Life on the road is different

A lot of things are going thru my mind tonight.

Most of the time we stay at camp grounds or State parks. Tonight we happen to be en 'route to our next destination and are staying the night at a halfway point.

 I am sitting here in a Walmart parking lot  looking out my livingroom window, not far from Lake Tahoe in Nevada on this beautiful sunny September afternoon. 

I am reflecting back on the last 8 weeks of my new gypsy life. The life that my husband and I chose very willingly.

Is it what I thought it would be? Is it what I was hoping it would be? It's what you make of it. I am a firm believer that we are not the victim of our circumstances. We make choices and if we don't like them, then we need to adjust them.

A close and caring friend of the family wrote us this beautiful letter not too long ago, and how true it is!

"Dear Ulrike and Joe,

You are now seeing Phase One of your new life more clearly. It's the Discovery Phase wherein you begin to learn daily what the decision you made feels like in real 3-D, living-color life.

Second will come the Reality Phase, lasting about a year, when you form resourceful new habits and fully accommodate to life on the road, progressing once around the cycle of places, weather, separation and finding the joys and disappointments of each day while always looking ahead.

The final Phase is Acceptance: repetitively confirming that you made the right choice, that you are strong and courageous enough to win the game, and that family and friends who are in your hearts are never far away."

His letter really made me think and I am grateful that I received it.

 Not a day has gone by since we have moved out of our non-mobile home, that we haven't learned something. The complexity of a 5th wheel, fixing things, whether or not to plan ahead and reserve a camp site, ongoing vehicle maintenance, the never ending cleaning of the trailer, reducing our stuff, and then some... At times it's tiring that the list of things to repair for Joe doesn't seem to get shorter. Can't we just finally be on vacation, we ask?

I am proud to say that I am more then just my stuff. My house was full of trophies and findings that represented what I thought was me. Letting go of those things was not easy at times. But I did it because I had a bigger picture in  mind. Joe agrees. He mastered that same task as well.

Sitting here I am still surrounded by things, just not as many. What is important is that I still get to share my life with my husband and my animals. The newfound bonus: That I get to wake up often to new views. Views that Joe and I get to choose!

• The trade off for this is that I no longer get to go shopping for pretty things to decorate my little house with, because they no longer fit. Period. 

Instead, we have the freedom to pick where we want to be.

As far as Joe and I are concerned, we no longer have to go to work each day in order to afford living in our space. What an amazing freedom it is to have purchased this 5th wheel and truck. We paid cash for it all and are dead-free! Yes we could have bought a rig with all the bells and whistles but we wanted to make sure all was paid for and that our new life was started the right way.

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• We still have to learn alot. Where to park to stay within budget. Networking with people that have the knowledge we are still seeking, is huge. We are still looking!
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Now that October is approaching weather will be an issue. A new learning curve. This year we will have to go back to the cold for a while because our daughter will give birth to our grand baby in November in Kansas. Lots of planning around the weather will definitely be part of that long trip! 

Learn as we go. And then some.