationists anyway. Anyone who knows King knows he's not the most friendly of people. It's not hard to keep up with the social distancing thing when 50 percent of us are not social. King's mother used to describe him as gregarious. I'm not certain that would be my first choice of words used to describe him.

So here we are in our new home, hunkering down for the summer. I plan on reading a lot, finishing an afghan I started last winter and sewing more face masks for friends and family. It has been suggested I could spend the summer decorating our new home. When we bought our Shasta in 2016 we basically tore it down to the studs (or whatever you want to call that flimsy wood they make trailer frames out of), repaired and replaced tired and worn out parts and I then repainted and  "glammed" up the inside. That's probably not going to happen with this one. We live in our trailer, full-time, along with our not-so-small dog. We camp, we don't stay at RV resorts. Where we are now is the closest we will get to a "resort." White walls and cute curtains are not really conducive to our dusty lifestyle. So I'm going to have to learn to embrace brown, which is what the inside of this trailer is. Brown. A lot of brown.  I may re-upholster the cushions and cornice boards but that's about it.

Anyway, people have been asking for photos of our new home. So here goes... It's a 1983 Fleetwood Wilderness. I apologize if the photos don't show up. My wireless connection is not the greatest.

There is a bed in the back. Obviously Cindy thinks it's hers. 

The galley area is small but serviceable. 

The table in front and the the cushions are in the lovely brown,
orange and beige colors of the 1980s.

T

Another view of the galley.

A fairly typical RV bathroom. Interesting thing
about this is the toilet paper roll is inside
the cabinet under the sink. The toilet sits
in front of it. One will have to plan ahead to
unroll the toilet paper before sitting down to
take care of business.

As an aside, our trip home was not a fun trip. We left on a Tuesday and arrived in Michigan late Thursday night. It was a lot of driving and included spending three hours outside of Tulsa getting a new fuel pump put on the truck. We are very grateful to the tow company and the mechanic who installed a new fuel pump in record time. However in the fixing of the fuel pump something got bumped or pulled under the hood and our "message center" is telling us we have no four-wheel-drive and the trailer brakes need servicing. Something to be added to our list of things to do. Not that our list is long. In fact, I think that is the only thing on the list.

 Driving across country during a  pandemic is interesting. Most people wore their masks. King and I did. We were also able to score some disinfectant wipes before we left California so we wiped down any of our purchases before using them. I give a lot of credit to the men and women who work at the gas stations and truck stops who have to deal with people from all over the country. Kudos to the truckers as well. Scary times.

Personally I think a prerequisite for every presidential candidate should be a cross country trip by car. Not a campaign trail, but an actual cross country trip where they pump their own gas; meet the cashiers who stand behind plastic shields; watch the farms roll by, and visit the tiny towns -- the ones without Wal-Marts and Costco. I think it would be good for them to really see how most Americans live. That's not a political comment, just an observation. Well, ok, maybe it is. I think too many politicians (from both parties) have lost touch with the people they serve.

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. Wear a mask.